HIV 1 News and Research

RSS

Georgia health officials launch initiative to increase HIV/AIDS awareness in Hispanic community

Georgia health officials have launched a new bilingual initiative that aims to increase HIV/AIDS awareness in the state's Hispanic community and educate residents about HIV prevention and testing, the McClatchy-Tribune/Chattanooga Times Free Press reports.

22 Oct 2006

Zimbabwean Government to Delay enrollment of additional HIV-positive people in drug treatment program

The Zimbabwean government has announced that it will postpone enrolling additional HIV-positive people to its antiretroviral treatment program following reports that its drug supply could run out by December, PlusNews reports.

22 Oct 2006

Local Chinese authorities declare HIV/AIDS NGO illegal, close operation

Local authorities on Wednesday declared a Xinjiang, China-based nongovernmental HIV/AIDS organization illegal and shut down its operation, according to Chang Kun, organizer of the project, AFP/Sunday Times reports (AFP/Sunday Times, 10/19).

22 Oct 2006

Clinton Foundation trains HIV-positive people in Lesotho to assist medical workers

The Clinton Foundation's HIV/AIDS Initiative has trained 10 HIV-positive people in Lesotho to help doctors, nurses and pharmacists cope with treating people with HIV/AIDS in a country with a severe shortage of health workers, South Africa's Independent Online reports.

22 Oct 2006

CCR5 receptor discovery could help fight against tuberculosis, HIV

A key aspect of how the body kicks the immune system into action against tuberculosis is revealed in research published today.

20 Oct 2006

UN program teaches AIDS orphans farming and life skills

A U.N. program is helping Kenyan children who have lost one or both parents to AIDS-related illnesses learn basic agricultural techniques and other life skills, PlusNews reports.

19 Oct 2006

Antiretroviral drug discounts should be extended for countries classified as 'middle-income'

Pricing antiretroviral drugs and other "lifesaving" medications based on a country's gross national income per capita "seems particularly arbitrary -- and even cruel" -- given that HIV-positive people often have incomes "well below what might be considered a country's 'average' income," Jorge Saavedra Lopez.

19 Oct 2006

African Union adopts reproductive health rights policy

African Union health ministers meeting in Maputo, Mozambique, last week adopted a policy framework to address sexual and reproductive health and rights but did not agree on how to address the issue of unsafe abortions, resolving to allow each member state to handle the issue separately, Lilongwe's Chronicle/AllAfrica.com reports.

19 Oct 2006

Fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa should focus more on blood safety

A renewed focus on unsafe blood transfusions and used syringes is needed to combat the spread of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, Ambassador Mark Dybul -- who serves as the U.S. global AIDS coordinator and administers the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief -- said on Wednesday during a visit to Zambia, Reuters reports.

19 Oct 2006

Africa's HIV/AIDS epidemic could fuel deaths from XDR-TB

Africa's HIV/AIDS epidemic could fuel deaths from XDR-TB -- tuberculosis that is resistant to first- and second-line drugs -- which has resulted in the deaths of least 74 people in South Africa since January 2005, World Health Organization officials said on Tuesday, Reuters reports (McGregor, Reuters, 10/17).

19 Oct 2006

Uganda begins enrollment of Phase I trials of a perinatal HIV vaccine

Uganda last week began enrollment of Phase I trials of a perinatal HIV vaccine that aims to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission, Uganda's Daily Monitor reports (Nabayunga, Daily Monitor, 10/18).

19 Oct 2006

HIV in China spreading beyond high-risk groups

HIV in China has spread beyond high-risk groups -- such as injection drug users, commercial sex workers and men who have sex with men -- a senior health official said recently, Reuters reports (Lyn, Reuters, 10/17).

19 Oct 2006

HIV prevalence in Botswana is 17.1%, President Mogae says

HIV prevalence in Botswana is 17.1%, lower than figures previously reported by UNAIDS, Botswana President Festus Mogae said Monday, Xinhua/People's Daily reports.

19 Oct 2006

Discrimination against HIV-positive teachers adversely affects education sector in Uganda

Discrimination against HIV-positive teachers is having an adverse effect on the education sector in Uganda, the East African reports.

19 Oct 2006

NC State researchers receive $3.5 million to tackle HIV

Researchers at North Carolina State University have received a $3.5 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) to develop mathematical and statistical models that will aid in designing new treatment strategies for HIV patients.

19 Oct 2006

HIV exploits competition among T cells - points to new strategy for AIDS vaccination

A new HIV study shows how competition among the human immune system's T cells allows the virus to escape destruction and eventually develop into full-blown AIDS.

17 Oct 2006

Researchers identify cell line that is resistant to retroviruses

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have identified a protein that enables viruses such as HIV to infect cells and spread through the body.

17 Oct 2006

HIV/AIDS education classes cause controversy in China

A lecture in Harbin, China, led by the Harbin Municipal Disease Prevention and Control Center that informed commercial sex workers about HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections has "sparked a strong rebuke" from some authorities and residents, Reuters reports (Reuters, 10/15).

17 Oct 2006

Increased Ryan White CARE Act funding to rural areas should not come at expense of urban areas

Reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act, which provides funding for HIV/AIDS programs in the U.S., has stalled in Congress for months because of the "cynical assumption that a Solomon-like choice must be made between two groups of states," a Newark Star-Ledger editorial says.

17 Oct 2006

HIV/AIDS pandemic and food shortages connected and must be addressed together

The HIV/AIDS pandemic and food shortages are connected and must be addressed together, according to panelists at a discussion on Monday at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., CQ HealthBeat reports.

17 Oct 2006