Also in global health news: HIV immigration rules; Global Fund Aid in Kenya; water shortage in Yemen; testing for TB

Oct 12 2009

NPR Examines U.S. HIV Immigration Rules

NPR examines U.S. policy for HIV-positive visitors and immigrants. While "Congress has removed the statute, and the Department of Health and Human Services is working on a more lenient immigration rule," NPR reports that "many non-citizens with HIV who are currently in this country are worried that their own applications and work visas may expire before the law changes" (Wilson, 10/10).

Groups At Odds Over Disbursement Of Global Fund Aid In Kenya

PlusNews/IRIN examines an ongoing disagreement between the Kenya Consortium to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria - a group of nongovernmental organizations - and CARE International about the speed at which CARE is disbursing its funds from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis Malaria (10/8). The Daily Nation reports the National Aids Control Council met on Friday in an attempt to come to a resolution between the groups (Jamap, 10/9).

News Outlets Examine Water Shortages, Migration In Yemen

The Los Angeles Times examines Yemen's "migration wave" to the capital of Sana. About "150,000 Yemenis who have left their villages this year … in search of basic needs. Water and jobs, for example, are increasingly scarce in rural regions where many populations have quadrupled since the 1980s," the newspaper writes (Edwards, 10/11). After a recent three-day visit to the country, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes, said, "We launched a flash appeal a few weeks ago. The funding for that is creeping up… but it's still not enough," IRIN reports (10/12).

Researchers Create Potential TB Test

Researchers said they have "come up with a new way to use light to trace tuberculosis (TB) bacteria in fluids," IANS/Thaindian.com reports.  The "low cost, easy-to-use technique" would require a person "to smear a drop of blood or urine on a glass slide, insert it into a machine and read a simple display that would indicate" whether a person has TB (10/9). The test could "help health care workers identify people who are latently infected," according to an Optical Society of American press release. "Moreover, the technology may be amenable for widespread use in the developing world, where most cases of TB occur." But according to the release, researchers have "not yet built a functioning device that can detect hidden TB infections in blood or urine samples, and they have not yet tested the technology on samples collected in the field" (10/8).