New Zealand Welcomes Positive Zimbabweans New Zealand Health Minister Pete Hodgson announced yesterday that the government would grant all HIV positive Zimbabwean refugees permanent residence, as a special exception to it official immigration policy of barring infected applicants.
Tonight on PBS: 'A Closer Walk' At 9 p.m. ET tonight, PBS will air A Closer Walk, a widely acclaimed “rendering of the world through the prism of AIDS.”
August 30, 2006
Bulgarian Nurses Face Death Penalty Again A Libyan prosecutor demanded the death penalty yesterday in the case against five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor charged with deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV.
Can Herbs Help Treat HIV? A Zambian study of herbal treatments used by traditional healers to fight HIV found that some can either help raise CD4 counts, lower viral loads or treat opportunistic infections, according to the National AIDS Council
August 29, 2006
Fighting HIV Along the Gulf Coast Just in time for today’s one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the National AIDS Fund and the Ford Foundation unveiled a new Gulf Coast HIV/AIDS Relief Fund.
Why Is Bill Clinton So Dedicated to AIDS?
The New York Times looked up
close today at former President Bill Clinton’s global AIDS efforts and
at accusations that his work is an attempt to redeem himself for
shortcomings while in office, including his failure to do more to fight
AIDS.
FDA Panel Approves Facial Filler Radiesse A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel recommended last week that the FDA approve Radiesse to treat lipoatrophy and fill nasolabial folds (smile lines).
Citrus Spray Gets Squeezed for HIV Claim The Australian Securities and Investment Committee is suing Citrofresh International for claiming that its lemony disinfectant spray works like an “invisible condom,” stopping the transmission of HIV.
HIV Drug May Treat HPV
Protease inhibitor lopinavir, one of two HIV meds in Kaletra, may also treat the human papilloma virus (HPV), which can lead to cervical and anal cancer, according to preliminary tests by British scientists.
August 24, 2006
Indian Lawmakers Fail HIV 101 About 25% of Indian MPs surveyed believe HIV is transmitted by sharing food or clothing with positive people, according to results released yesterday by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
ABC Tackles 'AIDS in Black America' ABC airs 'Out of Control: AIDS in Black America' tomorrow night at 10 p.m., a special Primetime edition featuring interviews with politicians and clergy, including Reverend Jesse Jackson, that tries to explain the epidemic’s scourge among African Americans.
Clinton Blocks Ryan White Renewal New York Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton is holding up Congressional renewal of the Ryan White Act in an attempt to get more funds for New York and other densely populated states.
August 22, 2006
Ghana’s New HIV Strategy: Are You Gay? Ghana’s Centre for Popular Education and Human Rights is leading a campaign to educate gay men about HIV, even though homosexuality is illegal.
HIV Criminalization on Trial in Kansas The lawyer defending a Kansas man accused of exposing five women to HIV is challenging the validity of the state’s law requiring disclosure between sex partners.
Obama Blasts South Africa on AIDS
Barack Obama (D-IL), the only black U.S. senator, came down hard on South African leaders today for their slow response to AIDS and singled out Health Minister Manto Tshabala-Msimang for favoring traditional medicine such as garlic, beets and lemons over antiretroviral drugs.
August 18, 2006
Canada’s Harper Dodges Harm Reduction Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper won’t comment on pending threats to close two safe-injection-site programs because the issue is currently too “politicized.”
Africa’s HIV Obstacles? Doctors and Politics A severe shortage of doctors and nurses may be Africa’s biggest HIV problem, according to the Word Health Organization (WHO), while the ActionAid International (AAI) blames the indifference of the region’s political leaders.
Lance Bass Has a Campy Day Former *NSYNCer and newly out Lance Bass visited Camp Heartland last week, a non-profit ASO in Malibu, Calfornia for children impacted by HIV and AIDS.
August 17, 2006
IAC: TB Plus HIV Still a Potent Double Play
Tuberculosis, a highly preventable and treatable disease, is killing hundreds of thousands with HIV despite HIV-positive TB patients’ adherence to antiretroviral treatment, according to experts at the 16th International AIDS Conference, held in Toronto from August 13 to August 18.
IAC: Kotler Responds to Critics of FRAM AIDSmeds Founder Peter Staley interviewed Dr. Donald Kotler, Chief of Gastroenterology at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital and one of the investigators in the controversial FRAM study.
August 16, 2006
IAC: Tibotec VP Discusses Latest On Prezista AIDSmeds Founder Peter Staley interviewed Dr. Alan Tennenberg, Tibotec's VP of Clinical Affairs, regarding the latest clinical data on Prezista, the newly approved protease inhibitor.
IAC: Markowitz on the Supervirus Case AIDSmeds Founder Peter Staley interviewed Dr. Martin Markowitz of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center for our first-ever podcast. Dr. Markowitz reported the case of a New York City gay man who, in early 2005, rapidly progressed to AIDS after becoming infected with a multiple-drug-resistant strain of HIV.
IAC: U.S. War on Drugs Shoots Up HIV Rates August 16, 2006—U.S. opposition to sponsoring harm reduction programs for IV drug users worldwide including methadone therapy and needle exchange is the largest barrier to reducing HIV infections in injection drug users, who account for 30% of new infections outside of Sub-Saharan Africa, according to a presentation at the Sixteenth International AIDS Conference by Alex Wodak, the former head of the International Harm Reduction Association.
IAC: Native Groups Face Crippling HIV
August 16, 2006—HIV rates in the world’s aboriginal populations, already high, are rising still further, possibly even risking their communities’ survival, according to a presentation by Dr. Clive Aspen from the University of Auckland in New Zealand.
