2003
- Tammy Faye Messner Pens Self-Help Book
- Associated Press - December 30, 2003
- DURHAM, N.C. - Tammy Faye Messner is keeping busy. She s promoting a new self-help book, will appear on the WB reality show The Surreal Life - premiering Jan. 11 - and will host a drag bingo benefit Friday night to raise money for the Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina. I ve been around a lot of drag queens, said Messn
- Haitian-Americans Marking Bicentennial
- Associated Press - December 30, 2003
- Madison J. Gray, Associated Press Writer
- NEW YORK - With their homeland staggered by AIDS, poverty and political instability, many Haitian-Americans are struggling to find the right way to mark their country s bicentennial Thursday, with emotions ranging from pride to sadness. I m proud to celebrate the 200 years, said Jean Jean-Pierre, musical director of th
- Indians See Rise in AIDS Infection Rates
- Associated Press - December 29, 2003
- PHOENIX - The remoteness of many American Indian reservations largely protected tribes from the full force of HIV and AIDS for years, but that has begun to change. In 2001, then-Surgeon General David Satcher warned AIDS was a ticking time bomb for American Indians. Now, Indian infection rates are 1.5 times that of whit
- FDA OKs U.S. Sale of 10-Minute HIV Test
- Associated Press - December 29, 2003
- WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration has approved a 10-minute HIV test, the Irish company that makes the test said Monday. Trinity Biotech PLC plans to market the test to government programs, physicians and hospitals for quick testing of health workers who accidentally prick their fingers with bloody needles.
- WRAP: Japanese Patient Infected By HIV-Tainted Blood
- Associated Press - December 29, 2003
- TOKYO (AP)--A patient has been infected with HIV after blood tainted with the virus that causes AIDS slipped through the detection system of the Japan Red Cross and was used in a transfusion, a Health Ministry official said Monday. It was the first time that anyone in Japan had been infected with HIV by a blood transfu
- Sexy Singapore Santas Hand Out Condoms
- Associated Press - December 24, 2003
- SINGAPORE - Young women dressed in skimpy Santa outfits have distributed 50,000 free safe-sex stocking stuffers - condoms - to holiday shoppers in the city-state s glitzy tourism and shopping district. The sexy Santas from Takaso Marketing, which makes Playsafe condoms, handed out the prophylactics along busy Orchard R
- Yankees Cleared in Gay-Bashing Lawsuit
- Associated Press - December 24, 2003
- Michael Gormley, The Associated Press
- ALBANY, N.Y. - The state s highest court on Monday ended a case in which a New York Yankees clubhouse worker accused the team and some of its players of gay bashing, physical abuse and playing cruel practical jokes. The Court of Appeals declined to hear an appeal sought by Paul Priore, who sued the Yankees and three pl
- UN: Slump In Donations Forces Food Aid Cut In Zimbabwe
- Associated Press - December 22, 2003
- HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP)--Emergency food rations for 2.6 million hungry Zimbabweans were halved ahead of Christmas because of insufficient foreign donations, the U.N. food agency said Monday. It s tragic that these ration cuts have come at a time when people are normally celebrating the festive season, but if we re not gi
- NY Court Won't Hear Appeal In Yankees Gay-Bashing Lawsuit
- Associated Press - December 22, 2003
- ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)--The state s highest court on Monday ended a case in which a New York Yankees clubhouse worker accused the team and some of its players of gay bashing, physical abuse and playing cruel practical jokes. The Court of Appeals declined to hear an appeal sought by Paul Priore, who sued the Yankees and thre
- Ex-Televangelist to Hold AIDS Drag Benefit
- Associated Press - December 22, 2003
- DURHAM, N.C. - Former televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker Messner will headline a drag bingo benefit for AIDS here next month. The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, which serves people with HIV and AIDS in Durham, Orange and Wake counties, is organizing the fund-raiser at the Durham Armory on Jan. 2. The headliner was a
- Syphilis outbreak in Vancouver said to be world's worst
- Associated Press - December 22, 2003
- VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- A syphilis outbreak that began in the Downtown Eastside is now believed to be the largest per capita in the world, medical officials say. Now the concern is that it s beyond its original group and it s spreading. Clearly, we haven t got a handle on it, said Patricia Daly, health offi
- Health text for schools withdrawn: Sex education creates outcry in Kyrgyzstan
- Associated Press - December 21, 2003
- Kadyr Toktogulov
- BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - The birds and the bees do their thing in the mountains that fill this rugged Central Asian country, but the facts of life are off-limits this year in Kyrgyz high schools. An ethnic Kyrgyz nationalist drummed up a public outcry against a new sex-education book and pressured the government into with
- Health text for schools withdrawn: Sex education creates outcry in Kyrgyzstan
- Associated Press - December 21, 2003
- Kadyr Toktogulov
- BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - The birds and the bees do their thing in the mountains that fill this rugged Central Asian country, but the facts of life are off-limits this year in Kyrgyz high schools. An ethnic Kyrgyz nationalist drummed up a public outcry against a new sex-education book and pressured the government into with
- Abbott raises AIDS drug price more than 400 percent
- Associated Press - December 19, 2003
- NORTH CHICAGO, Ill. (AP) -- Abbott Laboratories Inc. is hiking the U.S. price of an important AIDS drug more than fourfold, citing its sharp increase in treatment value and the costs of improving its formulation. The company informed doctors, AIDS groups and pharmacies of the change in price in
- Cirque du Soleil says it doesn't discriminate based on HIV status
- Associated Press - December 18, 2003
- Lisa Leff, Associated Press Writer
- SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Cirque du Soleil, criticized for firing an HIV-positive gymnast, does not have a blanket policy barring employment of performers infected with the virus that causes AIDS, the company has told the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. But the Montreal-based circus maintains that because of the spe
- WHO: AIDS Battle May Founder Without Better Medical Care
- Associated Press - December 18, 2003
- GENEVA (AP)--Global efforts to battle HIV/AIDS and other diseases and reduce the number of women who die in childbirth will founder unless the international community boosts basic medical care in poor countries, the U.N. health agency said Thursday. Campaigns against individual diseases are essential, but policy-makers
- Group: Vietnam HIV/AIDS Patients Vilified
- Associated Press - December 16, 2003
- HANOI, Vietnam - Vietnamese with HIV/AIDS are often ostracized by their colleagues and employers in the workplace, including being fired or refused jobs, the International Labor Organization said Tuesday. Stigma and discrimination is in fact a reality at workplaces, ILO country director Rose Marie Greve said during a w
- Tax referendum could mean the demise of the Oregon Health Plan
- Associated Press - December 14, 2003
- PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Bill Hancock still gets upset when he recalls a letter that arrived last February informing him he would no longer receive free AIDS drugs. I knew there was this huge deficit and they were going to make budget cuts, he said. But, to be honest, I didn t believe they would cut people off from life
- In Haiti, where pleasures are scarce, U.S.-funded abstinence campaign gets mixed reviews
- Associated Press - December 13, 2003
- Paisley Dodds, Associated Press Writer
- PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Hanging above crumbling streets, the giant blue banners urging Haitians to abstain from sex dwarf the tattered signs for Pante, the Caribbean nation s best-selling condom. The abstinence message, financed by the U.S. government, is getting mixed reviews in this impoverished nation where ea
- Gates Foundation Donates to AIDS Programs
- Associated Press - December 11, 2003
- HYDERABAD, India - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $50 million to private agencies in two southern Indian states for AIDS prevention programs among high-risk groups such as prostitutes, migrant laborers and truckers. The money - $25 million to each state - will be distributed over five years.
- Leaders Promote Democracy at Tech Summit
- Associated Press - December 11, 2003
- Naomi Koppel, Associated Press Writer
- GENEVA - World leaders attending a summit on how to spread the benefits of the Internet to the whole planet stressed on Thursday that it can contribute to development and democracy, but only if it is supported by money and strong government policies. As a global society we must ensure that all our citizens enjoy the be
- UNICEF: 65 Million girls kept from school
- Associated Press - December 11, 2003
- Naomi Koppel
- GENEVA - Some 65 million girls worldwide are kept out of school, increasing the risks that they will suffer from extreme poverty, die in childbirth or from AIDS and pass those dangers on to future generations, the U.N. children s fund said Thursday. UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said investment in education w
- Three-Drug Combo to Fight AIDS Praised
- Associated Press - December 10, 2003
- Linda A. Johnson, Associated Press Writer
- A three-drug cocktail used by many HIV-infected people proved clearly superior to other combinations at treating new patients in the biggest head-to-head comparison of AIDS medications to date. The combination works better and longer, is easier to take, and suppresses the virus more quickly, the international study fou
- Judge Rules for HIV Patient in Transplant
- Associated Press - December 10, 2003
- Charles Sheehan, Associated Press Writer
- PITTSBURGH - An HIV-positive man in need of a liver transplant was wrongly denied coverage under the state s Medicaid program, an administrative law judge ruled. William Jean Gough s liver is deteriorating because of hepatitis C. The 46-year-old was accepted as a strong candidate for the lifesaving operation in August
- Brazil's AIDS chief criticizes church: The director of Brazil's anti-AIDS programs attacks the church's attempts to squelch a pro-condom campaign.
