Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 50 512 218 at 9.56am on Wednesday January 29
Educating employers: This week the United States launched a R6-million programme to promote HIV/Aids education in Vietnam’s workplaces. ‘Part of the programme is to try to decrease the discrimination and stigma of HIV and Aids,†said Jennifer Bacchus, a representative of the US Department of Labour.
Programme workers will explain to employers that ‘just because somebody is HIV-positive, it doesn’t mean they cannot workâ€. Employers need to come up with a way to support victims. In the early 1990s several workers in Vietnam were fired after testing HIV-positive. Many infections went undetected as a result, because people did not want to be tested for fear of being ostracised.
Young women at risk: Human Rights Watch this week reported that widespread sexual abuse in Zambia was fuelling the spread of HIV among girls and young women. An estimated 21,5% of adult Zambians and about 120 000 children are infected with the virus. The report describes children sexually abused by trusted family members or respected community leaders. Girls are raped on long walks to school or are sexually abused by teachers once they get there. Some girls orphaned by HIV are forced to sleep with ‘sugar daddies†to survive and others turn to prostitution, the report said. The group demanded that the government increase training for police and court officials about sexual abuse and that it rigorously prosecute perpetrators.
Source: Associated Press
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 50 413 248 at 12.58pm on Wednesday January 22
High risk: A study of syphilis among homosexual men in New York City has found high rates of HIV infection, unprotected sex and recreational drug use among the men.
The New York City Department of Health is about to release the report. The city recruited 88 gay or bisexual men with syphilis (cases) and 176 gay or bisexual men without syphilis (controls). The participants were New York City residents aged between 18 and 55 who reported at least one male sex partner in the previous year. All the men were tested for syphilis and offered HIV tests. The men responded to a series of questions about their sex lives and partners, drug use, HIV status and other topics.
‘What we found was that many [of the men], both cases and controls, were engaging in high-risk sexual behaviours,†said Susan Blank, assistant commissioner of the city department’s Bureau of Sexually Transmitted Disease Control.
‘Specifically, that meant sex with multiple, anonymous partners, unprotected anal intercourse, barebacking, recreational drug use before sex and not discussing HIV status prior to sex with a partner,†she said.
Among men with syphilis the average number of sex partners in the previous six months was 16, compared with 11 among controls.
‘People aren’t talking about [HIV],†Blank said. ‘They are just having sex with other people without talking about it.â€
Source: Gay City News
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 50 314 764 at 4.43pm on Wednesday January 15
High risk: Hispanic women in Pennsylvania suffer twice the national rate of HIV infection, in part because they often feel pressured by their husbands to have unprotected sex, according to a study released this week.
The high percentage in infections was caused by a different set of family values and cultural attitudes within the Hispanic community, which were identified in the research by the Philadelphia Aids Consortium and other groups.
The study was based on surveys sent to 57 community organisations statewide, asking questions about Aids, sexual behaviour and drug use. The results showed that for every 100 000 Hispanic women 13 and older, 25 are infected with the virus, compared with the national rate of 14 per 100 000.
‘Bottom line, what we find is it’s a question of values,†said Lawrence Hochendoner, executive director of the Philadelphia Aids Consortium. ‘We basically found that the issues are ones of self-esteem and empowerment.â€
The study’s results indicate that Hispanic women are frequently pressured by their husbands to keep quiet about the disease.
In response to the study, the consortium is launching a campaign to inform Hispanic women about Aids and to teach them ways to talk to their husbands about having protected sex.
Source: AP
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 50 212 519 at 2.16pm on Wednesday January 8
Making the connection: This week the World Health Organisation (WHO) called for increased interaction between tuberculosis and HIV/Aids programmes to raise public awareness of the connection between the diseases.
In the report titled Analysis of Interaction Between TB and HIV/Aids in sub-Saharan Africa the WHO said agencies are considering promoting collaboration because of the impact of HIV-related tuberculosis in sub-Saharan Africa. The report says collaboration could lead to significant public-health gains.
Lack of political commitment, different programme structures, cultures and philosophies, and separate funding hinder progress.
Up to 70% of tuberculosis patients in sub-Saharan Africa are also infected with HIV.
Women in action: Few housewives spend the day talking about HIV/Aids awareness, prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and teaching teenagers about condoms.
But about nine years ago Olga Hernandez of New Mexico, United States, joined other housewives to organise Mujeres Unidas en Accion Contra el Sida (Women in Action against Aids). Statistics then were not readily available, but she thought city residents needed to understand the disease.
With a team of 15 housewives and 20 teenage peer educators, Hernandez crosses borders to hold workshops about HIV/Aids awareness, teen depression and stress.
Sources: Xinhua News Agency, AP
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 50 124 258 at 11.11am on Thursday, January 2
Treatment for all: Doctors in Iran received a government order on Monday not to turn away patients infected with HIV. The move is part of a new effort to control the spread of the disease, medical workers said.
The Health Ministry directive instructs doctors to catalogue all cases of people infected with HIV or suffering from Aids-related illnesses and to provide immediate treatment or face an undisclosed punishment.
‘Any refusal to accept those infected with the Aids virus is against the law and because of the social problem that it creates any violation will be followed up,†the state news agency Irna quoted the directive, signed by Deputy Health Minister Mohammad Ismael Akbari.
A fighting chance: An experimental vaccine against SIV, the form of the Aids virus that affects monkeys, sharply reduced but did not eliminate the virus in the animals’ blood.
The virus in the blood cells of macaques dropped 50-fold and its evidence in plasma fell 1 000-fold in a test that lasted 10 months, said researcher Wei Lu of Rene Descartes University in Paris, who led the team that studied the animals.
Unlike preventive vaccines used to keep people from catching a disease, this therapeutic vaccine is given to an infected person in the hope of helping them fight the disease by increasing their immune response.
‘This study has opened the possibility of treating HIV infection using immune cells that have been exposed to a weakened form of virus,†Lu said.
Source: Sapa