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AllAfrica / HIV & STD


AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.

Africa: Straight Talk with Global Fund Director Michel Kazatchkine
12 03 2010 The executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Michel Kazatchkine, sat down with IRIN/PlusNews at the launch of the organization's 2010 report, where he answered some hard questions on what may be a turning point in HIV/AIDS funding.

South Africa: Serious About Fighting HIV And Aids
12 03 2010 Increased measures aimed at reducing HIV transmission from mother to child by 2015 have been put in place throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and with bold and life changing policies set to come into effect in South Africa as of April this year, this target might very well be within reach.

Nigeria: HIV/Aids Test - Lawmakers Say It's Necessary for Long Life
12 03 2010 Their response seem to imply that their lives and survival depended on it. But unlike what obtains presently in Nigeria, members of the Lagos State House of Assembly surprisingly demonstrated the imperative of subjecting themselves to an HIV/AIDS test instead of shying away from it as many are wont.

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Kaisernetwork / HIV/AIDS


Online resource for timely and in-depth coverage of health policy news, debates and discussions.

HIV Prevention Efforts in Five African Countries Not Reaching At-Risk Groups, Report Says
03 09 2009 National HIV prevention strategies in at least five African countries are not reaching the groups most at risk of infection, according to a report from UNAIDS and the World Bank conducted in conjunction with the national HIV/AIDS authorities of Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland and Uganda, IRIN/PlusNews reports. The study was conducted between 2007 and 2008 to determine how and where most HIV cases were occurring in each country. It also aimed to examine whether prevention programs and spending aligned with those findings.

According to the report, most prevention initiatives are not based on evidence of the behaviors that spread HIV in the five surveyed countries. For example, most new infections in Lesotho occur because of concurrent sexual partnerships, both before and after marriage. However, the country does not have any prevention strategies aimed at concurrent partnerships, or couples who are married or in long-term relationships.

In addition, the report found that in Mozambique, an estimated 19% of new HIV infections were spread through commercial sex work, 3% from injection drug use and 5% among men who have sex with men. According to the report, few programs in the country target sex workers, while none are tailored to IDUs or MSM.

According to the report, spending on HIV prevention often is low in the surveyed countries. Lesotho spends 13% of its national HIV/AIDS budget on prevention, while Uganda spends 34%. Director of the World Bank's Global HIV/AIDS Unit Debrework Zewdie said that the economic downturn makes it important to maximize the impact of HIV prevention investments. "These syntheses use the growing amounts of data and information available to better understand each country's epidemic and response and identify how prevention might be more effective," she said.

The report includes recommendations on how the surveyed countries can better implement evidence-based prevention efforts. It said that Lesotho should revise its prevention messages to address multiple concurrent partnerships and integrate the subject into future initiatives. In addition, Mozambique should focus condom promotion on groups such as sex workers, the report said. According to IRIN/PlusNews, the five-country program aims to enhance capacity to ensure that the countries can conduct similar studies in the future (IRIN/PlusNews, 5/27).

The report is available online.

World Cup Campaign To Build Centers To Provide HIV/AIDS Education, Other Services to At-Risk African Youth
03 09 2009 Authorities in South Africa have begun construction of one of the 20 planned Football for Hope centers in Africa -- part of a 2010 World Cup campaign called "20 Centers for 2010" aimed at reducing the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, poverty and crime in local communities -- the AP/Google.com reports. The center under construction in South Africa's Khayelitsha township will include a soccer field, community center and after-school programs that will focus on sex education and HIV/AIDS education. The International Federation of Football Association, or FIFA, in alliance with Streetfootballworld, a network of development groups, is providing the campaign with $10 million in funding. Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Namibia, Rwanda and other African countries will be home to the remaining 19 centers.

According to FIFA President Joseph Blatter, the campaign "emphasizes the power of football far beyond the boundaries of the pitch." He added that the centers will "provide a platform for communities to address social issues such as children's rights, education, health, HIV/AIDS prevention and will leave a legacy for Africa that will last long after the final whistle of the 2010 FIFA World Cup has been blown." Helen Zille, premier of the Western Cape Province, said construction of the center in the township "shows what we can do when we focus on getting things right rather than concentrating on what's wrong," adding that she hopes the center is successful with its HIV/AIDS education efforts. The center will be run by Grassroots Soccer, an HIV/AIDS education organization that uses the sport to educate youth. Nocawe Tyali, a life-skills and football teacher who works with teenagers, said the new center will give young people an alternative to high-risk behaviors and enable the area to offer more youth football programs that include an HIV/AIDS prevention message (Nullis, AP/Google.com, 5/25).

South African Health Minister To Launch PMTCT Plan
03 09 2009 South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi within the next two weeks is expected to launch a plan to address mother-to-child HIV transmission in an effort to reduce infant mortality in the country, The Times reports. The MTCT plan is part of a new health program adopted by President Jacob Zuma's administration, according to The Times.

"This is one of the most urgent things I want to (deal with) as the new minister," Motsoaledi said. According to Motsoaledi, a child dies every eight minutes in South Africa, and about 40% of child deaths are related to HIV/AIDS. The plan was developed by the Development Bank of Southern Africa at a July meeting of government and health sector stakeholders. Participants at the meeting also examined maternal deaths and the decrease in life expectancy among young adults because of HIV/AIDS. According to Motsoaledi, these and other issues have been identified as priorities for the Zuma administration if South Africa is to meet targets in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. They also have been consolidated into a 10-point plan to help the Department of Health focus on urgent issues through 2015.

