MBABANE, Swaziland - Talk-show host Jim Gama was at his provocative best, answering letters from listeners who sought traditional Swazi solutions to the daily problems of modern life in this tiny African nation. He told a woman troubled by her husband s impotence that a foul and moody wife would put any man off his ga
After the birth of her first child a decade ago, Melinda Gates, the wife of Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates, left her job as a manager at the software giant and devoted her time to caring for their children and quietly guiding strategy for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the philanthropic powerhouse the coupl
One hot Sunday in October, the world s richest philanthropists, Bill and Melinda Gates, stood in a cassava field outside Abuja, Nigeria . They asked growers pulling up the tuber how to improve this bitter root that fills many African bellies but lacks vitamins and contains a natural form of cyanide. After the techn
GENEVA -- World Health Organization member countries approved Margaret Chan, a Chinese infectious-diseases expert, as the United Nations agency s new chief. Dr. Chan s candidacy was approved in a special session of the World Health Assembly, which comprises WHO s 192 member countries. She was nominated Wednesday for th
The World Health Organization is expected to elect a new chief this week, following the unexpected death in May of its director-general, Lee Jong Wook -- and the winner is expected to face some tough challenges. The post is one of the most important leadership positions in global public health. The person chosen to fil
As adolescents and young adults head into another weekend of (for many) driving too fast, drinking too much, smoking and doing their all to perpetuate the species, at least we know why they engage in self-destructive risk-taking. Adolescents feel invulnerable ( Me, get hurt? No way. ) and drastically underestimate risk
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria declined to name a new chief this week as planned and, in a surprise move, said it would seek a fresh crop of candidates. The foundation s 24-member board had been scheduled to appoint a new executive director to succeed its current executive director, Richard Fea
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration cut funding for the only U.S. foreign-assistance project that provided male circumcision as a method of AIDS prevention. At a time when scientists are lining up behind the idea that circumcision provides substantial protection against HIV transmission, the U.S. Agency for Internatio
A U.S. congressman and a senior executive with Viacom Inc. s MTV Networks are among the leading candidates to become the next chief of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, according to people familiar with the search. A list of five finalists to succeed the Geneva-based foundation s current executiv
Betsy McKay, betsy.mckay@wsj.com and Marilyn Chase, marilyn.chase@wsj.com
International health officials agreed to implement urgent measures to stem the world s largest outbreak to date of a super-resistant strain of tuberculosis that has already killed dozens of AIDS patients in South Africa . At a two-day meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, that ended Friday, officials from the
Senate aides say they re close to a bipartisan deal on the contentious reworking of the Ryan White CARE Act, which funds AIDS treatment in the states. Unless Congress passes a bill by Oct. 1, several states risk a drop in federal funding under the program. Even with the deadline looming, negotiations between the House
International AIDS scientists, including an American Nobel laureate, sent a letter Tuesday to South African President Thabo Mbeki, protesting the government s unconventional stand on origins of AIDS, and calling for the removal of his health minister who supports a dietary regimen against the viral epidemic. One of the
Three of the most important global public-health jobs are up for grabs this fall. How these leadership positions are filled will help determine the world s strategy for confronting health threats ranging from AIDS to pandemic flu for years to come. The United Nations World Health Organization is preparing to elect
Twelve years after the end of apartheid and despite its many cruel legacies, the new South Africa has made extraordinary strides, enjoying steady economic growth and free and fair elections. At the same time, it often seems to be running just a hair s breadth ahead of disaster, with unemployment at nearly 40%, an AIDS
TORONTO - On the last day of the XVI International AIDS Conference here Friday, two international controversies simmering all week erupted into passionate denunciations by scientists of two countries AIDS programs. And that s not even counting predictable potshots at President Bush. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harp
