 January 31, 2008
|
HIV Activists Fault South African Mother-Child Transmission Guidelines
In response to new South African treatment guidelines for the prevention of mother-child HIV transmission, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), an HIV/AIDS lobby group, has said that although the guidelines contain improvements, they fall short of World Health Organization recommendations, according to the South African financial daily newspaper Business Day/AllAfrica.com.
|
|
|
Kenyan Teachers Organize to Fight AIDS
HIV-positive teachers in Kenya’s Central province have united to educate other teachers, students and parents about the virus, reports The Nation/AllAfrica.com. HIV prevalence among teachers in the region is 4.5 percent, according to the article.
|
|
|
A New Jersey Needle Exchange Fights to Survive
In New Jersey’s Camden County—which ranks ninth among the state’s municipalities for HIV cases—a needle-exchange program is struggling to reduce new infections among intravenous-drug users, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
|
|
|
New Questions About Sexual Transmission Study
Although Switzerland's Federal AIDS Commission said January 30 that HIV-positive people who are on an antiretroviral regimen cannot pass the virus to a negative partner, health officials and AIDS advocates worry that these new findings are misleading, Agence France-Presse/Yahoo News Reports.
|
|
|
January 30, 2008
|
A Snapshot of HIV in America
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a snapshot of HIV infection in the country on January 29. The report showed that about a half of one percent of adults ages 18 to 49 living in households are also living with HIV, Reuters/Yahoo News reports (news.yahoo.com, 1/29), putting the number of HIV-positive people in the U.S. at about 600,000.
|
|
|
Virtual Human Body in HIV Drug Simulation
Scientists at University College London have successfully utilized the national computing grids of the United States and the United Kingdom to create a Virtual Physiological Human simulation, essentially using supercomputers to simulate the inner workings of the human body. It may one day help people living with HIV better cope with drug resistance, ScienceDaily reports.
|
|
|
Judge Makes HIV-Positive Witness Wear Surgical Mask in Court
An judge in Ontario, Canada, asked an HIV-positive witness to wear a surgical mask while testifying in a sexual assault case, and later moved the case to a larger courtroom to maximize the distance between the witness stand and the bench, Ontario news website The Star reports.
|
|
|
January 29, 2008
|
The National Latino Hispanic AIDS Leadership Summit Begins Today
On January 29 and 30 in Washington D.C., activists, health advocates, political leaders and people living with HIV convene to kick off the 2008 National Latino Hispanic AIDS Leadership Summit to develop the Latino/Hispanic AIDS Action Agenda—a national policy blueprint to fight HIV/AIDS amongst Latino-American communities.
|
|
|
Five Days of Free Condoms in Brazil
In honor of Brazil’s five-day Carnival celebration—marking the beginning of Lent—health officials are distributing 19.5 million free condoms in order to curb new HIV/AIDS infections, UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph reports.
|
|
|
Texan Arrested for Distributing Clean Needles
A 73-year-old lay chaplain in Texas is facing jail time for handing out clean needles to drug addicts to prevent the spread of HIV, an act that is illegal in the state of Texas, reports the Los Angeles Times.
|
|
|
January 28, 2008
|
World Leaders Urge Commitment to Fight Disease and Poverty
World leaders and AIDS advocates at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland held January 2327 called for an increased commitment to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, U.S. multimedia broadcasting service VOA News reports.
|
|
|
California Shelter Helps the Homeless and the Environment
An Oakland, California homeless shelter—which will provide care for people living with HIV, diabetes and other chronic conditions—will be one of the first “green,” or environmentally conscious, shelters ever built, The New York Times reports.
|
|
|
Russian Prisoners Denied HIV Treatment
Roughly 42,000 HIV-positive prisoners are not receiving proper treatment due to poor patient education, lack of physicians and bureaucratic barriers, reports The Moscow Times.
