Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 4 9619 862 at 10.30am on Thursday November 28
Affordable drugs: Plans for a two-tier system for drug pricing, which will supply cheap medicines to poor countries though they will remain far more expensive for the rich, will be launched this week by the United Kingdom’s International Development Secretary, Clare Short.
The move is a bid to reduce the numbers of people in poor countries dying from Aids, tuberculosis and malaria.
The ambitious proposals, which have the backing of Prime Minister Tony Blair, aim to carve a clear path through the quagmire of patents and vested interests that have kept the price of life-saving drugs too high for millions of poor people.
But they are likely to fall foul of the pharmaceutical giants and potentially provoke confrontation with the United States government, which habitually fights in their corner.
The plan comes from a high-level working group chaired by Short, whose report will say that drug companies should sell drugs for Aids, tuberculosis and malaria to the poorest countries at reasonable prices.
Representatives of the British companies GlaxoSmithKline and Astra Zeneca and of the World Health Organisation were among those who took part.
Aids, tuberculosis and malaria cause six million deaths a year, costing the afflicted countries $120-billion in lost productivity.
The pharmaceutical industry is being offered promises that tough measures will be taken to ensure that cost-price drugs are not brought back to Europe or the US by profiteers. — (c) Guardian Newspapers 2002
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 49 519 475 at 11.10am on Thursday November 21
Safe oral sex: The risk of a gay man acquiring HIV from oral sex is very low, according to a United States study published in the November edition of the journal AIDS.
Investigators recruited 239 gay men seeking anonymous HIV testing in San Francisco between December 1999 and 2001. The men had to complete a questionnaire about the type of sex they had had in the previous six months. The researchers were keen to identify the population-attributable risk percentage of oral sex, because even a small individual risk of HIV transmission from oral sex for an individual could result in a substantial number of infections.
On average, the men had had receptive oral sex with three different men in the previous six months. The majority, 98%, of oral sex was without a condom and 35% of men reported getting semen in their mouths, 70% of whom swallowed.
None of the men in the study tested HIV-positive, meaning that the individual risk of being infected with HIV by oral sex was zero.
They noted that the prevalence of HIV among gay men reporting unprotected anal sex was 5,1% showing “the striking difference in the risk of HIV between those who report exclusively fellatio and those who report higher-risk sexual behaviours”.
The researchers also suggest that improper condom usage could result in more cases of HIV transmission among gay men than oral sex.
Source: www.aidsmap.com
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 49 417 513 at 9.05am on Thursday November 14
Early detection: A new diagnostic device that can detect HIV in as little as 20 minutes has received government approval in the United States in what officials described as a major step toward curbing the epidemic.
The OraQuick diagnostic test kit uses less than a drop of blood and is 99,6% accurate, said health officials.
Federal Food and Drug Administration Deputy Commissioner Lester Crawford said OraQuick will help identify pregnant HIV-positive women going into labour who had not been tested. It will allow doctors to take precautionary steps to block their newborn babies from being infected with Aids, Crawford said.
“It will also be a critical resource in helping identify HIV infection in health care and emergency workers who get exposed to HIV-infected blood while working,” he said.
Illegal drug crackdown: The European Union is taking measures to prevent low-cost drugs intended for patients in the world’s poorest countries from being diverted and resold for huge profits in the West.
Under the scheme, companies will register the drugs they intend to sell at lower prices with the European Commission. These will be stamped with a highly visible special logo to alert customs that they should be banned from re-entering the union.
Sources: Sapa, Af-Aid
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 49 316 998 at 12:33pm on Thursday, November 7
India red alert: The United States ambassador to India, Robert Blackwill, warned this week that India could soon surpass South Africa as the country with the highest number of people with HIV/Aids in the world.
He quoted a US government report at a conference on Aids prevention in Madras. The report warned that 25-million Indians could be infected with HIV by 2010.
About 4-million Indians now have HIV, compared with 4,7-million South Africans.
The Indian government says its prevention programmes are working and says the rate of infection is stabilising. The government has recruited donor agencies to help it in the fight against Aids. The country has embarked on a range of programmes that vary from the distribution of cheap drugs to promoting awareness of Aids among schoolchildren.
Iran reveals figures: Ali Mansuri, a Health Ministry disease control officer in Iran, said this week that the country had identified more than 4 200 Aids cases. Other sources estimate the country has nearly 20 000 cases.
“We have so far identified 4 237 people infected with Aids, of whom 4 048 are men,” he said. “At the moment, prisons full of drug addicts are the main centres for the spread of Aids.”
Official figures say that two-thirds of Iran’s prison population are dealers or consumers of drugs.
Source: Sapa
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 49 216 465 at 10am on Thursday, October 31
Uneducated: China’s young people are grossly unaware of how Aids is spread. According to a survey, many believe people can contract the disease from mosquito bites. Two-thirds of secondary school students surveyed in Beijing did not know mosquitoes were not to blame and half were unaware that proper use of condoms can reduce the risk of contracting Aids, the Beijing Xinbao newspaper said. As a result of the study Beijing?s education department has asked all secondary schools to begin teaching Aids awareness as part of the school curriculum.
Death for offenders: The death penalty has been proposed in Lesotho for people who commit sexual offences knowing they are HIV-positive. The proposal was contained in draft legislation before the Lesotho Parliament providing stringent penalties for sexual offenders and child abusers. The Minister of Justice, Law and Constitutional Affair, Refiloe Masemene, outlined the proposals when he introduced debate on the Sexual Offences Bill in the National Assembly on Wednesday. The Bill provides for compulsory testing of people who have committed sexual offences to determine an appropriate sentence.
Source: Sapa, www.redribbon.co.za