China to relax ban on HIV/AIDS carriers entering the country
A Chinese nurse prepares an injection at a Shanghai hospital, 2002. China is planning to relax regulations barring HIV/AIDS carriers from entering the country. The move came in response to improved public understanding about the way the virus spreads, health officials said, without specifying when the new rules would come into effect.(AFP/File/Liu Jin)BEIJING (AFP) - China plans to relax rules that are currently barring HIV/AIDS carriers from entering the country, the health ministry said on Monday.
Ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an said the decision was based on current knowledge of the way the AIDS virus spreads.
He said the existing restrictions, strongly criticised by AIDS activists as discriminatory, were introduced when people were "unfamiliar" with how the disease may spread.
Mao did not disclose when the new rules would take effect, or if the relaxation would mean a complete end to limits on HIV/AIDS carriers' entry into China.
China had 650,000 HIV/AIDS patients according to an estimate put forward jointly by the government and United Nations health agencies in January 2006.
Mao said the government would release its latest estimate of the number of people having HIV/AIDS in China at the end of November.
Showing posts with label AIDS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AIDS. Show all posts
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Fallout From Failed AIDS Vaccine Could Dampen Research
Fallout From Failed AIDS Vaccine Could Dampen Research
MONDAY, Nov. 12 (HealthDay News) -- An experimental AIDS vaccine usedin a recent trial may have placed participants at higher risk of infectionwith HIV -- although whether or not that was truly the case remainsunclear.
What is clear is the concern among experts that the news willkeep would-be trial participants away from future AIDS vaccinestudies.
"That's always a possibility, and that's the reason why we have to bevery transparent and open and honest, and be very energetic to educatepeople to understand just what went on here," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, anAIDS research pioneer and director of the U.S. National Institute ofAllergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The institute was a partner inthe trial.
"Already we have a lot of people misinterpreting that the vaccineitself actually gave [recipients] HIV infection -- that's impossible," hesaid. "We have a lot of education to do, and there's always a danger thatthis could sour people on getting involved in vaccine trials."
Another expert agreed that the collapse of the large, phase II trial ofMerck & Co.'s V520 vaccine could send the wrong message.
"It's a blow to the HIV prevention field," said Rowena Johnston, vicepresident of research at the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) in NewYork City. "Clearly, we want to be very careful that people aren'tthinking that AIDS researchers are going to be putting them at risk."
The V520 vaccine was the first of the so-called "viral vector" HIVvaccines to make it all the way to such a large, phase II trial, aftershowing much promise in smaller, earlier studies.
The vaccine used a harmless adenovirus -- a type of cold virus -- as a"vector" to deliver a set of three synthetically derived HIV genes. Thehope was those genes would help prime the immune system against the virusthat causes AIDS.
The virus vector approach is a common one in vaccine researchgenerally, and HIV/AIDS experts had high hopes for the Merck vaccine,which was meant to be tested in more than 3,000 volunteers uninfected withHIV.
Unfortunately, the vaccine failed to deliver. In September, apreliminary analysis of the data showed no statistical difference betweenthose who got the shot and those who got a placebo, in terms of newinfections. The trial was halted at that time.
Reporting last Wednesday at a scientific meeting in Seattle, theresearch team said an updated review of the numbers had since revealed awidening gap in infections that actually favored the placebo.
So far, the researchers said, 49 of 914 men vaccinated have testedpositive for HIV, compared to 33 of 922 men who got the placebo shot.
And in a puzzling twist, individuals who had higher levels ofpreexisting immunity to the adenovirus before vaccination were actuallymuch more prone to developing HIV infection, compared to participants withlow levels of immunity, the researchers said.
Among 778 male volunteers with a high level of preexisting adenovirusimmunity, 21 of those vaccinated are now HIV-positive, versus nine in theplacebo arm of the trial.
In terms of vaccine's effectiveness at slowing progression from HIVinfection to AIDS, the trial was also a bust. Among participants infectedwith HIV, researchers have so far seen no difference in "viral load" --HIV levels in the blood -- between those who received a shot and thosewho did not.
The vaccine's failure comes as a disappointment to AIDS researchers,the experts said. However, the notion that the vaccine actually heightenedusers' risk for infection is still far from certain, they added.
First of all, the numbers of cases of new infection recorded in thetrial simply didn't reach statistical significance, Fauci said. However,the trend "is noticeable enough that you have to pay attention to it," headded.
Fauci and Johnston stressed that it's impossible for the vaccine itselfto directly infect a person with HIV, because the adenovirus was the onlypathogen included in the shot.
However, there is the possibility that vaccination might have spurredchanges in the immune systems of individuals whose immune systems werealready primed to fight the adenovirus. Theoretically, thoseimmune-system changes could have made HIV infection more likely in thesepeople if they were exposed to the virus.
"HIV replicates much better in [immune] cells that are activated,"Fauci explained. For certain trial participants with a high preexistingimmunity to the adenovirus, vaccination could have put their immune systemon a kind of "high alert" -- activating exactly the type of CD4+ T-cellsthat HIV is attracted to, he said.
"Those CD4+ T-cells are then going to be very vulnerable targets forHIV when you become exposed to HIV," Fauci theorized.
But he also stressed that this only remains a theory. Research iscontinuing to see if the vaccine did, in fact, leave participants morevulnerable to contracting HIV.
"What we are trying to do now is to mine the data to see if we can findout any mechanistic or other circumstantial information that could help usdecipher that out, and determine whether this is 'really real,'" Faucisaid. That research could take up to a year to yield results, henoted.
In the meantime, Fauci and Johnston agreed that vaccine research usingviral vectors should continue to go forward, albeit with an added note ofcaution.
If the trend seen in the study is confirmed, it could mean changes inthe way the organizers of vaccine trials recruit participants in thefuture, they said.
"If it turns out to be biologically significant, then we will have tobe very careful when using a viral vector to which people have underlyingimmunity, because that [could lead] to a significant activation of theirimmune responses," Fauci said.