|
|
|
January 25, 2008
|
Microsoft and Dell's (RED) Letter Day
Microsoft and Dell announced on Wednesday that they will be combining efforts in support of the (PRODUCT)RED campaign by releasing two (RED) computers—partially designed by U2 rocker and activist Bono.
|
|
|
President Bush to Propose $30 Billion for PEPFAR
In his final State of the Union address on January 28, President Bush will unveil a proposal to double U.S. funding from $15 billion to $30 billion to fight HIV/AIDS overseas, reports USA TODAY.
|
|
|
January 24, 2008
|
Arizona Governor Rejects Abstinence-Only Funding
Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano said the state will reject federal funding for abstinence-only programs and will only accept money that can be used to provide sex education, contraceptives and sexually transmitted disease screenings for community college students, reports the Arizona Daily Star.
|
|
|
January 23, 2008
|
STD Rates Increasing in Canadian Arctic
New research showing higher-than-normal rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in Northern Canada, or the Canadian Arctic, has some experts concerned about what this may mean for HIV prevalence in the region, reports The Canadian Press.
|
|
|
Health Experts Consider Shifting AIDS Funds
Some international health experts say it might be a good idea to shift some of the billions of dollars spent on fighting HIV/AIDS each year to address basic health problems such as a lack of clean water, poor family planning or diarrhea, reports the Associated Press (AP).
|
|
|
Abstinence-Plus Programs Shown to Reduce Risky Behavior
Sexual education programs that promote sexual abstinence while also encouraging safe sex—known as “abstinence-plus” programs—are found to reduce HIV risk among young people in developed countries, Medical News Today reports.
|
|
|
Political Unrest Linked to Poor HIV Care
In an address to the United Nations executive board, head of the World Health Organization Margaret Chan said that Kenya’s struggle to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases is being made more difficult by post-election political unrest in the East African country, reports Reuters Africa.
|
|
|
January 22, 2008
|
Researchers Support NYC Bathhouse Regulation
Medical researchers are voicing support for keeping New York City’s bathhouses open so they may be used as centers of study for tracking sexually transmitted disease progression in the city.
|
|
|
Chinese Scientists Look for AIDS Vaccine
Scientists in China are working on an AIDS vaccine to protect against three variants of HIV that are becoming more prevalent in Hong Kong, Taiwan and southern and western China, Reuters reports.
|
|
|
California MRSA Study Causes Uproar
When a press release issued by the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) linked a new strain of drug-resistant staphylococcus—a virulent and potentially deadly bacteria otherwise known as MRSA USA300—to gay men, reporters around the world jumped on the story.
|
|
|
Top Indian Writers Confront AIDS Epidemic
A group of 15 Indian writers are participating in a new initiative sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that aims to open up a public dialogue about HIV/AIDS in India and abroad, The Hindustan Times reports.
|
|
|
January 21, 2008
|
Scots Need More Info on HIV
Though rates of HIV/AIDS in Scotland are rising, people in the nation are the least knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS of all individuals living in the UK, BBC News reports (bbc.co.uk, 1/17).
|
|
|
Ethiopia Plans Widespread Free HIV Treatment by 2010
Ethiopia has begun implementing a plan to provide free antiretroviral drugs to all HIV-positive people in the country who need them by 2010, reports Inquirer.net/Agence-France Presse (AFP) (newsinfo.inquirer.net, 1/17).
|
|
|
January 18, 2008
|
San Francisco’s Black MSMs Disproportionately Affected by HIV
As the number of African Americans living in San Francisco decreases—now representing only seven percent of the city’s population—new research shows black residents account for 14 percent of the city’s new HIV infections, suggests the Bay Area Reporter.
|
|
|
Latina Sorority Shows Support for HIV Assistance Bill
Upon learning of a proposed bill that would provide additional care for U.S. Latinos and other minorities living with HIV, the Indiana University chapter of Latina sorority Gamma Phi Omega has been increasing its efforts to spread HIV/AIDS awareness throughout both school and community, Indiana Daily Student reports.
