August 23, 2007

China cracking down on AIDS groups

Chinese authorities have cracked down on groups fighting HIV and AIDS, threatening activists, closing their offices and ordering that a conference be canceled, a human rights organization and activists said Tuesday. The government's actions raise questions about whether it is really committed to fighting HIV and AIDS, New York-based Human Rights Watch said.

"These individuals and groups dedicated to addressing the enormous suffering wrought by China's HIV/AIDS epidemic should not face police threats and harassment," Joe Amon, the group's HIV/AIDS director, said in a statement. The activists, Amon said, deserve "praise and support, not intimidation tactics by state security forces." The reported crackdown comes amid a general tightening of political control in China in the run-up to a major meeting of the ruling Communist Party. The meeting, expected in October, is held once every five years and sets the political tone and direction for the country.

Officials did not immediately comment. The Guangdong Public Security Bureau said it was not authorized to discuss the matter, referring questions to the Ministry of Public Security. The public security bureau in Kaifeng said it did not know about the case.

Zhu Zhaowu, who leads a branch of activist group Dong Zhen in Henan province, said officials went to his office last Wednesday and gave him two days to clear out.

Zhu said agents with the Kaifeng city Commerce and Industry Bureau said his group "is an illegal organization conducting illegal activities."

An officer also told Zhu to "watch your back after you move out, because Kaifeng can be unsafe," he said.

One of the group's activity centers in Ruanjia village was forced to close last Thursday, Zhu added. Dong Zhen provides legal aid to HIV and AIDS patients.

The organization had planned to co-host a conference Aug. 2-3 in southern China's Guangdong province with the New York-based Asia Catalyst group, said Dong Zhen director Li Dan. But the manager of the hotel where the conference was to be held said police contacted him and requested it be called off, Li said in a telephone interview.

"The Guangdong police didn't contact us directly, however," he said. Li refused to provide specifics, saying "I'm under a lot of other pressure."

The public security bureau in Guangdong had considered the conference's topics "too sensitive," Human Rights Watch said.

There are an estimated 650,000 people living with HIV in China, according to the most recent government statistics from 2005. HIV gained a foothold in the country largely due to unsanitary blood plasma-buying schemes and tainted blood transfusions.

The U.N. has praised China's work in combating HIV and AIDS, including top-level government commitment, proper funding, availability of antiretroviral drugs and outreach programs. However, the executive director of UNAIDS said last month that Beijing still must reach out to more patients in the vast country and overcome a lack of cooperation from some government officials.
(source : news.yahoo.com)

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August 22, 2007

AIDS fight in Asia hurt by instability

Sri Lanka - Growing political instability, stigmatization of those infected and conservative social attitudes are hampering the fight against the spread of HIV in Asia, a top regional AIDS official said Monday. Nearly a half-million people in Asia and the Pacific are infected with HIV every year and as many as 300,000 of those infected die — more than the total killed in the 2004 tsunami, said Prasada Rao, UNAIDS regional director.

"The harsh reality is that the grim march of the epidemic in our region continues unabated," he told the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific. About 2,500 government officials, AIDS activists and health professionals from around the region gathered in Colombo for the five-day conference.

An estimated 5.4 million people in the region are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. While that number is far below the infection rate in Africa, Asia's huge population has led to concerns that an AIDS pandemic could erupt here as well if strong action is not taken.

While India and Thailand have been the focus of recent international efforts, Rao expressed fears that China, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh could be the next battlegrounds.

"These are large countries and they have the potential of an epidemic to take root, so they need a strong program," he said.

There has been some success, Rao said, pointing to a major campaign in India that help either stabilize or bring down the HIV-infection rate in the worst affected regions.

But there are also disturbing trends, including continued attacks by opponents of condom use and sex education, he said.

"There is no doubt anymore that condoms continue to be the only effective prevention tool available for protection against HIV, yet opposition to its promotion continues in many countries," he said.

In India, as many as 11 state governments have banned or are banning sex education in schools, and they are facing little opposition from civic groups, he said.

"It's baffling, really. Why should this happen?" he told The Associated Press.

A new wave of conflicts in the region is also hampering prevention and treatment efforts, he said. Two years ago, at the last regional AIDS conference, only Nepal was mired in significant conflict, he said. Now, eight more countries have fallen into political instability and conflict.

The war in Afghanistan has also indirectly contributed to the spread of the disease, he said. The increase in the cultivation of poppies used to make heroin has helped fuel intravenous drug use — the second leading cause of the spread of HIV in the region, he said.

Others also warned of potential pitfalls in the fight.

Nafis Sadik, special U.N. envoy on HIV/AIDS in Asia, said many issues of fear, stigmatization and ignorance are being ignored.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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Nutrition can't replace AIDS drugs, South African study finds

Good nutrition, while important for those on antiretroviral medication, does not prevent HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, a study by South African scientists said Wednesday. The Academy of Science of South Africa found "no evidence that healthier eating is any substitute for correctly-used medical drugs".

"The panel has concluded that no food, no component made from food, and no food supplement has been identified in any credible study as an effective alternative to appropriate medication," said lead researcher Barry Mendelow. South Africa's Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has often claimed that the use of garlic, lemon and other vegetables -- earning her the nickname Dr Beetroot -- could contain the epidemic.

"These delay the development of HIV to AIDS-defining conditions, and that's the truth," she told parliament last year.

Dan Ncayiyana, editor of the South African Medical Journal and one of the authors of the study, said: "One of our most important findings has been that nutrition is important for general health but is not sufficient to contain the HIV/AIDS or the turberculosis epidemic."

The report called for nutritional studies to be conducted in conditions found in most poor countries where much of the population is malnourished.

"The few randomised trials that exist have mainly been conducted in high-income countries where most patients are well nourished and have access to life-prolonging antiretroviral therapy," the report said.

The health ministry said the study "reaffirms" government's position in its effort to combat the disease.

"It reaffirms some of the policy positions (on HIV/AIDS) pushed by government and the department," health spokesman Sibani Mngadi told SABC radio.

"While we are facing challenges of two major infectious diseases, nutrition will assist you in promoting good health, (but) you need to get appropriate medication."

South Africa is one of the countries worst-hit by HIV with prevalence standing at 18.4 percent in 2006, and with 5.41 million people living with the illness.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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CRPF launches helpline for own HIV/AIDS victims

Hit with a rising number of HIV/AIDS cases among its personnel, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Wednesday launched a toll free helpline to assist the victims and their relatives with timely information regarding AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. 'The helpline will make the life of the jawans and their families safer and will go a long way in reducing stress levels in the force,' said CRPF director general S.I.S. Ahmed.

'The unique combination of facilities on this helpline will make it popular and useful,' he added. According to data available with the ministry of home affairs, 200 paramilitary personnel have died of AIDS since 2004, including 27 this year.

Of the total number of victims, 75 died in 2004, 58 in 2005, 40 in 2006 and 27 in the first seven months of 2007.

While CRPF has lost 72 of its men during this period, 56 troopers from the Border Security Force (BSF) have lost their lives due to HIV/AIDS.

The helpline - jointly created by the CRPF's Wives' Welfare Association (CWWA) and Force AIDS Control Cell (FACC) - will also redress grievances of serving and retired personnel in this area.

The project has been launched with funds provided by Unaids.

'The project will have six fully trained tele-counsellors to run the helpline, besides an interactive voice response system. These counsellors will have updated information on HIV, AIDS and welfare schemes of CRPF,' said another top CRPF official.

'In the first phase the information on these issues will be available in English and Hindi,' the official added.

On Tuesday, minister of state for home affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal had informed parliament that a total of 1,363 men in the paramilitary forces are currently suffering from AIDS.

Of them, CRPF has 521, and Assam Rifles 458. BSF has reported 239 HIV/AIDS cases, CISF 105, Indo-Tibetan Border Police 25, National Security Guard six and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) nine cases.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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Human trafficking helps spread HIV/AIDS in Asia

About 300,000 women and children are trafficked across Asia each year, accelerating the spread of HIV/AIDS, the United Nations said on Wednesday. "Trafficking ... contributes to the spread of HIV by significantly increasing the vulnerability of trafficked persons to infection," said Caitlin Wiesen-Antin, HIV/AIDS regional coordinator, Asia and Pacific, for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

"Both human trafficking and HIV greatly threaten human development and security."

Major human trafficking routes run between Nepal and India and between Thailand and neighbors like Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. Many of the victims are young teenage girls who end up in prostitution. "The link between human trafficking and HIV/AIDS has only been identified fairly recently," Wiesen-Antin told the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.

"Neither HIV/AIDS nor human trafficking have been integrated or mainstreamed adequately, either at policy or programmatic level."

UNAIDS estimates 5.4 million people were living with HIV in the Asia Pacific region in 2006, with anywhere between 140,000 and 610,000 people dying from AIDS-related illnesses.

That makes it the world's second largest number of people living with HIV after sub-Saharan Africa, where 25.8 million people are infected with the virus.

Conference host Sri Lanka has one of the lowest rates of HIV in Asia, with an estimated 5,000 infected people out of a population of around 20 million.

Neighboring India, by comparison, has the world's third highest HIV caseload after South Africa and Nigeria, with around 2.5 million people living with the virus.