TORONTO -- Three big pharmaceutical companies reported mixed safety and early efficacy data on experimental AIDS drugs, offering tentative hope to patients needing new medicines because they are intolerant or resistant to existing regimens. While far from conclusive, the studies, presented at the big AIDS meeting here,
TORONTO -- Researcher at the AIDS Conference here presented an alarming report on the emergence of a super-resistant strain of tuberculosis that ripped through AIDS patients in a rural African clinic, killing dozens. TB has long been known to co-infect vast swathes of AIDS patients in the developing world, and can trig
TORONTO -- Harvard University researchers are heading an international search for a special group of HIV-infected people whose bodies control HIV so well that their virus remains virtually undetectable, and their health remains robust for as long as 25 years. Dubbed elite controllers, these patients genes are being stu
TORONTO - Moving beyond a growing recognition that the fight against AIDS is woefully understaffed, the World Health Organization has quantified the problem and the cost of fixing it, and laid out a strategy for stopping a health-care brain drain from countries stricken by the disease. More than four million doctor
TORONTO - Needle exchange got a boost from advocates including an Australian clinician and a former U.S. President Tuesday at the XVI International AIDS conference. Harm reduction is a controversial strategy of providing hopelessly-addicted persons with the means to stay HIV-free -- even if they are unable or unwilling
TORONTO - Moving beyond a growing recognition that the fight against AIDS is woefully understaffed, the World Health Organization has quantified the problem and the cost of fixing it, and laid out a strategy for stopping a health-care brain drain from countries stricken by the disease. More than four million doctor
TORONTO - Weak health-care infrastructure in countries fighting the AIDS virus poses the worst roadblock to corralling the epidemic, Bill Gates and Bill Clinton agreed in a joint appearance here at a biennial meeting on the disease. Though the two men have long taken different approaches to fighting AIDS, recently they
Gilead Sciences Inc. said it signed nonexclusive license agreements to provide generic versions of its anti-HIV drug Viread to three generic manufacturers in India . Financial terms weren t disclosed.
TORONTO - A controversial prevention pill to shield people from infection by the AIDS virus cleared a key safety hurdle during a small test, which also offered intriguing hints that the drug could prove effective. The pill s preventive effects could have been due to the play of chance, and scientists downplayed them un
The annual AIDS confab starting Sunday in Toronto is unlikely to live up to the ambitious theme selected by its organizers: Time to Deliver. There will be plenty of sizzle: Singer Alicia Keys will rock the house for the 24,000 scientists and activists on hand, and Bill Clinton and Bill Gates will make a joint plea for
As loud music throbs in the air, Rohit Nag and his friends recline on steps just off the dance floor at the nightclub Elevate in Noida, a middle-class suburb of New Delhi. The 22-year-old Mr. Nag sports a thumb ring and four tattoos. His female companion, who works at the same call center as Mr. Nag, has a silver stud
NEW DELHI -- India , on pace to become the nation with the largest number of HIV-positive people, risks paying a steep economic price if the virus is allowed to spread unchecked, according to a new report. The cost of an epidemic could trim an average 0.86 of a percentage point off annual economic growth over the next
THEIR STYLES are worlds apart, but they have at least two things in common: supersize egos and a zeal for bettering global health. Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp. and the world s richest man, gives away billions through his family foundation to underwrite health programs from childhood vaccines in Africa to AID
AIDS patients, who have long endured drug regimens requiring them to swallow multiple pills each day, may soon have a much simpler option: a triple-combination cocktail in a single daily pill. The new pill is the result of an unusual corporate joint venture between Gilead Sciences Inc., a Foster City, Calif., biote
Some Medicare enrollees who signed up for the program s new drug benefit are starting to fall into a gap in coverage. Here s how to find some relief. Overall, 8% of the 43 million people enrolled in Medicare, or 3.4 million beneficiaries, are expected to feel the pinch this year, according to an analysis released in Ju
