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NPR blog examines debate over option B+ HIV prevention strategy

NPR's "Shots" blog examines the debate over Option B+, a strategy to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission that "aims to put every pregnant woman with HIV on triple-drug treatment and keep her on it for the rest of her life -- even if the virus has not yet damaged her immune system to the point where she needs medications to preserve her own health."

2 Mar 2013

Global Fund launches new funding model, says $1.9B available during transition period

"The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Thursday launched a new funding model that allows it to invest more strategically, achieve greater impact, and engage implementers and partners more effectively," a Global Fund press release reports.

2 Mar 2013

Health law implementation likely to proceed - despite sequester's cuts to other health programs

Meanwhile, news outlets report on how the health law is "reshaping" the health care marketplace and how the measure's medical device tax continues to be a point of contention.

2 Mar 2013

Synthetic progesterone birth control injections have vulnerability to certain infections: Research

Women who are pregnant or using synthetic progesterone birth control injections have a conspicuous vulnerability to certain infections including malaria, Listeria, HIV, and herpes simplex virus.

2 Mar 2013

First Edition: March 1, 2013

Kaiser Health News staff writer Mary Agnes Carey reports: "David P. Blom is one of thousands of hospital executives across the country who are bracing for a reduction in Medicare payments as part of a series of federal spending cuts that begin Friday. Blom, 58, is president and chief executive officer of OhioHealth, a Columbus, Ohio, based not-for-profit health care system that includes 18 hospitals, 23 health and surgery centers, home-health providers and other facilities."

1 Mar 2013

GlaxoSmithKline's HIV/AIDS business joins Medicines Patent Pool

"GlaxoSmithKline's HIV/AIDS drugs business is to share intellectual property rights on children's medicine in a patent pool designed to make treatments more widely available in poor countries," Reuters reports.

1 Mar 2013

Macrophages allow entry of HIV in the urethra

Having suggested in 2011 that the urethra is a novel entry site for HIV, a team from the Institut Cochin, has now confirmed this hypothesis and identified the cells and mechanisms brought into play: the immune system cells macrophages, present in the epithelium of the urethra, allow the entry of HIV. This work, published online on the website of the journal Mucosal Immunology, could make it possible to test novel HIV/AIDS prevention strategies.

1 Mar 2013

Post-2015 development agenda should focus on accelerating progress made against HIV, TB, malaria

"In a little more than two years, the world will hit an important target: the date by which the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs] are meant to be achieved," Lucy Chesire, executive director and secretary to the board of the TB ACTION Group, writes in the Huffington Post's "The Big Push" blog.

28 Feb 2013

CSIS report examines Global Health Policy in Second Obama Term

"I am pleased to share with you a new report and video series from the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, 'Global Health Policy in the Second Obama Term,'" J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president of the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) and director of the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, writes in a letter posted on the center's "Smart Global Health" blog.

28 Feb 2013

Sequester scare touches issues related to Medicare, Medicaid spending

The $85 billion in scheduled spending cuts to defense and discretionary accounts are scheduled to kick in Friday, and movement toward a last-ditch strategy has not been evident.

28 Feb 2013

UNAIDS, UNDP release issue brief on TRIPS transition period extensions for LDCs

"The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today launched a new issue brief", titled "TRIPS transition period extensions for least-developed countries [LDCs]," a UNAIDS press release reports.

28 Feb 2013

Researchers identify 25 human proteins that may be crucial for HIV-1 infection and survival

Studying HIV-1, the most common and infectious HIV subtype, Johns Hopkins scientists have identified 25 human proteins "stolen" by the virus that may be critical to its ability to infect new cells. HIV-1 viruses capture many human proteins from the cells they infect but the researchers believe these 25 proteins may be particularly important because they are found in HIV-1 viruses coming from two very different types of infected cells.

28 Feb 2013

Recommendations for PEPFAR to improve data collection, use, distribution

Noting the release of the Institute of Medicine PEPFAR evaluation and an October 2012 report of the Data Working Group of PEPFAR's Scientific Advisory Board, Mead Over and Rachel Silverman of the Center for Global Development propose in the group's "Global Health Policy" blog "four recommendations where there seems to be agreement and feasible opportunities to improve PEPFAR's collection, utilization, and dissemination of data and knowledge."

27 Feb 2013

Using smart phones to manage HIV treatment in rural Virginia

An innovative plan developed at the University of Virginia School of Medicine will use smart phones to improve care for people recently diagnosed with HIV in rural Virginia.

27 Feb 2013

Research shows many cancers can be prevented with healthy lifestyle choices

Each year more individuals worldwide die from cancer than malaria, tuberculosis and HIV combined. With research showing that many cancers can be prevented with healthy lifestyle choices, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance is working to raise awareness of preventive tactics in honor of National Cancer Prevention Month.

27 Feb 2013

PEPFAR has helped millions, but 'hard work' lies ahead to sustain gains

PEPFAR, initiated in 2003, is "the largest global health initiative ever undertaken focused on a single disease," a Washington Post editorial writes, noting, "Now, after four years of work, some 400 interviews and visits to 13 nations, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences has provided [an] examination of this incredibly ambitious program."

27 Feb 2013

Examining global efforts against Buruli ulcer

"During my visit to the Médecins Sans Frontières [MSF] Buruli ulcer ward in Cameroon it was wonderful to see the amazing care that the patients receive on a daily basis: antibiotics, state of the art dressings, physiotherapy to help prevent deformities, free food and medicines, and surgery when required," Daniel O'Brien, a specialist adviser with MSF-UK focusing on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and Buruli ulcer, writes in the BMJ Group Blogs.

27 Feb 2013

AIDS activists work to influence Kenyan presidential candidates' positions on care, treatment

"A small team of HIV/AIDS activists is trailing Kenyan presidential candidates as they crisscross the country, pressing them to increase their commitment to the care and treatment of people living with HIV," PlusNews reports.

27 Feb 2013

Viewpoints: GOP faces pressure from spending cuts effects on daily life; President needs to lead on Medicare cuts

Cuts this draconian have no place in a tottering economy. But, realistically, the only way to break this standoff is for the cuts to exact their toll on daily life, causing Republicans to face pressure from the public to negotiate an alternative plan with higher revenues in March as part of talks to finance the government for the final six months of the fiscal year.

26 Feb 2013

Govs brace for impact of scheduled cuts in home states

The nation's governors met in Washington over the weekend, and among their hottest topics: a White House warning regarding the state-by-state impact of sequestration, which is scheduled to kick in March 1.

26 Feb 2013