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August 21, 2007

Drugs, conflict spur HIV in Asia Pacific region

HIV infections are increasing at a worrying 10 percent a year in the Asia Pacific region, a top UN AIDS official said on Tuesday, putting the rise down to intravenous drug use, sex workers and conflicts. Governments need to spend more money on prevention programmes and look at bypassing patents to produce affordable generic drugs to ensure prevalence rates remain low compared to Africa, said Prasada Rao, UNAIDS regional director for Asia and the Pacific.

"In the last two years we have seen about a million infections coming in, that means half a million every year," Rao told Reuters in an interview at the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific being hosted in Colombo. "Ten percent is a worrying figure."

"If you take out Southern India and Thailand and Cambodia, where you have a declining rate, in the remaining Asia Pacific region it is still an increasing epidemic," he added. "It is still accelerating."

UNAIDS estimates 5.4 million people were living with HIV in the Asia Pacific region in 2006, with anywhere between 140,000 and 610,000 people dying from AIDS-related illnesses.

That makes it the world's second largest number of people living with HIV after sub-Saharan Africa, where 25.8 million people are infected with the virus.

Part of the challenge is changing the mindset of policy makers who, though not complacent, are not targeting enough prevention measures at high risk groups, Rao said.

"It is an epidemic which is spreading through the injecting drug users, sexworkers ... who are criminalised sections of society," he said.

"When you explain the dynamic of the epidemic to politicians, they still think it is something that is not going to happen here and is only going to happen to bad people."

Areas of most acute concern to UNAIDS include Papua New Guinea because of poor health infrastructure and a high prevalence of rape, and Indonesia, Vietnam, China and Bangladesh, where intravenous drug use is high.

"In South Asia it is Pakistan and North India -- Pakistan because still the entire dimension of the epidemic is not well understood. Northern India's response is very slow and very disjointed," Rao said, adding some Indian states had even banned sex education.

India has between 2.0 million to 3.1 million people with HIV, with 85 percent of transmission occurring through sex workers. In China, 60 percent of infections are due to injecting drug use, he said.

Human trafficking for the sex industry is also a major problem.

"A lot of Nepali girls are brought to India. Another trafficking route has been Thailand and its neighbouring countries like Laos, Cambodia and even Myanmar," Rao said. "Many young girls are coming to brothels and massage parlours ... many just 13, 14 or 15 years old."

Nepal's AIDS programmes were suffering due to political instability there, just as conflict in Afghanistan is hindering access to treatment and prevention.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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Food supplements don't fight HIV

Neither food nor food supplements are alternatives to drug therapy in treating people with HIV/AIDS, South Africa's top scientific advisory panel has said, amid a controversy over the nation's AIDS policies. The report by the Academy of Science of South Africa was issued as President Thabo Mbeki faced new criticism over support for his health minister, who promotes nutritional treatment for AIDS, and the sacking of a deputy minister who backed drug treatments.

The inter-disciplinary scientific panel, which advises the government on health policies, began studying nutritional influences on the human immune system in October 2005, focusing on the virus that causes AIDS and on tuberculosis (TB).

"The panel has concluded that no food, no component made from food, and no food supplement has been identified in any credible study as an effective alternative to appropriate medication," said Prof Barry Mendelow, chairman of a 15-member panel from the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).

Mendelow told Reuters the panel found while nutritional intervention is "a valuable supportive measure", the primary treatment is anti-retrovirals and anti-TB drug therapy.

"It's not a question of one or the other," he added.

South Africa has one of the world's highest HIV infection rate with an estimated 12 per cent of the country's 47 million population infected with the deadly virus.

Besides a struggling health-care system characterised by a lack of doctors and nurses, many of whom have left the country for better pay abroad, the fight against AIDS has been hampered by conflicting messages from senior government officials.

Mbeki sacked Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge this month for insubordination, sparking an outcry from AIDS activists who strongly backed her policies and critics who say she was fired for political reasons.

Madlala-Routledge had clashed with Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, dubbed "Dr Beetroot", who had horrified AIDS activists with her advocacy of garlic, lemon and African potatoes over conventional anti-retroviral drugs.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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Beijing accused of harassing AIDS activists

Chinese authorities have cracked down on groups fighting HIV and AIDS, threatening activists, closing their offices and ordering that a conference be canceled, a human rights group and activists said Tuesday. The government's actions raise questions about whether it is really committed to fighting HIV and AIDS, New York-based Human Rights Watch said.

"These individuals and groups dedicated to addressing the enormous suffering wrought by China's HIV/AIDS epidemic should not face police threats and harassment," Joe Amon, the group's HIV/AIDS director, said in a statement. The activists deserve "praise and support, not intimidation tactics by state security forces."

The crackdown comes amid a general tightening of political control in China in the run-up to a major meeting of the ruling Communist Party. The meeting, expected in October, is held once every five years and sets the political tone and direction for the country.

Zhu Zhaowu, who heads a branch of activist group Dong Zhen in Henan province, said officials went to his office last Wednesday and gave him two days to clear out.

Zhu said agents with the Kaifeng city Commerce and Industry Bureau said his group ''is an illegal organization conducting illegal activities.''

An officer also told Zhu to ''watch your back after you move out, because Kaifeng can be unsafe,'' he said.

One of the group's activity centers in Ruanjia village was forced to close on Thursday, Zhu added. Dong Zhen provides legal aid to HIV and AIDS patients.

The organization had planned to host a conference Aug. 2-3 in southern China's Guangdong province, said Dong Zhen director Li Dan. But the manager of the hotel where it was to be held said police contacted him and requested it be called off, Li said in a telephone interview.

''The Guangdong police didn't contact us directly, however,'' he said. Li refused to provide specifics, saying ''I'm under a lot of other pressure.''

The public security bureau in Guangdong had considered the conference's topics ''too sensitive,'' Human Rights Watch said.

A similar reason was given for the cancellation of another AIDS conference of Chinese and foreign experts, scheduled for last month in Guangzhou and organized by the New York-based group Asia Catalyst. The conference topic was strengthening AIDS victims' legal rights, Human Rights Watch said.

The Guangdong Public Security Bureau said it was not authorized to comment, referring questions to the Ministry of Public Security. The public security bureau in Kaifeng said it did not know about the case.

In Beijing, husband and wife activists Hu Jia and Zeng Jinyan have been placed under house arrest and blocked from leaving the country.

There are an estimated 650,000 people living with HIV in China, according to the most recent government statistics from 2005. HIV gained a foothold in the country largely due to unsanitary blood plasma-buying schemes and tainted blood transfusions.

The U.N. has praised China's work in combating HIV and AIDS, including top-level government commitment, proper funding, availability of antiretroviral drugs and outreach programs. However, the executive director of UNAIDS said last month that Beijing still must reach out to more patients in the vast country and overcome a lack of cooperation from some government officials. (Anita Chang, AP)

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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China cracking down on AIDS groups

Chinese authorities have cracked down on groups fighting HIV and AIDS, threatening activists, closing their offices and ordering that a conference be canceled, a human rights organization and activists said Tuesday. The government's actions raise questions about whether it is really committed to fighting HIV and AIDS, New York-based Human Rights Watch said.

"These individuals and groups dedicated to addressing the enormous suffering wrought by China's HIV/AIDS epidemic should not face police threats and harassment," Joe Amon, the group's HIV/AIDS director, said in a statement. The activists, Amon said, deserve "praise and support, not intimidation tactics by state security forces." The reported crackdown comes amid a general tightening of political control in China in the run-up to a major meeting of the ruling Communist Party. The meeting, expected in October, is held once every five years and sets the political tone and direction for the country.

Officials did not immediately comment. The Guangdong Public Security Bureau said it was not authorized to discuss the matter, referring questions to the Ministry of Public Security. The public security bureau in Kaifeng said it did not know about the case.

Zhu Zhaowu, who leads a branch of activist group Dong Zhen in Henan province, said officials went to his office last Wednesday and gave him two days to clear out.

Zhu said agents with the Kaifeng city Commerce and Industry Bureau said his group "is an illegal organization conducting illegal activities."

An officer also told Zhu to "watch your back after you move out, because Kaifeng can be unsafe," he said.

One of the group's activity centers in Ruanjia village was forced to close last Thursday, Zhu added. Dong Zhen provides legal aid to HIV and AIDS patients.

The organization had planned to co-host a conference Aug. 2-3 in southern China's Guangdong province with the New York-based Asia Catalyst group, said Dong Zhen director Li Dan. But the manager of the hotel where the conference was to be held said police contacted him and requested it be called off, Li said in a telephone interview.

"The Guangdong police didn't contact us directly, however," he said. Li refused to provide specifics, saying "I'm under a lot of other pressure."

The public security bureau in Guangdong had considered the conference's topics "too sensitive," Human Rights Watch said.

There are an estimated 650,000 people living with HIV in China, according to the most recent government statistics from 2005. HIV gained a foothold in the country largely due to unsanitary blood plasma-buying schemes and tainted blood transfusions.

The U.N. has praised China's work in combating HIV and AIDS, including top-level government commitment, proper funding, availability of antiretroviral drugs and outreach programs. However, the executive director of UNAIDS said last month that Beijing still must reach out to more patients in the vast country and overcome a lack of cooperation from some government officials.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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August 20, 2007

Free blood for AIDS patients

OVER 24,000 HIV and AIDS patients in Uttar Pradesh will no longer face humiliation in getting blood from blood banks. In a major decision to ensure emergency treatment facility to terminally ill HIV-positive patients, the State Blood Transfusion Council has decided to provide them free blood from the government blood banks.