Trial organizers would become more selective as they recruitparticipants, he said, "to make sure that we don't have people who haveunderlying immunity to the vector in question."
Both experts stressed that trial participants should always do theirbest to prevent exposure to HIV and not assume that an experimentalvaccine gives them added protection.
"The counseling that people in trials get is really very thorough,"Johnston said, "and yet I think that as trial participants, many peoplereally do come away with the perception that they are being given aproduct that might protect them."
Safe behaviors -- especially condom use -- remain the surest way toprevent infection with HIV, whether you are in a trial or not, Johnstonsaid. "To protect yourself, you really need to assume that the vaccinewon't work, and then keep on protecting yourself in every waypossible."
In the meantime, an estimated 39 million people remain infected withHIV worldwide, and the hope for a safe, effective vaccine delivered by aviral vector remains high, she said.
"The viral vector is really a very good idea -- it's still one of thebest ideas that's out there," Johnston said. "I don't think the failure ofone candidate from one company should signal the end of this as aconcept."
MONDAY, Nov. 12 (HealthDay News) -- An experimental AIDS vaccine usedin a recent trial may have placed participants at higher risk of infectionwith HIV -- although whether or not that was truly the case remainsunclear.
What is clear is the concern among experts that the news willkeep would-be trial participants away from future AIDS vaccinestudies.
"That's always a possibility, and that's the reason why we have to bevery transparent and open and honest, and be very energetic to educatepeople to understand just what went on here," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, anAIDS research pioneer and director of the U.S. National Institute ofAllergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The institute was a partner inthe trial.
"Already we have a lot of people misinterpreting that the vaccineitself actually gave [recipients] HIV infection -- that's impossible," hesaid. "We have a lot of education to do, and there's always a danger thatthis could sour people on getting involved in vaccine trials."
Another expert agreed that the collapse of the large, phase II trial ofMerck & Co.'s V520 vaccine could send the wrong message.
"It's a blow to the HIV prevention field," said Rowena Johnston, vicepresident of research at the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) in NewYork City. "Clearly, we want to be very careful that people aren'tthinking that AIDS researchers are going to be putting them at risk."
The V520 vaccine was the first of the so-called "viral vector" HIVvaccines to make it all the way to such a large, phase II trial, aftershowing much promise in smaller, earlier studies.
The vaccine used a harmless adenovirus -- a type of cold virus -- as a"vector" to deliver a set of three synthetically derived HIV genes. Thehope was those genes would help prime the immune system against the virusthat causes AIDS.
The virus vector approach is a common one in vaccine researchgenerally, and HIV/AIDS experts had high hopes for the Merck vaccine,which was meant to be tested in more than 3,000 volunteers uninfected withHIV.
Unfortunately, the vaccine failed to deliver. In September, apreliminary analysis of the data showed no statistical difference betweenthose who got the shot and those who got a placebo, in terms of newinfections. The trial was halted at that time.
Reporting last Wednesday at a scientific meeting in Seattle, theresearch team said an updated review of the numbers had since revealed awidening gap in infections that actually favored the placebo.
So far, the researchers said, 49 of 914 men vaccinated have testedpositive for HIV, compared to 33 of 922 men who got the placebo shot.
And in a puzzling twist, individuals who had higher levels ofpreexisting immunity to the adenovirus before vaccination were actuallymuch more prone to developing HIV infection, compared to participants withlow levels of immunity, the researchers said.
Among 778 male volunteers with a high level of preexisting adenovirusimmunity, 21 of those vaccinated are now HIV-positive, versus nine in theplacebo arm of the trial.
In terms of vaccine's effectiveness at slowing progression from HIVinfection to AIDS, the trial was also a bust. Among participants infectedwith HIV, researchers have so far seen no difference in "viral load" --HIV levels in the blood -- between those who received a shot and thosewho did not.
The vaccine's failure comes as a disappointment to AIDS researchers,the experts said. However, the notion that the vaccine actually heightenedusers' risk for infection is still far from certain, they added.
First of all, the numbers of cases of new infection recorded in thetrial simply didn't reach statistical significance, Fauci said. However,the trend "is noticeable enough that you have to pay attention to it," headded.
Fauci and Johnston stressed that it's impossible for the vaccine itselfto directly infect a person with HIV, because the adenovirus was the onlypathogen included in the shot.
However, there is the possibility that vaccination might have spurredchanges in the immune systems of individuals whose immune systems werealready primed to fight the adenovirus. Theoretically, thoseimmune-system changes could have made HIV infection more likely in thesepeople if they were exposed to the virus.
"HIV replicates much better in [immune] cells that are activated,"Fauci explained. For certain trial participants with a high preexistingimmunity to the adenovirus, vaccination could have put their immune systemon a kind of "high alert" -- activating exactly the type of CD4+ T-cellsthat HIV is attracted to, he said.
"Those CD4+ T-cells are then going to be very vulnerable targets forHIV when you become exposed to HIV," Fauci theorized.
But he also stressed that this only remains a theory. Research iscontinuing to see if the vaccine did, in fact, leave participants morevulnerable to contracting HIV.
"What we are trying to do now is to mine the data to see if we can findout any mechanistic or other circumstantial information that could help usdecipher that out, and determine whether this is 'really real,'" Faucisaid. That research could take up to a year to yield results, henoted.
In the meantime, Fauci and Johnston agreed that vaccine research usingviral vectors should continue to go forward, albeit with an added note ofcaution.
If the trend seen in the study is confirmed, it could mean changes inthe way the organizers of vaccine trials recruit participants in thefuture, they said.
"If it turns out to be biologically significant, then we will have tobe very careful when using a viral vector to which people have underlyingimmunity, because that [could lead] to a significant activation of theirimmune responses," Fauci said.
Trial organizers would become more selective as they recruitparticipants, he said, "to make sure that we don't have people who haveunderlying immunity to the vector in question."
