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 April 30, 2008
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Records Reveal HIV Testing Inconsistencies in Salt Lake City
The enforcement of HIV testing requirements for sex workers and solicitors in Salt Lake City is being called into question after a recent review of court documents revealed faulty recordkeeping and communication among criminal justice and health agencies, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.
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April 29, 2008
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Prevention Goes Wireless
A program sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the University of Georgia’s New Media Institute and Verizon Wireless encourages college students in Atlanta to design HIV/AIDS mobile-phone public service announcements to promote youth testing, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
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AIDS Expert Weighs Pros and Cons of PrEP
In an April 24 Gay City News editorial, Gay Men's Health Crisis co-founder and writer Lawrence D. Mass, MD, writes that medications to help prevent the sexual transmission of HIV—called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP—“[show] enough promise now that [they] can be said to be the next frontier of harm reduction for HIV/AIDS.”
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Global Warming and the AIDS Pandemic
Climate change may be the latest obstacle in the fight against HIV/AIDS, indirectly making people in developing countries more vulnerable to infection, Australian news website The Age reports.
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UNITAID and Clinton Foundation Announce HIV Med Price Cuts
The combined efforts of the William J. Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative and UN-supported drug funding initiative UNITAID have enabled generic medicine manufacturers to lower the prices of their second-line antiretroviral medications, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
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April 28, 2008
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Two New York Counties Win Back HIV Funds
Two New York counties—Nassau and Suffolk—have won a lawsuit against the United States Department of Health and Human Services that will restore more than $1 million in previously cut HIV/AIDS funding to them, Newsday reports.
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Peace Corps Seeks Senior Citizens to Fight AIDS
After making headlines last week for discharging one of its volunteers when he tested HIV positive, the Peace Corps is now seeking experienced volunteers over the age of 50 to help combat HIV in such developing countries as AIDS-ravaged Ethiopia, the Christian Science Monitor reports.
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STIs Rise Among Mississippi Teens
Mississippi health officials report that a growing number of teens under the age of 18 are becoming infected with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, according to The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS).
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HIV Awareness for Yemen’s Youth
A UNICEF program in Yemen is helping young people learn about HIV transmission and prevention, as well as the rights of people living with the virus, global HIV/AIDS news site Plus News reports.
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April 25, 2008
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DC to Expand Needle Exchanges
Needle-exchange programs in Washington, DC, are expected to grow significantly this summer as almost half a million dollars in city funding will begin flowing to four AIDS service organizations, the Washington Post reports.
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Comprehensive Sex Ed for Connecticut?
On April 23, teenagers and AIDS activists in Connecticut rallied at the state capitol, supporting a state bill that would get comprehensive sex education into schools, the Hartford Courant reports.
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Expert Urges AIDS Vaccine Research
In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece (online.wsj.com, 4/25) published April 25, Seth Berkley, MD, president and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, addresses the need for continued vaccine research following recent disappointing trials.
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Thailand Protects Its Positive Children
Thailand has provided antiretroviral medications to the roughly 10,000 of its 50,000 children under the age of 15 who were living with HIV as of 2006, up 40 percent from the previous year, IRIN Asia reports.
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April 24, 2008
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HIV Cases in Iowa Reach Record High
More people were diagnosed with HIV in Iowa last year than any other year since the state began reporting HIV/AIDS figures a decade ago, the Des Moines Register reports.
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San Diego Residents Dine Out for Life
As part of a nationwide AIDS fund-raising initiative taking place today, restaurants in San Diego will donate 25 percent of their food and liquor sales to local AIDS service organizations, Fox 6 News reports.
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April 23, 2008
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Conference Addresses Latino HIV Epidemic in South
Health officials and AIDS activists gathered in Biloxi, Mississippi, on April 22 for an all-day conference to discuss the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Latino community, The Mississippi Press/GulfLive.com reports.
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Kenyan Church Leaders Tackle HIV Stigma
Church leaders in Kenya have begun a national workshop aimed at addressing stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS, the Catholic Information Service for Africa/AllAfrica.com reports.
