What (RED)'s Reading: New York Times 'Small Fixes'

The New York Times recently came out with an excellent special section ‘Small Fixes - low cost innovations that can save thousands of lives’. Three of the ‘Small Fixes’ are regarding the AIDS pandemic – accessing treatment through group support, encouraging male circumcision, and medicine packs for HIV positive mothers.

Here they are:

Drugs to Curb a Deadly Inheritance
"The medicines that prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to child are highly effective when they are used properly — that is, taken at the right time in gestation and in the right doses by both mother and newborn. But in resource-poor countries, mothers often give birth at home and rarely visit health clinics. So the problem is getting the medicines to the mothers and babies who need them, and making sure the doses and timing are right."
Read more.
 
Sharing Burdens of Living with AIDS
"No one abandons treatment in the group,” said Inocencio Alface, a talkative, slightly built farmer who has become Nkondedzi’s champion for people with AIDS and leads one of the village’s four patient groups. “We give each other courage.” On a recent morning, it was Mr. Bernardo’s turn to go to town. Before he joined the group, if he was short of cash for taxi fare he needed to hike four hours through the bush to the district hospital in Zobue. But as his group huddled against the chill, each member contributed 15 meticais, or about 50 cents, for taxi fare."
Read more.

Obstacles Slow an Easy Way to Prevent HIV in Men
"Circumsion which cuts men’s risk of infection by 60 percent or more, has been urged by health authorities since 2007. Their goal is to circumcise more than 20 million men, 80 percent of 15-to-49-year-olds, in 14 African countries, by 2015. But only about 600,000 men, less than 3 percent, have been circumcised so far, recent data shows."
Read more.

What do you think of these Small Fixes? Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Zoey @ (RED)