|
|
|
January 17, 2008
|
Political Turmoil Leaves Displaced HIV-Positive Kenyans Without Meds
The political turmoil over last month’s disputed elections that has swept across Kenya in recent weeks has displaced some HIV-positive people—leaving them struggling to keep up with their antiretroviral therapy and to find adequate food to take with their pills, reports Aidsmap.com/PLUS News.
|
|
|
School Attendance May Lower HIV Risk
Secondary school attendance may result in a lower risk of HIV infection in young people, suggests a study published in The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, reports Medical News Today.
|
|
|
January 16, 2008
|
Bye-Bye, Bathhouses?
Though the New York City health department has said that it has not determined how or if it will regulate the city’s sex clubs and bathhouses, a senior official at the agency said the goal is to shut them down, reports Gay City News.
|
|
|
San Franciscans Send Medical Supplies to Ethiopa
Two residents of San Francisco’s Bay area are sending medical supplies to their home country of Ethopia to help provide treatment for the growing number of Ethiopians living with HIV/AIDS, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
|
|
|
January 15, 2008
|
Young Cameroonians Are Avoiding HIV Test Results
Young people in Cameroon getting tested for HIV are not returning for their results, which may be contributing to an increase in new HIV infections in the western African republic, local newspaper The Post reports.
|
|
|
The U.S. to Help India Form Its Own FDA
Health officials announced on January 11 that the United States will help form a Food and Drug Administration in India similar to its own, Indian news website The Hindu reports.
|
|
|
January 14, 2008
|
Ghana Hotels Stock Condoms Before Soccer Tournament
The Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) has begun distributing free condoms to hotels in the country in advance of the 2008 African Cup of Nations soccer tournament, to be held this year in Ghana from January 20 to February 10, reports the Nigerian newspaper Vanguard.
|
|
|
Latino Group to Keep HIV/AIDS Program Running
After announcing a week earlier that it would no longer be running a program for HIV positive people in Arizona’s Maricopa County, the nonprofit Chicanos Por La Causa (CPLC) has said it will continue to offer its Ryan White CARE program through February 2009, reports The Arizona Republic.
|
|
|
January 11, 2008
|
Zimbabwe Suffers Drug Shortages
A study released January reveals that at least 50 percent of Zimbabwe’s medications—including those for HIV, diabetes and other chronic conditions—are out of stock due to a shortage of foreign currency, Independent Online reports.
|
|
|
One out of Five in NYC Are at Risk for HIV
Nearly one out of five adults in New York City is at risk for HIV infection through intravenous-drug use or unprotected sex with multiple partners, according to a study released January 10, the city’s NY1 cable news network reports.
|
|
|
DC’s Whitman-Walker Clinic to Expand
On January 10, Washington DC’s Whitman-Walker Clinic, the largest provider of HIV/AIDS services in the region, says it will expand its medical care as it moves toward becoming a comprehensive health care center, reports The Washington Post.
|
|
|
Study Unravels Proteins Linked to HIV Progression
Researchers at Harvard Medical School have identified 273 proteins that HIV needs in order to survive in human cells, a finding that could lead to the development of new HIV/AIDS drugs, The New York Times reports.
|
|
|
January 10, 2008
|
Hepatitis C Patient Prescribed HIV Meds by Mistake
A recipient of a liver transplant has filed a $2 million lawsuit against New York University Medical Center because the hospital pharmacy accidentally gave him an HIV drug instead of medication to treat hepatitis C, Newsday reports.
|
|
|
In Nepal, Frank Sex Talk on the Radio
A radio program in Nepal has confronted the country’s social taboos against frank talk about sexuality, offering safe-sex advice to young people and information on HIV/AIDS, Reuters reports.
|
|
|
January 09, 2008
|
Hispanic Group Pulls Out of Arizona HIV/AIDS Program
While Hispanic Americans represent one of the fastest growing at-risk groups for HIV infection, Arizona AIDS service organization Chicanos Por La Causa will no longer be serving positive people in Maricopa County due to a lack of necessary funds, The Arizona Republic reports.