The blood and its components will be supplied to these patients without the mandatory condition i.e. on 'exchange basis'. The notification will soon be issued to the 60 State-run blood banks at district hospitals and medical colleges in UP.
"Decision to this effect was taken at the UP State AIDS Control Society (UPSACS) and State Blood Transfusion Council's meeting at Lucknow. Members present at the meeting decided that HIV-positive patients would be provided free blood and its components, without exchange basis, at the government blood banks," said UPSACS joint director Dr RP Mathur.

Talking to HT on telephone, Dr Mathur said Principal Secretary (Health) had already told the director general (Health) to issue notification to the 60 State-run blood banks in district hospitals and medical colleges for making free supply of blood units to the terminally ill HIV-positive patients.

"According to the records, there are 21,358 HIV positive patients and 3,053 full-blown AIDS cases, in UP. Most HIV patients suffer from opportunistic infection and need proper treatment including blood transfusion," he added. Dr Mathur added that for the last some time various organisations, including UP Network of HIV-Positive People (UPNP+) were demanding to arrange free blood units for the critically ill AIDS patients.

District AIDS Control Officer Dr Shakti Basu said they welcomed the decision, as a large number of patients needed blood transfusion to save their lives. "Recently, we had to face a lot of problem arranging blood for a HIV-positive woman at the time of labour at district hospital, Pratapgarh," he informed.

Dr Basu said a large number of HIV patients were suffering from tuberculosis, leading to internal bleeding or other life-threatening conditions due to presence of double infection in the body. They also suffered from massive weight loss and anemia, he said. "In all cases, they need blood transfusion. But being ostracised from the society, no one is ready to give them blood," he said.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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Fish farms help families in Africa hit by AIDS

Tiny fish farms have helped 1,200 poor families hit by AIDS in Malawi to raise their incomes and improve their diets in a scheme being expanded to other African nations, a report showed on Monday.

About $90 can enable construction of a small rain-fed pond that can be stocked with juvenile fish costing $10. Once the fish grow and reproduce, the ponds produce food with far less back-breaking work than subsistence farming.

The project, run by the Malaysia-based WorldFish Center and targeted at families where some members have died from AIDS or are suffering from the epidemic, has doubled income for 1,200 families in Malawi and improved diets, WorldFish said.

"These small fish points offer tremendous benefits to struggling farming families in rural Africa whose many challenges have been greatly compounded by AIDS," Stephen Hall, director general of WorldFish, said in a statement.


Many families in the project were headed by widows or grandparents caring for orphans.

About one in five adults in Malawi, among the world's poorest nations, are infected with HIV/AIDS and tens of thousands of the 12.1 million population die every year from the disease. A cocktail of drugs can help control infection, but there is no vaccine and no cure.

WorldFish, a non-profit research group, said it was expanding the scheme to neighboring Mozambique and Zambia with a goal of reaching 26,000 households.

"We hope to reach this goal within 2 to 3 years. We have also received requests for information from as far as Nigeria," Daniel Jamu, the regional director for WorldFish in eastern and southern Africa, told Reuters.

WorldFish is backed by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and World Vision, an aid group.

Farmers are encouraged to use farm waste and crop by-products to feed their fish. In turn, the fish farms are twinned with a drive to get farmers to grow more vegetables, using pond sediment as fertilizer.

Jamu said that a small fish farm, covering about 200 square meters (yards) and stocked with fish such as tilapia, could produce 60 to 90 kg (130 to 190 lbs) of fish a year in rural Malawi where fish can sell in markets for $2 a kg.
(source : news.yahoo.com)

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Asia AIDS conference opens in Sri Lanka

Officials and health care workers met in Sri Lanka on Sunday to urge a comprehensive approach to tackling AIDS in Asia, which has some 8.6 million people infected with the HIV virus.

The Asia-Pacific region has the world's second largest number of people living with HIV after sub-Saharan Africa where 25.8 million people are infected with the virus. More than 300,000 people die from AIDS in the region annually.

"We have 8.6 million HIV infected people in Asia, (this is) too many," said Professor Myung Hwan Cho, president of the AIDS society of the Asia and the Pacific in his opening remarks to the 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.

Some 2,500 delegates from more than 40 countries are attending the five-day conference.

Sri Lanka has one of the lowest rates of HIV in Asia, with an estimated 5,000 infected people out of a population of around 20 million.

Neighbouring India, by comparison, has the world's third highest HIV caseload after South Africa and Nigeria, with around 2.5 million people living with the virus.

The U.N. agency UNAIDS said the region faced new challenges and threats.

"These include a wider tendency towards complacency ... and denial of AIDS being an epidemic in the region," said Deborah Landey, deputy executive director of UNAIDS.
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Global AIDS figures to come down

Some 25 years after the discovery of the first case of AIDS, the global figure for people living with the virus will come down when fresh figures are released in November, a senior official of the United Nations AIDS umbrella disclosed Sunday.

The scale-down in the epidemic is being attributed to a new counting methodology pioneered jointly by the Indian government and the UN - which saw the figures for Indians living with HIV/AIDS decline from 5.7 million to around three million two months ago.

'The global numbers will come down a bit - but I can't tell you exactly how much. For that you will have to wait until November when our annual report is released,' UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Deborah Landey said at a press conference to kick off the eighth International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP).

'The prevalence rates from country to country may come down but our concern is that declining numbers could conceal the complexity of the picture and we are very worried about complacency setting in,' Landey said in response to a query by IANS.

'For instance, prevalence rates can decline simply because people are dying. We will try to capture some of the complexity of data in November,' she added.

According to figures released by UNAIDS last year, there are between 34 and 42 million people living with HIV or AIDS worldwide, and Landey thought the figures to be announced in November will stay in that broad bracket.

One of the main reasons for the decline will be the methodology of Population Household Survey - house-to-house counting that Landey said is particularly good for rural areas - which was used in India to gauge the extent of the epidemic for the first time earlier this year.

The same methodology has now been tried out in 22 countries in Africa and the Caribbean, and 20 of them have returned lower figures for HIV/AIDS - a fact that is certain to bring down the global numbers.

'Good and accurate data are evolving. What India has done very well is to tap different survey methodologies,' Landey added.

But she sounded a note of caution: while Population Household Surveys were good at capturing rural data, they can do little about people who are not at home when health workers pay a visit. And these can include high-risk groups such as truck drivers, migrant workers and sex workers.

Landey's startling disclosure about the expected decline in numbers comes at a crucial juncture in the global fight against HIV/AIDS - with more and more money being put into prevention and access to life-saving drugs that were once out of reach of poor people, the international campaign to fight the spread of the disease is seeing its first glimmer of hope.

The danger, say health experts in Colombo, is that news about declining numbers will lead to governments becoming complacent in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

'We are worried about complacency,' said Landey. 'Countries that have become complacent have seen the epidemic go up.'

Some 2,500 health experts and community workers from 70 countries across Asia-Pacific are attending the ICAAP meeting from 19 to 23 August.

They will exchange notes and share lessons in best practices so that Asia-Pacific can avoid the experience of sub-Saharan Africa - a region that has been devastated by HIV/AIDS, said Athula Kahanda Liyanage, secretary to the Sri Lankan health ministry.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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Sex now primary cause of China HIV spread

Unsafe sex has overtaken intravenous drug use as the primary cause of new HIV infections in China, suggesting that AIDS is spreading from high-risk groups to the general public, state media reported on Monday. Of the 70,000 new HIV infections recorded in 2005, nearly half contracted the virus through sexual contact, the China Daily reported, citing a report released jointly by the Ministry of Health and the China Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

"It's the first time since 1989, when the first HIV infection was detected, for sex to top the transmission list nationwide," the newspaper quoted Gao Qi, of the China HIV/AIDS Information Network, as saying.

China has an estimated 650,000 people living with HIV or AIDS, and while the government has become increasingly open about the problem, efforts to fight the spread of the virus are still hampered by conservative attitudes about sex and suspicion of grassroots activists and non-governmental organizations.

Surveys show that one in 10 sexually active men in China have been involved with prostitution at least once, and the government was taking measures to initiate condom use programs and AIDS education among sex workers, the newspaper said.

It is also focusing prevention efforts on gay men, who made up 7.3 percent of the new infections through sex.

A separate survey conducted by China's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention found that although teenagers in China were having sex at an earlier age, 40 percent did not use protection the first time and they had little AIDS education.

"They know little about HIV/AIDS, let alone preventative measures," the China Daily quoted An Jiaao, of the centre's National Institute for Health Education, as saying.

HIV/AIDS became a major problem for China in the 1990s when hundreds of thousands of poor farmers, mostly in the central province of Henan, became infected through botched blood-selling schemes.

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Sex now primary cause of China HIV spread

Unsafe sex has overtaken intravenous drug use as the primary cause of new HIV infections in China, suggesting that AIDS is spreading from high-risk groups to the general public, state media reported on Monday. Of the 70,000 new HIV infections recorded in 2005, nearly half contracted the virus through sexual contact, the China Daily reported, citing a report released jointly by the Ministry of Health and the China Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

"It's the first time since 1989, when the first HIV infection was detected, for sex to top the transmission list nationwide," the newspaper quoted Gao Qi, of the China HIV/AIDS Information Network, as saying.

China has an estimated 650,000 people living with HIV or AIDS, and while the government has become increasingly open about the problem, efforts to fight the spread of the virus are still hampered by conservative attitudes about sex and suspicion of grassroots activists and non-governmental organizations.

