Preserving Humanity

MAHA again supports DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS

The talk these days is all about difficult economic times. For millions of people in the world the problems are of a different nature- struggling just to cover their basic needs. A roof over their head, enough to eat, clean water and medical assistance. DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS helps where help is needed the most; fast, unconditional and independent.

One of the world’s most urgent problems is the fight against tuberculosis in Swaziland, Africa. Tuberculosis takes the lives of thousands of people infected with HIV in Africa. One in four in Swaziland in Southern Africa is HIV positiv, 80 % of these people have TB. Since November 2007 DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS have been working with the public health agency in the region of Shiselveni to treat these two diseases. In 2008 almost 2,300 TB patients were treated, and an additional 1,900 TB patients who were also HIV/AIDS positive received antiretroviral medication. In spite of all this effort about 12,000 new cases of TB were diagnosed in 2008 in Swaziland!

The small kingdom of Swaziland is on the verge of a health crisis. Swaziland is one of the countries with the worldwide highest death rates due to HIV/AIDS. The deadly double epidemic of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) has decimated the population and life expectancy has fallen below 32 years because of it!
The immense poverty of the country and its poor public health system makes health care for the population in general extremely difficult. The non-existant infrastructure network represents a further obstacle in caring for families in the poorer rural regions. Swaziland itself has very few doctors and no medical school for training doctors and hospital personnel. According to DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS the co-infection of HIV/AIDS and TB counts among the world’s worst humanitarian crisis at the moment.

To see, be aware of and attentive to the millions of people who are victims of conflicts, wars and medical crises.
And help because help is sorely needed in parts of the world where humanitarian work is becoming increasingly difficult.