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April 22, 2008
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ACLU Urges Peace Corps to Rethink HIV Policy
A man recently let go by the Peace Corps after testing positive for HIV is working with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to change the Peace Corps’ policy toward HIV-positive volunteers, The Denver Post reports.
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India's Police Receive HIV Awareness Education
On April 19, police officers and soldiers in India’s Kashmir region began participating in a comprehensive AIDS awareness program that will target other police and military personnel, the news website Thaindian.com reports.
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UN Head Says Africa Not on Track to Meet Development Goals
At the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Accra, Ghana, on April 21, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that many countries in sub-Saharan Africa are not on track to meet the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce the spread of diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by 2015, Agence France-Presse reports.
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April 21, 2008
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South Carolina House to Debate School-Notification Law
A bill that would remove a South Carolina law requiring students’ HIV test results to be reported to their schools will go in front of the state house of representatives this week, South Carolina’s The State reports.
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New Device Tracks Medication Adherence
Researchers at the University of Florida (UF) and health-monitoring and diagnostic company Xhale have developed a device that could help monitor antiretroviral drug adherence in HIV-positive people, the University of Florida news site reports.
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April 18, 2008
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OraSure Sued Over Rapid HIV Test
HIV test maker Inverness Medical Innovations has filed a lawsuit against rapid-HIV-test maker OraSure Technologies, alleging patent infringement in the manufacturing and selling of OraSure’s product, reports the Allentown, Pennsylvania, newspaper The Morning Call.
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AIDS 101 for Ethiopia’s Media
On April 14, an HIV/AIDS activist in Ethiopia said media outlets in the country need to be more sensitive when reporting on and about people living with HIV, The Daily Monitor/AllAfrica.com reports.
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Condom and Syringe Vending Machines for Tehran
Iran plans to install condom and syringe vending machines in its capital city, Tehran, to prevent the spread of HIV and other viruses among drug users, Agence France-Presse/Yahoo News reports.
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April 17, 2008
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Thailand to Rethink Gay Blood Donor Ban
On April 11, the Red Cross of Thailand said it would change its blood-screening policies to address the concerns of activists who say the process discriminates against gay men, Agence France-Presse/Yahoo News reports.
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Former Republican Senator Backs PEPFAR
In an opinion piece published on Politico.com (politico.com, 4/15), former Senator Rick Santorum (R) urges current Republican senators not to “drag their feet” in reauthorizing the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) after the House of Representatives’ recent approval of the bill. If the Senate approves it, the bill would allocate $50 billion in AIDS relief to developing countries over the next five years.
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College Bans Student HIV/AIDS Club
The University of British Columbia has granted club status to roughly 300 student groups, but its student-funded Alma Mater Society (AMS) has refused to authorize an HIV/AIDS club for the past three years, Canadian newspaper The Province reports.
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April 16, 2008
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Florida’s Black Churches Preach HIV Testing
Hoping to lower the rate of HIV infection among black parishioners, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church is working with the Florida Department of Health to open at least one church-based testing site in each of the state’s counties, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
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Global Unity for HIV Vaccine
Recent failures in HIV vaccine research—such as Merck & Co.’s halted trial last year—have led researchers from the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology (CHAVI) at Duke University to form a worldwide collaboration to boost vaccine development, North Carolina newspaper The News & Observer reports.
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Chips, Soda...and Condoms?
India’s National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) wants condom vending machines to be installed at railway stations throughout the country, The Hindustan Times reports.
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Making Awareness Job No. 1
According to a new report by the United Nations International Labor Organization (ILO), successful workplace HIV policies in several countries have led to more supportive attitudes toward people living with HIV, the UN News Service/AllAfrica.com reports.
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April 15, 2008
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HIV Incidence Rises in Minnesota
New data indicates that in 2007, Minnesota’s rate of new HIV infections reached its highest point since the mid-’90s with 325 new cases recorded, the online news service The Earth Times/Business Wire reports.
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April 14, 2008
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Senators Clinton and Obama Discuss HIV/AIDS
In a forum called the “Compassion Forum,” intended to explore the issues of faith and compassion and how a “president’s faith can affect us all” and hosted by Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania, Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both called for increased attention to the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, the Hartford Courant reports (courant.com, 4/14). CNN broadcast the forum on April 13 and published a transcript of the event online at cnn.com.