Both experts stressed that trial participants should always do theirbest to prevent exposure to HIV and not assume that an experimentalvaccine gives them added protection.
"The counseling that people in trials get is really very thorough,"Johnston said, "and yet I think that as trial participants, many peoplereally do come away with the perception that they are being given aproduct that might protect them."
Safe behaviors -- especially condom use -- remain the surest way toprevent infection with HIV, whether you are in a trial or not, Johnstonsaid. "To protect yourself, you really need to assume that the vaccinewon't work, and then keep on protecting yourself in every waypossible."
In the meantime, an estimated 39 million people remain infected withHIV worldwide, and the hope for a safe, effective vaccine delivered by aviral vector remains high, she said.
"The viral vector is really a very good idea -- it's still one of thebest ideas that's out there," Johnston said. "I don't think the failure ofone candidate from one company should signal the end of this as aconcept."
Global Fund approves 132 million dollars to Kenya's anti-AIDS drive
Global Fund approves 132 million dollars to Kenya's anti-AIDS drive
File photo shows Felicitas Masaa, a 55 year old HIV-positive mother of five children, in her makeshift house in Kibera, Africa's largest slum in Nairobi. The Global Fund on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has approved a grant of 132.3 million dollars (90.7 million euros) to boost Kenya's anti-HIV/AIDS drive, the health ministry announced Tuesday.(AFP/File/Simon Maina)NAIROBI (AFP) - The Global Fund on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has approved a grant of 132.3 million dollars (90.7 million euros) to boost Kenya's anti-HIV/AIDS drive, the health ministry announced Tuesday.
The grant will finance programmes over the next five years, but an initial amount of 47.1 million dollars (32.3 million euros) will be released in the first two years, said health ministry permanent secretary Hezron Nyangito.
"The new grant to Kenya is targeted to provide ARV treatment with inclusion of a nutrition component, strengthening of health systems and strategic communication," he said.
The grant brings the total funding for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis programmes in Kenya to 306 million dollars (210 million euros) since the fund was created in 2002.
Kenya's official AIDS prevalence rate is 5.1 percent, down from 5.9 percent in 2005 due to the use of free ARV therapy for adults and distributing new drugs to prevent child-mother transmission.
Since the savage virus roared from African jungles in the early 1980s, sub-Saharan Africa accounts for a staggering 72 percent of global AIDS deaths, and two-thirds of all people infected with HIV.
After the disease was first diagnosed in Kenya in 1984, it has killed at least 1.5 million people, overturned decades of healthcare gains and now threatens to burn through development efforts if it is not reversed.
As of June last year, around one million Africans were receiving anti-retroviral drugs. This was still less than a quarter of the estimated 4.6 million people in need of the drugs on the continent.
With this, African leaders have been forced to divert mammoth funds, stripping other sectors and failingly tried to enforce laws to counter traditional risky practices like wife inheritance.
File photo shows Felicitas Masaa, a 55 year old HIV-positive mother of five children, in her makeshift house in Kibera, Africa's largest slum in Nairobi. The Global Fund on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has approved a grant of 132.3 million dollars (90.7 million euros) to boost Kenya's anti-HIV/AIDS drive, the health ministry announced Tuesday.(AFP/File/Simon Maina)NAIROBI (AFP) - The Global Fund on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has approved a grant of 132.3 million dollars (90.7 million euros) to boost Kenya's anti-HIV/AIDS drive, the health ministry announced Tuesday.
The grant will finance programmes over the next five years, but an initial amount of 47.1 million dollars (32.3 million euros) will be released in the first two years, said health ministry permanent secretary Hezron Nyangito.
"The new grant to Kenya is targeted to provide ARV treatment with inclusion of a nutrition component, strengthening of health systems and strategic communication," he said.
The grant brings the total funding for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis programmes in Kenya to 306 million dollars (210 million euros) since the fund was created in 2002.
Kenya's official AIDS prevalence rate is 5.1 percent, down from 5.9 percent in 2005 due to the use of free ARV therapy for adults and distributing new drugs to prevent child-mother transmission.
Since the savage virus roared from African jungles in the early 1980s, sub-Saharan Africa accounts for a staggering 72 percent of global AIDS deaths, and two-thirds of all people infected with HIV.
After the disease was first diagnosed in Kenya in 1984, it has killed at least 1.5 million people, overturned decades of healthcare gains and now threatens to burn through development efforts if it is not reversed.
As of June last year, around one million Africans were receiving anti-retroviral drugs. This was still less than a quarter of the estimated 4.6 million people in need of the drugs on the continent.
With this, African leaders have been forced to divert mammoth funds, stripping other sectors and failingly tried to enforce laws to counter traditional risky practices like wife inheritance.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Former sub-Sahara Africa leaders meet to discuss AIDS crisis
Former sub-Sahara Africa leaders meet to discuss AIDS crisis
A group of Zambian HIV-positive children. Veteran statesmen in Africa's sub-Sahara region are expected to gather in Zambia next week to discuss how to combat the deadly HIV/AIDS pandemic ravaging the continent, an official has said.(AFP/File/Alexander Joe)LUSAKA (AFP) - Veteran statesmen in Africa's sub-Sahara region are expected to gather in Zambia next week to discuss how to combat the deadly HIV/AIDS pandemic ravaging the continent, an official said Friday.
The meeting will bring together more than 10 former leaders in sub-Saharan Africa, including former South African President Nelson Mandela and his Mozambican counter-part Joaquim Chissano.
The former secretary general of the African Union, Salim Ahmed Salim, will also attend the meeting, at Zambia's tourist resort town of Livingstone, between November 21 and 23.
"The purpose is to work with former African leaders in building a stronger regional voice and action-oriented programme aimed at defeating HIV and AIDS", said Munyaradzi Hwengwere, coordinator of the meeting.
The meeting is sponsored by the aid agency Oxfam and organised by AIDSCOM, an organisation founded by Zambia's first president Kenneth Kaunda who active in the fight against AIDS.
