HIV News and Research

RSS

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

Indonesia to host AIDS congress; smoking ban in Ghana

Indonesia will host the 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific region, August 3 – 13 in Bali, organizers of the event announced Wednesday, Xinhua reports.

3 Jun 2009

Vietnam publishes report documenting Millennium Development Goal progress

Vietnam recently published a report tracking its progress towards the U.N. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets, which outlines the health ministry's work with other government and international agencies, Vietnam News reports.

3 Jun 2009

Report shows Jamaica's progress towards achieving U.N. MDGs

Jamaica has already achieved some U.N. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets and is "on track" to attain five more, according to a report that mapped the country's progress toward the MDGs, the Jamaica Observer reports.

2 Jun 2009

British researchers call for WHO to 'condemn homeopathy' for serious diseases

British researchers on Monday requested the WHO "publicly condemn homeopathy as a treatment for serious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria," amid growing concern that some patients are dying as a result of choosing homeopathy over effective medicines, the Mail & Guardian reports. "The WHO works with national organisations that promote homeopathy and other alternative medicines in their public health programmes," according to the Mail & Guardian.

2 Jun 2009

Discovery of new arenavirus associated with hemorrhagic fever – first identified in nearly four decades

Scientists at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases of National Health Laboratory Service (NICD-NHLS), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Roche's 454 Life Sciences Corporation have discovered the new virus responsible for a highly fatal hemorrhagic fever outbreak in Zambia and South Africa in late 2008.

2 Jun 2009

Marijuana effectiveness as an HIV self-care strategy

Those in the United States living with HIV/AIDS are more likely to use marijuana than those in Kenya, South Africa or Puerto Rica to alleviate their symptoms, according to a new study published in Clinical Nursing Research, published by SAGE.

31 May 2009

Researchers plan to target immune cells responsible for eluding antiretroviral treatment

Certain human immune cells known as macrophages are composed of hybrid HIV strains that elude treatment and antiretroviral drugs, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Florida and other institutions, the Gainesville Sun reports.

31 May 2009

Thai HIV/AIDS advocates urge increased treatment access for IDUs

The Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group recently called on the country to launch a comprehensive harm reduction program for injection drug users in an effort to help curb the spread of HIV, Thailand's The Nation reports.

31 May 2009

Report estimates significant impact of widespread circumcision effort in Botswana

Botswana's campaign to circumcise about 500,000 men by 2012 will prevent nearly 70,000 new HIV cases by 2025, according to a report published Thursday in the Journal of the International AIDS Society, AFP/Yahoo! News reports.

31 May 2009

HIV prevention efforts in five African countries not reaching at-risk groups, report says

National HIV prevention strategies in at least five African countries are not reaching the groups most at risk of infection, according to a report from UNAIDS and the World Bank conducted in conjunction with the national HIV/AIDS authorities of Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland and Uganda, IRIN/PlusNews reports.

31 May 2009

'Complacency,' 'stigma' hindering efforts to reduce HIV/AIDS in black communities, opinion piece says

"Nearly 30 years after the discovery of HIV and AIDS, the epidemic is still ravaging black neighborhoods in Baltimore and across the nation," Kevin Fenton -- director of CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention -- writes in a Baltimore Sun opinion piece.

28 May 2009

Fishing industry contributing to spread of HIV around Africa's Lake Victoria

The fishing industry and some cultural practices in communities living around Africa's Lake Victoria are contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections in the area, according to a panel of experts at a recent meeting in Kisumu, Kenya, The Citizen reports.

28 May 2009

HIV News and Research

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

Johnson & Johnson's research reflecting new Washington policies

WHO recommends worldwide use of rotavirus vaccine for children

International HIV/AIDS experts to meet in Namibia next week

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

Report examines Zimbabwean refugees In South Africa

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

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

Indonesia to host AIDS congress; smoking ban in Ghana

Vietnam publishes report documenting Millennium Development Goal progress

Report shows Jamaica's progress towards achieving U.N. MDGs

British researchers call for WHO to 'condemn homeopathy' for serious diseases

Discovery of new arenavirus associated with hemorrhagic fever – first identified in nearly four decades

Marijuana effectiveness as an HIV self-care strategy

Researchers plan to target immune cells responsible for eluding antiretroviral treatment

Thai HIV/AIDS advocates urge increased treatment access for IDUs

Report estimates significant impact of widespread circumcision effort in Botswana

HIV prevention efforts in five African countries not reaching at-risk groups, report says

'Complacency,' 'stigma' hindering efforts to reduce HIV/AIDS in black communities, opinion piece says

Fishing industry contributing to spread of HIV around Africa's Lake Victoria

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

Latest News