- Associated Press - December 10, 2003
- BRASILIA - (AP) -- The director of Brazil s anti-AIDS program broke a long-standing silence and attacked the Catholic Church s stance against the use of condoms, calling it a possible crime against humanity. Dr. Alexandre Grangeiro said Tuesday the church s attempts to discredit the effectiveness of condoms in preventi
- GSK Settles Complaint Alleging AIDS Drugs Overpricing
- Associated Press - December 10, 2003
- PRETORIA (AP)--U.K. pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) said Wednesday that it will license up to three more South African companies to manufacture generic versions of its AIDS medicines and allow the country to import drugs produced elsewhere. The moves, part of a settlement with a business regulator, are e
- Charges dismissed against former health commissioner accused of infecting partners with AIDS
- Associated Press - December 9, 2003
- SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A San Francisco judge Tuesday dismissed a grand jury indictment against a former San Francisco health commissioner accused of intentionally infecting sexual partners with the virus that causes AIDS. The ruling by Superior Court Judge Kay Tsenin marked the first-ever judicial review of a 1998 state
- House OKs $373 Billion Spending Bill
- Associated Press - December 8, 2003
- Alan Fram
- WASHINGTON - The House approved a $373 billion spending package Monday detailing how nearly every domestic agency will spend its money this year and delivering wins to President Bush on overtime pay, media ownership and other fights. More than two months after the government s budget year began, Republican leaders push
- Partnership Explores Betulin's Many Uses
- Associated Press - December 8, 2003
- Karren Mills, Associated Press Writer
- DULUTH, Minn. - Chemist Pavel Krasutsky calls it nature s white gold. Betulin, a powdery substance in the outer bark of the birch tree, has been shown to help wounds heal faster and cut inflammation. Many cosmetic companies, touting it as a skin toner and restorer, add birch bark extract to various products. And a birc
- Gates Foundation to Give $25M for AIDS
- Associated Press - December 5, 2003
- BANGALORE, India - The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will give $25 million to a southern Indian state for prevention of AIDS in what officials said is the foundation s first arrangement with a state agency in the country. The money will come from $200 million grant pledged by the Seattle-based foundation to help
- Some Questions and Answers About Flu
- Associated Press - December 5, 2003
- Health officials say this year s flu outbreak, which has spread faster and earlier than usual, appears to be the worst in at least three years. And the leading vaccine makers have shipped all of their supply. Here are answers to some common questions: Q: Will I be able to get a flu shot? A: That depends on demand. Ther
- Gates Foundation Gives S Indian State $25M To Fight AIDS
- Associated Press - December 5, 2003
- BANGALORE, India (AP)--The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will give $25 million to a southern Indian state for prevention of AIDS in what officials said is the foundations s first tie-up with a state agency in the country. The money will come from $200 million grant pledged by the Seatle-based foundation to help c
- Kids' Medicine Dosage Test Law Signed
- Associated Press - December 4, 2003
- WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Wednesday signed legislation giving the government the ability to require drug companies to test medicines to ensure that dosages are appropriate for children. Now, only a fourth of the drugs on the market are tested and properly labeled for safe use in children. Because children and adu
- UNICEF Asks Religious Grps To Help Fight AIDS In S Asia
- Associated Press - December 4, 2003
- KATMANDU, Nepal (AP)--The U.N. Children s Fund urged South Asian religious leaders Thursday to help fight HIV/AIDS and end the fear and ignorance that surrounds the disease. Nearly 5 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in the region and the trend is firmly upward, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia Sadig Rase
- Blair Says Drug Price Cuts Needed To Combat AIDS
- Associated Press - December 3, 2003
- LONDON (AP)--Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday said cutting the price of drugs used to treat HIV and AIDS in poor countries was necessary to help fight the worldwide epidemic. We have got to do everything we possibly can to make sure we put the support in but also reduce the price of the drugs for treatment for pe
- Ukraine Pres Accepts $60M World Bk Loan To Fight AIDS, TB
- Associated Press - December 3, 2003
- KIEV (AP)--Ukraine s president accepted a $60 million World Bank loan Wednesday to fight AIDS and tuberculosis in this former Soviet republic. Leonid Kuchma s approval came after the bank agreed to provide the funds to prevent and control the two diseases that have spread rapidly since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
- Seven Intl Cos Announce Plans To Fund Africa HIV Programs
- Associated Press - December 3, 2003
- NAIROBI (AP)--Seven major international companies with operations in Africa said Wednesday they will expand HIV treatment and prevention programs in an effort to boost the fight against the disease. The companies - Anglo American PLC (AAUK), ChevronTexaco Corp. (CVX), DaimlerChrysler AG (DCX), Eskom, Heineken Holding N
- Gere Talks AIDS With Bombay Prostitutes
- Associated Press - December 2, 2003
- Ramola Talwar Badam, Associated Press Writer
- BOMBAY, India - Hollywood actor Richard Gere talked to prostitutes and their clients inside dingy Bombay brothels Tuesday in a crowded red-light district to find out what they knew about HIV/AIDS. I have so many friends who are (HIV) positive...There s no way you should leave sick people to die, Gere told The Associat
- UPDATE:US Thompson In Rwanda To Assess Fight Against AIDS
- Associated Press - December 2, 2003
- (Updates with additional quotes.) KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) -- U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson laid a wreath Tuesday at the tomb of victims of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda in which thousands of women were raped and infected with HIV/AIDS. Thompson was driven from the airport to the Gisozi Genocide Memo
- Global AIDS Fund Grants $6.39M To Zambia
- Associated Press - December 2, 2003
- LIVINGSTONE, Zambia (AP)--U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson signed Tuesday a $6.39 million grant on behalf of the global AIDS fund to help this impoverished southern African country fight the pandemic. Thompson, who chairs the Geneva-based Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said
- AIDS cases on the rise in women, Hispanics
- Associated Press - December 1, 2003
- NEW HAVEN - The numbers of new AIDS cases and deaths from AIDS continue to decline in Connecticut, but the disease is increasingly infecting women, Hispanics and heterosexuals, a state report shows. AIDS counselors said trends are changing in part because new drugs are keeping AIDS patients alive longer, and because ed
- Activists call on governor to maintain funding for AIDS drugs
- Associated Press - December 1, 2003
- Mason Stockstill, Associated Press Writer
- LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger s proposal to cap state funding that helps HIV-positive adults obtain medicine was criticized by treatment officials who challenged the plan at a World AIDS Day event. Officials at the JWCH Medical Clinic in downtown Los Angeles gathered Monday to call on Schwarzenegger to
- New database to help fight against hepatitis C
- Associated Press - December 1, 2003
- Leslie Hoffman, Associated Press
- ALBUQUERQUE - Patricia Monaghan wishes there was a better way to vanquish the invader attacking her liver. For now, she copes with a treatment that forces the 46-year-old lawyer and mother of two to ration her life, predicting the days she ll feel well enough to venture out or be too sick to leave her house. Monaghan
- Groups launch registry of artists who have died of AIDS
- Associated Press - December 1, 2003
- Michael Weissenstein, Associated Press Writer
- NEW YORK (AP) -- A New York arts group has unveiled an Internet list of hundreds of writers, actors, designers and others to help memorialize the lives and catalog the works of artists felled by AIDS. The Alliance for the Arts Estate Project for Artists with AIDS combed through academic research, magazine articles and
- Activists, health workers, celebrities mark World AIDS Day around the globe
- Associated Press - December 1, 2003
- Audra Ang, Associated Press Writer
- BEIJING (AP) -- Activists and health workers rallied around the globe Monday to mark World AIDS day, seeking support for the continuing battle against a disease that ravaged a record number of people in 2003. In China , the government says at least 840,000 people are HIV-positive and fears 10 million might become infec
- UK Govt Doubles Contribution To UN Aids Agency To GBP6M
- Associated Press - December 1, 2003
- LONDON (AP)--The U.K. will double its contribution to UNAIDS , the U.N. agency coordinating global efforts to fight the disease, next year to GBP6 million pounds, International Development Secretary Hilary Benn said Monday. The U.K. also called for one national strategy, one national AIDS commission and one way to moni
- Russian AIDS Expert Says Government Not Doing Enough
- Associated Press - December 1, 2003
- MOSCOW (AP)--Russia s top AIDS expert on Monday accused the government of not doing enough to prevent the spread of the disease, which is snowballing in Russia. Over 257,000 HIV cases, more than 7,500 of which involve children, have been registered in all but one of Russia s 89 regions, Russian officials said Monday, w
- India To Offer Free AIDS Drugs At Some Govt Hospitals
- Associated Press - December 1, 2003
- NEW DELHI (AP)--The Indian government plans to give free drugs to 100,000 of its 4.6 million AIDS patients in a move that is being described as a significant scale-up in the fight against the disease in this country, which has the world s second-largest number of HIV-infected people. Until now, the Indian government ha
- WHO Officially Launches Program To Expand HIV Treatment
- Associated Press - December 1, 2003
- NAIROBI (AP)--Tens of thousands of AIDS activists and health workers rallied worldwide on Monday to mark World AIDS Day, supporting officials who announced new initiatives and millions of dollars in new funding to combat the disease that has infected 40 million people, and kills more than 8,000 sufferers everyday. The
- US Health Secy, WHO Chief Mark World AIDS Day In Zambia
- Associated Press - December 1, 2003
- LIVINGSTONE, Zambia (AP)--U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson appealed Monday for a redoubling of efforts against HIV, saying Africa - the world s hardest-hit continent - cannot be left to fight the pandemic alone. Thompson, who is also chairman of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Mal
- Malaysians Complacent About AIDS Prevention - Activists
- Associated Press - December 1, 2003
- KUALA LUMPUR (AP)--Despite a rising infection rate, Malaysians remain lax about preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS, especially through unsafe sex, activists said Monday. Marina Mahathir, president of the Malaysian AIDS Council, said people were reluctant to acknowledge the disease was a threat, even though Malaysia
- China's Health Workers Teach Prevention On World AIDS Day
- Associated Press - December 1, 2003
- BEIJING (AP)--Health workers took to the streets in China s capital on Monday to teach HIV prevention as World AIDS Day began in the world s most populous country, whose communist leaders have promised an aggressive battle - and more openness - to fight the disease. The government has been sluggish for years about disc
- African kingdom turns to tradition seeking to cope with modern scourge of AIDS
- Associated Press - November 30, 2003
- Alexandra Zavis, Associated Press Writer
- SIBOVU, Swaziland (AP) -- In a sandy courtyard, a dozen children in torn shorts and grimy sweaters crowd around an iron pot, holding up plastic bowls for steaming spoonfuls of cabbage and maize porridge. For many of the children -- orphaned by AIDS -- this food grown on a chief s field and prepared by village women is
- Musicians Turn Out For AIDS Benefit Concert In S.Africa
- Associated Press - November 29, 2003
- CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP)--Beyonce Knowles, Bono, Peter Gabriel and other musicians from around the world took to the stage Saturday for an AIDS benefit concert hosted by former South African President Nelson Mandela. More than 30,000 people, among them Oprah Winfrey and other celebrities, filled Cape Town s Greenpo
- WHO: Fear,Stigma Heighten Risks Of AIDS Spreading In Asia
- Associated Press - November 27, 2003
- MANILA (AP)--Ignorance, fear, denial and intolerance of HIV/AIDS are creating an environment that could allow the disease to spread faster in Asia, the World Health Organization warned Thursday. Shigeru Omi, WHO s regional director for the Western Pacific, said the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS - often linked to cultural
- Thailand Helps Other Asian Nations Combat AIDS
- Associated Press - November 26, 2003
- CHIANG MAI, Thailand (AP)--A doctor from Afghanistan stunned a conference on AIDS this month by revealing that he didn t know what the symptoms of the disease were. Dr. Baz Mohammad Shirzad s statement underscored a lack of awareness in many parts of Asia - even among health professionals - that experts say is still un
- Global AIDS Epidemic Sets New Records
- Associated Press - Wednesday November 26, 2003
- Jane Wardell, Associated Press Writer
- LONDON - The HIV/AIDS epidemic continues its devastating march across the globe, with more deaths and infections this year than ever before, according to a U.N. report. The report by UNAIDS , the U.N. agency responsible for coordinating global efforts to fight the disease, said the epidemic killed more than 3 million
- New HIV Cases Among Gay Men Up 17 Percent
- Associated Press - November 26, 2003
- Joseph B. Verrengia, AP Science Writer
- Federal officials say more signs of prevention fatigue are reflected in the latest report on AIDS - a 17 percent increase in new HIV cases among gay men over the past three years. HIV is not over in the United States , said Robert Janssen, director HIV/AIDS prevention division for the Centers for Disease Control and P
- UNICEF: Africa Faces Orphan Crisis Of Epic Proportions
- Associated Press - November 26, 2003
- JOHANNESBURG (AP)--AIDS has already orphaned more than 11 million African children under the age of 15, and the worst is yet to come, warns a report issued Wednesday by the U.N. Children s Fund. By 2010, there will be about 20 million children in sub-Saharan Africa who have lost at least one parent to AIDS, bringing th
- US Delegation To Look At AIDS Projects In Africa Next Wk
- Associated Press - November 25, 2003
- WASHINGTON (AP)--A U.S. delegation of lawmakers, business people, religious leaders and others will mark World AIDS day in Africa next week and examine projects aimed at combatting the disease, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said Tuesday. The group of 80 people will visit four hard-hit countries -
- Time Running Out To Fight Aids Epidemic In Asia - Report
- Associated Press - November 25, 2003