UNAIDS put HIV/AIDS sufferers in the region, which makes just over 10% of the world's population, at 25.8 million.
A group of Zambian HIV-positive children. Veteran statesmen in Africa's sub-Sahara region are expected to gather in Zambia next week to discuss how to combat the deadly HIV/AIDS pandemic ravaging the continent, an official has said.(AFP/File/Alexander Joe)LUSAKA (AFP) - Veteran statesmen in Africa's sub-Sahara region are expected to gather in Zambia next week to discuss how to combat the deadly HIV/AIDS pandemic ravaging the continent, an official said Friday.
The meeting will bring together more than 10 former leaders in sub-Saharan Africa, including former South African President Nelson Mandela and his Mozambican counter-part Joaquim Chissano.
The former secretary general of the African Union, Salim Ahmed Salim, will also attend the meeting, at Zambia's tourist resort town of Livingstone, between November 21 and 23.
"The purpose is to work with former African leaders in building a stronger regional voice and action-oriented programme aimed at defeating HIV and AIDS", said Munyaradzi Hwengwere, coordinator of the meeting.
The meeting is sponsored by the aid agency Oxfam and organised by AIDSCOM, an organisation founded by Zambia's first president Kenneth Kaunda who active in the fight against AIDS.
UNAIDS put HIV/AIDS sufferers in the region, which makes just over 10% of the world's population, at 25.8 million.
Study shows how some AIDS vaccines may harm
Study shows how some AIDS vaccines may harm
A Chinese woman checks her mobile phone while passing an anti-AIDS poster in Beijing November 28, 2004. Some viruses being used in experimental AIDS vaccines may damage the immune system by exhausting key cells, researchers reported on Thursday in a finding that may further cloud the field of HIV vaccines. (Claro Cortes/Reuters)WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some viruses being used inexperimental AIDS vaccines may damage the immune system byexhausting key cells, researchers reported on Thursday in afinding that may further cloud the field of HIV vaccines.
They said vaccines using the viruses should not be testedon people until more studies are done. But other vaccineexperts said the findings, while scientifically interesting,were not a cause for immediate alarm.
The usually harmless viruses are used as so-called vectorsto carry genetic material from the AIDS virus into the body sothat the immune system can recognize and rally against it.
But the viruses, called adeno-associated viruses, maythemselves be doing harm, said Dr. Hildegund Ertl, director ofthe Wistar Institute Vaccine Center in Philadelphia.
In mice, the adeno-associated virus, or AAV vaccines,directly interfered with immune cells called CD8 T-cells,Ertl's team reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.These are the "killer" T-cells that a vaccine is supposed tomuster to fight HIV.
"The immune cells become exhausted," Ertl said in atelephone interview.
"It is simply a defense mechanism of T-cells -- if there istoo much antigen for too long a time they simply turnthemselves off."
Antigens are the proteins the immune system uses torecognize enemies such as bacteria and viruses. In the case ofHIV, turned-off T-cells could leave a person more vulnerablethan usual to infection.
"AAVs do not cause disease," Ertl's team wrote. They cannoteven replicate on their own, instead piggybacking ontoadenoviruses, which cause colds, or herpes viruses.
But they do persist in the body.
VULNERABLE TO HIV
Ertl said it was unclear whether her findings might castlight on the troubling developments in a trial of an AIDSvaccine that used another virus, an adenovirus.
Vaccine maker Merck & Co stopped that trial in Septemberand said last week it appeared that the adenovirus used in thevaccine may have somehow made patients more vulnerable to HIVinfections.
The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative or IAVI used anadeno-associated virus in a trial of an AIDS vaccine thatwrapped up in January in Belgium, Germany and India, andanother in South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.
IAVI's Pat Fast said the group was not testing AAV vaccinesany more.
"While we find the AAV study by Dr. Ertl and her group ...very interesting and we'll consider whether it can inform ourfuture studies, their study was conducted in mice and there arefundamental differences between mice and humans in theirrespective immune responses, particularly with regard to theimmune response against HIV," Fast said in a statement.
"The dose given to these mice was equivalent, on the basisof body weight, to 3,000 to 4,000 times the highest dose givento humans in the ... study in India."
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute ofAllergy and Infectious Diseases, said the study should be taken"with a very heavy dose of caution."He noted that adenoviruses and adeno-associated viruses arevery different microbes, despite the similarity of their names."We may be dealing with apples and oranges," Fauci said ina telephone interview.(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
A Chinese woman checks her mobile phone while passing an anti-AIDS poster in Beijing November 28, 2004. Some viruses being used in experimental AIDS vaccines may damage the immune system by exhausting key cells, researchers reported on Thursday in a finding that may further cloud the field of HIV vaccines. (Claro Cortes/Reuters)WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some viruses being used inexperimental AIDS vaccines may damage the immune system byexhausting key cells, researchers reported on Thursday in afinding that may further cloud the field of HIV vaccines.
They said vaccines using the viruses should not be testedon people until more studies are done. But other vaccineexperts said the findings, while scientifically interesting,were not a cause for immediate alarm.
The usually harmless viruses are used as so-called vectorsto carry genetic material from the AIDS virus into the body sothat the immune system can recognize and rally against it.
But the viruses, called adeno-associated viruses, maythemselves be doing harm, said Dr. Hildegund Ertl, director ofthe Wistar Institute Vaccine Center in Philadelphia.
In mice, the adeno-associated virus, or AAV vaccines,directly interfered with immune cells called CD8 T-cells,Ertl's team reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.These are the "killer" T-cells that a vaccine is supposed tomuster to fight HIV.
"The immune cells become exhausted," Ertl said in atelephone interview.
"It is simply a defense mechanism of T-cells -- if there istoo much antigen for too long a time they simply turnthemselves off."
Antigens are the proteins the immune system uses torecognize enemies such as bacteria and viruses. In the case ofHIV, turned-off T-cells could leave a person more vulnerablethan usual to infection.
