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Raleigh News & Observer profiles UNC researcher who investigates social factors behind higher HIV/AIDS rates for blacks

The Raleigh News & Observer on Sunday profiled University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill medical researcher Adaora Adimora, who has investigated why HIV/AIDS seems to affect blacks more than members of other races and ethnicities (Niolet, Raleigh News & Observer, 9/21).

22 Sep 2008

Supply shortages, poverty interrupt antiretroviral treatments in Swaziland

Health facilities in Swaziland are experiencing shortages in antiretroviral drugs and other medications despite insistence from the country's health department that the shortage has been resolved, IRIN/PlusNews reports.

22 Sep 2008

World Food Programme to phase out aid in Uganda, including HIV/AIDS support

The United Nations World Food Programme will phase out food aid and HIV/AIDS support to Uganda, a United Nations official said on Thursday, Xinhua/ChinaView.cn.com reports. The plan could affect more than 1.5 million people.

22 Sep 2008

California Bill would require insurers to pay for HIV tests if signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger

Health care insurers will be required to cover routine HIV tests if a bill (AB 1894) passed by the California Legislature in August is signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), the San Fernando Valley Business Journal reports.

22 Sep 2008

Hong Kong Medical Director warns of rising HIV prevalence among MSM

The senior medical director of Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection, Raymond Ho Lei-ming, on Tuesday warned residents that HIV prevalence in the region is increasing among men who have sex with men, Hong Kong's Standard reports (Chui, The Standard, 9/17).

22 Sep 2008

Brazil to produce generic version of Merck's antiretroviral Efavirenz

Brazilian Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao on Wednesday said Brazil will begin producing a generic version of Merck's antiretroviral efavirenz, the AP/USA Today reports.

22 Sep 2008

Congress approves legislation that would expand Americans with Disabilities Act

The House on Wednesday gave final approval to Senate legislation (S 3406) expanding the definition of disability for people claiming discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the New York Times reports.

22 Sep 2008

Greater awareness of HIV/AIDS, other global health issues attributed to the growth in public health students

The Washington Post on Friday examined the "record numbers" of undergraduate college students who are taking classes in epidemiology, global health and public health, driven in part by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and a motivation to contribute to the field.

22 Sep 2008

China should provide medical care, compensation to HIV-positive blood donors, Piot says

UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot on Thursday encouraged the Chinese government to provide compensation and medical care to thousands of people who contracted HIV through the government-supported blood transfusions in the late 1990s and early 2000s, AFP/AsiaOne News reports.

22 Sep 2008

New York City report finds reduced HIV/AIDS-related deaths, increased condom distribution in FY 2008

New York City has made significant progress in reducing the number of HIV/AIDS-related deaths, increasing voluntary HIV testing rates and distributing no-cost condoms during the fiscal year that ended June 30, according to the Mayor's Management Report, the New York Daily News reports.

22 Sep 2008

Mozambique's progress on HIV/AIDS insufficient, World Bank official says

Mozambique has made insufficient progress in efforts to address HIV/AIDS over the past year despite increased efforts to expand access to antiretroviral drugs, a World Bank official said on Wednesday at a meeting held in Maputo, Mozambique, to review the country's progress in implementing World Bank-financed projects over the last year, the Independent Online reports.

22 Sep 2008

U.S. conference on AIDS to focus on HIV/AIDS prevention among minorities

The 2008 U.S. Conference on AIDS, sponsored by the National Minority AIDS Council, began on Thursday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and through Sunday will focus on ways to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in minority communities, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports (Lewis et al., South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 9/18).

22 Sep 2008

Early antiretroviral treatment for people with HIV/TB coinfection could reduce mortality by half

People with HIV/tuberculosis coinfection who began antiretroviral treatment within six months of starting TB treatment had a 55% lower mortality rate than people with HIV/TB coinfection who did not begin antiretroviral therapy until after they had finished a six-month TB treatment course, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Business Day reports (Kahn, Business Day, 9/18).

22 Sep 2008

Genetic screening effective for initial HIV treatment

A major study from a team of researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College and Massachusetts General Hospital has found that a recent change to HIV-treatment guidelines recommending genetic screening is cost-effective under certain conditions. The new recommendation suggests conducting a genetic screening test prior to prescribing the drug abacavir, one of the preferred first-line drugs for the treatment for HIV-infected adults.

17 Sep 2008

Australian men picking HIV up from unsafe sex overseas

A conference in Perth, Australia, has heard that six men in Cairns have contracted HIV after travelling to Papua New Guinea and the news has alarmed health authorities and raised concern that there may be more undetected cases in the area.

17 Sep 2008

HIV rates in Australia up fifty percent in the past eight years

HIV rates in Australia have increased by almost fifty percent in the past eight years -- according to a national report compiled by University of New South Wales (UNSW) researchers.

16 Sep 2008

AIDS Healthcare Foundation says "shame on Abbott"

As part of its ongoing campaign to lower drug prices and improve access to lifesaving AIDS treatments globally, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), which operates three free treatment clinics in Mexico (Puerto Vallarta, Cancun and Tuxtla Gutierrez) today unveiled a new print advertisement criticizing Abbott Laboratories, Inc. for the steep price it charges for its key AIDS drug Kaletra in Mexico.

16 Sep 2008

Newly reported HIV cases increasing in Alberta, Canada

The number of newly reported HIV cases in Alberta, Canada, increased by 29% in 2007 compared with 2005, the CP/Calgary Sun reports.

16 Sep 2008

HIV, malaria interventions help reduce mortality among young children, challenges remain, UNICEF report says

Disease interventions, such as the use of insecticide-treated nets to prevent malaria and increased access to HIV treatment and prevention, have helped reduce the number of deaths among children younger than age five worldwide to 9.2 million in 2007, down from 9.7 million in 2006 and 12.7 million in 1990, according to a UNICEF report published Friday in the journal Lancet, Reuters reports (Kahn, Reuters, 9/12).

16 Sep 2008

Indian High Court forms committee to address HIV/AIDS in prisons

The high court in Mumbai, India, on Thursday formed a committee to create guidelines aimed at preventing the spread of HIV in prisons in response to the increasing spread of the virus among inmates, the Daily News & Analysis reports.

16 Sep 2008