- BANGKOK (AP)--Complacent governments, inadequate health care and widespread prejudice are worsening the AIDS epidemic in Asia, a new report has warned. (The epidemic) is both a cause and consequence of poverty and human rights violations, said the report entitled Time to Act, adding that unprotected sex, drug abuse and
- U.S. Group to Visit Africa About AIDS
- Associated Press - November 25, 2003
- Harry Dunphy
- WASHINGTON - U.S. lawmakers, business people and members of religious groups will visit Africa next week to mark World AIDS Day and examine projects aimed at combatting the disease, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said Tuesday. The group of 80 people will visit four hard-hit countries-
- U.N.: Global AIDS epidemic rampant, killing more people this year than ever before
- Associated Press - November 25, 2003
- Jane Wardell, Associated Press Writer
- LONDON (AP) -- International efforts to control the spread of HIV/AIDS are failing, with more people dying from the disease this year than ever before and as many as 46 million people around the world living with the virus, said a U.N. report released Tuesday. The worldwide epidemic killed more than 3 million people th
- Global AIDS Epidemic Still Spreading - UN Report
- Associated Press - November 25, 2003
- LONDON (AP)--The global HIV/AIDS epidemic is showing no sign of slowing despite international attempts to halt its progress and as many as 46 million people are living with the virus around the world, a report released Tuesday said. The report by UNAIDS -the U.N. agency responsible for coordinating global efforts to fi
- HIV Spreading Faster In Asia Than In Africa - Study
- Associated Press - November 25, 2003
- BANGKOK (AP)--HIV is spreading faster in Asia than in Africa, and the Asian AIDS epidemic is worsening because of complacent governments, inadequate health care and widespread prejudice, a new report has warned. Time to Act, released Tuesday by ActionAid-Asia, says HIV/AIDS has reached a critical point in the region an
- Turner Touts Female-Dominated Foundation
- Associated Press - November 24, 2003
- Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press Writer
- UNITED NATIONS - Media mogul Ted Turner has taken a small step to demonstrate his belief that women should run the world because men have mucked it up with too much warfare and military spending. The United Nations Foundation he established six years ago to distribute the $1 billion he pledged to U.N. causes has a new
- HIV-Positive Muppet Gets UNICEF Role
- Associated Press - November 24, 2003
- Naomi Koppel, Associated Press Writer
- GENEVA - The U.N. Children s Fund has appointed an HIV-positive Muppet starring in the South African version of Sesame Street as a global champion for children, officials said Monday. Kami, a mustard-colored furry Muppet who appears regularly on Takalani Sesame, represents a 5-year-old girl orphaned by AIDS. UNICE
- Gay rights groups target a barrier to immigration: U.S. immigration rules don't treat a same-sex couple the same as a heterosexual pair, and there's an attempt in Congress to change that
- Associated Press - Monday, November 24, 2003
- David Crary, Associated Press
- NEW YORK - The choices can be wrenching: circumventing the law, leaving one s country, splitting up with one s lover. Under U.S. immigration policy, those are the options facing many same-sex couples when one partner is American, the other a foreigner. They re in a double closet of being gay or lesbian, and being an i
- Safe-sex brochures rejected at school event, group says
- Associated Press - November 23, 2003
- GEORGETOWN, Ky. — Scott County High School administrators told an HIV and AIDS services group to remove brochures about safe sex at a student health fair, group members said. Cathy Cox, executive director of Lexington-based AIDS Volunteers, Inc., said group members were instructed Friday not to display four brochures t
- Binational Gay Couples Have Hard Choices
- Associated Press - Sunday November 23, 2003
- David Crary, AP National Writer
- NEW YORK - The choices can be wrenching: skirting the law, leaving one s country, splitting up with one s lover. Under U.S. immigration policy, those are the options facing many same-sex couples when one partner is American, the other a foreigner. They re in a double closet of being gay or lesbian, and being an immigr
- Now Teenagers, Children Born with HIV Face Challenge of 'coming out'
- Associated Press - Sunday, November 23, 2003
- Martha Irvine
- CHICAGO - Known as AIDS babies, they are children born HIV-positive who contracted the virus from their mothers. No one expected them to live very long in the early days of the epidemic, but today, many are thriving teens, and facing a new set of challenges. This is the story of one of them. If ever there was a time to
- Fewer AIDS babies being born in America, but worldwide transmissions remain at epidemic levels
- Associated Press - November 22, 2003
- (AP) -- The World Health Organization estimates that about 800,000 infants become infected with HIV each year around the globe, mainly through mother-to-child transmission, which can occur during pregnancy and labor or after delivery through breast milk. The problem is most acute in developing nations, where mothers ha
- Cirque Du Soleil Targeted Over Firing
- Associated Press - Friday November 21, 2003
- Lisa Leff, Associated Press Writer
- SAN FRANCISCO - Cirque du Soleil, the Canadian circus company known for its stunning aerial acts, is being targeted by protesters here for firing an acrobat infected with the HIV virus, a move that also has been criticized by figure skater Rudy Galindo and several Olympic athletes. Galindo, the 1996 U.S. skating champi
- Villagers in northeastern China contracted AIDS by selling blood, group says
- Wall Street Journal - November 21, 2003
- Audra Ang, Associated Press Writer
- BEIJING (AP) -- Dozens of villagers in northeastern China have contracted the AIDS virus by selling blood and at least 20 have died, a human rights organization said Friday. Blood tests have proven that 62 villagers from Soudengzhan in Jilin province are HIV-positive, part of a total of 300 people who may be infected,
- Ex-President Clinton Backs Cheaper Indian-Made AIDS Drugs
- Associated Press - November 21, 2003
- GURGAON, India (AP)--Former U.S. President Clinton appeared at an Indian drug-making plant Friday to back the production of low-cost, lifesaving medicines for HIV and AIDS patients in Africa and the Caribbean. There are 6 million people in the world who need medication for HIV AIDS, of whom only about 300,000 are getti
- HIV-positive man appeals state Medicaid denial of transplant coverage
- Associated Press - Thursday, November 20, 2003
- Allison Schlesinger, Associated Press Writer
- PITTSBURGH (AP) - Attorneys for an HIV-positive man said the state s Medicaid program should cover his liver transplant because there is no evidence that otherwise healthy HIV-positive patients have a worse chance of surviving organ transplants than those who don t have the virus. Attorneys for Lambda Legal and the AID
- South African Govt OKs Plan To Distribute Free AIDS Drugs
- Associated Press - November 19, 2003
- CAPE TOWN (AP)--Cabinet Wednesday approved a plan to distribute free AIDS medicine through South Africa s public health system, but didn t specify when the drugs would be made available. Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said the government still needed to put out a tender for the drugs, train healthcare workers
- Report: Prosecutors ask judge to order HIV test for Bryant
- Associated Press - Tuesday, November 18, 2003
- DENVER (AP) -- Prosecutors in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case have filed a motion asking a judge to order the NBA star undergo testing for the virus that causes AIDS, a television station reported. The motion was filed under seal and the judge has not ruled, KCNC-TV in Denver reported Tuesday night, citing unnamed
- Latin America At Risk For Greater Spread Of AIDS -Report
- Associated Press - November 18, 2003
- BUENOS AIRES (AP)--Latin America has yet to experience a full-blown AIDS epidemic, but the disease is spreading from high-risk individuals to the general population, according to a World Bank report released Tuesday. HIV/AIDS in Latin American Countries: The Challenges Ahead presents the results of a 2001 survey of hea
- US House-Senate Conferees Back $2.4 Bln For AIDS Fight
- Associated Press - Monday, November 17, 2003
- WASHINGTON (AP)--U.S. House-Senate bargainers have agreed to provide $2.4 billion this year to combat AIDS and other deadly diseases in Africa and other poor regions, congressional staff members said Monday. The amount is $400 million more than President George W. Bush proposed last February. The administration had def
- Brazil Negotiates 76% Discount On Key AIDS Drug
- Associated Press - Friday, November 14, 2003
- BRASILIA (AP)--Brazil s health ministry said Friday the record discount it had negotiated for a key anti-AIDS drug represented a breakthrough in its relationship with the pharmaceutical industry. According to the ministry, Bristol-Myers Squibb agreed to concede Brazil a 76.4% discount on the anti-AIDS drug
- Promiscuous Husbands Are Behind HIV Spread in India
- Associated Press - Thursday, November 13, 2003
- NEW DELHI, India -- The virus that causes AIDS is being spread through India s general population mainly by married men who have unprotected sex with prostitutes, according to a study released Thursday. About 610,000 Indians contracted HIV last year, increasing the overall number of infected Indians to about 4.
- Rural HIV-AIDS Discrimination Examined
- Associated Press - November 13, 2003
- Kevin O'Hanlon, Associated Press Writer
- LINCOLN, Neb. - Widespread discrimination against people with HIV or AIDS persists in rural America, the American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday in a report that detailed privacy violations and denial of housing and parental rights for people with the disease. The report by the ACLU s AIDS Project said people livi
- AIDS Threat Seeping Into India's General Populace - Study
- Associated Press - November 13, 2003
- NEW DELHI, India (AP)--About 610,000 Indians contracted HIV last year as the AIDS-causing virus spilled into the general population through married men having unprotected sex with prostitutes, experts said Thursday. That gives India - with its estimated 4.5 million HIV-infected people - the second-largest number after
- VaxGen Vaccine Fails To Protect From HIV
- Associated Press - November 13, 2003
- BRISBANE, Calif. -- An experimental vaccine tested in Thailand on about 2,500 drug users failed to protect them from becoming infected with HIV, the vaccine s developer said. The poor results were widely expected since VaxGen Inc. had said earlier its vaccine didn t work in a larger North American study.
- Surgeon general: health literacy a major problem in AIDS epidemic
- Associated Press - Thursday, November 13, 2003
- NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- One of the biggest problems in the fight against AIDS is convincing people that they can get it, too, the U.S. surgeon general says. In many minority and poor communities, people have not truly accepted that they can become infected with AIDS -- that they are not immune, Dr. Richard H. Carmona said
- Experimental AIDS vaccine failed to protect drug users from HIV in Thailand study
- Associated Press - Wednesday, November 12, 2003
- Paul Elias, AP Biotechnology Writer
- SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- An experimental AIDS vaccine tested in Thailand on some 2,500 drug users failed to protect them from becoming infected with HIV, the vaccine s developer said Wednesday. The poor results were widely expected since VaxGen Inc. had said earlier that its vaccine did not work in a larger North Ame
- Botswana president says private groups hire health workers by paying more than government
- Associated Press - Wednesday, November 12, 2003
- Elizabeth Wolfe, Associated Press Writer
- WASHINGTON (AP) -- The president of Botswana said Wednesday that his government has fewer workers to devote to the fight against AIDS, because many are lured away by non-governmental organizations that pay higher salaries. At the beginning of the program, we lost our skilled health and other workers to the cooperating
- Report finds privacy holes in digital job searches
- Associated Press - Tuesday, November 11, 2003
- Brian Bergstein, AP Technology Writer
- NEW YORK (AP) -- Some career Web sites, recruitment services and automated job-application kiosks offer flimsy privacy protections and might even violate employment and credit laws, a report released Tuesday asserts. Many job sites still let too much information from resumes posted online get into the hands of third pa
- Terrorism Fight Poses Problems For Humanitarian Groups
- Associated Press - November 11, 2003
- NEW YORK (AP)--Between the terrorists who attack humanitarian groups and Western governments trying to use aid for political purposes, the global fight against terrorism leaves little room for those who try to help its victims, aid officials say. Suicide bombings at the Baghdad offices of the Red Cross in October and
- Rights Group Lauds China's AIDS Funding For The Poor
- Associates Press - November 11, 2003
- BEIJING (AP)--A human rights group on Tuesday praised China s decision to make sure its poorest AIDS patients receive medicine but warned that potential crackdowns and continuing cases of discrimination could undermine the plan. Human Rights Watch issued the warning in a statement from its New York offices. Providing
- Needle Found in New Shoe at Wal-Mart
- Associated Press - Tuesday November 11, 2003
- SALT LAKE CITY - The mother of a 5-year-old boy who says he was pricked by a hypodermic needle left inside a shoe at Wal-Mart wants the world s largest discount retailer to pay for his HIV and hepatitis tests. So far, Becky Pidcock has not heard from the Bentonville, Ark.-based company about her request made last week,
- State can't pay for its HIV/AIDS program: But number of eligible patients up
- Associated Press - Monday, November 10, 2003
- LOUISVILLE - A statewide program that provides free medication to people who can t afford drugs to treat HIV or AIDS doesn t have enough money to treat those on a lengthy waiting list, officials say. The number of people with HIV or AIDS in Kentucky is growing, and more of them have low incomes that make them eligible
- Clinton Joins China Summit on AIDS, SARS
- Associated Press - Monday November 10, 2003
- Stephanie Hoo, Associated Press Writer
- BEIJING - China brought together scientists, government leaders and even former President Clinton on Monday to battle the health threats most urgent to itself and to big swaths of the world - SARS and AIDS. Clinton praised the Chinese government for its decision to help poor AIDS patients receive treatment. And, he to
- Service behind them, homeless vets wage a new battle for respect
- Associated Press - Saturday, November 8, 2003
- Ken Kusmer, Associated Press Writer
- INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Darryl Boyd exudes strength from the shaved head crowning his 6-foot-5, 235-pound Navy veteran s body to his T-shirt s image of bulging biceps pulling a forearm free of shackles. But look more closely, and you see the shirt s message: Freedom from Active Addiction. Listen more closely, and Boyd spe
- Deported for drunken driving, a former fitness trainer lives in squalor, waiting to die
- Associated Press - Saturday, November 8, 2003
- Randall Richard, AP National Writer
- GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) -- When George Rene Marques thinks about his two youngest children, he sees them as they were seven years ago -- the day he was banished from America for drunken driving. Marques has not seen them since July 13, 1996. That was the day, he says, that he hocked his diamond ring to buy party hats a
- Brazil's Lula In Africa: Developing Nations Must Unite
- Associated Press - November 8, 2003
- PRETORIA (AP)--Developing nations across the world must unite to become recognized economic powers Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said as he wrapped up a five leg African tour in South Africa on Saturday. It is extremely helpful and politically and economically correct to join all countries with similar
- Panel Says Keep AIDS Funding Method Same
- Associated Press - Friday November 7, 2003
- WASHINGTON - The method used to allocate $1.3 billion in AIDS funds between states and municipalities should remain unchanged, at least for now, a research panel said Friday. The federal money is allocated based on the estimated number of people with AIDS in each state or community. Congress has suggested a better met
- China's AIDS epidemic is reaching 'frightening' levels, renowned expert says
- Associated Press - Friday, November 7, 2003
- Stephanie Hoo, Associated Press Writer
- BEIJING (AP) - The number of AIDS patients in China is reaching frightening levels, a renowned expert on the disease said Friday, a day after Beijing said it would provide free treatment to thousands of sufferers in dire financial straits. There are about a million individuals in China who are already infected, said
- China Can Use Lessons From SARS Battle To Combat AIDS -UN
- Associated Press - November 7, 2003
- BEIJING (AP)--The lessons China learned in beating back SARS earlier this year can help it fight its AIDS epidemic - as long as the central government keeps providing quick and honest information, the head of the United Nations AIDS agency said Friday. Through openness, firstly, and through strong leadership...the gove
- Canada Gov't Proposes Generic Drugs Bill
- Associated Press - Thursday November 6, 2003
- Tom Cohen, Associated Press Writer
- TORONTO - Prime Minister Jean Chretien on Thursday proposed a bill that would allow generic drug makers in Canada to supply cheap copies of patented medicine to poor countries. The bill complies with a recent World Trade Organization agreement considered a breakthrough on helping the developing world get access to exp
- Canada Gov't Proposes Generic Drugs Bill
- Associated Press - Thursday November 6, 2003
- Tom Cohen, Associated Press Writer
- TORONTO - Prime Minister Jean Chretien on Thursday proposed a bill that would allow generic drug makers in Canada to supply cheap copies of patented medicine to poor countries. The bill complies with a recent World Trade Organization agreement considered a breakthrough on helping the developing world get access to exp
- Brazil Pres Launches AIDS Initiative With Mozambique
- Associated Press - November 6, 2003
- MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP)--Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva wrapped up a two-day visit to Mozambique on Thursday with the launch of a joint program to fight HIV. Lula said Brazil has reduced its AIDS mortality rate by 50% since starting to make it s own HIV medicine and reiterated his pledge to build a facto
- U.N. Envoy Meets Suu Kyi in Myanmar
- Associated Press - Thursday November 6, 2003
- Aye Aye Win, Associated Press Writer
- YANGON, Myanmar - A U.N. human rights envoy met with detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday, one day after he criticized prison conditions and praised the Myanmar junta s anti-AIDS efforts. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, on a weeklong mission to investigate human rights conditions, spent about two hours at
- Brazil To Build AIDS Drugs Factory In Mozambique - Pres
- Associated Press - November 5, 2003
- MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP)--Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva announced Wednesday that his country will build a factory to manufacture HIV drugs in this impoverished southern African country, ravaged by the disease. Silva did not specify when Brazil would do this, saying only that it would be in the near fut
- Mozambique Struggles With AIDS Orphans
- Associated Press - Wednesday November 5, 2003
- Elliott Sylvester, Associated Press Writer
- MAPUTO, Mozambique - For months, 13-year-old Percilia wandered the streets of Maputo, surviving off scraps of food she begged from strangers or salvaged from garbage cans. Like thousands of other children here, Percilia and her sister, who is about 7, were left to fend for themselves when their parents and older siste
- Reagan Miniseries to Air on Showtime
- Associated Press - Tuesday, November 04, 2003
- David Bauder
- NEW YORK - Barraged by accusations from conservatives that it was distorting the legacy of a president, CBS announced Tuesday it was pulling The Reagans miniseries off the air. The network said it was licensing the completed film to Showtime, a pay cable network that, like CBS, is owned by Viacom. CBS insisted it was n
- Mozambique Conferences Ponder AIDS' Impact On Agriculture
- Associated Press - November 3, 2003
- MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP)--AIDS is ravaging Mozambique s agricultural sector just as the southern African country starts to emerge from a debilitating drought, Health Minister Francisco Songane said Monday. Farmers are sick, and many have died, having terrible consequences on food production, Songane said at the start
- Indian Star Named Ambassador for UNICEF
- Associated Press - Monday November 3, 2003
- NEW DELHI - Indian movie star Amitabh Bachchan (news) has been named goodwill ambassador for the United Nation s Children s Fund. Mr. Bachchan s tremendous appeal to young people makes him an ideal Goodwill Ambassador, said a statement quoting Maria Calivis, UNICEF s India representative. Our hope is to leverage Mr. Ba
- Human trial of HIV vaccine in South Africa begins this week
- Associated Press - Monday, November 3, 2003
- Alexandra Zavis, Associated Press Writer
- JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - Researchers this week will begin testing an experimental HIV vaccine on 24 human volunteers in South Africa, a country where more than one in 10 people is infected with the AIDS-causing virus. The treatment, which is also being tested in the United States
- Bands Work to Give Back to Communities
- Associated Press - Friday October 31, 2003
- Melissa Mansfield, Associated Press Writer
- ALBANY, N.Y. - When these musicians come to town, you might have to hide the groceries instead of the women and children. A variety of jam bands are collecting donations of food and money at concerts across the country. An October concert in Albany by The String Cheese Incident brought in more than 1,100 food items for
- House Approves Interior Spending Bill
- Associated Press - Thursday, October 30, 2003
- Jim Abrams
- WASHINGTON - The House narrowly approved an Interior Department spending bill Thursday that devotes nearly $3 billion to firefighting efforts as Congress struggled to make inroads into a backlog of unfinished spending bills. Already a month into the new budget year, both the House and the Senate voted earlier in the da
- Senate Boosts Funds for Africa AIDS Fight
- Associated Press - Thursday, October 30, 2003
- Jim Abrams
- WASHINGTON - The Senate on Thursday approved an additional $289 million for next year to combat AIDS in Africa and other areas ravaged by the disease, deflecting criticism that the administration s ambitious AIDS-fighting program was being underfunded. The amendment to a foreign aid spending bill would bring total gove
- Thousands Given Wrong STD Results
- Associated Press - Thursday, October 30, 2003
- CRANBROOK, British Columbia - About 3,000 people got the wrong results when they were tested for gonorrhea and chlamydia over an 18-month period, health officials say. Because of a faulty diagnostic machine in this southeastern British Columbia town, test results for the two sexually transmitted diseases were reversed,
- Nigeria to Test Polio Vaccines Over AIDS
- Associated Press - Thursday, October 30, 2003
- Dulue Mbachu
- LAGOS, Nigeria - Nigerian authorities said Wednesday polio vaccines recently administered in a nationwide campaign will undergo laboratory testing to calm fears about AIDS. Vice President Abubakar Atiku ordered testing on the vaccines for agents that could spread HIV or sterility, Nigeria s state television reported. A
- Some of AIDS Bill Directed to Injections
- Associated Press - Wednesday, October 29, 2003
- Jeffrey McMurray
- WASHINGTON - Senators agreed Tuesday to direct a part of a $15 billion global AIDS bill toward the problems of unsafe medical injections in Africa, potentially one of few mandates from Congress on how the money should be spent. No one objected when Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., proposed amending a foreign aid package bei
- Some See Aid To Iraq Subtracting From Other Causes
- Associated Press - October 28, 2003
- UNITED NATIONS (AP)--Donors were generous last week in pledging billions to rebuild Iraq - disproportionately generous compared with their donations to fight poverty and AIDS in the world s poorest countries, development and AIDS officials say. The $33 billion in loans and grants for Iraq over the next four years,
- NIH Questions Researchers About Grants
- Associated Press - Tuesday, October 28, 2003
- Mark Sherman
- WASHINGTON - Dr. Liana Clark says she is reconsidering whether to seek federal financing for new research into birth control use among teenagers after Washington questioned the value of her initial study. I just keep thinking that this is a bad nightmare and I m actually going to wake up from all this, said Clark, a ph
- Senate Threatens Malaysia Military Aid
- Associated Press - October 27, 2003
- Ken Guggenheim, Associated Press Writer
- WASHINGTON - The Senate tied $1.2 million in military aid for Malaysia to religious freedom there, a response Monday to criticism of Jews by the Southeast Asian nation s prime minister. Before money could be spent, the State Department would have to determine that Malaysia supports and promotes religious freedoms, inc
- Uganda Pres Criticizes Africa Govt's Response To AIDS
- Associated Press - October 26, 2003
- KAMPALA, Uganda (AP)--Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni took a swipe at African governments efforts to tackle AIDS, saying Sunday that a lack of political commitment had contributed to the spread of the disease, which is ravaging the world s poorest continent. Museveni, whose government is credited with running one of
- Experts Debate Injection Site for Addicts
- Associated Press - Sunday October 26, 2003
- Jeremy Hainsworth, Associated Press Writer
- VANCOUVER, British Columbia - David Lands walked into the upscale office building, checked in with the receptionist and headed inside - to shoot heroin and cocaine into his veins. The frail Lands was one of the first addicts to use North America s only government-sponsored safe injection site, which opened in September
- Zambia Pres Says Nation's Poverty Levels Unacceptable
- Associated Press - October 24, 2003
- LUSAKA, Zambia (AP)--President Levy Mwanawasa marked Zambia s 39 years of independence from the U.K. Friday by honoring outstanding Zambians after earlier admitting to unacceptable poverty. After 39 years of independence it is unacceptable that we should have current levels of poverty in the country, Mwanawasa said in
- HIV, TB Concern European Health Officials
- Associated Press - Thursday October 23, 2003
- Doug Mellgren, Associated Press Writer
- OSLO, Norway - Top European health officials will gather in Oslo next week to address severe health problems facing Russia and the Baltic states, including HIV and tuberculosis. The 16-nation meeting includes health ministers, the European Commission, the World Health Organization and
- AIDS drug deal for poor nations announced
- Associated Press - Thursday, October 23, 2003
- Karen Matthews
- NEW YORK - Four foreign, generic-drug companies will provide low-cost AIDS drugs to several nations in Africa and the Caribbean, former President Clinton said Thursday on an agreement brokered by his foundation. The plan will cut the price of a triple-drug regimen in those countries to about 38 cents a day, Clinton sai
- AIDS A Bigger Asia Pacific Threat Than Terrorism - Expert
- Associated Press - October 22, 2003
- SYDNEY (AP)--The rapid spread of AIDS throughout the Asia Pacific region made it a bigger threat to regional security than terrorism, a conference on the disease heard Wednesday. While there are currently no accurate figures for the number of HIV infections in the region, estimates in
- Mandela joins celebrities to launch an appeal to fund AIDS awareness
- Associated Press - Tuesday, October 21, 2003
- Jack Garland, Associated Press Writer
- LONDON (AP) - Nelson Mandela joined celebrities from the music world Tuesday to raise AIDS awareness with a fund-raising campaign named in his honor. The international appeal, 46664, Give 1 Minute of Your Life to AIDS, uses Mandela s prisoner number from his incarceration on Robben Island off Cape Town for almost two d
- Two British teachers killed in Somaliland
- Associated Press - Tuesday, October 21, 2003
- Osman Hassan, Associated Press Writer
- MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Two British teachers working for an aid agency in Somaliland were found dead Tuesday after being shot at their apartment at the school, officials said. Richard G. Eyeington, 62, and his wife, Enid, 61, were killed Monday night in the town of Sheikh, where they worked for SOS Kinderdorf, an Aus
- Thai HIV Victims Ask U.S. for AIDS Help
- Associated Press - Tuesday October 21, 2003
- Alisa Tang, Associated Press Writer
- BANGKOK, Thailand - Despite the blackened teeth and a withered frame produced by AIDS, five-year-old Tutee smiled widely during a Thai dance performance Tuesday for first lady Laura Bush. Mrs. Bush visited the Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health to observe the hospital s efforts to prevent the transmission
- Crowds turn out for AIDS walk in West Hollywood
- Associated Press - Monday, October 20, 2003
- Angela Watercutter, Associated Press Writer
- WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) - Janet Cuevas joined in AIDS Walk Los Angeles because she knew it was what her sister would have wanted. Cuevas walked alongside more than 25 of Elvira Susana Cuevas friends and relatives in the event, all of them wearing T-shirts with her face. She died of AIDS at age 19 in May, and her lo
- U.S. Health Chief Warns Asia Against AIDS
- Associated Press - Monday October 20, 2003
- Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press Writer
- BEIJING - The rapid spread of AIDS in China and India could destroy any chance of containing the disease, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson warned Sunday. Following brief meetings in Beijing, Thompson also announced that China and the United States
- U.N. report: Honduras has highest HIV-infection rate in Central America
- Associated Press - Thursday, October 16, 2003
- TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) - With only 17 percent of the population in Central America, Honduras has the highest rate of AIDS cases in the region, a United Nations report released Thursday said. Honduras has about 60 percent of the AIDS cases in Central America, U.N. spokesman Lorina Macadam said.