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Brazil May Reject Tenofovir Patent
On April 9, Brazil’s Ministry of Health issued a decree signaling that it may reject a patent request from the pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, Inc. for its AIDS drug Tenofovir, Reuters reports.
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California ASOs Hard Hit by Funding Shift
Funding shifts stemming from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act of 2006 have resulted in decreased resources for AIDS service organizations in San Bernardino, California, and surrounding counties, southern California newspaper the Daily Bulletin reports.
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April 11, 2008
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More HIV-Positive Egyptian Men Face Jail Time
On April 9, an Egyptian court sentenced five men to three years of jail time for “the habitual practice of debauchery”—a charge human rights groups say is used to describe homosexual sex—Reuters reports.
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Chinese AIDS Activists Allegedly Beaten by Police
On April 5, 11 Chinese AIDS protesters—all of whom claim to have contracted HIV through blood transfusions—were allegedly beaten and detained by police in front of a municipal building outside of Beijing, the Associated Press/Yahoo News reports.
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Idol Gives Back Benefits HIV-Positive Children Worldwide
At the beginning of the April 10 Idol Gives Back telethon, American Idol host Ryan Seacrest announced that the charity event benefiting underprivileged children around the world—including those living with HIV—had raised more than $60 million since the show began accepting donations the previous night, The Toronto Star reports.
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April 10, 2008
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Getting HIV/AIDS Figures Right
Researchers from the University of Washington’s new Institute for Health Metrics & Evaluation are working with health officials to address inaccuracies in data reporting for a number of global health issues, including HIV/AIDS, The Seattle Times reports.
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Magic Johnson Stands Up to AIDS
In an opinion piece published April 9 in North Carolina’s Winston-Salem Chronicle, HIV-positive basketball star and entrepreneur Magic Johnson urged readers to put an end to HIV/AIDS stigma.
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Desert AIDS Project Addresses AIDS Among Gay Seniors
In its Gay and Gray workshop held earlier this month, Palm Springs, California, AIDS service organization Desert AIDS Project addressed issues ranging from dating to HIV treatment and prevention for gay men over the age of 50, the southern California news site The Press-Enterprise reports.
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April 09, 2008
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HIV Awareness Needed for Airport Security Guards?
Members of a Canadian HIV/AIDS support group in Prince George, British Columbia, say they faced discrimination from a security guard at Prince George Airport during a trip last month, The Globe and Mail reports.
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New Legal Service for HIV-Positive South Africans
ProBono.org, a nonprofit public-interest law service based in Johannesburg, has plans to start a weekly legal clinic for HIV-positive people to tackle issues of discrimination, the news site for the City of Johannesburg reports.
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ADAP Recipients Hit All-Time High in 2007
Earlier this week, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD) released their 12th annual National ADAP Monitoring Project report outlining changes to state-run AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP), which help low-income people living with HIV access vital medications.
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April 08, 2008
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The Rise and Fall of a Prominent AIDS Doc
In an April 7 feature in New York Magazine, writer David France chronicles the rise to prominence and troublesome fall of Dr. Ramon A. “Gabriel” Torres, former director of AIDS programs at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in New York, and well-respected AIDS doctor, researcher and advocate.
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Queens-Based ASO Launches Needle-Exchange Program
An AIDS service organization in New York’s Queens county is working to provide IV-drug users in the county with clean syringes and medical care to help curb new HIV infections, reports the New York Daily News.
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April 07, 2008
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Defending Vaccine Research
In a recent Baltimore Sun editorial, Dr. Homayoon Khanlou and Michael Weinstein, both of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, argued that less funding should be dedicated to HIV vaccine research so that more could go to HIV prevention and treatment. In response, the Sun has published letters to the editor supporting vaccine research.
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Kenya to Spend $61 Million on HIV Treatment
On April 6, the Kenyan health ministry announced that the country will spend $61.4 million next year on antiretroviral (ARV) therapy for Kenyans living with HIV, Agence France-Presse (AFP)/Yahoo News reports.