"AAVs do not cause disease," Ertl's team wrote. They cannoteven replicate on their own, instead piggybacking ontoadenoviruses, which cause colds, or herpes viruses.
But they do persist in the body.
VULNERABLE TO HIV
Ertl said it was unclear whether her findings might castlight on the troubling developments in a trial of an AIDSvaccine that used another virus, an adenovirus.
Vaccine maker Merck & Co stopped that trial in Septemberand said last week it appeared that the adenovirus used in thevaccine may have somehow made patients more vulnerable to HIVinfections.
The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative or IAVI used anadeno-associated virus in a trial of an AIDS vaccine thatwrapped up in January in Belgium, Germany and India, andanother in South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.
IAVI's Pat Fast said the group was not testing AAV vaccinesany more.
"While we find the AAV study by Dr. Ertl and her group ...very interesting and we'll consider whether it can inform ourfuture studies, their study was conducted in mice and there arefundamental differences between mice and humans in theirrespective immune responses, particularly with regard to theimmune response against HIV," Fast said in a statement.
"The dose given to these mice was equivalent, on the basisof body weight, to 3,000 to 4,000 times the highest dose givento humans in the ... study in India."
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute ofAllergy and Infectious Diseases, said the study should be taken"with a very heavy dose of caution."He noted that adenoviruses and adeno-associated viruses arevery different microbes, despite the similarity of their names."We may be dealing with apples and oranges," Fauci said ina telephone interview.(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Sunday, December 30, 2007
U.N. warns AIDS could spike if countries drop guard
U.N. warns AIDS could spike if countries drop guard
A volunteer from the AIDS control society takes part in a campaign for AIDS awareness program in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh October 28, 2007. The United Nations has slashed its estimates of how many people are infected with the AIDS virus, from nearly 40 million to 33 million. (Ajay Verma/Reuters)LONDON (Reuters) - The world risks a resurgence of the AIDSepidemic if countries let their guard down, United Nationsofficials cautioned on Tuesday.
Lower estimates of how many people are infected with thevirus, and more effective treatments, are causing countries torelax their vigilance, they said.
Earlier, the U.N. AIDS agency slashed its estimates of howmany people are infected from nearly 40 million to 33 million,mainly due to revised figures for India. It said better methodsof collecting data showed it is not quite a common as feared..
But officials said evidence also showed the epidemic wascreeping back in countries that have become less careful,mainly industrialised nations where many people with AIDS haveaccess to drugs that can extend their lives.
"We are seeing a return of the epidemic," Paul De Lay ofUNAIDS told reporters. "We are seeing that in the U.S., we areseeing that in the UK, we are seeing that in Germany and we areseeing that in the developing world also."
Each day there are more than 6,800 new HIV infections and5,700 AIDS-related deaths, ensuring that the disease will posea major health concern for years, UNAIDS said.
"The sheer scale of the epidemic compared to other diseasesis so much more vast," De Lay said. "The epidemic is justwaiting to come back if programs are reduced."
The U.N. agency said the single biggest reason for thisreduction was a push to better assess India's HIV epidemic.After originally estimating some 5.7 million people wereinfected in India, the U.N. more than halved that estimate, to2.5 million, in July.
Experts and AIDS advocacy groups have long criticized theagency's numbers as too high, and some said there was no way totell if the new report was any better without universaltesting.
Kevin De Cock, director of the World Health Organization'sDepartment of HIV/AIDS said the implications for dealing withthe disease were the same despite the lower estimates.
"This remains the leading infectious disease challenge topublic health even if some of these figures are adjusted," hetold reporters in a telephone briefing . "We are facing decadesof this problem."
(Reporting by Michael Kahn and Maggie Fox; editing byRobert Hart)
A volunteer from the AIDS control society takes part in a campaign for AIDS awareness program in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh October 28, 2007. The United Nations has slashed its estimates of how many people are infected with the AIDS virus, from nearly 40 million to 33 million. (Ajay Verma/Reuters)LONDON (Reuters) - The world risks a resurgence of the AIDSepidemic if countries let their guard down, United Nationsofficials cautioned on Tuesday.
Lower estimates of how many people are infected with thevirus, and more effective treatments, are causing countries torelax their vigilance, they said.
Earlier, the U.N. AIDS agency slashed its estimates of howmany people are infected from nearly 40 million to 33 million,mainly due to revised figures for India. It said better methodsof collecting data showed it is not quite a common as feared..
But officials said evidence also showed the epidemic wascreeping back in countries that have become less careful,mainly industrialised nations where many people with AIDS haveaccess to drugs that can extend their lives.
"We are seeing a return of the epidemic," Paul De Lay ofUNAIDS told reporters. "We are seeing that in the U.S., we areseeing that in the UK, we are seeing that in Germany and we areseeing that in the developing world also."
Each day there are more than 6,800 new HIV infections and5,700 AIDS-related deaths, ensuring that the disease will posea major health concern for years, UNAIDS said.
"The sheer scale of the epidemic compared to other diseasesis so much more vast," De Lay said. "The epidemic is justwaiting to come back if programs are reduced."
The U.N. agency said the single biggest reason for thisreduction was a push to better assess India's HIV epidemic.After originally estimating some 5.7 million people wereinfected in India, the U.N. more than halved that estimate, to2.5 million, in July.
Experts and AIDS advocacy groups have long criticized theagency's numbers as too high, and some said there was no way totell if the new report was any better without universaltesting.
Kevin De Cock, director of the World Health Organization'sDepartment of HIV/AIDS said the implications for dealing withthe disease were the same despite the lower estimates.
"This remains the leading infectious disease challenge topublic health even if some of these figures are adjusted," hetold reporters in a telephone briefing . "We are facing decadesof this problem."