Surveys show that one in 10 sexually active men in China have been involved with prostitution at least once, and the government was taking measures to initiate condom use programs and AIDS education among sex workers, the newspaper said.

It is also focusing prevention efforts on gay men, who made up 7.3 percent of the new infections through sex.

A separate survey conducted by China's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention found that although teenagers in China were having sex at an earlier age, 40 percent did not use protection the first time and they had little AIDS education.

"They know little about HIV/AIDS, let alone preventative measures," the China Daily quoted An Jiaao, of the centre's National Institute for Health Education, as saying.

HIV/AIDS became a major problem for China in the 1990s when hundreds of thousands of poor farmers, mostly in the central province of Henan, became infected through botched blood-selling schemes.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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Sex tops drugs in China's HIV cases

Unsafe sex has for the first time overtaken drug abuse as the leading cause of HIV cases in China, a trend that could make it tougher to control the spread of the virus, state media reported Monday. Of the 70,000 new infections reported in 2005, 49.8 percent were contracted through sexual contact, the Ministry of Health and China's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said in a joint report, according to the China Daily.

Th spread of the virus among drugs abusers through injections stood at 48.6 percent of the total, it said.

"It is the first time since 1989, when the first HIV infection was detected (in China), for sex to top the transmission list nationwide nationwide," Gao Qi of the China HIV/AIDS Information Network was quoted as saying.

No figures were given for previous years, or for 2006, but the report said that drug abuse had been the dominant transmission route for the 650,000 Chinese people infected by HIV.

Gao was quoted as saying that the new trend would make it harder to control the spread of the deadly virus, now that the chief transmission route had gone beyond the drug-abusing population.

Efforts to curb the new trend were targeting China's burgeoning sex industry, the China Daily said, adding that the government had initiated a campaign to make sex workers force clients to use condoms, a drive inspired by the 100-percent condom use campaign in Thailand.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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August 16, 2007

Army hospitals to handle AIDS more humanely

The doctors and nursing staff of army hospitals need to handle patients suffering from Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) more sensitively and with a human face, Lt. Gen J. Jayaram, director general of the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) said Thursday.

Inaugurating a 10-day workshop on management of patients with AIDS and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) at the Army Hospital (Research and Referral) here, Jayaram said: 'Though HIV prevalence among our force is much less than the civilians yet the young population needs to be careful.'

'The high risk population, migratory job, staying away from families are factors that we need to take care of. Our doctors and nursing staff are doing their job but need to do it with more sensitivity,' he said.

He said the armed forces hospitals are taking help from National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), several NGOs and the Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) in handling the health menace.

'We will tell commanders to play their role in this field,' he said.

Maj. Gen. Shashi Bala, additional director general of the Military Nursing Service (MNS), said that all hospitals need 'a human approach for the management of patients with HIV/AIDS'.

She also appealed to the nursing community of the armed forces 'to become fluent in the language of AIDS and handle patients with extreme sensitivity'.

'The whole aim is reduce stigma, discrimination and isolation for patients,' Bala said.

The 10-day-workshop from Thursday will equip concerned health officials of several hospitals under the Western Command about HIV/AIDS, and how to provide best possible care to people suffering from the disease.

Jayaram further advised the participants about the need to develop good communication skills to unravel the cultural, social and personal values and beliefs of each patient. He said this would help in formulating further effective prevention and control measures against HIV/AIDS.

'We should try our best so that patients will not hesitate to come forward and reveal their problem,' he said.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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AIDS virus is a "double hit" to the brain

The AIDS virus damages the brain in two ways, by not only killing brain cells but by preventing the birth of new cells, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday. The study, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, helps shed light on a condition known as HIV-associated dementia, which can cause confusion, sleep disturbances and memory loss in people infected with the virus.

It is less common in people taking drug cocktails to suppress the virus, and why HIV damages brain function is not clearly understood.

The virus kills brain cells but it also appears to stop progenitor cells, known as stem cells, from dividing, the team at Burnham Institute for Medical Research and the University of California at San Diego found.

"It's a double hit to the brain," researcher Marcus Kaul said in a statement. "The HIV protein both causes brain injury and prevents its repair."

The cocktail of drugs known as highly active antiretroviral therapy or HAART that treats HIV does not infiltrate the brain well, allowing for a "secret reservoir" of virus, said Stuart Lipton, who worked on the study.

HIV-associated dementia is becoming more common, as patients survive into their older years.

Working in mice, the researchers found that the virus directly interferes with the birth of new brain cells from stem cells.

"The breakthrough here is that the AIDS virus prevents stem cells in the brain from dividing; it hangs them up," Lipton said. "It's the first time that the virus has ever been shown to affect stem cells."

The culprit is gp120 -- a protein found on the outside of the AIDS virus, the researchers found.

"Knowing the mechanism, we can start to approach this therapeutically," Lipton said.

"This indicates that we might eventually treat this form of dementia by either ramping up brain repair or protecting the repair mechanism," Kaul added.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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Sri Lanka HIV rate low, but poverty, war a threat - U..N

Sri Lanka has one of the lowest prevalence rates of HIV in Asia, but poverty and displacement of civilians due to renewed civil war are making the island increasingly vulnerable, the United Nations said on Thursday.

An estimated 5,000 people had HIV in Sri Lanka by the end of 2005, out of a population of around 20 million. Neighbouring India, by comparison, has the world's third highest HIV caseload after South Africa and Nigeria, with around 2.5 million people living with the virus.

"In Sri Lanka, the prevalence rate is low, but the challenge is to keep it low," said Caitlin Wiesen-Antin, HIV/AIDs regional coordinator Asia and Pacific for the United Nations Development Programme.

Sri Lanka's military says around 35,000 people displaced since last year in the island's east amid renewed fighting between the state and Tamil Tiger rebels are still living in camps or with friends and relatives.

The military says it has resettled more than 100,000 people in the east in recent months, but there are also tens of thousands of long-term displaced elsewhere across the island forced from their homes by earlier stages of the conflict, many living in very rudimentary conditions.

"When people are displaced from their home, their usual system of justice sometimes does not exist. That becomes a heightened area of vulnerability," Caitlin said. "In other countries, what we have found is that once people have been displaced from homes, they find it difficult ... in terms of their livelihoods."

"They don't have the option to feed their families. So some people under duress resort to actions such as transactional sex for education, for housing, just to make ends meet," she added. "And that transactional sex is not protected sex."

Sri Lanka will next week host the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, with over 2,000 delegates from 40 countries due to attend.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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HIV hits brain with double blow

New evidence has offered a novel perspective on how the HIV/AIDS virus leads to learning and memory deficits, a condition known as HIV-associated dementia.

A protein found on the surface of the virus not only kills some mature brain cells, as earlier studies had shown, but it also prevents the birth of new brain cells by crippling 'adult neural progenitors,' the new study finds. Those progenitor cells are the closest things to stem cells that have been found in the adult brain.

By elucidating the mechanism responsible for the neuro-degeneration and dementia seen in people infected with HIV, the findings made in mice that produce the damaging HIV protein may open the door to new therapies, according to the researchers.

"The breakthrough here is that the AIDS virus prevents stem cells in the brain from dividing; it hangs them up. It's the first time that the virus has ever been shown to affect stem cells," said Stuart Lipton of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and the University of California at San Diego.

"It's a double hit to the brain. The HIV protein both causes brain injury and prevents its repair," added collaborator Marcus Kaul, who is also of the Burnham Institute and UCSD.

Physicians first recognized that HIV infection could lead to a profound form of dementia-most commonly in those with an advanced stage of the disease-early on. The success of antiretroviral therapies in keeping the "viral load" down has helped to reduce the severity of the dementia in recent years. Nonetheless, the prevalence is rising as HIV-infected people are living longer. The anti-HIV drugs don't infiltrate the brain well, allowing for a "secret reservoir" of virus, Lipton explained. Such persistent exposure of the central nervous system to HIV is a major risk factor for the development of HIV-associated dementia.

Lipton's team previously discovered that the brain deficits could be triggered by gp120-the viral coat protein that latches onto human cells-even in the absence of any viral infection. They also showed that the protein disrupts a key cell-cycle pathway (including p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase or MAPK), leading to the death of certain mature neurons.

The researchers now find that gp120 in mice also slows the production of new neurons in the hippocampus, a brain region central to learning and memory. Newborn neurons become integrated into existing brain circuits and are thought to contribute to certain forms of learning and memory, they said.

Moreover, they found that it is the same MAPK pathway earlier linked to the death of mature neurons that lies at the root of the progenitor cells' dysfunction. That a similar enzyme is involved in both brain-damaging effects is simply "serendipitous," according to the researchers.

"Knowing the mechanism, we can start to approach this therapeutically," Lipton said.

"This indicates that we might eventually treat this form of dementia by either ramping up brain repair or protecting the repair mechanism," Kaul added.

The study is published in the August issue of Cell Stem Cell.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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SAfrica AIDS activists to take government to court

South African AIDS activists said on Wednesday they planned to take the government to court again over its HIV strategy and said the sacking of a respected deputy health minister had caused "panic and fear." The Treatment Action Campaign, South Africa's most influential AIDS lobby group, won a Constitutional Court judgment in 2002 forcing the government to provide anti-AIDS drugs in state hospitals.

The group said it now wanted the high court to force the national health department to let health facilities across South Africa introduce a dual drug therapy regimen in its programs to prevent transmission of HIV from mothers to children.

So far, only Western Cape province is authorized to provide the therapy. The government generally does not favor drug treatments for AIDS.

