N.M. Health Official Claims Condoms Got Her Fired
Erin Bouquin, chief medical officer for the New Mexico Department of Health, claims she was asked to resign after she gave a TV interview in which she advised teens to use condoms to prevent sexually transmitted infections, The Associated Press (AP) reports.
HIV Prostitution Concerns for Euro 2012 Soccer Tournament
HIV/AIDS organizations worry that sex tourism and prostitution could lead to a surge of new infections during the upcoming Euro 2012 soccer tournament, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
Arson Attack on Women's HIV Group in New Orleans
The offices of Women With a
Vision (WWAV), a New Orleans-based organization that provides health care and
support for poor minority women, were broken into and set on fire, resulting in
significant losses for the group, MRZine reports.
Chagas Disease Called 'New HIV/AIDS of the Americas'
Chagas disease, a tropical
insect-borne disease that mostly affects low-income people in the Caribbean and
Latin America, is being called “the new HIV/AIDS of the Americas,” PLoS
reports.
EJAF Gives $850,000 in First Round of 2012 Grants
The Elton John AIDS
Foundation (EJAF) has awarded $850,000 in its first round of 2012 grants to
AIDS United, The NAMES Project and the SERO Project, according to an EJAF
statement.
May 29, 2012
N.Y. High School to Give Away Free Condoms After Prom Administrators at the Bedford-Stuyvesant Preparatory High School in Brooklyn, New York, are continuing a national trend by making condoms available to students at the prom.
U.K. Considers Free Fertility Treatments for People With HIV The National Health Service in England and Wales should extend free fertility and in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments to people with infectious diseases such as HIV or hepatitis B and to people facing cancer treatment who hope to preserve their fertility, according to new guidelines published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
Court Orders Prison HIV Tests in Sri Lanka A Sri Lankan court magistrate has ordered authorities at Welikada prison to test inmates in a certain ward for HIV after one prisoner died of AIDS-related complications.
May 25, 2012
SF to Restore $6M in Cuts From Federal HIV Funds
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee will restore all of about $6.6 million in federal HIV/AIDS funds that the city expects to lose in the fiscal year beginning July 1, according to the Bay Area Reporter (BAR).
Federal Appeals Court Upholds Closing Medical Marijuana Stores The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld the denial of a request to stop the California cities of Lake Forest and Costa Mesa from closing medical marijuana stores, according to a City of Lake Forest statement.
May 24, 2012
The AIDS Institute and AIDS Alliance to Merge
The AIDS Institute and the AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth & Families will merge administrative operations beginning this summer, according to a joint statement.
Mississippi HIV Group Home Burglarized Grace House, a nonprofit group home for people with HIV/AIDS in Jackson, Mississippi, was broken into on May 19, WLBT reports.
Texas Audit Finds $35,000 in Double Billing From HIV Groups The Austin, Texas, health department's contracts with two HIV/AIDS service organizationsthe David Powell Health Center and Austin Travis County Integral Carecontain serious shortcomings that could jeopardize current and future federal funding, The Statesman reports.
May 23, 2012
Condom Wrapper Design Contest Launched in Los Angeles
The Los Angeles County Department
of Public Health has launched the “LA’s
Next Sex Symbol” contest asking residents to design an official LA-branded
condom, according to a health department statement.
Drug-Resistant HIV Strains Increasing in Uganda Drug-resistant HIV strains are
becoming more common in Uganda; their prevalence is 12 percent today compared
with 8.6 percent in 2007, PlusNews reports.
May 22, 2012
N.Y. Man With HIV Gets 20 Years for Raping Ex-Girlfriend Samuel Serrano-Gonzalez, a 28-year-old HIV-positive man from Waterford, New York, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping his ex-girlfriend and attempting to transmit HIV.
Fighting HIV, Sexual Abuse of Minors in the Caribbean A new campaign spotlights the high incidence of childhood sex abuse and rape in the Caribbean, which often goes underreported and spreads sexually transmitted infections such as HIV, according to a UNICEF statement.
Burma Celebrates First Public LGBT Pride Event Burma’s first-ever public LGBT pride event, held in a Rangoon hotel and attended by about 400 people, may signal a shift toward reforming the country’s policies that criminalize homosexuality.
May 21, 2012
Electronic System Speeds Up Reporting of HIV, Other Diseases
Health departments nationwide are switching from paper-based to electronic laboratory reporting (ELR) systems, which will expedite reporting of diseases and medical conditions such as HIV and hepatitis, according to an Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) statement.
Ohio Man With HIV Gets Three Years for Unprotected Sex
A 23-year-old man from Ohio was sentenced to three years in prison for having unprotected sex with a woman while knowingly being HIV positive, The Vindicator reports.
May 18, 2012
Hepatitis Testing Day 2012
May 19 has been designated as national Hepatitis Testing Day, according to a statement by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
North Korea Seeks to Curb Sexually Transmitted Infections North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s regime is trying to combat the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), a development linked to the growth of prostitution in the impoverished state, The Korean Times reports.