(Reporting by Michael Kahn and Maggie Fox; editing byRobert Hart)
UN cuts AIDS infection estimate
UN cuts AIDS infection estimate
Indian students light candles after a procession held to mark World AIDS Day in New Delhi, 2006. The United Nations sharply reduced its estimate for the number of people worldwide infected with the AIDS virus, citing a major reassessment of HIV prevalence in India.(AFP/File/Prakash Singh)GENEVA (AFP) - The United Nations on Tuesday sharply reduced by about seven million its estimate for the number of people worldwide infected with the AIDS virus, citing a major reassessment of HIV prevalence in India.
Health officials warned against any complacency in the fight against the disease in the light of the latest statistics, stressing the need for vigilance and ever more reliable monitoring mechanisms.
Revised figures in the latest UNAIDS annual report slashed an estimate for total infections this time last year to 32.7 million from 39.5 million cases, the number given in the agency's 2006 report.
"The single biggest reason for the reduction in global HIV prevalence figures in the past year was the recent revision in India after an intensive reassessment of the epidemic in that country," UNAIDS said in its report.
Improvements in data collection also resulted in statistics being revised for Angola, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, it added.
UNAIDS cautioned against comparing 2007 figures to those of last year in the light of the revisions.
"Reliable public health data are the essential foundation for an effective response," said Kevin De Cock, head of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organisation.
"We need to continue investing more in all countries and all aspects of strategic information relating to health," he added.
The WHO official told journalists it was "probably not likely" that there were any other big countries where there could be a similar "major error" in the estimate of HIV/AIDS cases as happened in India.
The number of people worldwide infected with HIV in 2007 totalled 2.5 million people and 33.2 million are now living with the virus, the report said. More than two million people died from the incurable disease in 2007.
Children under the age of 15 totalled 2.5 million of the total number of those living with the virus, 420,000 of new cases and 330,000 of all AIDS deaths.
Numbers of people living with the virus were levelling out and the percentage of the population affected was now in decline, the report said.
But UNAIDS director of evidence, monitoring and policy Paul De Lay told a press briefing that the fall in numbers should not be taken as a sign that the battle had been won.
"This is an epidemic where we need eternal vigilance and to never let our guard down," he said.
"If we start to neglect our prevention programmess, the epidemic turns around and starts to increase again," De Lay added.
Some 1.7 million new infections were recorded in sub-Saharan Africa, two-thirds of the global total, and AIDS remains the leading cause of death in the region.
About 22.5 million people living in Africa have HIV/AIDS, 68 percent of the global total, the report said.
Sub-Saharan African countries are in the grip of a sustained epidemic among the general populations, with women making up 61 percent of all people infected.Elsewhere in the world, the epidemic is chiefly concentrated in vulnerable groups such as men who have sex with men, sex workers and their partners, and injecting drug users.In Asia there are now 4.9 million cases, up 440,000 from last year. Indonesia has the fastest growing HIV prevalence on the continent, while the number of infections in Vietnam has more than doubled between 2000 and 2005.In India, the latest figures show around 2.5 million people living with the disease in 2006, with a national adult HIV prevalence of 0.36 percent.Unprotected sex is the main factor behind the spread of the disease in the country, with contaminated drug injecting equipment also playing a key role in the north-eastern regions, the report said.The Caribbean is the second worst-hit region of the world in per capita terms with one percent of adults -- 230,000 people -- carrying the virus, according to the report.In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the number of people living with the disease rose to 1.6 million in 2007, with around 150,000 new infections.Nearly 90 percent of new cases were recorded in Russia and Ukraine, and injecting drug use is a major factor in the region's epidemic, the report said.
Indian students light candles after a procession held to mark World AIDS Day in New Delhi, 2006. The United Nations sharply reduced its estimate for the number of people worldwide infected with the AIDS virus, citing a major reassessment of HIV prevalence in India.(AFP/File/Prakash Singh)GENEVA (AFP) - The United Nations on Tuesday sharply reduced by about seven million its estimate for the number of people worldwide infected with the AIDS virus, citing a major reassessment of HIV prevalence in India.
Health officials warned against any complacency in the fight against the disease in the light of the latest statistics, stressing the need for vigilance and ever more reliable monitoring mechanisms.
Revised figures in the latest UNAIDS annual report slashed an estimate for total infections this time last year to 32.7 million from 39.5 million cases, the number given in the agency's 2006 report.
"The single biggest reason for the reduction in global HIV prevalence figures in the past year was the recent revision in India after an intensive reassessment of the epidemic in that country," UNAIDS said in its report.
Improvements in data collection also resulted in statistics being revised for Angola, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, it added.
UNAIDS cautioned against comparing 2007 figures to those of last year in the light of the revisions.
"Reliable public health data are the essential foundation for an effective response," said Kevin De Cock, head of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organisation.
"We need to continue investing more in all countries and all aspects of strategic information relating to health," he added.
The WHO official told journalists it was "probably not likely" that there were any other big countries where there could be a similar "major error" in the estimate of HIV/AIDS cases as happened in India.
The number of people worldwide infected with HIV in 2007 totalled 2.5 million people and 33.2 million are now living with the virus, the report said. More than two million people died from the incurable disease in 2007.
Children under the age of 15 totalled 2.5 million of the total number of those living with the virus, 420,000 of new cases and 330,000 of all AIDS deaths.
Numbers of people living with the virus were levelling out and the percentage of the population affected was now in decline, the report said.
But UNAIDS director of evidence, monitoring and policy Paul De Lay told a press briefing that the fall in numbers should not be taken as a sign that the battle had been won.
"This is an epidemic where we need eternal vigilance and to never let our guard down," he said.
"If we start to neglect our prevention programmess, the epidemic turns around and starts to increase again," De Lay added.
Some 1.7 million new infections were recorded in sub-Saharan Africa, two-thirds of the global total, and AIDS remains the leading cause of death in the region.
About 22.5 million people living in Africa have HIV/AIDS, 68 percent of the global total, the report said.