"We've sent a letter of demand on mother-to-child transmission," said Zackie Achmat, who founded the group. "Within two weeks we will be back in court on that."

The step signals a further souring of relations between the government and AIDS activists since President Thabo Mbeki last week fired Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, who was seen as a pivotal figure in the fight against the disease.

South Africa is battling one of the world's biggest HIV caseloads with about one in nine people infected with the virus, and Mbeki's government has come under fire from activists for failing to halt its spread.

Speaking ahead of a student rally in Cape Town calling for the reinstatement of Madlala-Routledge, Achmat criticized Mbeki for firing the deputy minister -- who was accused by the president of insubordination.

"It's a deep tragedy and it is creating a sense of panic and fear among us," said Achmat, who is HIV-positive. "The real reason behind the firing is his personal denialism and his irrational, unconstitutional support of the health minister."

Mbeki has stuck by Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who has angered activists by promoting natural remedies for HIV such as lemon, beetroot and the African potato over anti-retroviral drugs, earning her the nickname "Dr. Beetroot."

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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HIV Delivers 'Double Whammy' to Brain

HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, often infiltrates the brains of infected patients, causing everything from cognitive decline to death. Now, new research in mice suggests the virus doesn't just kill brain cells but also prevents replacement cells from developing.

This "double whammy" explains why HIV is so devastating to the brain, but it could also point the way to new treatments, said study co-author Dr. Stuart Lipton, a neurologist and researcher with the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and the University of California at San Diego. According to Lipton, HIV infection has become the leading cause of dementia in people under the age of 40. In some cases, "you can't work, you can't concentrate or pay attention, you can't move properly," he said.

His team published its findings in the August issue of Cell Stem Cell.

Brain problems are on the rise as HIV-infected patients live long enough to develop related health problems, he said. Still, the brain illnesses that afflict these patients "may be the best-kept secret of AIDS in the world."

The challenge for doctors is figuring out how to treat brain symptoms when the most powerful antiretroviral drugs cannot pass the natural barrier that protects the brain. HIV, however, can make its way into the brain and remains there even when the level of virus in the blood approaches zero during treatment.

In the new study, researchers genetically engineered mice to have higher levels of a protein called HIV/gp120, which is thought to contribute to the deterioration of the brain in HIV-infected patients.

Lipton and his colleagues found that the protein disrupts stem cells in the brain that are supposed to turn into new brain cells when needed. As a result, it becomes difficult for HIV-infected brains to create new cells when old ones are injured or killed off by the virus.

"Most people would not think that AIDS has anything to do with stem cells," Lipton said. "But it has the ability to stop stem cells from dividing."

Paul Thompson, a professor of neurology at the University of California at Los Angeles, explained the findings this way: "As a brain cell is born, there are various checkpoints and phases of development that the cell has to go through. These researchers found the exact checkpoint where the birth of new brain cells is stopped. Now that they've identified the type of interference, it is a lot easier to focus on overcoming it."

The new research is in mice, and many medical discoveries don't translate from rodents to humans. But Lipton said he expect humans to be similar to mice when it comes to this particular kind of research.

According to Lipton, the next step is to figure out a way to develop a drug with a "double bang" that would stop HIV from attacking both existing brain cells and stem cells that could become brain cells. Scientists are already working on drugs that target an enzyme that's involved in that process, he noted.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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August 14, 2007

No funding from NACO, UP AIDS project in trouble

The project was initiated to involve more and more HIV-positive people in state. But the Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GIPA) project may now face trouble. The National Aids Control Society (NACO) has not released any funds for the programme for this year, which has not only created problems for the State AIDS Control unit but also for the AIDS victims working with the project.

Senior officials of the UPSACS say that following no budget from NACO, they may find it difficult to continue with the programme. The GIPA was initiated following NACO guidelines of 2006. The idea was to rope in the positives for counselling and working as support groups. The positives had welcomed the project. A large number of positives were appointed as peer counselors.

But since April, the peer counsellors have not been paid. According to the Uttar Pradesh Network of Positive People, most of these counsellors need the salaries to survive. It pays not only for food but also their medicines and treatment.
(source : news.yahoo.com)

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Pediatric AIDS pill approved

A three-in-one AIDS pill for children was cleared on Monday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in a global U.S. AIDS relief program. The generic pill made by India's Cipla Ltd combines the generic HIV-fighting drugs lamivudine, stavudine and nevirapine.

This is the first pill of its kind that will be available for children under age 12 under the U.S. program. FDA officials said the combination pill was a major advance because it can be stored, distributed and administered easily to children. The pill can be swallowed or dissolved in water.

The generic pill cannot be sold in the United States because the components are still protected by patents and available from brand-name makers. But the FDA's tentative approval of the drug makes it eligible for purchase and use in other countries under President George W. Bush's AIDS relief program.

The FDA also said it gave tentative approval to generic nevirapine tablets made by Hetero Drugs Ltd of India, which will also be available for the program.

Bush launched the five-year, $15 billion program in 2003 that aims to pay for treatment for 2 million AIDS sufferers and provide care for 10 million others in 15 countries, mostly in Africa.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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Pediatric AIDS pill approved

A three-in-one AIDS pill for children was cleared on Monday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in a global U.S. AIDS relief program. The generic pill made by India's Cipla Ltd combines the generic HIV-fighting drugs lamivudine, stavudine and nevirapine.

This is the first pill of its kind that will be available for children under age 12 under the U.S. program. FDA officials said the combination pill was a major advance because it can be stored, distributed and administered easily to children. The pill can be swallowed or dissolved in water.

The generic pill cannot be sold in the United States because the components are still protected by patents and available from brand-name makers. But the FDA's tentative approval of the drug makes it eligible for purchase and use in other countries under President George W. Bush's AIDS relief program.

The FDA also said it gave tentative approval to generic nevirapine tablets made by Hetero Drugs Ltd of India, which will also be available for the program.

Bush launched the five-year, $15 billion program in 2003 that aims to pay for treatment for 2 million AIDS sufferers and provide care for 10 million others in 15 countries, mostly in Africa.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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August 13, 2007

Red ribbon AIDS clubs in college

Lucknow University would be setting up 70 red ribbon clubs to spread awareness on HIV/AIDS. The initiative has been taken up by the social work department of LU in association with Uttar Pradesh State AIDS Control Society (UPSACS), UNICEF, Clinton Foundation and SMEC Pvt India Limited, under the University Talk AIDS programme.

These clubs would come up on the campus and several LU-affiliated colleges. "Fifteen such clubs would be coming up on LU campus, whereas another 55 clubs will be established in different colleges," said Professor R B S Verma, Head of Social Work Department, LU.

On the services of the clubs, LU officials said that the main aim is to advance the AIDS-HIV awareness level. The department will also arrange counselling programmes for AIDS and HIV patients.

"Communication is one of the best tool to prevent stigmatisation and instilling self-respect and positive attitude among people living with HIV/AIDS. In order to generate mass awareness, we are setting up the clubs, which would be effectively communicating with AIDS and HIV patients," said LU proctor Dr A N Singh, who is also associated with the social work department.

The counselling programme will be organised in association with various NGO,w orking for AIDS and HIV-affected people.

LU Vice-Chancellor Prof Ram Prakash Singh would be inaugurating the clubs on the eve of the International Youth Day on August 11.

On the same day, the students would also take out an AIDS-HIV awareness candle march.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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On air, and talking about HIV/AIDS

Talking about HIV/AIDS is not easy. Giving voice to fears and getting reassured by your favourite heroes is what radio stations in India are now doing, thanks to training given to radio jockeys and participation by stars. Chennai's popular radio channel Radio Mirchi, in association with the Heroes Project - the largest non-governmental public service campaign in India - and the Satyam Foundation has begun a month-long initiative to address AIDS-related issues directly and provide the common man answers, which everyone can listen to.

Radio City journalist Gobinath Chandran produced two radio programmes on AIDS treatment that won him the National Press Foundation fellowship to participate in the Fourth International AIDS Society conference in Sydney this July. The Internews Training and Resource Centre (ITRC) is training Gopinath and many other radio journalists in Chennai, with USAID.

The ITRC has completed training for two batches of radio journalists and 'this is the first time in India that such training is being offered', says Jaya Sridhar of Internews.

Virginia Moncrieff of the Australian Broadcasting Corp, who has been training Indian journalists for a year now, told IANS: 'Radio is a very vibrant media.'

She has also trained radio journalists in Sri Lanka, Palestine, the Maldives and Aceh after the 2004 tsunami.

Giving the example of coverage of the earthquake in Kashmir, she says: 'Community radio has taken off very well there. And this is the first time people have had a voice.'

She trained women with very low literacy rates in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province in 2005, after the quake.

'They had never seen a computer before ... we taught them how to edit voice programmes on the computer. It increased their self-esteem greatly.'

After disaster management, now it's healthcare that has emerged out of the FM radio.

'To be able to talk freely about some extremely sensitive issues, I think it is a hurdle', says Moncrieff.

'People (radio jockeys) are now willing to learn how to get over the issues.

People need information. They (the RJs) see themselves now as agents of change,' she notes.

Says Radio Mirchi station director Mahesh Shetty: 'Being one of the leading radio channels, we thought it is our responsibility to spread the message of AIDS and address issues of importance to the public.

'We are indeed happy to be partnering in the Heroes Project for this initiative.'

