AIDS News and Research

RSS

AIDS Healthcare Foundation praises Thai action on AIDS drug licensing

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the US' largest HIV/AIDS healthcare and prevention and education provider, which operates free AIDS treatment clinics in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia, praised the Government of Thailand for its plan to break the patents on some lifesaving drugs, including one for an anti- retroviral drug used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

29 Jan 2007

China should own up to past HIV/AIDS mistakes

Although China in recent years "has made bold strides in its response to HIV/AIDS," the number of new HIV/AIDS cases will continue to increase unless the country "owns up to past mistakes, encourages and supports civil society involvement, and proactively deals with the serious challenges of stigma and misinformation".

29 Jan 2007

HIV/AIDS advocates call on Zimbabwe to address broad health care issues

Although some HIV/AIDS advocates in Zimbabwe are welcoming a recent pledge from the Zimbabwean government to provide increased access to antiretroviral drugs by the end of this year, they also are stressing the need to address a broader crisis in the country's health care system, VOA News reports.

29 Jan 2007

Poverty, gender inequality contributing to spread of HIV in Caribbean

Poverty, gender inequality and discrimination are hampering efforts to curb the spread of HIV in the Caribbean, speakers at the Caribbean Summit on HIV/AIDS in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, said on Sunday, the Caribbean Net News reports.

28 Jan 2007

Guyanese Health Ministry to provide $450,000 for HIV/AIDS programs

The Guyanese Ministry of Health on Tuesday announced it will provide $450,000 to 16 nongovernmental organizations to conduct HIV/AIDS programs nationwide, the Stabroek News reports.

28 Jan 2007

HIV prevention and education initiatives are not reaching girls in Africa

According to Bruce, young African girls often have low school attendance and few friends, making them hard to reach. Impoverished girls are more likely to engage in commercial sex work, which increases their risk of contracting HIV, Bruce said.

28 Jan 2007

Violence against women fueling spread of HIV worldwide

Violence against women worldwide is fueling the spread of HIV in the population, and unwillingness among some governments to acknowledge the issue will continue to undermine prevention and education efforts, advocates said this week at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, Inter Press Service reports.

28 Jan 2007

Advocates should focus on long-term strategy to fight HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS advocates should focus on developing a long-term strategy for the fight against the pandemic, Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Executive Director Richard Feachem said on Wednesday during a satellite meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Reuters Health reports.

28 Jan 2007

Thailand plans to break antiretroviral patents

Thai Public Health Minister Mongkol Songkhla plans to break patents on an antiretroviral drug and a drug for heart disease by issuing compulsory licenses to produce lower-cost versions, Ministry of Public Health spokesperson Suphan Srithamma announced on Thursday, AFP/Yahoo! News reports.

28 Jan 2007

New program in Vietnam to provide youth with HIV/AIDS education

The Danish International Development Agency in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund and the Voice of Vietnam radio on Wednesday launched a radio program that aims to educate young people in the country about HIV/AIDS, the Vietnam News Brief Service reports.

28 Jan 2007

FDA urged to review policy that bans MSM from donating blood

The American Red Cross and other organizations that collect donated blood are urging FDA to review a policy in effect since the early 1980s that prohibits men who have sex with men -- regardless of sexual activity, safer-sex practices or HIV status -- from donating blood, the San Jose Mercury News reports.

23 Jan 2007

XDR-TB in South Africa

A team of medical ethics and public health experts say tough isolation measures, involuntary if need be, are justified to contain a deadly, contagious, drug-resistant strain of TB in South Africa and to prevent "a potentially explosive international health crisis."

23 Jan 2007

Health inequalities in Britain

Tackling health inequalities in Britain needs closer co-ordination between all major policy areas including health, education, housing, employment and taxation, according to the authors of a new Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) publication.

23 Jan 2007

New screening process helps better diagnose oral cancers

Patients with early stage oral cancer may benefit from a more advanced screening process allowing for a more accurate diagnosis, according to a study presented at the plenary session at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium in Rancho Mirage, Calif., co-sponsored by the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Head and Neck Society.

18 Jan 2007

More aid required for chronic conditions in developed world

In an article published in the January 18, 2007, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, Gerard Anderson, PhD, professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, highlights the need for more international assistance to address chronic non-communicable conditions affecting people living in low and middle income countries.

18 Jan 2007

Race to accelerate tuberculosis drug development

Each year, tuberculosis kills nearly two million people while an estimated nine million develop the disease -- with the hardest-hit areas in AIDS-afflicted developing nations.

14 Jan 2007

New approach offers hope for an effective herpes vaccine

A researcher at Montana State University has called for an innovative, new approach in developing a vaccine against genital herpes.

10 Jan 2007

Global Fund Nomination Committee names nine candidates for Executive Director position

A nomination committee to name candidates for the executive director of the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has narrowed the selection pool to nine people, the Boston Globe reports.

9 Jan 2007

Bush's record on foreign aid to Africa not 'widely noticed' in U.S.

Although the "foreign affairs legacy of President Bush so far speaks most loudly of terrorism, Afghanistan and the quagmire in Iraq," statistics released recently by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development indicate the Bush -- "partly under pressure from his Christian supporters" and celebrities -- has "dramatically increased U.S. aid to Africa," columnist David Usborne writes.

9 Jan 2007

India's decision to abide to pharma patents could limit access to medicines

India has become the "premier drug provider for the developing world" by producing generic versions of some of the world's most effective medicines, including antiretroviral drugs, but the country's decision to adhere to international patent regulations could limit access to generic drugs in the developing world, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

9 Jan 2007