China: mudança na assistência à aids e ao portador do HIV.

Depois de negar a existência da aids no país, permitir transfusões sem controles e de perseguir ativistas hemofílicos e pesquisadores da área, o governo chinês assumiu a responsabilidade pelo diagnóstico e tratamento da aids. Em seis anos houve aumento de verbas e política própria de prevenção e tratamento. A distribuição geográfica é bem diferenciada como mostrado na figura. Abaixo, extrato do texto do The New England Journal of Medicine que pode ser acessado na íntegra clicando o título desse post. A prevalência da aids/HIV no Brasil é de aproximadamente 0,7%, ou seja quase 15 vezes o identificado na China.

Although China's first AIDS cases were discovered in 1989, the government did not publicly acknowledge the existence of a major epidemic until 2001. Two years later, as international attention mounted after the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the government abruptly changed course, launching aggressive measures against AIDS. An interagency committee was created to coordinate a government-wide response, and a national AIDS treatment program was established. The national budget for HIV–AIDS grew from approximately $12.5 million in 2002 to about $100 million in 2005 and about $185 million in 2006.1 In January 2006, the Chinese Cabinet issued regulations for HIV–AIDS prevention and control, outlining the responsibilities of the central and local governments and stipulating the rights and responsibilities of infected persons. The government estimates that 650,000 Chinese people are infected with HIV and hopes to limit the total to 1.5 million by 2010. The current estimate represents an HIV prevalence of approximately 0.05%.

A catástrofe chinesa: tabagismo

Na foto acima, vemos o pacote do cigarro chinês exportado para a Austrália com foto e aviso de risco de câncer de boca e garganta e, a mesma marca vendida na própria China. The New England Journal apresenta na edição de 12/4/07, texto com acesso livre (http://www.nejm.org) sobre a catástrofe da epidemia tabágica na China. Nesse ano morrerão 1 milhão de chineses por doenças associadas ao fumo, 2,5 vezes do número que morrerá nos EUA (país com população mais idosa e com exposição temporal mais intensa ao fumo do que a China). Importante a ação de Michael Bloomberg e, da grande ativista anti-tabágica Judith Mackay. Vale a pena ler clicando no título acima.

Um caso de corrupção na China: exceção ou regra na aprovação de medicamentos?

The Wall Street Journal relata um caso de corrupção na China relacionado à regulamentação de medicamentos. A empresa local estava para aprovar o sal da claritromicina, um antibiótico, no equivalente da ANVISA. Ao invés de enviar o próprio sal, remeteu a formulação original da Abbott americana para o órgão fiscalizador. A empresa teve seu pedido aprovado e, desde então continua vendendo o seu sal (que não foi testado de fato). Recentemente, investigação do partido comunista confirmou o pagamento de propinas por parte da empresa.

Casos como esse abalam a credibilidade de tudo que foi e continua sendo feito na China e seu órgão regulador.

Abaixo, trecho da matéria.

In 1995, a Chinese drug maker was developing a version of clarithromycin, a popular antibiotic used mainly to treat respiratory infections. But to begin selling the medication, the company, Zhongxiang Kangshen Medicine Co., needed approval from China's drug regulator. So Luo Yongqing, director of Zhongxiang's research department, called his top employees to a meeting. According to Gao Chun, a research scientist who attended, Mr. Luo tossed a box of antibiotics made by Abbott Laboratories on the table and told the scientists to use the American drug maker's pills in their application for approval from the country's drug watchdog. Zhongxiang's own drug wasn't ready yet, Mr. Gao says, but the company didn't think that should get in the way. Some of the researchers agreed to substitute the pills, Mr. Gao says, but he refused. "I thought it was immoral and against the law," he says. A short time later, Mr. Gao stopped working for Zhongxiang and launched a decade-long fight against the drug and against government regulators, whom he accuses of taking bribes from his former employer to look the other way. The company won approval for the drug and has been selling it ever since. Mr. Gao's case failed in the courts, but the picture he painted of a system gone wrong has received surprising vindication. A major corruption probe has targeted China's former top drug regulator, a man with whom Mr. Gao had an angry confrontation as he pursued his case. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Communist Party's anticorruption watchdog, began investigating the regulator, Zheng Xiaoyu, in December and announced his expulsion from the party on March 1, alleging that he abused his power by taking bribes from drug companies. It is unclear whether he will face criminal prosecution. Mr. Zheng couldn't be reached for comment.