Major scientific and medical developments in 2004 bring hope of further developments in 2005. Some of the world's most talented scientific minds would like to see progress toward a number of goals in the new year.
In Britain, a new campaign is being launched to transfer over five and a half billion dollars in European agriculture subsidies to the battle against HIV/AIDS.
Two competing pharmaceutical companies say they are going to work together to develop the first once-a-day pill to treat HIV - the virus that causes AIDS.
The controversy over the AIDS drug Nevirapine took a new turn today, when the ruling party in South Africa accused the United States of hiding the adverse effects of the drug. Nevirapine is widely used to help prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
The world is suffering an acute shortage of doctors, nurses, and other health workers, according to a global group of health leaders. They say overburdened health workers on the front lines of survival are losing the fight against diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria.
This week, a major manufacturer of generic AIDS drugs announced that it’s removing some medications from the World Health Organization’s list of approved drugs. At the same time came word that the maker of a new class of malaria medication said it would not be able to meet the demand for its drug. The humanitarian group, Doctors Without Borders, has reacted to the situations.
A mother taking medications against the AIDS virus might pass on enough of the drugs through her milk to prevent passing the virus to her breastfeeding child. That's according to preliminary research presented at the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Breastfeeding is generally the healthiest option for newborn children. But HIV-positive mothers can spread the virus to their babies through breast milk. Formula feeding is advised, but many women have no choice but to breast feed because clean water to mix formula is not available.
G-7 finance ministers are being called on to endorse total debt cancellation for the world’s poorest nations. The ministers are scheduled to meet in Washington, DC, October 1st. Supporters of the proposal say if poor nations spend less money on debt relief they can spend more fighting HIV/AIDS and other diseases. The supporters presented their case in an international teleconference.
The spread of HIV and AIDS across Africa is fueling the rise of another deadly disease that many thought was on the decline: tuberculosis. Health experts meeting at a conference on AIDS and TB in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, are calling on African nations to expand their HIV therapy to include treatment for tuberculosis.
The World Health Organization has taken three generic AIDS drugs off its list of approved products. It's the second time in three months the WHO has taken such a step.
In Washington state in the northwest United States, a woman is attempting to become the country's first statewide elected official who is HIV positive.
In Nigeria, a new novel about the AIDS pandemic went on sale today (Thursday). It's called "HIV/AIDS - The Unwanted Inheritance." The author, public opinion and political analyst Dr. Chuks Osuji.
Rwanda's First Lady, Jeanette Kagame, is speaking out on the AIDS pandemic, calling it the biggest catastrophe ever to hit the world. She made the remarks at a press conference at the 15th International AIDS conference in Bangkok.
The first lady of Zambia, Maureen Mwanawasa says her government realizes the depth of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. She spoke at a press conference at the fifteenth international aids conference in Bangkok.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela says AIDS is the greatest threat in human history. The former South African president spoke at the closing ceremony of the 15th International AIDS Conference.
The link between poverty and HIV/AIDS can be found in the Kiambiu slums in Nairobi. Many of Kenya's poor – who are infected with HIV – have migrated there.
The drug Nevirapine, used to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, is the subject of controversy at the 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok. On Sunday (7/11/04), the South African Health Minister said recent studies showed that when taken alone, Nevirapine could result in drug resistance to the AIDS virus.
Former South African president Nelson Mandela held a surprise press conference Thursday at the 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok. He said it's important to remember the problem of tuberculosis -- or TB -- when dealing with the overwhelming demand for resources to fight HIV/AIDS.
The Bush administration Tuesday defended what it said is a preeminent U.S. record on fighting AIDS following criticism at the International AIDS Conference in Bangkok.
AIDS prevention programs that teach abstinence only are not likely to work, according to proponents of an alternate strategy. But delegates to the 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok heard that the strategy of promoting condoms won't be enough to turn the epidemic around either.
The aid group, Doctors Without Borders (known by its French name, Medecins sans Frontieres, or MSF) says anti-retroviral drugs can dramatically increase survival rates for people with HIV-AIDS in developing countries.
As the world's largest AIDS conference opens Sunday in Bangkok, Thailand - just how much progress has been made in battling the pandemic? One expert who's followed the trend of the disease says it's still being fueled by ignorance, a lack of money and weak political will.
