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Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Women, girls priority in U.S. efforts against global HIV/AIDS, Clinton tells international health experts

In a video address to international HIV/AIDS experts gathered in Namibia for the 2009 HIV/AIDS Implementers Meeting Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton emphasized the Obama administration's commitment to women and girls in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the AP/Washington Post reports.

11 Jun 2009

National survey looks at HIV/AIDS in South Africa

According to the results of a national survey conducted in 2008 and released Tuesday, HIV prevalence among South Africans between the ages of 15 and 24 dropped from "a high of 10.3 percent in 2005 to 8.7 percent last year, with the decreases most marked among teenagers," AFP/Google.com reports (AFP/Google.com, 6/9).

11 Jun 2009

World Economic Forum on Africa begins; reports examine African development

The World Economic Forum on Africa - a three-day event, which this year is focusing primarily "on the world economic downturn and how to lessen its effect on African economies" - kicked off Wednesday in Cape Town, South Africa, VOA News reports.

11 Jun 2009

The 'hijacking mechanism' of HIV-1 pinpointed

Researchers at McGill University and the affiliated Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital - along with colleagues at the University of Manitoba and the University of British Columbia - may have found a chink in the armour of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), the microorganism which causes AIDS. They have pinpointed the key cellular machinery co-opted by HIV-1 to hijack the human cell for its own benefit.

10 Jun 2009

Reports from the White House and Kaiser Family Foundation address health care disparities

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and White House Health Czar Nancy Ann DeParle held a discussion of minority health issues at the White House yesterday, where Sebelius "said the Obama administration is committed to addressing the 'alarming disparity in the delivery of quality health care'," which she said was necessary to lower costs, the Associated Press reports.

10 Jun 2009

Women of color more likely to have major health care problems than white women

Women of color in America are 11 times more likely than their white counterparts to contract AIDS, according to a new study released Wednesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

10 Jun 2009

Global AIDS coordinator nominee Goosby testifies before Senate committee

President Obama's choice for the State Department's global AIDS coordinator position, Eric Goosby, testified on Tuesday at a confirmation hearing with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, VOA News reports. Goosby would work to continue PEPFAR's success, and "says he will emphasize prevention if he is confirmed by the Senate," VOA News writes.

10 Jun 2009

New York Times examines varying definitions of 'pandemic'

"The new swine influenza virus [H1N1], which appeared suddenly after years of warning about a potential pandemic of avian influenza, upset the WHO's assumptions that most people have the same understanding of the word pandemic," says the New York Times in a report that examines the difficultly health experts have had when attempting to agree upon what constitutes a pandemic.

9 Jun 2009

Study finds conflict-affected countries receive less money for reproductive health

A recent study found developing countries affected by war receive less money for reproductive health than other developing nations, despite having acute needs, Reuters reports.

9 Jun 2009

Opinion: Second-line ARVs in India; PEPFAR funding

The successful scale-up of services for people living with HIV (PLHIV) in India "is now at risk," write Loon Gangte, president of the Delhi Network of Positive People, and Leena Menghaney, projects manager in India for Medecins Sans Frontieres' Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, in a livemint.com editorial.

9 Jun 2009

Antiretroviral therapy earlier yields better clinical outcomes

A clinical trial has demonstrated that HIV-infected adults in a resource-limited setting are more likely to survive if they start antiretroviral therapy (ART) before their immune systems are severely compromised.

9 Jun 2009

Jacob Zuma addresses increased access to antiretrovirals, reduction in HIV incidence

South African President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday said he wants to have 80 percent of HIV-positive South Africans who need antiretrovirals (ARVs) on them by 2011, BuaNews reports (BuaNews/allAfrica.com, 6/3).

9 Jun 2009

HCV protease inhibitor telaprevir improves response, halves treatment time for hepatitis C patients

For patients with the most common form of hepatitis C, the addition of a hepatitis C-specific protease inhibitor called telaprevir to the current standard therapy can significantly improve the chances of being cured, and it does it in half the time of standard therapy alone.

5 Jun 2009

Johnson & Johnson's research reflecting new Washington policies

Health care supplier Johnson & Johnson will focus on new treatments and improved tests for cancer and other diseases for which company perceives unmet needs, like diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV, as well as using new, Washington-supported research techniques to gauge their effectiveness, researchers and executives said at a briefing with analysts, BusinessWeek reports.

5 Jun 2009

WHO recommends worldwide use of rotavirus vaccine for children

To reduce an estimated half million deaths and two million hospitalizations from diarrhea caused by rotavirus each year, the WHO on Friday recommended that oral rotavirus vaccines be added to national childhood immunization programs, broadening access to the vaccine in the developing world, Reuters reports.

5 Jun 2009

International HIV/AIDS experts to meet in Namibia next week

Thousands of international HIV/AIDS experts will convene in Windhoek, Namibia, next week for a five-day meeting focused on HIV/AIDS, New Era reports.

5 Jun 2009

WHO recommends global use of rotavirus vaccines - can protect millions of children from diarrhoeal diseaseas

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that rotavirus vaccination be included in all national immunization programmes to provide protection against a virus that is responsible for more than 500,000 diarrhoeal deaths and 2 million hospitalizations every year among children. More than 85% of these deaths occur in developing countries in Africa and Asia. This new policy will help ensure access to rotavirus vaccines in the world's poorest countries.

5 Jun 2009

Report examines Zimbabwean refugees In South Africa

According to a report released Tuesday by Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF), "Zimbabweans continue to cross the border [into South Africa] every day, legally and illegally, in massive numbers as a matter of survival," AFP/Google.com reports (AFP/Google.com, 6/2).

4 Jun 2009

African health advocates meet in Kenya to discuss need for governments to improve basic healthcare services

Health advocates at a civil society meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, called for African governments to improve access to basic health care, IRIN reports. "African governments are failing to offer even the most basic healthcare that could save lives, speakers warned," writes IRIN.

4 Jun 2009

U.S. doubles annual Malawi HIV/AIDS support to $45 million

The U.S. government recently announced a commitment to double its support for Malawi's efforts to fight HIV/AIDS to $45 million annually, Xinhua reports (Xinhua, 6/2).

3 Jun 2009