The Radio Mirchi campaign was conceived to dispel myths and misconceptions that prevail in the minds of people even 20 years into the epidemic.

Using the strengths of the radio as a medium, the campaign was rolled out in two main segments from Aug 6.

To enable wider connect with the listeners, Radio Mirchi style messages are disseminated throughout the day, addressing issues of care and support, stigma and discrimination.

The highlight of the campaign is the celebrity quiz. For two weeks, every day, a new question is asked by a different celebrity on HIV/AIDS, thereby addressing myths and misconceptions related to the issue.

The answers are given by members of the Tamil film industry including Kamal Haasan, Sharath Kumar, Radhika, Khushboo, Madhavan, Gouthami, Revathy and Vivek among others.

Says actress Revathy, associated with AIDS awareness campaigns for long and director of 'Phir Milenge': 'It is time now to come right out with it, up front and talk about sex and sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS.'

In addition to the messages given, a helpline number (044-2534 5555), manned by PSI Saadhan, is also provided so listeners can call for further information and referral services.

Speaking on the initiative, Vinita Sidhartha, state director of Heroes Project says: 'HIV as an issue continues to be surrounded by misconceptions.

'By mainstreaming the issue and providing an entertaining platform, together with proactive involvement from top celebrities, Radio Mirchi, Satyam Foundation and its Red Ribbon Clubs (for HIV awareness of youth) and PSI Saadhan, this programme expects to address these myths head on.'

As the campaign pans out, Radio Mirchi jockeys interact with people at Satyam Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of Satyam Computer Services Ltd, to understand their efforts on the issue.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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August 7, 2007

New program to help those with HIV/AIDS

The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona is funding a new effort to help people with HIV/AIDS live longer, healthier lives.
Juanita Molina of the Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network said the foundation's grant of $10,000 for 2007-08 will fill what she called an emerging need for more social support for long-term survivors of HIV/AIDS. Molina is TIHAN's coordinator of care partner support.
The grant for the Link Specialist Program will fund the recruitment and training of volunteers who will help TIHAN clients find community resources to help them thrive, Molina said.
These volunteers will also help transients with HIV/AIDS whose care may not be supervised by local social service or health care agencies. (source : www.tucsoncitizen.com)

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State official says change in HIV/AIDS registry working

It's been nearly a year since state health officials, under a federal mandate, began keeping data on HIV and AIDS patients by name, rather than assigning a code number; but the privacy of patients continues to be preserved, a state official said. Montana had an elaborate system to shield the identities of the nearly 500 HIV and AIDS patients in the state, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta ordered states to begin tracking HIV and AIDS patients by name by the end of 2007, or risk losing federal funds.

Montana has always kept records of the names of HIV and AIDS patients, but prior to September 2006, it assigned everyone a code number, said Laurie Kops, section supervisor of the state's HIV prevention and surveillance division. But the code system, also used in other states, proved to be an unreliable way to track cases, and it skewed national data kept by the CDC. "There has been a lot of duplication in the numbers," Kops told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

So, the CDC last year required that states drop or modify the code system in favor of one that tracks individuals by name and other data.

Failure to comply could have meant the loss of a significant chunk of the $2.1 million in federal funds for HIV/AIDS programs in Montana.

"In trying to make sure we report the true numbers of cases, this is one of the best ways to accomplish that," Kops said.

She stressed that patients' names and personal data are never given to the CDC, only summary data on the number of cases.

"When there is a report to CDC, it's only by the numbers, and not by name," Kops said.

"That seems to be people's greatest fear, that their information will be released by name. But it's always been by the number, and always will be by the number."

While the shift to name-based tracking might have caused quite a stir 10 years ago, it seems to have caused few ripples.

"A lot of preparation work and

education was done up front," Kops said.

"We worked with a lot of groups who initially had concerns, but the bottom line was this had to be done or we would lose our funding."

(source : billingsgazette.net)

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Selzentry Approved for HIV

Pfizer's Selzentry (maraviroc), an oral medication to treat the virus that causes AIDS, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the company said Monday. The drug is designed to block viral entry into disease-fighting white blood cells. This reduces viral load and increases T-cell counts in people who are already being treated for certain strains of HIV, the company said in a statement.

Selzentry, Pfizer said, is the first in a new class of oral HIV medicines in more than 10 years. So-called CCR5 antagonists are designed to stop the virus outside the surface of cells before it enters, rather than fighting the virus inside as do other oral HIV medicines. The drug was granted accelerated approval, a process designed for medicines that appear to provide a significant therapeutic benefit over existing drugs for serious or life-threatening diseases.

Pfizer said it would provide longer-term data required for the FDA to consider traditional approval. The drug is expected on store shelves by mid-September, the company said.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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August 6, 2007

Act V, AIDS Ride Surpasses Fundraising Goal

More than 130 cyclists pedaled toward a cure for AIDS this week. The 300-mile journey wound through south-central Wisconsin. Their grit and determination were driven by memories of loved ones lost to the disease, reported WISC-TV. "Bring on the hills, we eat hills for breakfast,? roused cyclist Fred Conley, trying to inspire cyclists on the last leg of the ride.

According to the state Department of Health and Family Services, the largest number of HIV and AIDS cases is in Milwaukee County. However, the deadly virus affects more than 1,200 people in Dane County.

"I had a cousin die of AIDS about 10 years ago, he was my first cousin and we were really close you know,? said Conley. I have a lot of friends that are positive,? said cyclist Vanessa Van Dusen.

Conley said he was proud to be a part of the Act V, AIDS Ride.

?I figured what better way to continue to ride and raise money to find a cure for this terrible disease,? said Conley.

AIDS experts said there has been an increase in HIV-positive cases in the African-American, American Indian and Latino communities, especially among women.

?Everybody here is just like saying that message that you know there are people out there, you can't give up on humanity,? said VanDusen.

This year the cyclists surpassed their goal and raised more than $280,000, of which 90 percent will go back into the community for education, hopefully educating a new generation and saving lives along the way.

?He had a big heart, he didn't meet no stranger,? said Conley. ?He loved everybody."

More Resources AIDS Network

Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services, HIV and AIDS findings.

(source : news.yahoo.com)

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Quick HIV test proving popular

The AIDS Foundation is being inundated with requests for its faster HIV test.

The test gives a result in just 20 minutes, compared to up to a week for earlier procedures.

The AIDS Foundation says it has noticed an increase in testing of up to 300 percent in some cities, since it was introduced late last year. It is looking at hiring more staff to deal with the demand.

A spokesman says many of those getting the faster test have not been tested for HIV before, because they did not want to wait so long for the results.(source : news.yahoo.com)

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August 4, 2007

Kazakhstan appeals court upholds prison terms in AIDS case

An appeals court in Kazakhstan Friday upheld prison sentences for 21 people convicted after 118 children and 14 mothers were infected with HIV in public hopsitals and nine deaths. But the court said four of the women would only begin serving their sentences once their children turned 14 years old.

Two of them would start their jail terms in 2018, another in 2014 and the last, who is currently eight months pregnant, would only start her sentence in 2021. The heaviest sentence passed by the court in Shymkent at the end of June was eight years in jail for three of the defendants.

The scandal shocked the oil-rich Central Asian country and revealed alarming corruption in hospitals, leading to the firing of the health minister. Three paediatricians at the hospitals where the infections occurred got eight-year sentences and 14 others were given jail terms ranging between nine months and seven and a half years.

Four of the accused, including the former head of the regional health ministry, Nursulu Tasmagambetova, were given suspended sentences.

Most of those infected with the virus, which can lead to AIDS, fell victim during blood transfusions, often involving unsterilised medical equipment, the prosecution said.

Hospitals were also found selling equipment meant for single-use only, including needles for syringes, obliging doctors to employ used and badly-sterilised needles.(source : news.yahoo.com)

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Activists back early-treatment HIV bill

Several key AIDS organizations have announced their support for the Early Treatment for HIV Act, which took the floor Thursday under the direction of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Reps. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla. The bill would allow states to extend Medicare coverage to uninsured low-income patients with HIV before they progressed to AIDS.

"This law will prolong and dramatically improve the quality of people's lives by increasing access to care and treatment when it is most helpful," said Rebecca Haag, executive director of AIDS Action, in a press release from the organization. "In most states, Medicaid now only covers HIV drugs and treatment after a person receives an AIDS diagnosis, when it is much too late in their disease progression; not when treatment and drug therapy can most improve people's health outcomes."

According to the AIDS Action, a 2003 study by PricewaterhouseCoopers showed the bill would lead to overall savings in state and federal health care programs. With access to antiretroviral therapy, HIV-positive people would experience slower progression of the disease, leading to a 50 percent decrease in the number of deaths of HIV-positive Medicare users.

"It's just unimaginable today that Medicaid doesn't automatically cover poor people with HIV in our country," said Dr. Gene Copello, executive director of The AIDS Institute, in a news release from the organization.

"When current Medicaid rules were written, people with HIV quickly progressed to AIDS, but with the advent of antiretroviral drug treatment, people with HIV stories related to Activists back early-treatment HIV bill.

SUMMARY: The bipartisan House bill would allow states to extend Medicare to uninsured low-income patients with HIV before they progress to AIDS.
(source : news.yahoo.com)

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When truck drivers learnt about HIV/AIDS in New Delhi

Several truck drivers in Delhi's Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar area were sensitised about HIV/AIDS besides being given a medical check-up on Wednesday, during an AIDS awareness camp here. Organised by the Transport Corporation of India (TCI) Foundation here, the objective of the camp is to make illiterate or uneducated truck drivers and their helpers aware about HIV/AIDS problems.

