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Integrating AIDS fight with other global health efforts is next step

An "invisible turning point" in the fight against HIV/AIDS recently occurred: "the realisation that simply strengthening the vertical programme that is AIDS has to end. The new opportunity is integration," a Lancet editorial states.

18 Jun 2011

AFP says battle against AIDS not over in India

Though the country has reduced by half the number of new infections since 2001, "UNAIDS coordinator in India, Charles Gilks, said that while the authorities should be commended for tackling the problem, the country had not yet won the battle," the news agency reports.

16 Jun 2011

Panel discusses funding for universal access to HIV treatment

The Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog includes a summary of a recent Global Fund meeting on HIV financing. "The most dynamic and passionate remarks came from Morolake Odetoyinbo, CEO of the non-governmental organization Positive Action for Treatment Access in Nigeria and a woman living with HIV/AIDS. She argued that African nations were not doing enough to use their resources to care for their own people," according to the post.

15 Jun 2011

IRIN examines factors influencing health worker migration and how countries working toward solutions

In this article, "IRIN took a look at some of the push and pull factors behind health worker migration, and what countries are doing to address them."

14 Jun 2011

UNAIDS, PEPFAR announce campaign to eliminate MTCT of HIV by 2015

A team led by UNAIDS and PEPFAR on Thursday at the U.N. High Level Meeting on AIDS announced a plan to virtually eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2015 by "ensuring that all women, especially pregnant ones, have access to quality life-saving HIV prevention and treatment services - for themselves and their children," BBC News reports.

13 Jun 2011

Ban calls for global unity to end AIDS by 2020 at U.N. meeting opening

In his opening address at the U.N. High Level Meeting on AIDS on Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "told presidents, ministers and diplomats from across the globe that if all partners involved in the fight unite 'as never before,'" the goal of "zero new infections, zero stigma and zero AIDS-related deaths" can be achieved, the Associated Press/Kansas City Star reports.

10 Jun 2011

Global initiative to prevent HIV in babies

World leaders met to decide on the launch of a global plan with the goal of ensuring that every baby is born HIV-free by 2015 and that their mothers with the HIV virus live to raise them.

9 Jun 2011

PEPFAR, UNAIDS to announce new plan for preventing MTCT of HIV

At the U.N. High Level Meeting on AIDS, PEPFAR "will join with UNAIDS and other partners in releasing a new global action plan for the prevention of mother-to-child-transmission of HIV/AIDS. The U.S. will also place additional resources into helping move towards eliminating pediatric HIV," according to a State Department press release.

9 Jun 2011

Media examine HIV/AIDS epidemic as U.N. meeting prepares to convene

This week, political leaders will gather in New York at the U.N. High Level Meeting on AIDS to "frame the ongoing fight against HIV/AIDS," Nature News reports. The article includes a Q&A with Anthony Fauci, head of the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who "explains what scientists hope the U.N. meeting will achieve".

9 Jun 2011

U.N. Security Council unanimously adopts resolution on peacekeeping and AIDS

The U.N. Security Council "has unanimously adopted a resolution underlining the need for continued international action to halt the impact of HIV and AIDS in conflict and post-conflict situations," VOA News reports.

9 Jun 2011

International coalition launches common platform to end AIDS epidemic

An international coalition of scientists and activists today launched a common platform for ending the AIDS epidemic. Thirty years into the epidemic, as world leaders come together at the United Nations to recommit to a global AIDS response, the broad-based international coalition issued a statement calling for world leaders to support a rational, evidence-based approach to responding to AIDS.

8 Jun 2011

Money must be spent wisely in fight against HIV/AIDS, report says

"More money, less waste and smarter programmes are urgently needed to consolidate precious gains in the war on AIDS and HIV, UNAIDS said" in a report released on Thursday ahead of the disease's 30th anniversary and the beginning of the U.N. High Level Meeting on AIDS, Agence France-Presse reports.

4 Jun 2011

U.N.-led joint report examines HIV/AIDS among young people ages 10-24

An estimated 2,500 young people are infected with HIV every day worldwide, and young women and adolescent girls are most at risk of contracting the disease because of biological and social factors, according to a report released on Wednesday by a group of international agencies, RTT News reports.

3 Jun 2011

UNAIDS Director says Pope's comments on condoms open dialogue for HIV prevention

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe on Saturday "told a Vatican conference [Pope Benedict XVI] had opened the door to greater dialogue with his groundbreaking comments on condoms and HIV prevention - even as Vatican officials stressed abstinence and marital fidelity as the best prevention," the Associated Press reports.

1 Jun 2011

AIDS epidemic turns 30

It is 30 years since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. It was fatal then but has now become a treatable, if still incurable, chronic illness. AIDS therapy now has tools that prolong the lives of people infected with the virus and prevent others from acquiring it. They range from antiretroviral therapy (ART), to circumcision and campaigns to reduce promiscuity. On the horizon are gels and pills that protect against infection during intercourse. Even the outlook for an AIDS vaccine is no longer as bleak as it used to be.

31 May 2011

U.N., U.S. re-evaluate HIV/AIDS treatment targets

Ahead of the U.N. High Level Meeting on AIDS, scheduled for June 8-10 in New York, "public-health leaders face a paradox: New evidence suggests the epidemic can finally be controlled, but that would demand increased spending at a time of severe global budget restraints," the Wall Street Journal reports.

27 May 2011

Current efforts not enough to halt HIV/AIDS in Philippines, UNAIDS country coordinator says

"The Philippines has not been making progress in meeting its sixth Millennium Development Goal, which is halting and reversing the spread of ... HIV/AIDS..., according to the country coordinator of the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)," the Philippine Daily Inquirer reports.

27 May 2011

16 Countries announce new commitments to reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality

Today 16 countries announced new commitments to dramatically reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality, as part of the Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health.

21 May 2011

16 Countries pledge to reduce maternal, newborn, child mortality

Sixteen countries have announced new commitments aimed at significantly reducing maternal, newborn and child mortality by "focus[ing] on measures proven effective in preventing deaths, such as increased contraceptive use, attended childbirth, improved access to emergency obstetric care, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and childhood immunizations," ANI/Sify News reports (5/20).

21 May 2011

African LGBT advocates warn against cutting multilateral aid to Uganda

At a World Bank panel discussion in Washington, D.C., on homophobia in developing countries, LGBT advocates from Africa expressed concern that if multilateral development organizations cut aid to Uganda in protest of attempts to make homosexual acts crimes punishable by death, the human rights situation for them could worsen, the Washington Blade reports.

20 May 2011