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Florida Revamps Sex Ed to Fight HIV Myths
Widespread misconceptions among Florida teens—including the belief that drinking a capful of bleach prevents HIV infection—have prompted lawmakers to draft a bill requiring more comprehensive sex education in the state’s schools, the Miami Herald reports.
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Linking Women's Rights and Sexual Health
In an opinion piece published April 4, Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson calls for improved rights for women and girls in developing countries, whom he says are often victims of HIV/AIDS stigma, property theft, domestic violence and sexual abuse.
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April 04, 2008
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Maryland’s Youth Get HIV Grant
The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) has won a $1.38 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to fund HIV prevention education and health services for youth, local paper the Cumberland Times-News reports.
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Connecticut ASO Targets Women Over 50
An AIDS service organization in New Haven, Connecticut, has launched a program to address the rising numbers of HIV infections in women over the age of 50, the New Haven Register reports.
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More than 2 Million Children Worldwide Living With HIV
UNICEF, UNAIDS and the World Health Organization released a report April 3 revealing that more than 2 million children under the age of 15 are living with HIV around the world and that an estimated 290,000 children died of AIDS in 2007, Voice of America (VOA) News reports.
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South African Farm Workers at Risk
According to an HIV prevalence survey commissioned by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), farm workers in South Africa’s Limpopo Province are at high risk for HIV infection, African news site APO Source reports.
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April 03, 2008
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House Approves PEPFAR Bill
On April 2, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a five-year reauthorization of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Washington Post reports.
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Illinois Advocates Rally for HIV Funding
Hundreds of HIV/AIDS advocates in Illinois gathered on the state capitol on April 2, urging lawmakers to support initiatives that will increase funding for people living with HIV, the Springfield, Illinois, State Journal-Register reports.
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Rapid Testing for L.A. Veterans
On April 1, the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System began offering rapid HIV tests for veterans in the city, the Los Angeles Times reports.
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UN Urges Progress in Fighting Mother-Child Transmission
A new UN report released on April 3 shows that only about a quarter of HIV-positive expectant mothers in poorer countries get antiretroviral therapy that can prevent their children from contracting HIV, AIDSMap.com reports.
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April 02, 2008
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Florida Group Launches HIV Awareness Campaign for Minority MSMs
To combat a rise in new HIV infections in Florida’s Palm Beach County—a region where one in 13 black men who have sex with men is living with the virus—the local gay and lesbian advocacy group Compass has launched a campaign to encourage black and Latino MSMs to get tested, the Palm Beach Post reports.
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AIDS Advocates in New York Fight Racial and Economic Disparities
According to data from the Monroe County, New York, health department, 56 percent of men and 65 percent of women diagnosed with HIV in the county in 2006 were African American. However, efforts to address this disproportionately affected group in one Monroe city, Rochester, have seen little success, Rochester newspaper the Democrat and Chronicle reports.
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Stigma Surrounding HIV-Positive Women Still Strong
A new study released by the Foundation for AIDS Research, or amfAR, shows that stigma surrounding HIV-positive women leads to a hesitancy for women to disclose their status to close friends, employers and potential sex partners, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
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April 01, 2008
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NYC Hospitals to Offer Thousands of Rapid HIV Tests
At the prompting of New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, medical diagnostics company OraSure Technologies has agreed to donate tens of thousands of rapid HIV tests to city hospitals, the New York Daily News reports.
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Circumcision: Yes, No, Maybe?
New parents of baby boys in the U.S. must weigh a number of religious, medical and social factors when determining whether or not they should circumcise their child, the Los Angeles Times reports.
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Migrant Workers in California Receive HIV Education
Health officials in California’s San Joaquin County are educating Mexican migrant workers about HIV/AIDS in order to address both the group’s vulnerability to infection and their limited access to health care and information, the Stockton Record reports.
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Making AIDS Vaccine Trials More Effective
A Los Angeles Times editorial (latimes.com, 4/1) published today offers possible solutions to concerns raised recently around the failure last September of a promising HIV vaccine produced by Merck. The piece calls for smaller, narrowly focused trials as opposed to the large-scale efforts that have seen little success.
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