The general awareness event was a part of "Project Kavach", a national level HIV/AIDS prevention programme, started for long distance truckers and helpers by the Transport Corporation of India (TCI) Foundation in January 2004. It has been usually noticed that the poor male-migrant workers make contacts with prostitutes during their long journeys across the country and become victims of HIV/AIDS.

Organised on quarterly basis, these camps have been named "Kushi Clinics" and is known to have seventeen centres to spread information on preventing the spread of the deadly disease.

There are fifteen non-government organisations that are promoting this programme through these clinics.

Besides educating people about HIV/AIDS, the clinics also provide condoms and medicines at 70 per cent less than their market price.

The programme has at least 27 truckers who spread awareness about AIDS. There are about 800 condom social marketing outlets.

Guddu, one of the truck drivers, said: "They tell us about the use of condoms, which checks the spread of the disease."

At the clinics, all truckers are issued a medical 'passport' which helps them to buy medicines and allow them access to treatment in other centres of the country.

Tarun Vij, the project director of Project Kavach, said: "The attempt of this programme is to promote among truckers a health conscious behaviour and use of condoms. And, thereby, arrest the incidence of fresh case of HIV."

The official website of Transport Corporation of India (TCIL) claims the company being the country's leading Multimodal Integrated Supply Chain Solutions Provider.

The company is stated to be equipped with an extensive set up of 1100 branch offices, a workforce of 5,700 people and a well-performing script in premier stock exchanges as Bomaby Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE).

According to UN-backed government estimates, the number of people living with HIV/Aids in the country stands around half of previous official estimates at between 2-3.1 million people.

Previous estimates from the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) put the number of HIV cases at 5.2 million, while UNAids in 2006 estimated 5.7 million cases.(source : news.yahoo.com)

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S.Africa HIV/AIDS rate falls on behavior change

The prevalence of HIV/AIDS among pregnant women in South Africa has fallen for the first time in eight years, pointing to a possible decline across the entire population, the health minister said on Thursday. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, speaking at the release of an annual report that tracks infection among pregnant women, said its findings suggested young people were changing their behavior, increasingly adopting the principles of abstinence, faithfulness and condom use.

The report showed that 29.1 percent of the pregnant women who visited antenatal clinics last year were infected with HIV, down from 30.2 percent in 2005. The 2006 survey sampled 33,034 women, more than double the 16,510 surveyed in 2005. "There is a decrease in the prevalence of HIV among pregnant women who use public health facilities, suggesting that this may be a beginning of a decline in the HIV prevalence rates," Tshabalala-Msimang said.

Pregnant women are used internationally as a barometer for the level of infection in the overall population.

South Africa has one of the world's highest rates of HIV infection, and after being widely criticized for being too slow to stem the HIV/AIDS epidemic, it unveiled a program only a few months ago that sets targets for treatment, under the guidance of Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

The critics' main target has been Tshabalala-Msimang, whose emphasis on traditional remedies over more widely accepted modern medication to fight HIV has drawn global outrage.

"An encouraging observation is that the HIV prevalence trends among pregnant women under the age of 20 continued to show a decline, from 16.1 percent in 2004 to 15.9 percent in 2005 and 13.7 percent in 2006," the report said.

The survey showed South Africa's overall HIV infection rate fell slightly to 11.5 from 12 percent of its 47 million people.

Researchers say that every day, an average of 1,000 people in the country die from AIDS, and 1,500 new HIV cases are reported -- the majority of the new cases women under 20.

The minister told an earlier briefing that the government's post-apartheid health strategy of providing free health care for pregnant and lactating women had begun to pay off.

She said the government hoped its national strategic plan for HIV and AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections would sustain the decline in infections across the whole population.

Dubbed "Dr. Beetroot" for her promotion of food nutrients as a treatment for HIV/AIDS, the health minister insisted that work on incorporating traditional medicines in health care would continue.

"I must emphasize here that our work on traditional medicine is much broader than the response to HIV and AIDS. We believe that traditional medicines have an important role in the health care delivery system," she said.(source : news.yahoo.com)

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Scientists Probe How HIV Infection Turns Into AIDS

The common scientific wisdom on how HIV infection proceeds to full-blown AIDS might be wrong, two U.S. researchers say. They hope that their new insights, if proven, will lead to exciting new treatment targets down the line. Working from a complex mathematical model of viral replication and immune cell death, the researchers now suspect that AIDS begins when one especially fast-killing strain of HIV gains the upper hand over a less-lethal, but more prolific, strain.

"This throws into question a lot of the notions that have been accepted about the evolution of the virus" within a typical infected human, explained study co-author Dominik Wodarz, associate professor of biology at the University of California, Irvine. He and another researcher, David Levy, of New York University, published their findings in the July 31 issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Since its first recorded appearance nearly three decades ago, HIV infection has followed the same deadly path: a short, weeks-long period of acute flu-like symptoms followed by years of asymptomatic dormancy, and then symptoms of immune system breakdown that herald the emergence of AIDS.

But what is it that tips asymptomatic, low-level infection into AIDS?

The common dogma among scientists has long been that various strains of HIV battle a silent war within the body over time until the fittest -- defined as the strain that reproduces itself the most -- wins. That strain then goes on to overwhelm the body's immune cells and destroy the host's defenses against disease.

To test that theory, Wodarz and Levy constructed a complex mathematical model that took into account two factors about HIV: how fast the various strains replicate and how fast they kill cells (not always the same thing, the researchers noted). They also factored in human immune system responses to HIV.

What the two scientists found surprised them. According to the new model, AIDS actually begins when a less fit variety of HIV wins the day. This strain kills immune system cells extremely widely and quickly, but, in doing so, also limits the number of copies of itself it can produce. "It basically kills its own habitat, its house," Wodarz explained.

However, because this form of HIV is very good at quickly killing large numbers of immune cells, "once these less-fit strains emerge, they can plunge the patient into AIDS," Wodarz said.

In many cases, two or more strains of the virus can co-infect the same immune system cell, he added. If a fast-killing variety is one of those strains, it kills the cell before slower -- but better-replicating -- versions can go to work making millions of new viral particles.

"But without this ganging up on the same cell, the killer virus [that leads to AIDS] would go extinct, because evolution would select against it -- because it is less fit and replicates less," Wodarz explained.

That means that -- according to the model -- one way of keeping AIDS at bay might be to make sure that only one type of HIV invades a cell at any given time.

Specific cellular mechanisms do allow a second or third viral particle to enter a cell, and a medicine that thwarted these "party crashers" might keep the deadliest form of HIV from ever emerging, Wodarz speculated.

He pointed to wild monkeys that are infected throughout their lives with HIV-like simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) but never get sick.

"Some of them have a lot of the virus, and it evolves a lot, but it does not cause AIDS, ever," Wodarz said. He suspects the monkey's immune cells may have evolved to block secondary viral entry and thereby keep the most dangerous strain of SIV at bay.

Not everyone is convinced by the new model, however.

Dr. Benigno Rodriguez is assistant professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and a specialist in the evolution of HIV disease. He called Wodarz and Levy's paper "an interesting concept," but said it contained a few significant flaws.

First of all, he said, most of the available data suggests that HIV does get better at forming copies of itself as AIDS progresses. And Rodriguez believes the two scientists have left another important factor out of their model -- the fact that most AIDS patients' immune cells are not killed off by the virus directly but are destroyed by so-called "bystander" mechanisms that accompany AIDS.

"In an individual with advanced disease, if you look at the number of cells that are actually infected [with HIV], we are talking less than 1 percent," he said. "But, in reality, that individual may have lost 20, 30, 50 percent of his immune cells."

Rodriguez also questioned the importance of multiple strains of HIV infecting the same immune cell. "The data that we already have in hand shows that multiple infection is relatively infrequent," he said.

The bottom line, according to the Cleveland expert: As with any mathematical model, this one needs to be tested out in the laboratory.

Wodarz agreed that experimental verification is necessary, but he said mathematical disease models more often than not prove to be right.

In fact, he said, it was just such a model that led scientists to discover that HIV never stops evolving in the body -- even during infection's years-long asymptomatic phase.

"In HIV, mathematical models have led to great progress before," Wodarz said.(source : news.yahoo.com)

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August 2, 2007

Sex trafficking spreading HIV in South Asia

Trafficking of women across South Asia to work as prostitutes is likely a key factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS across the region, according to a study released Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study, which looked at Nepali women who had been trafficked into the sex trade in India and later repatriated, found that nearly 40 per cent of them were HIV-positive with the figure rising beyond 60 per cent among those trafficked before age 15.

"Our study for the first time documents very high rates of HIV in girls trafficked for sexual exploitation at very young ages," said lead author Jay Silverman, an associate professor at Harvard's School of Public Health. South Asia is one of the worst affected areas with some 2.5 million people infected with HIV/AIDS in India alone. The report estimated that some 150,000 girls and women are trafficked each year across the region.

A U.S. State Department report released last month found that India has the world's largest human trafficking problem.

That report estimated that tens of millions of Indians are subjected to forced labour and said sex trafficking was common. However, it noted that the Indian government has taken steps to combat sex trafficking.

The JAMA study, funded by the U.S. State Department, examined 287 Nepalese girls and women trafficked to brothels in India and repatriated between 1997 and 2005.