A new report by the U.N. AIDS organizations finds the global AIDS epidemic is worsening. The agency says more people in all regions around the world are becoming infected with HIV, the virus which causes AIDS.
The 15th International AIDS Conference is underway in Bangkok, Thailand. The theme of the conference is "Access for All," referring to the availability of anti-retroviral drugs for those in need.
On Sunday, July 11th, the 15th International Aids Conference gets underway in Bangkok, Thailand. The theme of the conference is “Access for All,” referring to the availability of anti-retroviral drugs for those in need. A new initiative is being launched in Bangkok to help make that happen.
The South African government has unveiled a brightly wrapped brand of condoms called Choice that it hopes will help combat the HIV-AIDS epidemic, which affects nearly one in nine people in the country.
The International Organization for Migration and UNAIDS say they are concerned by the increasing number of countries, which require that foreigners be tested for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, prior to entry.
Concluding a four-day summit in Kenya on fighting AIDS in Africa, Protestant church leaders across the continent condemned the stigmatization of people infected with the HIV virus and vowed to use their churches as health centers to fight the AIDS scourge.
The global disease AIDS highlighted the agenda on the last day of the summit meeting of eight major industrialized nations. The leaders of the G8, who gathered off the coast of the U.S. southeastern state of Georgia, endorsed a proposal to cooperate more closely on a global effort to establish a vaccine for the deadly disease.
An AIDS activist and political dissident says Chinese police are threatening him with forced psychiatric treatment. His accusations are being made as Chinese authorities seek to squelch memorials to people killed during the pro-democracy Tiananmen Square protests 15 years ago.
Despite the huge death toll from AIDS in Africa, about 20 million dead already and rising by 6,500 deaths every day, drugs that could slow the spread of the virus across the continent remain beyond reach in the poorer, most-affected nations.
The agency's chief HIV-AIDS expert, Dr. Paul Spiegel, says that in five of the seven countries, refugees actually were less likely to have the infection than the general population.
In a visit to South Africa, the coordinator of President Bush's $15 billion AIDS initiative said that the new money would be used only to purchase anti-retroviral drugs whose safety had been proved. Randall Tobias called for makers of generic drugs to submit their products for approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
There are more than one billion people in India – a single country with a population greater than all of sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, India is just beginning to face the problem of HIV/AIDS. The question now is whether HIV/AIDS in India will follow the same path as the pandemic in Africa.
A new report says not enough has been done over the past ten years to help heal the wounds of the survivors of the Rwandan genocide. The report – from the group Africa Rights – is based on the testimonies of more than 200 rape victims.
This week, the Senate sub-committee on Africa was told of the need to supply more anti-retroviral drugs to fight HIV/AIDS on the continent. The testimony comes on the heels of an agreement to provide quality, low cost generic AIDS drugs to developing countries. But word of the agreement did not come from the Bush administration.
In Washington, a Bush administration official Wednesday updated Congress on the latest U.S. efforts to combat AIDS in Africa. Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, chairman of the Foreign Relations' African Affairs subcommittee, opened a hearing on the scourge of AIDS in Africa with sobering statistics. "[Of the] over 40 million people infected with HIV around the world, three-fourths, 30 million of them, are in the 48 African countries south of the Sahara desert," he said. "The figures are staggering."
A new effort is being launched to get AIDS drugs to women in Rwanda who got the disease through rapes committed during the country's genocide 10 years ago. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton's foundation has established partnerships with the U.N.'s Global Fund, the World Bank and the U.N. children's agency UNICEF, to help provide low-cost antiretroviral medicines to patients in Rwanda, and other developing countries. Anna Marie Mukamana was living quietly in a Kigali suburb with her husband and two children in April, 1994, when her life turned into a nightmare.
The United Nations estimates that during the Rwandan genocide between 250-thousand and 500-thousand rapes were committed. The human rights group, Amnesty International, says, “Genocide, war and HIV/AIDS have contributed to a generation of orphaned children living in destitution.”
A new agreement was announced today (Tuesday) that’s expected to help developing countries buy quality AIDS drugs at low prices. The joint announcement was made by the World Bank, UNICEF, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Clinton Foundation.
Nutritional experts are warning food insecurity in Africa is ripping families apart, destroying the basic fabric of the society and helping the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Circumcised men are much less likely than uncircumcised men to become infected with the AIDS virus, according to a new study published in Britain. The finding provides support to those who say that biology rather than behavior is a major factor in the decreased risk of HIV infection in circumcised men. But opponents of male circumcision are not persuaded that the procedure has any health benefits.
The U.S. government has approved the first rapid oral test for the HIV virus that causes AIDS. The test provides results within 20 minutes and is 99 percent accurate.
The humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders is accusing the Bush Administration of trying to "shut out the use of quality, effective generic AIDS medicines." It says the US "plans to limit its global AIDS financing to brand-name pharmaceutical products." However, the administration strongly denies the charges, saying it is concerned about the quality, safety and effectiveness of the medications.
South Africa's Health Ministry has announced it will release funds in April to allow nine provinces to buy AIDS-fighting drugs. That means the anti-retroviral drugs will be distributed months earlier than scheduled. The AIDS activist group Treatment Action Campaign praises the move.
An Italian humanitarian organization says much more can be done in Africa to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, the AIDS virus. It says relying solely on the drug Nevirapine is costing lives and threatening Africa's future.
A report released ahead of a global AIDS conference in July is warning of a falling global commitment to combating the disease because governments are preoccupied by terrorism and other concerns. Leaders at the upcoming International AIDS Conference in Thailand are expected to renew calls for a greater political commitment to life-saving anti-AIDS programs.
Africans living in Britain are among the communities that are the most severely affected by HIV/AIDS, and they have decided to take the lead in combating the epidemic. By a considerable margin, the African community in Britain has the highest HIV-infection rate in the country. According to last year's figures, of those who have been infected through heterosexual transmission, 80 percent are of African origin.
In Nigeria, the HIV prevalence rate is estimated to be between six and ten percent. Since Nigeria is sub-Saharan Africa's most populous country, that translates into millions of people living with the virus that causes AIDS. A number of health experts say one of the reasons for the spread of the disease is that many people still deny it exists.
Nelson Mandela has been described many ways: African hero, human rights leader, and humanitarian. Now he can also be described as "artist." In New York City, 25 works of art by the former South African president are on display. The images are based on the 27 years he spent at Robben Island prison.
The Kenyan government has unveiled a guide designed to shake up traditions in relationships between men and women as a way of combating the spread of AIDS. The National AIDS Control Council's guide explains how men and women experience HIV/AIDS differently and the social, cultural, physical and economic factors that make women more vulnerable to HIV infection.
A new study begins in May to determine whether a drug used to treat HIV infection can help prevent infection in the first place. The prevention method is called Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, taking a single pill a day to block HIV infection in the event of risky sexual behavior. But there's concern such a pill could actually encourage such behavior.
Human Rights Watch says the South African government has undermined its own program to help rape victims avoid H-I-V infection. A local study reveals a massive increase in mortality rates among young adults since 1998 that is apparently related to AIDS.
Recently, the Bush Administration released the first of its grants as part of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. Some of that $350-million is going to a five-member consortium to provide anti-retroviral therapy in Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America.
Monkeys do not become sick with AIDS. Now some scientists say they have discovered why. They have identified a key protein that makes monkeys resistant to the disease. The finding could be an invaluable tool for studying the deadly virus, possibly leading to better treatments and even a cure. The protein is called trim-5-alpha and, once AIDS has been injected into rhesus monkeys, trim-5-alpha thwarts H-I-V infection by refusing to relay the virus' genetic instructions to its D-N-A, triggering the process that leads to AIDS.
Early this month, the 11th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections was held in the western US city of San Francisco. Scientists and doctors gathered to hear the latest developments in AIDS research.
A humanitarian group says if efforts to increase AIDS treatment for developing countries are to succeed, a simple, standardized drug regimen is needed. Doctors Without Borders is urging the widespread use of F-D-C's, or fixed dose combinations, which it uses in its treatment programs.
Women from across Kenya are attending a national AIDS conference aimed at teaching them how to protect themselves and their families from infection and fight social prejudices associated with the disease. Organizers hope the conference will also challenge policies and practices that lead to discrimination against women infected with HIV.