- Court allows doctors to prescribe pot
- Associated Press - Wednesday, October 15, 2003
- David Kravets
- In a setback for President Bush, the Supreme Court refuses to let the federal government punish doctors who recommend marijuana to ill patients. SAN FRANCISCO - The U.S. Supreme Court handed a major victory Tuesday to the nine states that allow the medical use of marijuana, refusing to let the federal government punish
- HIV carrier convicted after infecting two lovers
- Associated Press - Tuesday, October 14, 2003
- Sue Leeman, Associated Press Writer
- LONDON (AP) - When he met women, tall, well-dressed Mohammed Dica pretended to be a lawyer and a Gulf War veteran. But he had a secret -- he was HIV-positive. A jury on Tuesday convicted the 38-year-old Dica on two counts of causing grievous bodily harm by coldly and callously infecting women with the virus that causes
- Leon Schwartzenberg, French cancer specialist, dies near Paris
- Associated Press - Tuesday, October 14, 2003
- PARIS (AP) - Leon Schwartzenberg, a leading cancer specialist who became one of France s most outspoken medical figures on topics ranging from euthanasia to AIDS, died Tuesday. He was 79. The doctor died -- of cancer -- in the cancer division he once headed at Paul-Brousse Hospital, in the Paris suburb of Villejuif, sa
- Supreme Court rejects Bush administration appeal over medical marijuana
- Associated Press - Tuesday, October 14, 2003
- Gina Holland, Associated Press Writer
- WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court cleared the way Tuesday for state laws allowing ill patients to smoke marijuana if a doctor recommends it. Justices turned down the Bush administration s request to consider whether the federal government can punish doctors for recommending or perhaps just talking about the benefits
- Davis signs medical marijuana bill, vetoes needle bill
- Associated Press - Tuesday, October 14, 2003
- Jennifer Coleman, AP Writer
- SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Gov. Gray Davis has signed a bill that will create a card for medical marijuana users to help protect them from arrest, but he vetoed another that would have let pharmacists sell up to 30 hypodermic needles without a prescription. Davis deadline to sign or veto legislation was Sunday, by which time h
- Condom Controversy Surprises Vatican
- Associated Press - Tuesday, October 14, 2003
- VATICAN CITY - A top Vatican cardinal said he was surprised by the reaction over his contention that condoms don t adequately protect against transmitting the virus which causes AIDS. Last week, the United Nations health agency strongly contested Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo s claim, which came in an interview he ga
- Gates Foundation Doubles India AIDS Grant
- Associated Press - Tuesday, October 14, 2003
- Ashok Sharma
- NEW DELHI, India - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said Monday it was doubling to $200 million the prevention funds for HIV and AIDS that the Microsoft founder promised India in a visit last year. The announcement came as a former U.S. diplomat said India must educate its 1 billion people about AIDS or face a cri
- Supreme Court Clears Way for Medical Pot
- Associated Press - Tuesday, October 14, 2003
- Gina Holland
- WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court cleared the way Tuesday for state laws allowing ill patients to smoke marijuana if a doctor recommends it. Justices turned down the Bush administration s request to consider whether the federal government can punish doctors for recommending or perhaps just talking about the benefits
- India must act quickly to avoid full blown emergency on AIDS front, warn experts
- Associated Press - Monday, October 13, 2003
- Ashok Sharma, Associated Press Writer
- NEW DELHI, India (AP) - India must educate its 1 billion people about AIDS or face a crisis, a former U.S. diplomat said Monday, while a foundation set up by Bill Gates pledged $200 million to fight the disease in India. Education means talking about sex and intimacy. These are difficult problems in any country in the
- Cardinal Criticized for Remarks About HIV
- Associated Press - October 10, 2003
- Tom Rachman, Associated Press Writer
- VATICAN CITY - A top Vatican cardinal s claim that condoms don t protect against the virus that causes AIDS was criticized by the U.N. health agency Friday as totally wrong. The disagreement arose after Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, told the British Broadcasting Corp. t
- Wyo. Community Marks Shepard Anniversary
- Associated Press - Wednesday October 8, 2003
- Robert W. Black, Associated Press Writer
- LARAMIE, Wyo. - Five years ago Tuesday, a gay college freshman named Matthew Shepard was tied to a fence and beaten into a coma. His death five days later left Peter Moran shaken about the community of 27,000 where he grew up. It was the worst possible thing you could hear about your hometown, Moran recalled. Laramie,
- 4 Arrested for Killing Italian Aid Worker
- Associated Press - Wednesday October 8, 2003
- MOGADISHU, Somalia - Police in northwestern Somalia have detained four suspects in connection with the killing of a prize-winning Italian aid worker, the region s interior minister said Wednesday. A lone gunman shot and killed Annalena Tonelli on Sunday in Borama, a town 580 miles northwest of Mogadishu. She was killed
- U.N. Report Warns of Threats to Teens
- Associated Press - Wednesday October 8, 2003
- Audrey Woods, Associated Press Writer
- LONDON - Early marriage, unwanted pregnancy and HIV/AIDS among the world s adolescents are a threat to development and must be combatted as part of the war on poverty, the United Nations said Wednesday. A fifth of the world s population - 1.2 billion people - is between 10 and 19, more than ever before, the United Nati
- HIV Infects One-Fifth of S. Africa Troops
- Associated Press - Wednesday October 8, 2003
- Elliott Sylvester, Associated Press Writer
- CAPE TOWN, South Africa - At least one-fifth of South Africa s military is infected with the virus that causes AIDS, the defense minister said Tuesday. But he sought to dismiss concerns about the effects of the disease on the armed forces. South Africa is one of the hardest-hit nations by HIV and AIDS, with some 4.7 mi
- Group Seeks China Health Official Release
- Associated Press - Monday October 6, 2003
- Ted Anthony, Associated Press Writer
- BEIJING - A human rights organization demanded Tuesday that China release a health official reportedly convicted of circulating a restricted government report on a blood-selling scandal that spread AIDS in a central Chinese province. It was at least the second such legal action involving the same government report.
- Official in China Is Jailed For Circulating AIDS Report
- Associated Press - October 6, 2003
- BEIJING -- A human rights organization demanded Tuesday that China release a health official reportedly convicted of circulating a restricted government report on a blood-selling scandal that spread AIDS in a central Chinese province. It was at least the second such legal action involving the same government report.
- Kenya Leader Seeks U.S. Help in Somalia
- Associated Press - Monday, October 6, 2003
- George Gedda
- WASHINGTON - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki asked President Bush Monday for more American help in stabilizing Somalia , an East African neighbor that terrorism experts say is a concern because of the lawlessness there. I emphasized that in order to maintain the democratic gains and to sustain the war against terrorism, i
- AIDS vaccines still elusive, but trials now include humans
- Associated Press - Friday, October 3, 2003
- Paul Elias, AP Biotechnology Writer
- SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The patient s inoculation was as routine as any Dr. Robert Johnston had seen. Roll up the sleeve, a cotton swab of alcohol on the upper arm and a this shouldn t hurt much. What was in the syringe, though, was anything but typical: a genetically engineered Venezuela equine encephalitis bug
- Davis signs women's health, education and tax laws
- Associated Press - Thursday, October 2, 2003
- Anna Oberthur, Associated Press Writer
- SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Legislation on women s health, sex education and the environment were signed into law Thursday by Gov. Gray Davis. One bill would require women patients facing an operation to give consent before undergoing anesthesia for doctors or medical students to perform pelvic exams or other procedures. It is
- Despite calls for speed, Canada says time needed to supply generic drugs to poor countries
- Associated Press - Wednesday, October 1, 2003
- Tom Cohen, Associated Press Writer
- TORONTO (AP) -- Canada came under pressure Wednesday to quickly allow generic drug makers to supply cheap copies of patented medicine to poor countries, but a government spokesman said such a step would likely take months. The U.N. special envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa joined aid agencies and other nongovernment organiza
- U.S. counters complaints about helping AIDS fight: U.S. ambassadors told regional nations that more money may come and some is available now through other programs
- Associated Press - Wednesday, October 01, 2003
- Michael Smith
- PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad -- U.S. ambassadors to Caribbean nations defended their country s commitment to fighting AIDS but said Tuesday they had no plans to push for changes to a recent U.S. aid package that excludes most of the region. The U.S. ambassadors from 11 Caribbean countries were meeting Monday and Tuesday in
- Research put on the fast track: The National Institutes of Health unveils a $2.1 billion plan to ensure that discoveries more quickly become treatments
- Associated Press - Wednesday, October 01, 2003
- Lauran Neergaard
- WASHINGTON - From creating drug-hunting databases to including more Main Street doctors in medical research, the National Institutes of Health pledged a series of changes on Tuesday intended to help turn scientific discoveries into better healthcare, faster. Consider it turbocharging the NIH, said Dr. Elias Zerhouni, t
- AIDS Drugs Distribution Plan Presented
- Associated Press - September 30, 2003
- Elliott Sylvester, Associated Press Writer
- CAPE TOWN, South Africa - A special task team presented South Africa s health minister with a plan Tuesday for the distribution of AIDS drugs through the public health system. The delivery of the report comes a month after the government, under pressure to tackle the AIDS pandemic ravaging the country, ordered the hea
- Smallpox Vaccine Could Prevent AIDS
- Associated Press - Monday September 29, 2003
- Matthew Barakat, Associated Press Writer
- FAIRFAX, Va. - Could a smallpox shot protect you from the AIDS virus? It s a tantalizing idea that scientists at George Mason University are studying. Early findings are very preliminary and based on lab tests of a small number of blood samples. Other AIDS researchers caution against putting too much faith in such ear
- Japan Pledges $1 Billion In Assistance for Africa
- Associated Press - September 29, 2003
- TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, opening a major donor conference Monday, pledged $1 billion in new aid for education and health care in Africa. The money, to be dispersed over five years, will help fund AIDS treatment, vaccinations and building schools and facilities for drinking water. Mr. Koizumi
- Patients awaiting action on promises of medication: Many had hoped that much-needed drugs to treat the AIDS virus would be available to the public by now, but they're not
- Associated Press - Sunday, September 28, 2003
- Ravi Nessman
- JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - With tens of thousands dying from the ravages of AIDS, Denis Matwa saw a rare glimmer of hope when his government abandoned its insistence that AIDS medicines are poison and declared them effective in treating the disease. For 31-year-old Matwa and millions of other South Africans infected
- South Africa Criticized in AIDS Deaths
- Associated Press - Saturday September 27, 2003
- Ravi Nessman, Associated Press Writer
- JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - With tens of thousands of South Africans dying from the ravages of AIDS, Denis Matwa saw a rare glimmer of hope when his government abandoned its insistence that AIDS medicines are poison and declared them effective in treating the disease. For 31-year-old Matwa and millions of other South
- Canada Looks to Ease Drug Patent Rules
- Associated Press - Friday September 26, 2003
- Tom Cohen, Associated Press Writer
- TORONTO - Canada is studying ways to allow its generic drug manufacturers to supply poor countries with cheap copies of patented drugs, as permitted under a new World Trade Organization agreement. Eric Dagenais, director of the industry ministry s patent policy directorate, said Friday that officials from several depar
- Ex-Health Chief Says He Didn't Spread HIV
- Associated Press - Thursday September 25, 2003
- Mielikki Org, Associated Press Writer
- SAN FRANCISCO - A former city health commissioner accused of deliberately exposing two people, including an ex-boyfriend, to HIV pleaded innocent Thursday. A grand jury charged Ronald Gene Hill, 46, under a rarely invoked 1998 state law that makes knowingly and intentionally exposing others to HIV a felony, punishable
- Generic drug makers hope to profit from WTO decision on medications for poor countries
- Associated Press - Thursday, September 25, 2003
- Alan Clendenning, AP Business Writer
- ITAPIRA, Brazil (AP) -- Inside a laboratory in Brazil s coffee- growing region, scientists painstakingly replicate brand name drugs and oversee mass production of cheap copies to treat ailments ranging from Parkinson s Disease to AIDS. In three decades, Laboratorio Cristalia has grown from a tiny company making one clo
- FDA grappling with fake drugs
- Associated Press, Thursday, September 25, 2003
- Lauran Neergaard, AP Medical Writer
- WASHINGTON -- Tagging bottles of pills with tiny transmitters may one day help keep counterfeits out of the drug supply, but until that or other protective technology arrives, patients must watch for fake medicines, a Food and Drug Administration official said Thursday. We need to raise the level of concern, said
- Nevada group wants taxpayer money for festival
- Associated Press - Thursday, September 25, 2003
- CARSON CITY, Nev. -- A Nevada group that was allocated $250,000 in taxpayer money to combat AIDS wants to use half that money for a gospel festival -- and is running into resistance from state officials. During the Legislature s special session this summer, lawmakers approved a plan by Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-L
- In battle against AIDS in Africa, treating the sick more complicated than handing out pills
- Associated Press - Thursday, September 25, 2003
- Chris Tomlinson, AP Writer
- NAIROBI, Kenya -- Aid workers, pharmaceutical companies and donors have made drugs available to a small number of African AIDS patients, but as new programs take root, the lack of trained doctors and facilities are becoming the biggest barriers to care. Many of the AIDS experts in Africa gathered to discuss their succe
- Gates Stresses AIDS Tests in Botswana
- Associated Press - Thursday September 25, 2003
- Sello Motseta, Associated Press Writer
- GABORONE, Botswana - Bill Gates, whose foundation has given $50 million to combat AIDS in Botswana, said Wednesday he was baffled that more people were not taking HIV tests even though free AIDS drugs were available. The stigma of AIDS runs deep against those with the disease in this southern African country where mor
- Naomi Campbell helps designer express political views at fashion show
- Associated Press - Wednesday, September 24, 2003
- Jane Wardell, Associated Press Writer
- LONDON -- Another day at London Fashion Week, another display of beauty, sexy clothes and a celebrity on the catwalk. But the appearance of semiretired supermodel Naomi Campbell on the runway Wednesday wearing a skimpy, sparkling bikini came with a twist -- emblazoned across her chest was the slogan, Use a Condom.
- Annan warns world losing war on AIDS
- Associated Press - September 23, 2003
- UNITED NATIONS -- UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned Monday that AIDS has slipped from political agendas around the world, with efforts to fight the epidemic woefully inadequate. We are not on track to begin reducing the scale and impact of the epidemic by 2005, Annan said in opening a General Assembly session to r
- Man with HIV appeals denial of kidney transplant
- Associated Press - Monday, September 22, 2003
- Judith Kohler, Associated Press Writer
- DENVER -- A national gay-rights group is helping a Denver man with HIV fight Kaiser Permanente s refusal to cover his kidney transplant. John Carl, 53, has been turned down despite being accepted by the United Network for Organ Sharing s national list, according to Lambda Legal, a New York-based advocacy group that als
- Sweden Appoints Special Envoy To Oversee AIDS Fight
- Associated Press - September 22, 2003
- STOCKHOLM (AP)-- Sweden Monday appointed a special ambassador to oversee the country s role in fighting HIV and AIDS at home and abroad, and pledged to give more money to a U.N. agency overseeing the global campaign against the virus. Lennart Hjelmaaker, head of the Foreign Ministry s global development office, was ta
- Mandela, Gates Ask Africans to Fight AIDS
- Associated Press - Monday, September 22, 2003
- Dina Kraft
- JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - South Africa s hero, former President Nelson Mandela, and the world s richest man, Bill Gates, called Monday on the African nation s youth to fight AIDS as previous generations battled apartheid. The two, along with their wives, made the appeal to a gathering of university students, urging
- Leaders Call for New Global War on AIDS
- Associated Press - Monday, September 22, 2003
- Theresa Agovino
- UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan warned Monday that AIDS has slipped from political agendas around the world, with efforts to fight the epidemic woefully inadequate. We are not on track to begin reducing the scale and impact of the epidemic by 2005, Annan said in opening a General Assembly session to
- World Response to AIDS Called Inadequate
- Associated Press - Monday, September 22, 2003
- Theresa Agovino
- UNITED NATIONS - The world s financial and political response to curbing the AIDS epidemic has been woefully inadequate, with many countries failing to achieve goals set two years ago at a historic United Nations session on the disease, a new report said. As the U.N. General Assembly on Monday reviewed progress since i
- Study: Generic Drugs Helping AIDS Fight
- Associated Press - Monday, September 22, 2003
- Chris Tomlinson
- NAIROBI, Kenya - Poor nations that have suspended patents on AIDS drugs to allow the use of generic equivalents have shown greater success in treating those infected with the disease, a medical aid agency said Monday. But a report by UNAIDS said most countries are still not meeting their goals in battling the pandemic
- Croatia Town, Peers Shun Orphan With HIV
- Associated Press - Sunday, September 21, 2003
- Eugene Brcic
- KUTINA, Croatia - As the United Nations holds a special session on the AIDS pandemic Monday, the case of an 8-year-old girl underscores the myths and prejudices that persist about the disease. In this central Croatian town, and elsewhere around the world, AIDS still often leads to ostracism. Ela couldn t wait for s
- U.N.: AIDS Is Africa's Major Challenge
- Associated Press - Sunday, September 21, 2003
- Chris Tomlinson
- NAIROBI, Kenya - The AIDS epidemic represents the biggest challenge to improving the lives of people in Africa, but the disease can be contained with the right programs and the required resources, according to a U.N. report released Sunday. UNAIDS - the agency responsible for coordinating global efforts to fight AI
- Money Not Only Obstacle in AIDS Fight
- Associated Press - Sunday, September 21, 2003
- Mort Rosenblum
- GENEVA - As AIDS runs rampant in Africa and threatens calamity for India , China and Russia , epidemiologists say that even the promise of billions in rescue money cannot curb the disease as long as social and political barriers hamper the fight.
- Merck Starts Global Test of AIDS Vaccine
- Associated Press - Friday, September 19, 2003
- WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. - Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. said Friday that it has started the first global human tests of an experimental AIDS vaccine, working with the Seattle-based HIV Vaccine Trials Network. The experiment, which will include about 435 adult volunteers not infected with the HIV virus, is mean
- Former San Francisco health commissioner first person to be prosecuted for HIV infection
- Associated Press - Thursday, September 18, 2003
- Kim Curtis, Associated Press Writer
- SAN FRANCISCO -- A former city health commissioner who allegedly lied to an ex-boyfriend about his HIV status is the first person charged under a state law against intentionally exposing another person to the virus, prosecutors said. Ronald Gene Hill, 46, was arrested in Grass Valley, 50 miles northeast of Sacramento,
- IMF/Dubai: African Economies To Expand In '04
- Associated Press - September 18, 2003
- DUBAI (AP)--African economies will see significant economic growth in 2004, provided there is a substantial reduction in violence and more favorable weather conditions, according to a forecast by the International Monetary Fund released Thursday. The World Economic Outlook, released ahead of the upcoming meetings in D
- U.N. says sports must be used to promote development and peace
- Associated Press - Wednesday, September 17, 2003
- Bagila Bukharbayeva, Associated Press Writer
- UNITED NATIONS, New York -- A U.N. task force called Wednesday for sports to be given a greater role in promoting development and peace worldwide. A report by the U.N. Task Force on Sport and Development urges governments, nongovernment organizations and sports federations to use sports as a tool to bridge differences
- After 22 years in prison, 1960s radical Kathy Boudin set free
- Associated Press - Wednesday, September 17, 2003
- Jim Fitzgerald, Associated Press Writer
- BEDFORD, N.Y. -- Over bitter protests from law officers, 1960s radical Kathy Boudin was released from prison Wednesday after serving 22 years for murder in an armored car heist that left two policemen and a security guard dead. I m physically ill right now, said Brent Newbury, president of the Rockland County Patrolmen
- UN Forms New Commission To Study Impact Of AIDS On Africa
- Associated Press - September 17, 2003
- ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP)--The U.N. Wednesday announced the formation of a special commission to study the impact of AIDS on the economic, social and political stability of Africa. The 20-member commission brings together global experts on AIDS as well as government officials. Our task is to help governments and
- World Bank Warns Of AIDS Epidemic In E Europe, C Asia
- Associated Press - Septmber 16, 2003
- MOSCOW (AP)--World Bank experts warned Tuesday that certain regions of Eastern Europe and Central Asia face an explosive AIDS epidemic that endangers the economic progress of the region. The Eastern Europe and Central Asia Region is experiencing the world s fastest growing HIV/AIDS epidemic, the World Bank said in a re
- Canadians Pan Government-Backed Marijuana
- Associated Press - Monday, September 15, 2003
- OTTAWA - Some of the first patients to smoke Canada s government-approved marijuana say it is disgusting and they want their money back. Health Canada, the federal health department, started selling marijuana in July to bring relief to patients suffering from AIDS, cancer and other diseases. The move followed a court o
- Shorter turn-around time on HIV testing for newborns mandated
- Associated Press - September 14, 2003
- Joel Stashenko, Associated Press Writer
- ALBANY, N.Y. -- The state Health Department will soon cut the time limit within which newborns must be tested for the AIDS virus by three quarters to give drug therapies a better chance of preventing transmission of the disease from mother to baby. Under a new requirement on birth centers to take effect Nov. 1, the dep
- Venezuelan Pres Replaces Health Minister
- Associated Press - September 14, 2003
- CARACAS (AP)--President Hugo Chavez replaced his health minister Sunday but insisted the decision had nothing to do with widespread complaints about the state of Venezuela s public health system. Chavez said Maria Urbaneja was resigning because of personal career reasons and praised her work as health minister. The new
- Drug Cos. Ask Canada to Change Laws
- Associated Press - Friday, September 12, 2003
- Tom Cohen
- TORONTO - Canada s generic drug manufacturers want laws changed so they can supply poor countries with cheap copies of patented drugs to fight killer diseases, as permitted under a new World Trade Organization agreement. But an international trade ministry spokesman said Friday it will take time to study the issue and
- Kagame Sworn in As Rwanda's President
- The Associated Press - Friday, September 12, 2003
- Rodrique NGowi
- KIGALI, Rwanda - Raising his right hand and touching Rwanda s flag with his left, Paul Kagame took the oath of office Friday as the nation s first popularly elected president since the 1994 genocide. The ceremony officially ended the transitional government set up in July 1994 after Kagame s rebel forces ended the geno
- Parker Hughes Reportedly Investigated
- Associated Press - September 12, 2003, 11:02 AM EDT
- MINNEAPOLIS -- The founder of the Parker Hughes Cancer Center is accused of excessively treating a terminally ill woman and seeking kickbacks in exchange for referring patients to other specialists, the Star Tribune reported Friday. The allegations against Dr. Fatih Uckun are part of a broad investigation into the Rose
- Bill setting up identity card system sent to governor
- Associated Press - Thursday, September 11, 2003
- SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Medical marijuana users could get identity cards designed to protect them from arrest by state and local law enforcement officers under legislation sent to the governor s desk Thursday. The bill by Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, was given final approval by the Senate when it voted 24-14 to ad
- Dems Question HIV/AIDS Program Changes
- Associated Press - Thursday September 11, 2003
- Mary Dalrymple, Associated Press Writer
- WASHINGTON - Three prominent House Democrats on Thursday asked Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson to reconsider new rules imposed on HIV/AIDS prevention programs that get federal funds. HHS announced in July that a state or local health agency must approve any HIV/AIDS prevention material distributed by
- Hospital Offers Job to Ex-'60s Radical
- Associated Press - Wednesday September 10, 2003
- NEW YORK - A New York hospital has offered former 1960s radical Kathy Boudin a job developing programs for HIV-positive women after she is released from prison. St. Luke s Hospital spokesman Jim Mandler said Wednesday that Boudin has been offered a privately funded position in the hospital s HIV-AIDS Center. Boud
- Russia Reports Rise in HIV Cases
- Associated Press - Wednesday, September 10, 2003
- MOSCOW - The number of Russians registered as having contracted HIV has reached 250,000 and efforts to slow the rapid spread of AIDS in the country have failed, officials said Wednesday. The proportion of HIV patients who contracted the disease through sexual contact doubled from 6 percent in 2001 to 12 percent last ye
- WHO Warns Asia of Wider HIV/AIDS Epidemic
- Associated Press - Wednesday, September 10, 2003
- MANILA, Philippines - The World Health Organization warned on Wednesday that an HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Asia-Pacific region could widen because of a rise in sexually transmitted infections, particularly among young adults. High-risk behavior is increasing and there are more sexually transmitted infections, notably in
- Poor S. Africa Hoops Players Dream of NBA
- Associated Press - Tuesday, September 9, 2003
- Kathy Chenault
- JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Near the squalor of Diepsloot squatter camp, basketball players dream of rim-rattling dunks and clutch 3-pointers that just might get them out of Africa. In my country, war has hurt us very much. Many people suffer because we don t have money, said 19-year-old Emanuel Maciel de Silva Neto.
