TwinCities.com - Gates money leaving basic health care in dust:
MASERU, Lesotho - A neighbor shaved Matsepang Nyoba’s head with an antiquated razor. Blood beaded on her scalp. Tears trickled down her cheeks, but not because of the pain. She was in mourning, and this was a ritual. Two days earlier, her newborn baby girl had died in the roach-infested maternity ward of Queen Elizabeth II, a crumbling sprawl that is the largest hospital in Lesotho, a mountainous nation of 2.1 million people surrounded by South Africa.One of the statements that caught and retained my attention is this one: “Many AIDS patients have so little food that they vomit their free AIDS pills.” In other words, we give them expensive medicine to cure them of AIDS, but they haven’t eaten in a while. Perhaps the money would be better spent feeding patients. Some of them haven’t got transport fare to reach hospitals to receive their free medication. It’s sad. What is the problem?
The problem is that money is pouring in to help cure AIDS and Tuberculosis, high profile diseases and high profile killers, it is true. At the same time, qualified personnel is driven from basic care toward these high profile killers (follow the money!) The result is that people are starting to die from asphyxia and malnutrition. A more thought-out solution is required.