"Health and education are the biggest challenges for (the government) and we ought to be doing something drastic," Motsoaledi said, adding, "These are very serious issues in society." The health department's plan also calls for the revival of the National AIDS Council and says that the government should improve regulation of the private health sector. It also calls for the establishment of a national tuberculosis reference laboratory, a focus on infection rates among women ages 17 to 21 and the improvement of HIV prevention among commercial sex workers (Molele, The Times, 5/25).

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UNAIDS / Latest news


Joint United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS

Papua New Guinea launch of the Commission on AIDS in the Pacific
13 03 2010 The first Pacific launch of the report “Turning the Tide: An OPEN strategy for a response to AIDS in the Pacific” took place in Papua New Guinea on Thursday 11 March 2010. The report is the first document to synthesize regional and country information on epidemiology, risks and vulnerabilities, and financing and coordination of the AIDS response. Issues of rights and civil society as well as the impact of AIDS on health are also highlighted.

UNAIDS, Annie Lennox, launch action framework for women, girls and HIV
13 03 2010 Globally, women and girls continue to be affected disproportionately by HIV. Artist and political and social activist Annie Lennox together with UNAIDS Executive Director Mr Michel Sidibé launched the Agenda for Accelerated County Action in order to bring global political attention to the well-being of women and girls today.

Second Independent Evaluation of UNAIDS - Oversight Committee
12 03 2010 Documents relating to the second independet evaluaiton of UNAIDS and published by the SIE Oversight Committee.

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AIDSPortal / News


AIDSPortal is a joint initiative of the DFID Global AIDS Policy Team and the UK Consortium on AIDS and International Development.

Study integrating family planning and HIV treatment & care funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
19 02 2010 UCSF has received a $1.15 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to determine if integrating family planning into HIV treatment and care will increase contraceptive use and decrease unintended pregnancy among HIV-positive women. UCSF will partner with the Kenya Medical Research Institute and Ibis Reproductive Health to conduct the research. The study’s first objective is to imp...

Swaziland: 18 000 new HIV people by 2012
19 02 2010 EZULWINI — About 18 000 new HIV infections in the country are expected in 2012. This is according to a Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (JUNPS) report which was presented yesterday by UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe. The report states that out of every 100 HIV negative people in Swaziland it was estimated that three would become infected with HIV every year, translating to ...

South Africa: New ARV tender taking shape
18 02 2010 The health department is redesigning the new ARV tender in the hope of procuring cheaper antiretroviral medicine amid claims that South Africa is paying around 30% more than the global rate for the drugs. Government will start procuring drugs under the new tender from June and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) is assisting the health department to design the tender which will in turn ...

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bioethics.net / HIV/Aids / News


Bioethics news from bioethics.net/American Journal of Bioethics

University of Michigan Scientists Identify Reservoirs Where HIV-Infected Cells Can Lie in Wait
08 03 2010 University of Michigan scientists have identified a new reservoir forhidden HIV-infected cells that can serve as a factory for newinfections. Targeting these reservoirs of latent cells may open a door to new treatments.

Man Appears Free of HIV After Stem Cell Transplant
03 09 2009 A 42-year-old HIV patient with leukemia appears to have no detectableHIV in his blood and no symptoms after a stem cell transplant from adonor carrying a gene mutation that confers natural resistance to thevirus that causes AIDS, according to a report published Wednesday inthe New England Journal of Medicine.

A New Call to Defeat the AIDS Virus
03 09 2009 Scientists at major medical centers in the United States, the drugindustry and AIDS advocates are calling for a new research effort todefeat, once and for all, the viral infections that have caused theglobal AIDS epidemic that kills more than 2 million people each yearworldwide, despite the antiviral drugs that are keeping other millionsalive even now.

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IPS / HIV/AIDS / News


Inter Press Service is a global news agenc producing independent news and analysis of events affecting the economic, social and political development of peoples and nations especially in the south

HEALTH: U.S. AIDS Fund Flat-Lining, Groups Complain
13 03 2010 WASHINGTON, Mar 12 (IPS) - The debate between those who favour investment in AIDS treatment and those who favour investment in its prevention came to the forefront Thursday at a U.S House of Representatives hearing on U.S. investments in HIV/AIDS in Africa.

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Five Years to Children Born Free of HIV
09 03 2010 JOHANNESBURG, Mar 8 (IPS) - A world where all children are born free of HIV infection is possible in only five years if donors continue to fund global efforts to combat the virus.

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: More Funds Needed for HIV Prevention and Treatment
09 03 2010 CAPE TOWN, Mar 8 (IPS) - Decreasing or levelling HIV funding will destabilise developing countries’ health systems, a group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) warned. They demand that governments worldwide own up to their promise of achieving universal access to HIV treatment.

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SciDev / Health / News


Latest news on health and the developing world.

Translational research key to HIV vaccine
12 03 2010 New funding mechanisms to support translational research are vital to develop a successful HIV vaccine, says Wayne C. Koff.

Temperature rise spreads malaria, scientists insist
12 03 2010 The hotly contested idea that climate change is increasing the spread of malaria has been supported by a review of recent studies.

Dengue programmes 'too paternalistic'
11 03 2010 Routine responses to dengue fever are top-down, which discourages individual engagement in control strategies, says a study.

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