Year 25+

About this time last year I was sitting in the office of Dr. Cassius Banda, the spokesperson for the Zambian Ministry of Health. While the purpose of my visit was to obtain a letter of permission for filming at government-run clinics, the conversation inevitably turned to the American presidential campaign that played on TVs broadcasting CNN throughout the building. Dr. Banda spoke of the great psychological impact of Barack Obama as president, and how much that would mean throughout the world- especially in Africa. I have not spoken to Dr. Banda since our meeting, but I'm sure he's very happy, like much of the world.

President Obama speaks of "the fierce urgency of now" and no more is that true than in a part of the world where people die by the thousands every day for very treatable medical conditions. The work of CIDRZ (Center for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia) as portrayed in our film is all about that urgency. A recent case study of their work at the Harvard School of Public Health remarked on how fast they are increasing the numbers of patients receiving effective anti-retroviral therapy. Really fast- from zero to nearly a 100,000 patients in a matter of a few years. And the numbers keep increasing day by day. Yet they are still treating less than a half of the people who need treatment in Zambia (although not due to a lack of effort); and Zambia is only one country in sub-Saharan Africa. [It is hard to imagine the suffering in places like Zimbabwe or the Congo, where political instability makes health care delivery nearly impossible.] As CIDRZ deputy director Iris Mwanza describes her work and that of her colleagues, some days they can pat themselves on the back, and other days they realize how much more needs to be done.

Some have written and spoken of AIDS exceptionalism, and there may be some truth to that, when children die of diarrhea while others receive cutting edge HIV care. But no one can deny the suffering from AIDS, and PEPFAR and other money being spent is a fact. It's happened. There is so much to learn about health care delivery from what has been accomplished in Zambia, and so much potential use for that knowledge. Urgently, and now.

# posted by David @ 3:51 PM