U.S. House Bill Gives Over $5B to PEPFAR, Global Fund
In its newly approved 2013 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations has dedicated $5.542 billion to global AIDS funding, the Center for Global Health Policy reports.
Bill to Create $3B Fund in Exchange for Generic HIV Drugs
The U.S. Senate is
considering a bill to create a $3 billion fund to offer a prize to developers
of new medications in exchange for allowing those drugs to immediately go
generic, Politico reports.
Massachusetts Cuts Over $1M From HIV Testing in Jails
Massachusetts sheriffs have publicly criticized the state’s decision to cut more than $1 million for HIV testing, education and doctor’s visits in county jails, Boston.com reports.
'Devastating Gap' Between Need, Access to HIV Care in Burma
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders) says that Burma needs increased international funding to save about 120,000 people with HIV who are currently in need of urgent treatment, The Guardian reports.
May 14, 2012
Justice Dept. Settles Two HIV Health Care Discrimination Claims
Two settlements have been resolved involving claims that health care providers refused to serve people with HIV, which is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) statement.
Banyan Tree Project Launches Anti-HIV Stigma Campaign In advance of the annual National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on Friday, May 18, the Banyan Tree Project (BTP) has launched an initiative to end HIV stigma and discrimination among Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, according to a BTP statement.
Housing for Sex Workers Reduces Their HIV Risk Sex workers who have safe and supportive housing are at less risk of being exposed to violence and HIV, according to a study by the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and reported by The Province.
May 11, 2012
Iowa Declines Coverage of Uninsured People With HIV
The board overseeing Iowa’s federal high-risk insurance pool has declined to step in and make changes that would make insurance coverage available to Iowans with HIV, the Des Moines Register reports.
UNAIDS Concerned Over Greece HIV Sex Worker Crackdown
he Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has expressed its concern over recent actions by Greek authorities involving the arrest, detention, mandatory HIV testing, publication of photographs and personal details, and pressing of criminal charges against at least 12 sex workers, according to a UNAIDS statement.
May 10, 2012
Global Fund Forecasts $1.6B in Additional Support
A new financial forecast by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria estimates more than $1.6 billion in additional funding will be available in the 2012 to 2014 period, according to a Global Fund statement.
FDA Staff Supports Truvada PrEP in Advance of Hearing Staff from the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) have found Truvada, a pill from Gilead Sciences, to
be safe and effective when used to protect HIV-negative people from getting the
virus, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.
Sexually Active Teen Girls More Likely to Use Contraception
The proportion of teenage
girls having sex has decreased while the use of contraception has increased,
according to the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and reported by HealthDay News.
Confusion Over Side Effects of HIV Meds in Australia The National Association of
People Living With HIV (NAPWA) in Australia is launching an awareness campaign for
new HIV drug treatment plans, the Melbourne Weekly reports.
May 07, 2012
HIV/AIDS Funding Does Not Weaken Services for Other Illnesses
Even though HIV/AIDS receives more donor funding globally than all other diseases combined, the imbalance does not undermine the health care services for other illnesses, according to a study published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
Bob Barker Builds a Habitat for Chimps With HIV, Hepatitis
Former Price Is Right television host Bob Barker donated $500,000 to rescue and build a new habitat for five HIV- and hepatitis-infected chimpanzees, according to a Chimp Haven statement.
HIV, Hep Concerns for Calif. Boy Pricked by Used Syringe Seven-year-old Miklo Santiago pricked his finger after finding a used syringe in an Oakland, California, schoolyard last week, and he is now undergoing preventive treatment for HIV and hepatitis as a precaution, according to a KTVU article.
Howard University Can Sue Former Dean for HIV Discrimination A federal judge has ruled that Howard University can proceed with its lawsuit against former dean Belinda Watkins over costs incurred by her discrimination against an HIV-positive subordinate, Courthouse News Service (CN) reports.
UNAIDS: Gaps Persist in Access to HIV Services Worldwide United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon warns that unless greater efforts to combat AIDS are taken, prevention and care targets set for 2015 won't be met, according to a Joint United Nations Program on AIDS (UNAIDS) statement.
Rising HIV Rates Among Nomads in Northeastern Uganda The Karimojong nomads of northeastern Uganda, once regarded as a low-risk group for HIV because of geographic isolation and cultural strictures, have seen a significant rise in HIV rates—from 3.5 percent five years ago to 5.8 percent today, PlusNews reports.
May 02, 2012
Florida Reduces Its ADAP Waiting List to 427 People
The Florida Legislature has
voted to increase funding to Florida’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) as
part of the 2012 state budget, reducing its waiting list for the program to 427
people, according to a statement from The AIDS Institute.
Greece Begins Mobile HIV Health Checks of Sex Workers The Centre for the Control
and Prevention of Diseases (known as KEEL.PNO) in Greece has started mobile
health checks that include HIV tests for sex workers working on streets and in
brothels, Athens News reports.
