Kaiser-HIV/Aids
News summaries on HIV/AIDS from the Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report.
Updated: 9 hours 17 min ago
Sidibe Calls For A 'Prevention Revolution' To Fight HIV/AIDS
UNAIDS head Michel Sidibe on Monday called for a "prevention revolution" to fight HIV/AIDS and addressed laws he says make high-risk groups more vulnerable to the disease, the Associated Press reports. Speaking to a group of journalists in New York, Sidibe "said 'it is unacceptable' that 85 countries still have laws criminalizing same sex relations among adults, including seven that impose the death penalty for homosexual practices," the news service writes.
EU-India Free-Trade Negotiations Could Limit Access To Affordable, Generic Drugs, Advocacy Group Says
The advocacy group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) recently warned that free-trade negotiations between the EU and India could limit access to "affordable generic drugs" for people in India and the rest of the developing world, Reuters reports. "Back in 2005 India granted patents on medicines to respect international trade rules and MSF said a new free-trade agreement now under negotiation would tighten these rules," the news service writes. The EU said it has not requested that India stop producing low-cost generic drugs.
Experts Discuss PEPFAR Funding In Congressional Hearing
At a recent hearing of the House Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, "[i]nternational health organisations working to help check the spread of AIDS in Africa said meagre increases in funds from the U.S. government this year would be a step backwards. Some experts also emphasised that prevention must get appropriate attention in any fight against the disease," Inter Press Service reports.
AIDS 2010 To Highlight Epidemic In Eastern Europe, Central Asia Regions
AIDS 2010, the International AIDS Conference to be held July 18-23 in Vienna, Austria, will "highlight the situation in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, regions experiencing fast growing [HIV/AIDS] epidemics largely through unsafe injecting drug use," conference organizers announced Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reports. Though the number of new cases of HIV worldwide has declined since 1996, "infection rates are continuing to rise in some parts of the world, especially Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Here, HIV prevalence has almost doubled since 2001," the AFP writes.
Congress Works On Tariff-Lowering Legislation For Haiti As Preval Meets With U.S. Leaders In Washington
The Senate Finance Committee's chair, Max Baucus (D-Mont.), and top Republican, Charles Grassley (Iowa), are working with colleagues in the House on legislation that would lower tariffs in an effort to help Haiti's apparel industry and help the country recover from the major January earthquake, CQ Politics reports. "The bipartisan effort comes as Senate Finance leaders consider ramping up their work to broadly overhaul multiple U.S. trade preference programs, which lower or eliminate U.S. tariffs on a wide range of products from many developing countries," according to the publication (3/9).
British Government, HIV/AIDS Advocates Warn Decreased Aid Budgets Could Lead To Reversals In HIV/AIDS Treatment Progress
Recent gains in the global fight against HIV/AIDS could be reversed as the "global economic downturn pinches poor countries' budgets and donors show signs of backing away from their promise to provide universal access to AIDS treatment," the British government together with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warned Tuesday, Reuters AlertNet reports.
UNAIDS Director Cautions Against Funding Cuts To Global Fund
During an appeal to government and private donors to pledge money to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Monday, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe warned of the repercussions tightening budgets could play in the global fight against HIV/AIDS, the Associated Press reports. "An estimated 94 percent of patients on anti-retroviral treatment in Africa count on external donor funds to provide their medications, Sidibe said,' according to the news service. "If we stop now, if we reduce the financing, the people who are on treatment today ... we will transform their hope for universal access into a universal nightmare, because they will start dying," Sidibe told the AP.
U.N. Official Addresses Increasing Drug Addiction In Developing Countries
The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Monday warned of an impending "health disaster facing developing countries if wealthy nations fail to control drugs," the Agence France-Presse reports. During a speech delivered in Vienna, UNODC chief Antonio Maria Costas pointed to "increasing use of heroin in East Africa, cocaine in West Africa, and synthetic drugs in the Middle East and South East Asia as warning signs" of a growing drug problem in impoverished nations (3/8).
Global Fund Releases Latest Impact Data, Projections For Improving Global Health In Next Decade
By 2015, mother-to-child HIV transmission will be virtually eliminated and deaths from malaria and tuberculosis will continue to decline if health investments for the diseases are maintained or scaled up, according to an annual report published Monday by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Agence France-Presse/Africasia.com reports (3/8).
Study, Conference Highlight Risks Associated With Migrant Workers' Limited Access To Health Services
Despite being at high-risk for HIV infection, migrant workers in Southern Africa have a challenging time accessing HIV prevention and treatment services, according to a new study by the International Office of Migration (IOM), PANA/Afrique en ligne reports.
Study Finds Pfizer's Pneumonia, Meningitis Vaccine Protects Against Recurrent Pneumonia In HIV Patients
Pfizer's Prevnar 7 vaccine, which protects against pneumonia and meningitis, has been shown to reduce the risk of recurrent pneumococcal infection in patients living with HIV in Malawai, according to a study published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, Reuters reports.
Meeting Addresses How To Improve HIV/AIDS Surveillance In Asia
A five-day workshop that opened Monday in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, will address ways to improve HIV/AIDS surveillance in the Asia region, Viet Nam News reports. The workshop has brought together "surveillance technical staff from government departments, non-governmental organisations and U.S. Government agencies from 14 countries in Asia to provide updates and best practices on key issues related to the conduct and use of HIV/AIDS surveillance data," according to the news service (3/3).
