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Clinton says U.S. will work with India to address health challenges, hunger

The U.S. will work to address the health challenges facing India among other countries and will aim to improve maternal and child health care services through comprehensive dialogue, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday after visiting a Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) trade outlet in Mumbai, India, PTI/Yahoo! News reports.

20 Jul 2009

South Africa launches HIV/AIDS vaccine trial

"The first clinical trial of an HIV/AIDS vaccine designed and developed in South Africa was launched in Cape Town" Monday, the SAPA/The Times reports.

20 Jul 2009

MSM HIV infection rates in some African countries significantly higher than general population rates, study says

HIV infection rates among gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) in "some African countries are 10 times that of the general male population, and stigma, poor access to treatment or testing are to blame," according to a Lancet study published online on Monday, AFP/China Post reports.

20 Jul 2009

IAS Conference begins, report says economic crisis forcing Africans living with HIV/AIDS off life-saving medications

At a news conference opening the 5th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention on Sunday in Cape Town, South Africa, Julio Montaner, president of the International AIDS Society, expressed disappointment that the "G8 ignored the HIV-AIDS issue at its annual summit this month," which was "just four years after pledging at the 2005 Gleneagles [G8] summit to fight for universal access to AIDS treatment by 2010," the Globe and Mail reports.

20 Jul 2009

Discovery of gene linked to follicular lymphoma

California and Arizona researchers have identified a gene variant that carries nearly twice the risk of developing an increasingly common type of blood cancer, according to a study published online today by the science journal Nature Genetics.

20 Jul 2009

Tamoxifen kills fungus cells and may prevent them from causing disease

An FDA-approved drug used for preventing recurrence of breast cancer shows promise in fighting life-threatening fungal infections common in immune-compromised patients, such as infants born prematurely and patients with cancer. Some scientists suspected that tamoxifen has antifungal properties; now new research from the University of Rochester Medical Center shows that it actually kills fungus cells and stops them from causing disease.

20 Jul 2009

Gene variants associated with survival advantage in African Americans with HIV

From the start of the HIV epidemic, it appeared that some of the people who were infected with the virus were able to ward off the fatal effects of the disease longer than others.

20 Jul 2009

New understanding on mechanisms of DNA replication and transcription

By manipulating individual atoms in DNA and forming unique molecules, a Georgia State University researcher hopes to open new avenues in research towards better understanding the mechanisms of DNA replication and transcription, and perhaps leading to new treatments for diseases.

19 Jul 2009

NPR examines Obama's 'broad' global health strategy; maternal health in Afghanistan discussed at congressional briefing

NPR reports on President Obama's "broad global health strategy," which would increase the amount of funding for family planning, maternal and child health programs to about a "half billion dollars" next year. According to NPR, "the U.S. has committed $230 million [over the next five years] directly to health in Afghanistan, whose government has already built 2,000 health facilities since the collapse of the Taliban regime" (Wilson, 7/15).

15 Jul 2009

GlaxoSmithKline pledges $97 million investment in AIDS drugs for Africa, allows South African drugmaker to produce generic second-line treatment

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) on Tuesday announced plans to invest $97 million over 10 years "to improve research, development and access to AIDS drugs in Africa," Reuters reports.

15 Jul 2009

Review of Brazil's HIV/AIDS treatment programs shows importance of generic drugs, researchers say

"Brazil has been successful in its nearly 20-year effort to treat people living with" HIV/AIDS, and generic medicines have been "a large part of the solution," according to a recent Health Affairs review, UPI reports (UPI, 7/14).

15 Jul 2009

Schering-Plough expands Vicriviroc study in treatment-naive patients with HIV

Schering-Plough Corporation has announced that it has extended to stage two an ongoing Phase II clinical study with vicriviroc, its investigational CCR5 antagonist, for use in first-line therapy of adult treatment-naive HIV-infected patients with R5-type virus only. In this study, vicriviroc is being evaluated in a novel nucleoside-sparing regimen that is designed to provide additional options for treatment-naive patients in a once daily regimen, while preserving other drug classes for subsequent lines of treatment.

15 Jul 2009

Focusing HIV treatment helps control concurrent hepatitis B infection

Prolonged use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to treat people infected with both HIV and hepatitis B (HBV) helps to better control the hepatitis B infection and could delay or prevent liver complications, according to a new study by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

15 Jul 2009

Obama announces Regina Benjamin as Surgeon General pick

Dr. Regina Benjamin is President Obama's pick for surgeon general. The Alabama family physician has been an advocate for universal care, and is expected to have a role "at the table" in health reform, which would be an unusual degree of influence over policy for a surgeon general. Obama said Benjamin "represents what's best about health care in America."

15 Jul 2009

Developing countries can successfully combat HIV/AIDS epidemic with generics

Brazil's nearly two-decade effort to treat people living with HIV and AIDS shows that developing countries can successfully combat the epidemic. Inexpensive generic medicines are a large part of the solution, say researchers from Brown University and the Harvard School of Public Health.

14 Jul 2009

Obama addresses Ghana's parliament, reiterates U.S. global health initiative

During his visit to Ghana over the weekend, President Obama praised the country for its achievements while calling on African leaders to take responsibility for the future of the continent, CNN reports. "Despite the progress that has been made - and there has been considerable progress in parts of Africa - we also know that much of that promise has yet to be fulfilled," Obama said during a speech before the Ghanaian parliament (7/11).

13 Jul 2009

U.S. to commit additional $1 billion to H1N1 vaccine development

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Sunday the U.S. has agreed to put an addition $1 billion towards ingredients for the production of a vaccine that offers protection against the H1N1 (swine flu) virus, Reuters reports.

13 Jul 2009

IRIN examines 'dramatic plunge' in family planning international donor dunding

IRIN examines how a "dramatic plunge" in international donor funding for family planning could undermine other health- and humanitarian-related goals, including fighting poverty and hunger. About 200 million women do not have access to contraception, which could cause a surge in the world's population leading to a reversal of humanitarian gains, according to some experts.

13 Jul 2009

Senate Committee approves bill to fund State Department global health programs, global fund

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday voted 29-1 to pass a $48.69 billion draft bill to "fund the State Department and foreign affairs activities in fiscal 2010," CQ reports. "Global health programs would receive $7.8 billion, which is $434 million more than fiscal 2009 funding and $178 million more than the administration request.

12 Jul 2009

President Obama to visit Ghana Friday - major policy statement

IRIN reports that Ghanaians "are mixing high hopes with caution" in anticipation of President Obama's arrival in the country Friday – "his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa." Obama is expected to "make a major policy statement," according to IRIN. The article looks back at some of the commitments that former Presidents Bush and Clinton previously made to Africa (7/8).

9 Jul 2009