- S. African AIDS Activist Takes AIDS Drugs
- Associated Press - Tuesday, September 9, 2003
- CAPE TOWN, South Africa - A high-profile AIDS activist, who had vowed not to take AIDS drugs until the general South African population had access to them, announced Monday he has begun taking the potentially lifesaving medication. Zackie Achmat, an HIV-positive law student from Cape Town, changed his mind following t
- Bacteria May Show Promise in AIDS Fight
- Associated Press - Tuesday, September 9, 2003
- Randolph E. Schmid
- WASHINGTON - A modified form of bacteria normally present in the vagina may one day be used to protect women from AIDS, according to new research. The engineered bacteria showed promise in laboratory testing, and researchers now plan to try them out in animals, said John A. Lewicki of Osel Inc., in Santa Clara, Calif.
- Top world health official says countries must prepare for possible return of SARS
- Associated Press - Monday, September 8, 2003
- Teresa Cerojano, Associated Press Writer
- MANILA, Philippines (AP) - It is too early to close the book on SARS and countries should assume that the devastating disease will come back, international health officials said Monday. Lee Jong-wook, the World Health Organization s director general, said the battle has been won over the world s newest disease, but war
- Fighting stigma of AIDS, Botswana hosts beauty pageant for HIV-positive women
- Associated Press - Sunday, September 7, 2003
- Sello Motseta, Associated Press Writer
- Botswana (AP) - Donning both shimmering evening gowns and traditional Botswana costumes of animal-skin skirts, porcupine quills adorning their hair, 14 women competed in a beauty pageant for HIV positive women and their relatives. Some 38 percent of Botswana s people are HIV positive, the highest infection rate in t
- Brazil Starts Patent Breaking AIDS Drugs
- Associated Press - Thursday, September 4, 2003
- Alan Clendenning
- SAO PAULO, Brazil - Brazil took the first formal step Thursday toward breaking patents with three pharmaceutical companies selling AIDS drugs to South America s largest country after talks failed to produce price reductions acceptable to the government. Negotiations are continuing with
- Florida man sentenced to three years in prison for making, selling fake lifesaving drug
- Associated Press - Wednesday, September 3, 2003
- Catherine Wilson, Associated Press Writer
- (AP) - A man who bottled bacteria-tainted water and sold it as the lifesaving medicine Procrit was sentenced to more than 3 years in prison Wednesday. Eddy Gorrin, 30, had admitted to making the counterfeit drug, complete with imitation holographic safety seals, lot numbers and stamps almost identical to those on the r
- Rights Group Criticizes China's Record on AIDS
- Associated Press - September 3, 2003
- HONG KONG -- China is fueling the spread of AIDS by refusing treatment and information about the disease and by failing to hold officials accountable for a blood-selling scandal blamed for infecting thousands of people, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. Brad Adams, Asia division director of the New-York based Human Ri
- U.N. Tells Asia-Pacific to Fight AIDS
- Associated Press - Tuesday, September 2, 2003
- BANGKOK, Thailand - U.N. officials on Tuesday urged Asia-Pacific countries to take decisive action against the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which they said is devastating the region the same way it ravaged Africa. Speakers at an annual meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific said th
- What the WTO drug agreement allows countries to do
- Associated Press - Saturday, August 30, 2003
- The 146 members of the World Trade Organization agreed Saturday to allow some countries to import cheap copies of patented drugs to treat HIV infection and other diseases. This is what the agreement says: * A country can issue a compulsory license to import a drug if it confirms it has insufficient or no manufacturing
- WTO Lets Poor Nations Import Cheap Drugs
- Associated Press - Saturday, August 30, 2003
- Naomi Koppel
- GENEVA - Heeding urgent appeals from African countries beset by AIDS, the World Trade Organization agreed Saturday to let impoverished nations import cheap copies of patented medicines needed to fight killer diseases. Member nations had approved the idea in principle Thursday night but kept haggling over an accompanyin
- Two Florida Men Sentenced for Drug Scam
- Associated Press - Friday, August 29, 2003
- Catherine Wilson
- MIAMI - Two men were sentenced to prison or house arrest Friday for helping distribute vials of bacteria-tainted water passed off as the lifesaving medicine Procrit. William Chavez, 39, was sentenced to three months in prison for brokering sales of unlicensed drugs to undercover Food and Drug Administration agents.
- Bush Broadens Global Abortion Gag Rule
- The Associated Press - Friday, August 29, 2003
- Darlene Superville
- CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush ordered the State Department on Friday to withhold U.S. family planning help from overseas groups that promote or perform abortions with their own money. The decision expands an order issued two years ago that applied only to family planning money administered by the U.S. Agency for Int
- Panel OK's cheap drugs: Poor nations could buy generics
- Associated Press - Friday, August 29, 2003
- GENEVA - (AP) -- A World Trade Organization panel agreed Thursday to allow poor nations access to inexpensive copies of drugs to fight such diseases as AIDS and malaria after the United States dropped its objections. Approval by the WTO s council on intellectual property set the stage for the entire 146-member organiz
- Brazil: Cut drug prices
- Associated Press - Friday, August 29, 2003
- SAO PAULO - (AP) - Brazil is threatening to break patents and start producing three anti-AIDS drugs if three pharmaceutical companies don t slash prices. The cost has to go down so we can treat the patients, Marcia Lage, a spokeswoman for the Brazilian Health Ministry s AIDS division, said Thursday. Negotiations t
- Calif. lawmakers, health groups want to end sale of spermicide condoms
- Associated Press - Thursday, August 28, 2003
- SACRAMENTO (AP) - State lawmakers, health officials and some national health groups are calling on condom makers to stop using a spermicide they say may actually increase the risk of AIDS and urinary tract infections. Citing several peer-reviewed scientific studies, the coalition is asking the federal Food and Drug Adm
- Emotionally charged medicines debate set to be settled at WTO
- Associated Press - Thursday, August 28, 2003
- Naomi Koppel, Associated Press Writer
- GENEVA (AP) - The most emotionally charged problem in the World Trade Organization appeared near solution after key countries agreed on the wording of a deal that would allow poor nations to seek alternatives to expensive patented drugs for diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria. Negotiators who have struggled with the iss
- State Dept. cuts off funding for AIDS program in Africa, Asia
- Associated Press - Wednesday, August 27, 2003
- WASHINGTON (AP) - The State Department has cut off funding for an AIDS program benefiting African and Asian refugees, saying it believes a group taking part in the program supports involuntary abortions and sterilization in China . State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said Wednesday funds were offered to six of se
- Largest study on interrupted drug treatment for some AIDS patients finds the method harmful
- Associated Press - Wednesday, August 27, 2003
- (AP) - A new study finds that temporarily stopping AIDS treatment is ineffective and even dangerous as a strategy for controlling drug-resistant HIV. Many people being treated for AIDS carry mutant versions of the virus that are resistant to drugs in the three major classes of medicines used to subdue HIV. While many o
- WTO negotiators see end in sight over emotional issue of drugs for poor nations
- Associated Press - Wednesday, August 27, 2003
- Naomi Koppel, Associated Press Writer
- GENEVA (AP) - After almost two years of emotional wrangling, World Trade Organization members were close Wednesday evening to an agreement to allow poor nations to seek alternatives to expensive patented drugs for killer diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The diplomat leading the talks at the WTO, Singap
- Botswana Should Be Model For Combating AIDS - US Senator
- Associated Press - August 26, 2003
- GABORONE, Botswana (AP)--Botswana s war against AIDS should serve as a model for other countries fighting the disease, visiting U.S. Senate Majority leader Bill Frist said Tuesday. The southern African country has the highest HIV infection rate in the world - around 38% of its people are infected with the virus causes
- Patients finally getting government-grown pot in Canada
- Associated Press - Tuesday, August 26, 2003
- Tom Cohen, Associated Press Writer
- TORONTO (AP) - Jari Dvorak scored two ounces of pot and lit up, but -- unlike in the past -- the deal involved no back alley exchange or hiding from police. This time, the 62-year-old Dvorak went to a doctor to pick up his supply, making him one of the first patients to receive government-grown marijuana. He paid $245,
- WTO Diplomats Silent on Generic Drugs
- Associated Press - Tuesday, August 26, 2003
- Naomi Koppel
- GENEVA - World Trade Organization negotiators were staying tightlipped Tuesday amid rumors that they are on the verge of striking a deal on the long-deadlocked issue of ensuring that poor countries have access to expensive patented drugs to treat HIV/AIDS and other diseases. I am keeping my fingers crossed. I am trying
- Tanzania Pres Asks US, EU To Lift Zimbabwe Sanctions
- Associated Press - August 25, 2003
- DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AP)--The U.S. and the European Union should lift limited sanctions against Zimbabwe because they only make life more difficult in the southern African country, Tanzania President Benjamin Mkapa said Monday as leaders from a trade bloc gathered for their annual summit.