|
|
|
NYC’s Death Rate Drops
On January 8, New York City’s health commissioner Thomas R. Frieden announced that the city’s overall death rate hit an all-time low in 2006, due in part to declines in HIV and smoking-related mortality, reports the Associated Press.
|
|
|
WHO Encourages Task Shifting Among Health Workers
In order to increase access to HIV/AIDS treatment in developing countries, less qualified health workers should be used to deliver care in areas where there are severe shortages of doctors and nurses, the World Health Organization (WHO) said January 8, reports the Agence France-Presse.
|
|
|
January 08, 2008
|
HIV and Syphilis on the Rise in NYC Bathhouses
Although health officials have claimed over the past few years that the high HIV-infection rate among New York City’s gay and bisexual men has stabilized, the city’s health department says that rates of HIV and syphilis infection are actually escalating, Gay City News reports.
|
|
|
Teens Talk HIV in New Book
In response to the alarming rise in infection among those ages 13 to 19, a new book, titled Teenagers, HIV, and AIDS , promises to bridge the gap between teenagers living with HIV/AIDS and health experts, The Washington Post reports.
|
|
|
Atlanta Hospital Faces Financial Crisis
A historic hospital in Atlanta, which has provided lifesaving services, including critical services for HIV-positive people, to thousands for over 100 years is facing a financial crisis and the threat of closing, reports The New York Times.
|
|
|
HIV in Texas Border Communities
New HIV/AIDS data released by the Texas Department of State Health Services shows a growing epidemic in Cameron County, the state’s southern-most county, which borders Mexico, according to the Brownsville Herald.
|
|
|
January 07, 2008
|
The Grammys Recognize Ugandan HIV
Professor Gregory Barz of Nashville, Tennessee’s Blair School of Music empowers Ugandans living with HIV/AIDS in his Grammy-nominated 14-track compilation album Singing for Life, the Nashville-based website The Tennessean reports.
|
|
|
Growing Older With HIV
Many older people living with HIV/AIDS are facing an unexpected battle with a variety of chronic health conditions, including diabetes, kidney failure, depression and cancer, reports The New York Times.
|
|
|
HIV, Gonorrhea Rates Rise in South Dakota
According to the South Dakota Department of Health, gonorrhea and HIV/AIDS cases have risen in the state, while chlamydia cases are on the decline, reports the Mitchell, South Dakota, newspaper The Daily Republic.
|
|
|
January 04, 2008
|
Train Fare Concessions for HIV Patients in India
Indian Railways, the department of the Government of India that operates the country’s rail network, is considering a proposal that will offer fare reductions of up to 75 percent for people living with HIV/AIDS who travel by train, reports The Indian Express.
|
|
|
Kids Grill AIDS Experts in New Film
In a documentary entitled Please Talk to Kids About AIDS, two sisters—aged 4 and 6—talk to top experts in the HIV/AIDS field about the virus and get some straightforward, jargon-free answers, Voice of America News reports.
|
|
|
January 03, 2008
|
AIDS Activist and Actress Gloria Reuben Returns to ER
For one night only—tonight, January 3—actress and AIDS activist Gloria Reuben will reprise her role as HIV-positive former medical assistant Jeanie Boulet on NBC’s longtime medical drama ER, TV Guide Online reports.
|
|
|
Turmoil in Kenya May Increase HIV Infections
In the midst of political turmoil and violence in parts of Kenya, a government agency has warned that HIV infections may increase as a result of gang rapes, reports Kenyan daily newspaper The Nation and AllAfrica.com.
|
|
|
AIDS History in the Making
To memorialize those lost in the struggle against HIV/AIDS, three archives have been constructed in Los Angeles and San Francisco, collecting hundreds of thousands of documents that form a history of the epidemic in California and across the country, the | | |
