NURSES GONE, BUT LIBYA'S HIV/AIDS WOES CONTINUE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TRIPOLI 000834

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/MAG

E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/23/2017
TAGS: PHUM PREL LY BG
SUBJECT: NURSES GONE, BUT LIBYA'S HIV/AIDS WOES CONTINUE

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CLASSIFIED BY: Chris Stevens, DCM, Embassy Tripoli, Dept of
State..
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) SUMMARY. A lavishly-funded treatment facility
constructed exclusively for the 426 infected Benghazi children
remains off limits to hundreds of other Libyans in Benghazi
currently living with HIV/AIDS, according to a team of American
HIV/AIDS experts who visited Libya in mid-September. Though
Benghazi doctors are capable of providing a high level of
medical care, years of GOL propaganda and an over reliance on
treatment abroad have created a lack of public confidence in
Libya's ability to treat HIV/AIDS cases at home. Most of the
426 infected Benghazi children have traveled abroad for European
government-subsidized medical care, many in the months before
the medics' departure as a way to "prevent [the families] from
raising their voices." Benghazi professionals criticized
Europe's handling of medical assistance, claiming they have
offered nothing concrete to Libya's healthcare system and are
not willing to work cooperatively with their Libyan
counterparts. Most Benghazi doctors still stand by the belief
that the six medics are guilty of intentionally infecting 426
children with HIV/AIDS in 1999. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) A team from the Baylor College of Medicine Pediatric
AIDS Program -- Dr. Mark Kline, Dr. Mike Mizwa, Dr. Gordon
Schultze, and NP Nancy Calles -- visited Tripoli and Benghazi on
September 16-18 as part of Baylor's ongoing implementation of an
MOU concluded with the GOL in 2006. Kline, the U.S.
representative on the Benghazi International Fund, and Calles
briefed DCM and Poloff on their visit on September 18.

GOOD TREATMENT -- IF YOU CAN GET IT


3. (C) According to Kline, a lavishly funded facility designed
to provide state-of-the-art care to the 426 Benghazi children,
the Benghazi Children's Center (BCC),operates in parallel to
the city's health system. The facility houses diagnostic
equipment on par with that available in better European
hospitals. Medical staff, drawn largely from the larger
Benghazi Medical Center or al-Fatah Children's Hospital, receive
large GOL stipends to do weekly rounds at the BCC. The BCC's
staff include specialists in dentistry and optometry --
disciplines unrelated to the HIV/AIDS cases -- because "other
medical facilities have made it clear they won't take the
Benghazi children," forcing them to seek all medical care in
this high-quality yet segregated facility.


4. (C) Though Kline is optimistic that the 1999 Benghazi
outbreak will eventually spark some positive spillovers into the
larger medical community, there is little evidence to suggest
such spillover yet. Access to the BCC is restricted to the 426
Benghazi children. An additional 420 individuals, including 20
children, known to be infected with HIV in Benghazi must seek
treatment at the sub-standard Benghazi Medical Center. Asked
about the HIV/AIDS situation in Tripoli, Benghazi medical
professionals told Kline and Calles that HIV/AIDS in Tripoli
stems primarily from intravenous drug use and that no one in the
GOL has suggested either opening the BCC to patients nationwide
or training doctors from Tripoli as part of U.S.-EU-Libya's
ongoing medical cooperation. In Benghazi, they said, the virus
has spread primarily through heterosexual contact, with the
large number of sub-Saharan African immigrants playing a
significant role.

RELIANCE ON EUROPEAN HOSPITALS BREEDS LACK OF CONFIDENCE IN
BENGHAZI DOCTORS


5. (C) According to Kline, a lack of confidence in Libyan
doctors to effectively manage HIV/AIDS cases is a major
impediment. Victims' families, spurred on by GOL promises of
"quality care" at European hospitals, have no confidence in
Benghazi doctors' ability to treat the infected children. The
Libyan doctors, frustrated with seven years of the families'
doubts, have internalized a lack of self-confidence. Kline
criticized European governments for emphasizing treatment in
European hospitals as part of the "compensation deal," noting
that France and Italy especially have compelling commercial
reasons (i.e., the prospect of lucrative contracts in the arms
and petroleum sectors) to accept the Benghazi children for
expensive, months-long stays with accompanying elaborate tests
and drug therapies.


6. (C) He emphasized that all of the children could receive
quality care in Benghazi if the families were willing to try --
but they are not. According to Baylor's Benghazi contacts, as

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many as 400 of the children, with GOL encouragement and
financing, have sought medical care outside of Libya. They
noted that from April to July 2007 -- in the run-up to the
medics' departure -- several hundred families were sent off to
Europe for months at a time to "prevent them from raising their
voices" as the GOL worked to find a solution to the criminal
case. On September 17, the Baylor team was scheduled to examine
50 patients at the BCC, but only 15 showed up. Hospital staff
told the team the children's families had mostly left Libya
since the July compensation payments (families received about
USD $1 million for each infected child),some moving permanently
to Egypt and Saudi Arabia.


7. (C) According to the Baylor team, Benghazi hospital staff
were unusually critical of European efforts in Benghazi.
Addressing three European representatives -- a British
psychiatrist, an Italian physician, and a Dutch database
management expert, the director of the BCC said, "You have done
nothing for us." The director went on to praise Baylor for its
concrete proposals and eagerness to work directly with the
Benghazi medical community. The leader of the European team, UK
psychiatrist Rafik Hosni, told Kline that the Europeans do not
have an MOU analogous to Baylor's and have little clear
direction for their medical engagement in Benghazi.

BENGHAZI DOCTORS STAND BY MEDICS' GUILT


8. (C) Kline noted that, almost without exception, Benghazi
doctors refer to the 426 cases as the "injected children" rather
than the "infected children." Though the Baylor team steered
well clear of politics during their September 16-18 visit, every
Benghazi doctor they spoke with maintains the Bulgarian medics
were guilty of intentionally infecting the 426 children with the
HIV virus in 1999.

STEVENS
MILAM