- Southern African Summit To Discuss Global Trade, HIV
- Associated Press - August 24, 2003
- DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AP) - Reducing trade barriers and fighting the spread of HIV top the list of issues leaders from a southern African trade bloc plan to discuss at their annual summit. The 13 leaders from the Southern Africa Development Community, which starts its two-day meeting Monday in Tanzania, hope to adop
- WTO negotiator puts forward last-ditch compromise proposal
- Associated Press - Sunday, August 24, 2003
- Naomi Koppel, Associated Press Writer
- GENEVA (AP) - After a weekend of desperate negotiating, the man leading talks to open up international trade made a last-ditch attempt Sunday to find agreement. World Trade Organization envoys gathered at the body s lakeside headquarters for a proposal by Carlos Perez del Castillo -- Uruguay s ambassador and chairman o
- WHO Lauds Myanmar's Progress In Promoting Condom Use
- Associated Press - August 21, 2003
- VIENTIANE, Laos (AP)-- Myanmar , a conservative country that wouldn t even acknowledge having prostitution just two years ago, has made great strides in promoting condom use to fight the spread of AIDS, said World Health Organization officials. This is an amazing shift in Myanmar s policy, WHO spokes
- US Sen: S Africa Must Take Scope Of AIDS More Seriously
- Associated Press - August 21, 2003
- SOWETO, South Africa (AP)--Visiting U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist suggested Thursday South Africa had to take the scope of the AIDS pandemic sweeping the country more seriously. Frist said in conversations with South Africa s trade minister he was told AIDS wasn t hurting the country s economy or lowering life
- Asian AIDS Experts Push For Condom Use Among Prostitutes
- Associated Press - August 21, 2003
- VIENTIANE, Laos (AP)--AIDS experts from several Asian countries agreed to expand a program to ensure rigorous condom use among prostitutes as they ended a regional meeting Thursday organized by the World Health Organization. The four-day meeting, tiled 100% Condom Use Program aimed at the sex industry, was told that
- U.S. Senators Tour AIDS-Ravaged Africa
- Associated Press - August 21, 2003
- Dina Kraft, Associated Press Writer
- SOWETO, South Africa - The unemployed, HIV-positive South African woman sobbed Thursday as she told her story to a U.S. Senate delegation seeking to learn more about the AIDS epidemic ravaging sub-Saharan Africa. I can t afford medicine, it s too expensive. I know with your help my dream can come true, the 34-year-ol
- S Africa Health Min: AIDS Could Destroy Trucking Industry
- Associated Press - August 18, 2003
- JOHANNESBURG (AP)--The Road-Freight industry, a cornerstone of the South African economy, could be completely destroyed by HIV/AIDS, officials said Monday. The percentage of infected drivers compared with the rest of the population is much, much higher, Deputy Director General of the Health Department, Nthari Matsau sa
- Human rights group wants law to protect subjects in AIDS vaccine trial
- Associated Press - Saturday, August 16, 2003
- Sello Motseta, Associated Press Writer
- GABORONE, Botswana (AP) - A Botswana human rights organization has criticized the government for not passing legislation protecting people participating in HIV/AIDS vaccine trials. Alice Mogwe, director of the Botswana Center for Human Rights, said there was little legal protection for trial participants and the board
- Gov't Reviews HIV Prevention Group Again
- Associated Press - Friday, August 15, 2003
- Mark Sherman, The Associated Press
- WASHINGTON - For the third time in a year, the federal government is examining the books of a group that promotes the use of condoms to fight AIDS and whose leaders have criticized the Bush administration s support for abstinence-only sex education. Auditors from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are expec
- Ga. Plan to Name HIV Patients Faces Fight
- Associated Press - Thursday, August 14, 2003
- Daniel Yee, The Associated Press
- ATLANTA - AIDS and gay rights activists are fighting Georgia s effort to collect the names of people who test positive for HIV in doctor s offices, saying the new proposal will threaten confidentiality and deter testing. Georgia is the last state in the country that does not collect HIV case data with personal identifi
- Rights group says domestic violence contributing to spread of AIDS
- Associated Press - Wednesday, August 13, 2003
- Henry Wasswa, Associated Press Writer
- KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) -- Domestic violence against women is contributing to the spread of AIDS in Uganda, and the government should act to protect them, a human rights group said Wednesday. HIV-infected men force their wives to have unprotected sex, and women are afraid to seek testing, counseling or treatment because o
- Activists Protest Name Collection of HIV Patients
- Associated Press - Wednesday, August 13, 2003
- Daniel Yee, Associated Press Writer
- ATLANTA -- Georgia s push to collect the names of people who test positive for HIV in doctor s offices is being fought by AIDS activists who fear the new proposal will threaten confidentiality and deter testing. Georgia is the last state in the country that does not collect HIV case data with personal identifiers, such
- Monkey Shortage Said Slowing Research
- Associated Press - Monday, August 11, 2003
- BOSTON - A nationwide shortage of rhesus macaque monkeys is hampering efforts to create cures from new information such as the human genome sequence, organ transplant techniques, and the use of stem cells to replace diseased of damaged tissue, scientists say. The 15-pound monkeys have long been laboratory favorites bec
- Bush Lawyer: Calif Medical Marijuana Use Flouts US Law
- Associated Press - August 10, 2003
- SAN FRANCISCO (AP)--California and other states that want to make marijuana available to sick or dying patients are flouting federal drug laws, a senior Bush administration lawyer said. California is the center of a long tug-of-war with the federal government over the medical value of marijuana and the power of state g
- South Africa's health ministry to work up plan for distributing AIDS drugs
- Associated Press - Friday, August 8, 2003
- Dina Kraft, Associated Press Writer
- JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) -- The South African government, under pressure to take stronger action against its AIDS pandemic, instructed the health ministry Friday to develop a plan for distributing AIDS drugs. About one in nine South Africans is HIV positive, but the South African government had refused to provi
- Mountains and minefields fail to deter drug traffic across Tajik-Afghan border
- Associated Press - Friday, August 8, 2003
- Burt Herman, Associated Press Writer
- YOL, Tajikistan (AP) -- Warrant Officer Amirali Niyozov and his men trekked for five hours to reach the isolated mountain spot near the Afghan border where they had been tipped a drug drop was going down. After four hours lying in wait, Niyozov heard footsteps: Afghans were making their way across the barren slopes.
- Lack of flexibility by developed nations holding back progress within WTO, says official
- Associated Press - Friday, August 8, 2003
- Rajesh Mahapatra, Associated Press Writer
- NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- Lack of flexibility by developed nations is holding back progress on agreements that would help developing countries benefit from a liberal multilateral trade regime, an official from the World Trade Organization said Friday. Two years ago, trade ministers from 146 WTO member nations agree
- Ohio Man With AIDS Allowed to Coach Team
- Associated Press - Friday, August 8, 2003
- AKRON, Ohio - Officials of a youth football league have reversed their decision to bar a former firefighter with AIDS from helping coach his 7-year-old son s team. Stephen Derrig, 36, was banned on Sunday from acting as assistant coach to the team of nearly 40 boys age 7 and 8. The Ellet Suburban Football League s boar
- S African Govt OKs Long-Delayed UN Grant To Fight AIDS
- Associated Press - August 7, 2003
- JOHANNESBURG (AP)--A long-delayed $41 million grant from the U.N. to help combat the AIDS pandemic ravaging South Africa was approved by the government Thursday, officials said. The grant includes money for AIDS drugs and testing for the disease in the KwaZulu-Natal province where studies show more than one in three ad
- Aspen Pharmacare Producing Africa's 1st Generic AIDS Drug
- Associated Press - August 6, 2003
- PRETORIA (AP)--A South African pharmaceutical company announced Wednesday it had begun producing the first cheap, generic copies of a major AIDS drug in Africa and was working on versions of several more AIDS medicines. The announcement by Aspen Pharmacare (O.APN) is considered an important step in the effort to bring
- Mexican Govt To Subsidize Drugs For All AIDS Patients
- Associated Press - August 5, 2003
- MEXICO CITY (AP)--The Mexican government will foot the bill for medications for all its citizens with AIDS, President Vicente Fox said Tuesday. About 10,000 Mexican AIDS patients who can t afford to pay for their own treatment already receive government funding for medications. It wasn t clear exactly how many more pat
- Brian Wright, figure skating choreographer, dead of AIDS at 42
- Associated Press - Tuesday, August 5, 2003
- SEATTLE (AP) -- Brian Wright, who helped choreograph winning routines for Kristi Yamaguchi and Michelle Kwan, died of AIDS at age 42. Wright, the U.S. Figure Skating Association s Choreographer of the Year in 1994, lived 17 years with HIV and eight with fully developed AIDS. He died July 29. He was a fighter. There wer
- HIV-Infected Activist Abandons Pledge
- Associated Press - August 4, 2003
- Elliott Sylvester, Associated Press Writer
- CAPE TOWN, South Africa - South Africa s top AIDS activist said Monday he is abandoning his pledge not to take potentially lifesaving AIDS drugs, ending an unsuccessful effort to force the government to give its people the medicine. Zackie Achmat, who has been HIV-positive for years, accused President Thabo Mbeki and
- South Africa VP Says Nation Dedicated To Fighting AIDS
- Associated Press - August 3, 2003
- DURBAN, South Africa (AP)--Fighting the country s AIDS pandemic is one of the government s top priorities, Deputy President Jacob Zuma told the first South African conference on AIDS Sunday, trying to dispel concern here that authorities have not been aggressive in tackling the disease. The government has been crit
- AIDS Cases on the Rise in United States
- Associated Press - Sunday August 3, 2003
- Daniel Yee, Associated Press Writer
- ATLANTA - Americans became complacent about safe sex. Revolutionary new drugs allowed HIV-infected people to live longer. A new generation of gay men entered their 20s without the memory of the early days of AIDS devastation. Health officials saw the signs and warned that AIDS - after declining for a decade - could mak
- Cadavers Pile Up at Zimbabwe Hospital
- Associated Press - Saturday, August 2, 2003
- Angus Shaw, Associated Press Writer
- HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe s economic disaster is horrifyingly evident in the morgue at Harare Central Hospital, packed to more than three times capacity with the dead that relatives can t afford to bury. The morgue, designed for 164 corpses, holds nearly 600. Trays in the morgue often hold more than one adult body,
- AIDS activists sentenced to probation for phone calls
- Associated Press - Saturday, August 2, 2003
- SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Two AIDS activists have pleaded no contest to making harassing phone calls to public health officials and newspaper reporters. Michael Petrelis and David Pasquarelli were sentenced to three years probation in connection with phone calls in 2001. The men were also ordered to attend counseling sessi
- Armani Crafts Special Ensemble for Barbie
- Associated Press - Saturday August 2, 2003
- NEW YORK - Giorgio Armani has a new muse: Barbie. Armani has created a strapless, silk chiffon top and crepe skirt embellished with dark beads and covered with sparkle tulle for the 11 1/2-inch doll. Both pieces are taupe. An evening purse, also in taupe crepe and dripping with beads, a matching necklace and earrings c
- Man Files Lawsuit Against Socialite Rich
- Associated Press - Saturday August 2, 2003
- NEW YORK - A lawsuit against Democratic fund-raiser Denise Rich alleges that she asked an employee to make an illegal donation to Sen. Hillary Clinton, newspaper reports said Saturday. Jimmy Hester, who worked for Rich s record company until February 2002, reportedly filed the $30 million lawsuit Friday in federal cour
- Brazil Again Threatening To Break AIDS Drugs Patents
- Associated Press - August 1, 2003
- RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)--Budgetary restrictions are driving Brazil s government to once again threaten to strip AIDS drugs patents if pharmaceutical companies don t cut prices, officials said. The move seeks to protect its AIDS treatment program that provides free drugs to about 135,000 AIDS patients and has won praise acr
- Bus Firm Settles Claim by AIDS Activists
- Associated Press - Friday August 1, 2003
- David B. Caruso, Associated Press Writer
- PHILADELPHIA - A bus company that offered a discount charter to a group of AIDS activists, only to have one of its drivers pull to the side of the road and refuse to continue because he didn t want to catch anything, settled a discrimination complaint Friday. Krapf Bus Companies agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to e
- TLC Promotes AIDS Education Program
- Associated Press - Friday August 1, 2003
- NEW YORK - TLC s Tionne T-Boz Watkins (news) is offering encouragement to those who have the HIV virus. She said people with HIV have everything to live for — not only for themselves but for their kids, brothers, sisters or relatives. Watkins and fellow group member Rozanda Chilli Thomas are promoting an AIDS education
- S African Regulator's AIDS Drug Threat Hits Natl Program
- Associated Press - August 1, 2003
- CAPE TOWN (AP)--Threats by South Africa s Medicines Control Council to partially withdraw approval of a key AIDS drug have cast doubt on the future of efforts to prevent HIV infections in newborns. The council ruled Monday a key study on the drug nevirapine s effectiveness in preventing mother-to-child transmission of
- UN To Focus On HIV/AIDS In A Bid To Boost Funding
- Associated Press - July 30, 2003
- UNITED NATIONS (AP)--The United Nations will hold a one-day session on the t