NEW YORK - Bjorn Lomborg is a political scientist by training, but the charismatic, golden-haired Dane is offering me a history lesson. Two hundred years ago, he explains, sitting forward in his chair in this newspaper s Manhattan offices, the left was an incredibly rational movement. It believed in encyclopedias, in h
Federal officials are readying new guidelines that propose routine HIV tests for people 13 to 64 years old. But fears that the change could short-circuit patients rights are prompting protests and even legislation. The proposed policy changes are part of a sweeping effort by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Pre
Executives at Gilead Sciences Inc. thought they were doing a good deed in 2002 when they announced a plan to provide their AIDS drug Viread to developing nations at a sharply reduced price that would yield no profit to the company. Since then, however, Gilead s drug access program has been snarled in a stri
Sally Beatty, sally.beatty@wsj.com; Marilyn Chase; marilyn.chase@wsj.com and Gautam Naik, gautam.naik@wsj.com
What impact will a $60 billion megacharitable foundation have on the causes it espouses, and on the world of philanthropy in general? As the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation prepares to roughly double in size in coming years with a massive contribution from Warren Buffett, will its financial firepower and entreprene
In a dramatic shift in his philanthropic plans that will create a colossus in the world of giving, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman Warren Buffett, the world s second-richest man, plans to give away the bulk of his fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, run by the world s richest man. The gift, valued toda
It s been 25 years since the first cases of what we now call AIDS were diagnosed, and in that time more than half a million people have died from the disease in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than a million others in America now either have AIDS or the HIV virus that causes it. Yet, thanks
LONDON - GlaxoSmithKline PLC, the world s biggest AIDS-drug producer, said it is cutting the not-for-profit price charged for some of its medicines in poor countries by around 30%. The British company also is adding two antiretroviral medicines to the scheme and has signed an eighth voluntary license agreement, allowin
India has surpassed South Africa as the country with the largest number of people infected with HIV/AIDS, underscoring the growing impact the disease is having on the South Asian subcontinent. India s estimated total of 5.7 million infected people narrowly exceeds South Africa s estimated 5.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pumped $104 million into the nonprofit Global Alliance for TB Drug Development to expand and speed the pipeline for new drugs to treat tuberculosis. TB is a lethal lung infection that remains the world s second biggest infectious-disease killer after HIV/AIDS. The illness has been
David P. Hamilton, david.hamilton@wsj.com and Marilyn Chase, marilyn.chase@wsj.com
In 1994, University of Washington scientists testing an experimental AIDS treatment in monkeys made a startling discovery: The drug, tenofovir, protected the monkeys from getting infected in the first place. The finding, published in 1995 in the journal Science, was big news to AIDS researchers. It raised a tantalizing
WASHINGTON - A federal court blocked the Bush administration from requiring two U.S. health charities to pledge opposition to prostitution in order to qualify for government AIDS grants. The decision, issued yesterday, signals a victory for financier George Soros, whose aid groups were among the plaintiffs arguing that
The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, a nonprofit vaccine-development partnership, said it plans to appoint two senior pharmaceutical-industry officials to key scientific and management posts today. Stephen Udem, vice president of exploratory vaccine discovery research at Wyeth Vaccines Research, a unit of Wyeth,
Mazlum Hosgul, a Turkish immigrant who runs a small gardening business in The Hague, moved to the Netherlands 10 years ago. Recently, his request to refinance the mortgage on his apartment in a largely immigrant neighborhood was rejected. The reason, according to an email from his mortgage broker: He lived in the wrong
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning to recommend that doctors begin to offer voluntary HIV tests as a part of routine medical care for everyone in the U.S., ages 13 to 64, regardless of lifestyle or perceived risk for HIV. In a sweeping revision of HIV guidelines, CDC officials say the agenc
DURBAN, South Africa - Nokusho Bhengu was 35 years old when, she says, her dead father appeared to her in the form of a mustachioed snake and told her to leave her children and study to become a medium and healer. If you resist, Mrs. Bhengu says the snake warned her, it will go badly for you. She did as she was told.