Sub-Saharan African countries are in the grip of a sustained epidemic among the general populations, with women making up 61 percent of all people infected.Elsewhere in the world, the epidemic is chiefly concentrated in vulnerable groups such as men who have sex with men, sex workers and their partners, and injecting drug users.In Asia there are now 4.9 million cases, up 440,000 from last year. Indonesia has the fastest growing HIV prevalence on the continent, while the number of infections in Vietnam has more than doubled between 2000 and 2005.In India, the latest figures show around 2.5 million people living with the disease in 2006, with a national adult HIV prevalence of 0.36 percent.Unprotected sex is the main factor behind the spread of the disease in the country, with contaminated drug injecting equipment also playing a key role in the north-eastern regions, the report said.The Caribbean is the second worst-hit region of the world in per capita terms with one percent of adults -- 230,000 people -- carrying the virus, according to the report.In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the number of people living with the disease rose to 1.6 million in 2007, with around 150,000 new infections.Nearly 90 percent of new cases were recorded in Russia and Ukraine, and injecting drug use is a major factor in the region's epidemic, the report said.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
South Africa has world's highest number with AIDS: UN report
South Africa has world's highest number with AIDS: UN report
Thembi (L), a volunteer from a local NGO, takes care of an HIV patient in the Ixopo Region of South Africa in 2005. More than three-quarters of AIDS-related deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa is now officially the country with the highest prevalence of HIV in the world, according to a new UN report.(AFP/File/Gianluigi Guercia)GENEVA (AFP) - More than three-quarters of AIDS-related deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa is now officially the country with the highest prevalence of HIV in the world, according to a new UN report to be published Wednesday.
Improved monitoring of the pandemic has led the United Nations to revise its estimates, particularly in Southern Africa and Asia, resulting in a major revision in the assessment of India's epidemic, the country previously thought to be worst-hit.
"South Africa is the country with the largest number of HIV infections in the world," read the UNAIDS annual report on the epidemic for 2007.
While the report did not give a figure, the South African government currently estimates some 5.5 million of the country's 48 million population are living with the disease.
While AIDS continued to be the leading cause of death in Africa, sub-Saharan Africa was the worst affected region.
"More than two out of three (68 percent) adults and nearly 90 percent of children infected with HIV live in this region, and more than three in four (76 percent) AIDS deaths in 2007 occurred there, illustrating the unmet need for antiretroviral treatment in Africa."
Women in the region bear the brunt of the disease.
"Unlike other regions, the majority of people (61 percent) living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are women," the report found.
"It is estimated that 1.7 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2007, bringing to 22.5 million the total number of people living with the virus" that causes AIDS.
Southern Africa was the worst affected in the region with national adult HIV prevalence over 15 percent in eight countries.
"While there is evidence of a significant decline in the national HIV prevalence in Zimbabwe, the epidemics in most of the rest of the subregion have either reached or are approaching a plateau."
The UN data showed that adult HIV prevalence was either stable or has started to decline in many parts of Africa.
According to the report, Kenya and Zimbabwe were some of the countries where the slowing trend of new infections was most evident, with similar shifts in Burkino Faso, Ivory Coast and Mali.
Worldwide, new infections of AIDS were levelling off, and of the 2.5 million people newly infected overall, more than half come from sub-Saharan Africa.
Thembi (L), a volunteer from a local NGO, takes care of an HIV patient in the Ixopo Region of South Africa in 2005. More than three-quarters of AIDS-related deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa is now officially the country with the highest prevalence of HIV in the world, according to a new UN report.(AFP/File/Gianluigi Guercia)GENEVA (AFP) - More than three-quarters of AIDS-related deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa is now officially the country with the highest prevalence of HIV in the world, according to a new UN report to be published Wednesday.
Improved monitoring of the pandemic has led the United Nations to revise its estimates, particularly in Southern Africa and Asia, resulting in a major revision in the assessment of India's epidemic, the country previously thought to be worst-hit.
"South Africa is the country with the largest number of HIV infections in the world," read the UNAIDS annual report on the epidemic for 2007.
While the report did not give a figure, the South African government currently estimates some 5.5 million of the country's 48 million population are living with the disease.
While AIDS continued to be the leading cause of death in Africa, sub-Saharan Africa was the worst affected region.
"More than two out of three (68 percent) adults and nearly 90 percent of children infected with HIV live in this region, and more than three in four (76 percent) AIDS deaths in 2007 occurred there, illustrating the unmet need for antiretroviral treatment in Africa."
Women in the region bear the brunt of the disease.
"Unlike other regions, the majority of people (61 percent) living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are women," the report found.
"It is estimated that 1.7 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2007, bringing to 22.5 million the total number of people living with the virus" that causes AIDS.
Southern Africa was the worst affected in the region with national adult HIV prevalence over 15 percent in eight countries.
"While there is evidence of a significant decline in the national HIV prevalence in Zimbabwe, the epidemics in most of the rest of the subregion have either reached or are approaching a plateau."
The UN data showed that adult HIV prevalence was either stable or has started to decline in many parts of Africa.
According to the report, Kenya and Zimbabwe were some of the countries where the slowing trend of new infections was most evident, with similar shifts in Burkino Faso, Ivory Coast and Mali.
Worldwide, new infections of AIDS were levelling off, and of the 2.5 million people newly infected overall, more than half come from sub-Saharan Africa.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Beijing hotels told to stock condoms to combat AIDS: report
Beijing hotels told to stock condoms to combat AIDS: report
A model wears a hat and dress decorated with condoms to promote their use in Beijing. Hotels in Beijing have been ordered to stock condoms in every room in response to a spike in new HIV infections in the Chinese capital.(AFP/File/Peter Parks)BEIJING (AFP) - Hotels in China's capital have been ordered to stock condoms in every room in response to a spike in new HIV infections in Beijing, state media reported.
Beijing registered 973 new HIV/AIDS cases in the first 10 months of this year, up 54 percent on the year before, the official Xinhua news agency said.