The king of Swaziland has declared a national humanitarian disaster because of the country's AIDS crisis and a long-term drought. The king has appealed to the international community for more aid.
Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel once wrote that "the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference." While his words stem from the Holocaust, they may also be applied to HIV/AIDS. Activists say with a scarcity of money and anti-retroviral drugs in developing countries, indifference has cost millions of lives. While death from the disease often cannot be stopped, there are efforts in sub-Saharan Africa to at least give death dignity.
There was controversy and confusion this week over the AIDS fighting drug Nevirapine. The drug has been successfully used to prevent the transmission of HIV, the AIDS virus, from mothers to their newborns. This is known as mother-to-child transmission.
Military officials from West African nations are meeting in Ghana's capital, Accra, to develop an action plan to reduce HIV and AIDS in their armed forces. In a telephone interview from Accra, a visiting expert on development from Tulane University in the United States, Bill Bertrand, explained why it is important to focus on AIDS in African armies.
A private business survey shows most companies in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia have no idea how many of their employees are infected with the HIV virus, and few see AIDS as their problem.
A World Health Organization doctor is rejecting assertions that unsafe injections are a major source of HIV infections in Africa, arguing the infection is mainly spread through heterosexual sex. The findings are to appear in the medical journal The Lancet on Saturday.
A new book describes HIV/AIDS as "fast becoming the worst human disaster the world has ever seen." It says in the next ten to fifteen years, AIDS will claim more lives than any other human epidemic ever recorded." And sub-Saharan Africa is bearing the brunt of that human disaster.
The founder of an AIDS orphanage in Kenya says the lack of available treatment for the disease is comparable to "genocide." Father Angelo D'Agostino spoke yesterday at the Vatican at a news conference on the Pope's Lenten message. Father D'Agostino, founder of the Nyumbani home in Nairobi, accused pharmaceutical companies of "lacking a social conscience."
Anyone, rich or poor, can get HIV/AIDS. But the quality of treatment often depends on whether you have money or not. In Uganda's capital city, Kampala, the AIDS Information Center caters to everyone needing testing and counseling. But for those who can afford it, the A-I-C also offers a private clinic – or executive wing - with air-conditioned waiting rooms in posh surroundings.
A major AIDS vaccine trial recently got underway in Thailand. But a group of prominent AIDS researchers says the experiment is a waste of money and human resources.
Swelling HIV infection rates are driving a tuberculosis epidemic across Africa and in developing nations around the world. Although the virus does not cause TB, people with a weakened immune system are much more likely to become infected with the TB bacteria.
The South African National Defense Force has launched a treatment-based HIV/AIDS research project, for soldiers and their dependents. The project was launched with the opening of the first military clinic where uniformed South African personnel and their dependents can come for HIV testing, and also receive treatment for AIDS. In addition, those who make use of the facility will have access to professional counselors and social workers.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa says his government expects to make anti-retroviral drugs available next year to about 100,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. He made the remarks when he officially opened parliament in Lusaka, Friday.
Nearly two dozen media organizations from around the world have joined a new United Nations initiative to help spread information in the fight against AIDS. Participants signed a statement pledging to educate and inform the public about the international health crisis.
A top AIDS and vaccine researcher, who spent 20 years with the pharmaceutical giant Merck & Company, has joined IAVI, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. The global non-profit organization aims to speed research for an AIDS vaccine, with both private and public support.
Swiss researchers say HIV/AIDS patients in stable relationships are generally healthier and have a better chance of living longer. They base their findings a study of more than 37-hundred patients in Switzerland who receive anti-retroviral drug therapy.
A new H-I-V/AIDS survey in Kenya suggests that infection rates in the east African country are significantly lower than what global health organizations have estimated.
Acting under threat of litigation, a primary school in Kenya has changed their practice and enrolled H-I-V-positive children in its classes. Several other schools are expected to follow suit. This is a small victory in the battle against discrimination against H-I-V-positive children in Kenya.
AIDS in the nation's capital is growing fastest among African-American women. In a bid to reduce the spread of H-I-V among this hard-hit group, the Washington, D-C health department is recruiting help from an unusual source. As V-O-A's Steve Baragona reports, beauty salons are distributing condoms and helping to spread the message of practicing safer sex.
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.