Steve Kovacev, a sinewy 52-year-old from Truro, Mass., has run the Boston Marathon and sailed in the Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu. Neither event comes close to his current competition: a race for his life. Mr. Kovacev has AIDS. He has used all the drugs available to fight HIV, the virus that cau
By tinkering with a common cold virus, a team from Harvard and Dutch biotechnology company Crucell NV may have found a way to keep the body s defenses from interfering with some AIDS vaccines. The virus being modified is Adenovirus 5, now used by Merck & Co. and the U.S. National Institutes of Health to make two le
When United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan called in 2001 for a new global fund to fight the AIDS pandemic, he described it as a public-private partnership with both governments and corporations pitching in. It hasn t worked out that way. Since 2001, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an ind
OraSure Technologies Inc. hopes its HIV test will soon resemble modern-day pregnancy tests: fast, easy to read and, most of all, available over the counter. A federal panel recommended last month how OraSure should design clinical trials in its effort to win approval to sell OraQuick, the rapid oral-swab test, without
DURBAN, South Africa -- Zolile, a 25-year-old single mother, is one of the lucky few here who receive advanced anti-AIDS drugs free from the government. The pills work just the way they re supposed to, boosting her immune system, relieving her symptoms and restoring her health as long as she takes them twice a day.
The federal government s increased emphasis on promoting sexual abstinence as a global AIDS-prevention strategy is hampering efforts to create comprehensive disease-prevention programs and causing some confusion in the field, a report by the Government Accountability Office found. The report by the congressional watchd
A push to promote sexual abstinence in teens -- backed by a steady increase in federal funding -- is starting to affect the way sex ed is taught in the U.S. In middle schools and high schools across the country, sex-ed classes that discuss birth control as a way to prevent pregnancy and sexual diseases are increasingly
AIDS researchers in India -- where an estimated 5.1 million people are infected -- reported the HIV-infection rate in young women in the southern part of the nation attending prenatal clinics declined more than a third, to 1.1% in 2004 from 1.7% in 2000. The researchers said a drop in HIV prevalence in the youngest
A new form of tuberculosis that is highly resistant to drugs and nearly impossible to treat has been rapidly emerging world-wide, presenting challenges to public-health officials efforts to bring the infectious lung disease under control, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The federa
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Taking care of your body should have its own rewards. But a South African health-insurance company is adding some new lures: discounts on travel, movie tickets and electronics. Just as frequent fliers accumulate miles, South Africans covered by Discovery Health can collect points for doing
MOSCOW - The U.S. and its wealthy allies are moving to approve a first-of-its-kind plan to encourage pharmaceuticals companies to develop vaccines for diseases that afflict countries too poor to afford them. Finance ministers from the Group of Eight major industrialized powers, who met here this weekend, expect to appr
DENVER - A new generation of experimental drugs that take aim at an Achilles heel of the AIDS virus showed promising results in two early studies presented at a big scientific meeting here. The new drugs target one of the few features of HIV that doesn t quickly shift its shape to evade treatment. Me
Marilyn Chase, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said it will triple its funding commitments for tuberculosis research to $900 million from the current $300 million over the next decade. The Seattle-based family foundation of Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates released its plan this morning in Davos, Switzerland .
Shai Oster - Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
BEIJING - China s AIDS epidemic is among the fastest-growing in the world and is likely to spread even quicker as it moves into the mainstream population, international health officials warned in Beijing Wednesday. About 70,000 Chinese were infected last year with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. That brings the total
Philip Shishkin, philip.shishkin@wsj.com and David Crawford, david.crawford@wsj.com
The suspicious whirring of a motor came from somewhere in the dark skies above the river separating Northern Afghanistan from Tajikistan . Tajik border guards say they shouted warnings and then opened fire. What fell out of the sky was a motorized parachute carrying 18 kilograms of heroin. It was a small drop in a
Former President Bill Clinton is expected to announce today that his foundation has secured price discounts on medicines for AIDS patients in developing countries and for HIV test kits. The price reductions -- involving nine companies from five countries -- cover two AIDS drugs usually used on patients who have become
New York - What is political theater? Sometimes, as in the case of such relentlessly preachy exercises in agree-or-you re-evil propaganda as Guantanamo or The God of Hell, the answer is painfully clear. While these plays may be presented in an artful way, they typically use art as little more than a means to a politica
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