Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 58 375 702 at noon on Wednesday July 28
Insatiable demand: Botswana, with the highest per-capita rate of HIV infection in world, is struggling to cope with the demand for treatment, despite pouring much of its diamond wealth into the battle against the disease. ‘We are faced with an ever-worsening, perpetual, insatiable demand,” Ernest Darkoh, operations manager for Botswana’s anti-retroviral drugs programme, told a United Nations meeting on HIV/Aids in Gaborone on Monday. Botswana has funded its campaign through vast dollar earnings from some of the highest-quality diamonds in the world, coupled with massive aid from foreign governments and drug firms, as well as private trusts.
Imported infections: Plans to introduce a compulsory HIV test for immigrants applying to live in Britain have been dropped by ministers, amid growing concern that it would fuel illegal immigration and drive the disease underground.
The Cabinet set up a review of the issue of imported infections earlier this year to investigate whether potential immigrants could be screened for the virus as part of the visa process. It came about because of increasing concerns about how much ‘health tourism” is costing the National Health Service, and the growing rates of HIV among people who have acquired the disease abroad.
But there has been mounting controversy about the idea of making would-be migrants have a mandatory Aids test. Some ministers have argued that it is inherently racist as it would mostly target Africans from countries with the highest rates of the disease.
The Home Office had become increasingly worried that a mandatory HIV test would also carry the risk of pushing up rates of illegal immigration, because people who failed to be given a negative result would find another pathway into Britain.
Sources: Reuters, The Observer
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 58 274 892 at noon on Wednesday July 21
Sex education: Officials from Guangzhou, China, are launching new sex education programmes in the city’s kindergartens, primary and middle schools to prevent teenaged pregnancy and the spread of HIV. The courses were introduced after members of the Guangzhou’s People’s Congress requested that education authorities create programmes to teach children about sexual health at an earlier age.
Liao Chan, a physician and member of the congress, said, ‘The number of students who have premarital sex and schoolgirls who have induced abortions are increasing.”
In a recent survey, some students reported that they had learnt about sex from ‘unhealthy” sources, including pornographic websites, videos and books. ‘Sex knowledge from those sources is not as systematic and complete as that of textbooks, so correct guidance for people during puberty is crucial,” Guo Ningbo, of the Guangzhou Education Bureau, said.
Source: China Daily
Estimated worldwide infections: 58 073 159 at noon on Wednesday July 7
The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria has awarded Russia a two-year, $34,2- million grant for the treatment and care of people living with HIV/Aids and tuberculosis. The grant is the third Global Fund grant awarded to Russia.
It was also announced that an agreement in principle was made to reduce the cost of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) from between $10 000 and $15 000 per patient per year to between $500 and $1 000 per patient per year.
The Russian health minister said the country will use only ‘patented and effective medicines. The decrease in price doesn’t mean we’ll be using lower quality medicines than in economically developed countries. They will be the same set of drugs but at a lower price.”
It is hoped that the grant and the drug plan will help provide treatment for 5 000 people in the first year.
Source: Kaiser Network
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 57 972 738 at 12.25pm on June 30
Activists up in arms: HIV/Aids advocates in Bangkok, Thailand, on Tuesday protested against the high cost of registration for the upcoming XV International Aids Conference, saying that ‘thousands of key voices” on HIV/Aids ‘would not be heard” because of the fees, AFP/Yahoo! News reports.
The early registration fee for the conference, themed Access for All, was $800 and standard registration was $900; however, after May 1 the fee rose to $1 000, which comes to $1 250 including Thai tax.
Although the fees include access to all sessions and copies of related documents, meals and accommodation are not included in the price.
Karyn Kaplan of the Thai Aids Treatment Action Group said: ‘It’s access for all except if you’re a poor person.” She added: ‘It’s one of the most expensive Aids conferences to date, which is ironic given that this is in a developing country. ‘
Source: kaisernetwork.org