"The repatriation of Nepalese survivors of sex trafficking may play a critical role in spreading HIV across South Asian borders," Silverman said via e-mail. "They are extremely vulnerable to being coerced into unsafe sexual behaviour and being re-trafficked for sexual exploitation, either within Nepal or back in India."

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HIV drop indicates shift in sexual behaviour

A fall in HIV infections in South Africa shows prevention programmes are working but changing people's sexual behaviour is still a major hurdle, the country's health minister said Wednesday. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang told reporters that new figures which showed that South Africa was experiencing the first ever descrease in infection levels since records began was encouraging but no reason for complacency.

However Tshabalala-Msimang said the small decrease of 15.9 percent in 2005 to 13.7 percent in 2006, among under 20s, showed the government campaigns encouraging safe sex were only succeeding up to a point. "In this country, more than 98 percent of people will tell you how it (AIDS) is transmitted. They know, but how they translate it into behaviour change is something different," the minister told journalists.

The decrease, however slight, was still significant, she added.

"We must celebrate the youth of this country who are beginning to see the messages of prevention, prevention, prevention. That for us is significant enough."

The survey, based on surveillance of pregnant women attending ante-natal clinics, showed different trends between younger and older age groups with women between 30 and 39 experiencing an increase in infections.

"There will need to be a concerted focus on older age groups where declines have not been observed ... This may be related to older women not being enabled by their circumstances to moderate factors related to acquiring infection," reads the report.

South Africa's overall HIV prevalence was 18.4 percent in 2006, with some 5.41 million people living with the disease, 257,000 of which are children under the age of 14.

The United Nations pinned South Africa's prevalence rate at 18.8 percent in 2005.

"The overall picture suggests that in South Africa HIV prevalence may be at the point of beginning a downward trend," the prevalence report read.

South Africa recently launched an AIDS plan with the aim of reducing by 50 percent the rate of new infections by 2011, focusing on the youth among whom most new infections occur.

Tshabalala-Msimang has been a major target of criticism both at home and abroad over her approach to AIDS, earning the name of Dr Beetroot for touting the use of vegetables to help combat the disease.

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Sex trafficking spreading HIV

The trafficking of women to work as prostitutes is likely a key factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS across South Asia, according to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study, which looked at Nepali women who had been trafficked into the sex trade in India and later repatriated, found that nearly 40 percent of them were HIV-positive. The HIV infection rates were even worse among younger girls, with the figure rising to beyond 60 percent among those trafficked before age 15.

"Our study for the first time documents very high rates of HIV in girls trafficked for sexual exploitation at very young ages," said author Jay Silverman, an associate professor at Harvard's School of Public Health. South Asia is one of the worst areas affected with AIDS, areas with some 2.5 million people infected with HIV/AIDS in India alone. The report estimated some 150,000 girls and women are trafficked each year across the region.

A U.S. State Department report released last month found that India has the world's largest human trafficking problem.

That report estimated that tens of millions of Indians are subjected to forced labor and said sex trafficking was common. However, it noted that the Indian government has taken steps to combat sex trafficking.

The JAMA study, funded by the U.S. State Department, examined 287 repatriated Nepalese girls and women trafficked to brothels in India and repatriated between 1997 and 2005.

"The repatriation of Nepalese survivors of sex trafficking may play a critical role in spreading HIV across South Asian borders," Silverman said. "They are extremely vulnerable to being coerced into unsafe sexual behavior and being re-trafficked for sexual exploitation, either within Nepal or back in India."

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This is how HIV develops into AIDS

A new study has analysed how HIV develops into AIDS, and has suggested a possible way to block the deadly transformation. The UC Irvine study led by biologist Dominik Wodarz has shown for the first time that the development of AIDS might require HIV to evolve within a patient into a state where it spreads less efficiently from cell to cell. This counters the current belief that AIDS develops when the virus evolves over time to spread more efficiently within a patient, ultimately leading to the collapse of the immune system.

The study also finds that multiple HIV particles must team up to infect individual cells, called co-infection, in order for deadly strains to emerge and to turn the infection into AIDS.

If just one virus particle infects a cell, the deadliest strains may not be able to evolve, stopping HIV from progressing to AIDS. By keeping more than one HIV particle from infecting a cell, scientists might be able to ward off AIDS, the study suggests.

"If this is true, a new approach to therapy could be to block the process of co-infection in cells. This would prevent deadly HIV strains from emerging and the patient would remain healthy, despite carrying the virus," said Wodarz, who used a mathematical model to draw his conclusions.

HIV develops in three stages. During the first few weeks, the virus grows to very high levels and can cause symptoms similar to a general viral infection such as the flu. The virus then drops to lower levels and the patient enters the asymptomatic phase that lasts on average 8-10 years. During the last stage, AIDS develops and the immune system collapses. Without an immune system, the patient cannot survive.

It is not well understood how the asymptomatic phase transitions into AIDS. The common notion is that HIV evolves to grow better over time following Darwin's theory of natural selection, eventually killing the patient.

But Wodarz's mathematical model, which takes into account how well the virus spreads and how quickly it kills the cells it invades, shows that the most deadly HIV strains do not spread the fastest from cell to cell. This surprised Wodarz because evolution tends to allow strong organisms to thrive, while weaker organisms become extinct.

According to him, the explanation rests with the fact that multiple HIV particles can invade a single cell. Wodarz's calculations show that, in this situation, viral evolution within a patient is fundamentally altered, allowing the deadly, slower-spreading strains to emerge over time and trigger the onset of AIDS.

These notions can be tested experimentally. If confirmed, Wodarz believes scientists could use this knowledge to develop a drug that blocks the cellular invasion of multiple HIV particles. This would create an environment in which the most deadly HIV types cannot emerge. This, he says, could keep HIV from developing into AIDS. No such drug currently exists.

This theory could explain why certain monkeys that are naturally infected with the monkey version of HIV never develop AIDS. According to Wodarz's model, multiple virus particles may infect cells at reduced levels or not at all. Wodarz says this theory also could be tested experimentally

The study appears online July 31 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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Awareness about HIV/AIDS low among people in rural areas

Awareness about HIV/AIDS is still low among people living in the rural areas, especially among girls, according to an official report. The Behavioural Surveillance Survey (BSS) points out that awareness level among the Injected Drug Users (IDUs) have decreased since 2001 in major metros like Delhi and Mumbai.

"The BSS 2006 shows an increase in the levels of knowledge, however, the levels are still very low in rural areas, especially amongst the girls," said the report 'Children and AIDS: Programme Update India', released yesterday after the Policy Framework for Children and AIDS India was announced. The report, which compares the data of 2001 and 2006, shows sex workers had more awareness about the disease now as compared to 2001.

"The sex workers data for 2006 shows relatively high levels of knowledge regarding HIV prevention, however, in Karnataka and Manipur the levels of knowledge are comparatively low," it said.

The BSS survey done by National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) in 2006 among 40,000 people in the age group of 15-29 shows that awareness level amongst IDUs in Delhi and Mumbai has dipped from 2001.

"The two data sets show an increase in levels of knowledge regarding prevention of HIV/AIDS across most major metros, except in case of Delhi and Mumbai where one actually sees a decrease," the report said.

Awareness levels among this segment in Chennai and Bangalore have gone up, it said.

As per the National AIDS Control Programme -3, the government has earmarked 10 per cent of the total budget of Rs 11,000 for awareness campaigns on HIV/AIDS

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When truck drivers learnt about HIV/AIDS in New Delhi

Several truck drivers in Delhi's Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar area were sensitised about HIV/AIDS besides being given a medical check-up on Wednesday, during an AIDS awareness camp here. Organised by the Transport Corporation of India (TCI) Foundation here, the objective of the camp is to make illiterate or uneducated truck drivers and their helpers aware about HIV/AIDS problems.

The general awareness event was a part of "Project Kavach", a national level HIV/AIDS prevention programme, started for long distance truckers and helpers by the Transport Corporation of India (TCI) Foundation in January 2004.It has been usually noticed that the poor male-migrant workers make contacts with prostitutes during their long journeys across the country and become victims of HIV/AIDS.

Organised on quarterly basis, these camps have been named "Kushi Clinics" and is known to have seventeen centres to spread information on preventing the spread of the deadly disease.


There are fifteen non-government organisations that are promoting this programme through these clinics.

Besides educating people about HIV/AIDS, the clinics also provide condoms and medicines at 70 per cent less than their market price.

The programme has at least 27 truckers who spread awareness about AIDS. There are about 800 condom social marketing outlets.

Guddu, one of the truck drivers, said: "They tell us about the use of condoms, which checks the spread of the disease."

At the clinics, all truckers are issued a medical 'passport' which helps them to buy medicines and allow them access to treatment in other centres of the country.

Tarun Vij, the project director of Project Kavach, said: "The attempt of this programme is to promote among truckers a health conscious behaviour and use of condoms. And, thereby, arrest the incidence of fresh case of HIV."

The official website of Transport Corporation of India (TCIL) claims the company being the country's leading Multimodal Integrated Supply Chain Solutions Provider.

The company is stated to be equipped with an extensive set up of 1100 branch offices, a workforce of 5,700 people and a well-performing script in premier stock exchanges as Bomaby Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE).

According to UN-backed government estimates, the number of people living with HIV/Aids in the country stands around half of previous official estimates at between 2-3.1 million people.

Previous estimates from the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) put the number of HIV cases at 5.2 million, while UNAids in 2006 estimated 5.7 million cases.

Read More..