All hotels will be required to provide condoms by the end of 2008 in an attempt to curb further increases, Xinhua said, without providing details.
Hotels will be allowed to charge for the contraceptives, the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau said.
The bureau has been pushing hotels to provide condoms in every room in recent years, but so far only 133 hotels have complied out of a total of 700 throughout Beijing, according to local government statistics.
At the end of October, Beijing had registered 4,663 HIV/AIDS cases since 1985, of which 171 were foreigners, 964 locals and 3,524 from other parts of China, Xinhua said Friday.
Nationwide there were 650,000 HIV/AIDS patients, according to an estimate put forward jointly by the government and United Nations health agencies in January 2006.
A model wears a hat and dress decorated with condoms to promote their use in Beijing. Hotels in Beijing have been ordered to stock condoms in every room in response to a spike in new HIV infections in the Chinese capital.(AFP/File/Peter Parks)BEIJING (AFP) - Hotels in China's capital have been ordered to stock condoms in every room in response to a spike in new HIV infections in Beijing, state media reported.
Beijing registered 973 new HIV/AIDS cases in the first 10 months of this year, up 54 percent on the year before, the official Xinhua news agency said.
All hotels will be required to provide condoms by the end of 2008 in an attempt to curb further increases, Xinhua said, without providing details.
Hotels will be allowed to charge for the contraceptives, the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau said.
The bureau has been pushing hotels to provide condoms in every room in recent years, but so far only 133 hotels have complied out of a total of 700 throughout Beijing, according to local government statistics.
At the end of October, Beijing had registered 4,663 HIV/AIDS cases since 1985, of which 171 were foreigners, 964 locals and 3,524 from other parts of China, Xinhua said Friday.
Nationwide there were 650,000 HIV/AIDS patients, according to an estimate put forward jointly by the government and United Nations health agencies in January 2006.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
AIDS leaves Africa's grannies to raise children
AIDS leaves Africa's grannies to raise children
Kenyan woman Kanotu Mumo (L) speaks during an interview with Reuters at Kibera slums in Nairobi, Kenya, Nov. 8, 2007. (Antony Njuguna/Reuters)NAIROBI (Reuters) - Skinny and gap-toothed, her nosesmudged with black dust, grandmother Kanotu Mumo sorts charcoalinto small pots for sale on the stoop of her slum hut.
Mumo is an "AIDS granny" in Kibera, one of Africa's biggestslums. Like grandmothers all over Africa, they have been leftto fend for orphans after their own children and husbands died.
Her hut, stacked with sacks of charcoal, measures 10 by 8feet and is too dark to see more than a few inches (cm) even inthe middle of the day.
Somehow she shelters four grandchildren, two greatgrandchildren and the child of a dead relative, who sleep onmattresses and two beds. There is no toilet or running water.
According to U.N. figures, at least 12 million children inAfrica have lost one or both parents because of AIDS. This is80 percent of all AIDS orphans in the developing world.
The number of orphans in Africa has increased by 50 percentsince 1990 while falling in other regions. The United Nationssays there will be 53 million by 2010, some 30 percent of thembereaved by AIDS.
The burden of this disaster is borne by extended families,most often grandmothers, who might have otherwise dreamed ofreturning to their home villages for retirement at the end of atough life.
Kanotu Mumo moved to Kibera, home to 800,000 people, whenher husband died about 25 years ago in eastern Kenya. "I can'tremember. It has been so long. When my husband died therelatives threw me out and sold the land."
Unlike many of the grandmothers, doleful and worn down bytheir fate, Mumo smiles and jokes. She says she cannot rememberher age. As she talks, two teenage granddaughters come and go.
Her story is typical of the everyday tragedies of Kibera.Two daughters and a son died of AIDS. Another son was stoned todeath by a mob after he was caught stealing. "I am embarrassedto talk about it but it was due to the unemployment."
She lives close to the railway line that runs through thesprawling slum, acting both as a pedestrian thoroughfare andplace for traders to lay out shoes and clothes.
She sells her charcoal -- the slum's primary fuel -- for afew shillings profit, after buying from a nearby wholesaler whocarries it to her hut.
SCHOOL
Like other grandmothers interviewed by Reuters, Kanotu Mumocomes to the Stara school in Kibera to clean twice a week.Their grandchildren attend the school and are fed from hugevats of steaming maize porridge and beans.
The project, supplied and funded by Dutch charityChildsLife International, the U.N. World Food Programme andKenyan aid agency Feed the Children, was started seven yearsago by a group of Kibera mothers, after friends died and leftthem to look after their children.
The school on the edge of Kibera houses more than 500lively children, 70 percent of them orphans, dressed in greenuniforms.
More than 30 of the children are HIV positive and receiveanti-retrovirals from a nearby clinic in the slum, suppliedagainst vouchers from the school.
The small size of the premises means classes are noisy andovercrowded, with up to 80 children of mixed ages. The school,headed by dynamic Kibera resident Josephine Mumo, has provenskilful in raising support.Singer Harry Belafonte, Barbara Bush, mother of PresidentGeorge W. Bush, and actress Drew Barrymore have been backers.Without their grandmothers and projects such as Stara, manymore orphans in Kibera and elsewhere would end up asglue-sniffing street children or child prostitutes.Josephine Mumo says that when the mothers started theschool, they brought in children who had been raped as theywent door-to-door begging for food.SURVIVE FOR THE CHILDRENMany of the grandmothers are themselves weakened by HIV aswell as old age, making it even harder for them to feed theircharges.Peris Owuor, 50, is a Kibera grandmother looking afterseven grandchildren. "Sometimes my body does not feel good andI cannot go to look for food," she said.Owuor, whose husband died of AIDS in 1998, washes clothesto make money, at 150 Kenya shillings ($2.25) a day, and triesto help feed her three surviving children who have no jobs."But when my body is not good I just have to stay at home."Another grandmother, Antonina Mujenge, also HIV positive,cares for five of her own children and four grandchildren. