AIDS News and Research

RSS

Make antiretroviral therapy 'cornerstone' of HIV prevention

Ahead of the U.N. High Level Meeting on AIDS, AVAC: Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention and multiple signatories in a statement call on governments, advocates and researchers to act on the evidence from HPTN 052 and make antiretroviral therapy a cornerstone of the set of proven strategies we have to prevent and treat HIV.

9 Jun 2011

IAS calls on leaders to include HIV cure research in global strategy

The International AIDS Society (IAS) in a statement released ahead of the U.N. High Level Meeting on AIDS "calls on leaders to ensure the inclusion of HIV cure research and its global strategy into the international HIV agenda and in all discussions, political decisions and funding strategies."

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

National survey finds women more likely to see doctor on regular basis than men

A national survey found that women were three times more likely to see a doctor on a regular basis than men. Even though men on average die younger than women and have higher mortality rates for heart disease, cancer, stroke and AIDS, trying to get a man to a doctor can be harder than pulling teeth. So, why do men hate it so?.

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

IPS examines negotiations over intellectual property laws affecting generic AIDS drugs

Inter Press Service examines how "moves by developed nations such as the United States to tighten intellectual property laws are threatening to limit production and distribution of generic drugs, which experts say have been and will remain key in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS and currently account for 80 percent of HIV/AIDS treatment."

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

Scientists, advocacy experts form new international Foundation for Vaccine Research

Fourteen leading scientists and advocacy experts in vaccines and infectious diseases have announced the formation of a new international Foundation to advance and accelerate vaccine research and development against infectious diseases.

9 Jun 2011

First Edition: June 8, 2011

Health insurer Blue Shield of California, under fire for a series of recent rate hikes and the pay of its chief executive, plans to cut this year's premiums by 2.5% for many of its 3.3 million policyholders as part of a new initiative to hold down costs (Helfand, 6/8).

8 Jun 2011

Stop TB partnership releases 5 TB prevention steps

Ahead of the U.N. High Level Meeting on AIDS, the Stop TB Partnership released five guidelines aimed at preventing tuberculosis, which results in one in four AIDS-related deaths, the U.N. News Centre writes.

8 Jun 2011

IAS calls on leaders to ensure inclusion of HIV cure research into international AIDS agenda

As world leaders meet this week to review progress and chart the future course of the global AIDS response at the 2011 UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AIDS in New York, the International AIDS Society (IAS) calls on leaders to ensure the inclusion of HIV cure research and its global strategy into the international HIV agenda and in all discussions, political decisions and funding strategies.

8 Jun 2011

Global Fund's transparency is essential and saves lives

In the Huffington Post, Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, discusses the Global Fund's latest report on its investigation of its grants in Mali.

8 Jun 2011

South African researchers examine cash incentive HIV prevention program

In South Africa, where 17 percent of the world's HIV-positive population lives, researchers from the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) in Durban are examining whether providing cash payments as a reward for good grades and undergoing annual HIV testing, along with teaching life skills, might help change young men's and women's risky sexual behavior, Nature News reports.

8 Jun 2011

NGOs support harm reduction declaration

Ahead of the U.N. High Level Meeting on AIDS, more than 200 international non-governmental organizations have pledged their support for the Beirut Declaration on HIV and Injecting Drug Use.

8 Jun 2011

AHF criticizes HHS Secretary announcement on 'expanded' AIDS funds

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today criticized an announcement by Health and Human services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius yesterday regarding so-called "expanded" funding for cash-strapped state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs).

8 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

Unique clinical trial addresses important questions about treating AIDS-related cancers

As the world marks the 30-year anniversary of the first reporting of HIV/AIDS, now comes the realization of a new challenge for people with the incurable disease. For reasons not yet clear, people with HIV face a higher rate of cancers not usually associated with HIV. This increasing rate of "non-AIDS defining cancers" includes lung, head and neck, liver, kidney, and anal cancers, among others.

7 Jun 2011

Focus on getting more people on antiretroviral therapy as AIDS turns 30

Sunday marked the 30th anniversary of the first published report of the disease that came to be known as AIDS, the Los Angeles Times reports. Though the "promise" of a vaccine "has not materialized," "[s]ome progress has been made on other fronts," the newspaper writes.

7 Jun 2011

Commentary on 30th anniversary of AIDS

"Thirty years into the AIDS epidemic, we are faced with a choice. Are we content to tinker at the fringes of the epidemic, spending untold billions to treat a fraction of those in need for decades into the future? Or can we summon the political will to effectively deploy the prevention interventions that are already available to us and to make the necessary investments in research that could end this epidemic in our lifetime?"

6 Jun 2011

Viewpoints: Reps. on Medicare politics, policies, community pharmacies; Reflections on AIDS

The [Ryan] privatization proposal overlooks the fact that when it comes to rising health costs, Medicare is part of the solution, not the problem. ... Together with health care reform, Medicare can be the driver of innovation due to its sheer market share.

6 Jun 2011