IAC: Fauci Gets Grilled AIDSmeds Founder Peter Staley interviewed Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of NIAID at the NIH, and head of AIDS research for the U.S. government.
IAC: Activist Gonsalves Slams Gates & Clinton AIDSmeds Founder Peter Staley interviewed Gregg Gonsalves, former Director of Treatment & Prevention Advocacy at GMHC, and recent Cape Town-based activist for the AIDS & Rights Alliance for Southern Africa.
August 15, 2006
Prison HIV: Activists in Texas Hold ‘Em to Account Activists from ACT UP marched on the Texas Department of Correction yesterday to demand that the state, which has second highest number of inmates with full-blown AIDS and the third highest with HIV, start offering free condoms in jails.
HIV Stigma Wasn’t Part of the Job Description A Canadian man was awarded a worker’s compensation settlement after he claimed stress from coworkers taunting him about his HIV status forced him to quit his job.
August 14, 2006
IAC: African Americans Take a Seat at the Table At past International AIDS Conferences, African Americans and the scope of the HIV epidemic in black America has largely been missing from the conversation.
The One-a-Day Pill World Tour Gilead Sciences announced Friday that developing nations would soon get the first one pill, once-a-day HIV treatment. The FDA approved the drug, Atripla (efavirenz, emtricitabine and tenofovir), for U.S. use in July.
Gay Site Hooks Up With Safer Sex The popular gay dating/hook-up website manhunt.net has hired an outreach worker to surf the site under the name VIPBoy and impart safe sex advise to users.
Getting Fat to Fight AIDS Stigma August 11, 2006—Fear of looking like someone with AIDS is driving a rising obesity rate among black South African women, according to the International Association for the Study of Obesity.
HIV Test Results Must be Delivered August 11, 2006—A New Jersey appeals court ruled yesterday that a doctor or hospital that fails to notify a patient of HIV positive test results may be sued by that patient or by a sexual partner who was subsequently infected.
August 10, 2006
Gates Give $500 Million to the Global Fund August 10, 2006—The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is giving $500 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria over five years—by far the largest nongovernmental donation to date.
Coercive Testing Boosts HIV Stigma
August 10, 2006—India and Saudi Arabia coerce people into getting HIV tests without ensuring confidentiality, according to a Human Rights Watchreport that expresses concern that the policies increase HIV stigma.
August 09, 2006
Africans Take Their Meds on Time August 9, 2006—Sub-Saharan Africans are a lot better than North Americans at taking their HIV meds as prescribed, according to a study reported in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Philly Cancels “Violent” PSA’s August 9, 2006—Philadelphia health officials have pulled a local HIV awareness campaign that showed a young black man in the cross hairs of a gun following complaints that it encouraged violence.
August 08, 2006
The Material Girl in Malawi August 8, 2006—Madonna is planning to raise $3 million to support Malawi’s AIDS orphans through local food, health and school projects.
Saudi Arabia Confronts HIV
August 8, 2006—The Saudi Arabian government announced this summer that more than 10,000 citizens are HIV positive, in the country’s first-ever acknowledgement of the problem.
August 07, 2006
Canadian Mom Jailed for Not Disclosing
August 7, 2006—A Canadian woman has been sentenced to six months in prison for failing to disclose her HIV status to doctors when she gave birth to her second child.
When a School Uniform Is as Good as a Condom August 7, 2006— A study in Kenya by the Partnership for Childhood Development found girls given free school uniforms were less likely to drop out of school and engage in unprotected sex with older men, or “sugar daddies,” according to an article this weekend in the New York Times.
August 04, 2006
Zimbabwe: What Human Rights Problem? August 4, 2006—Zimbabwean Health Minister David Parirenyatwa rejected last month’s charges by the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch that government policies hurt people with HIV and said he will spend no time addressing what he described as inaccuracies.
Masturbating for the Cause August 4, 2006—A dimly lit London studio hosts Europe’s first-ever televised Masturbate-A-Thon this weekend, with proceeds benefiting AIDS and other charities.
August 03, 2006
Getting in Early on New Drugs
August 3, 2006—A recent ruling that gives terminally ill patients the right to use experimental treatments could hamper the Food and Drug Administration’s ability to evaluate drugs, according to an article in today’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Too Cool for Condoms? August 3, 2006—Only 47% of sexually active teen boys and 28% of girls reported always using a condom in a study to be released next week by Child Trends, a Washington, DC research center.
August 02, 2006
Daytime Drama! TV’s Hottie Docs Play Up HIV Romance She’s an auburn-haired doctor-next-door who happens to be HIV positive. He’s a handsome surgeon with a jawline to die for. But no, General Hospital sweethearts Robin Scorpio and Patrick Drake are not headed for a brief, tender marriage with Patrick at her bedside...
FDA Warnings On Oysters and Hydrogen Peroxide August 2, 2006—The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning to avoid eating raw oysters harvested in the Pacific Northwest due to nationwide reports of gastrointestinal illness.
Raw Deal for Romania’s Youngest August 2, 2006—HIV stigma prevents many of Romania’s 7,000 HIV positive children from attending school or receiving proper medical or dental care, according to a Human Rights Watch report released today.
August 01, 2006
AIDS in the Americas August 1, 2006—Migration and homophobia are among the extra risk factors driving HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a nine-month, ten-country reporting expedition by Science’s Jon Cohen.
Gospel Radio Tunes In to HIV August 1, 2006—Every Friday afternoon at 3:15, Kansas City listeners to KGGN Gospel radio (890 AM) get A Closer Look at the HIV scourge in the local African American community—one of only two such shows in the country.
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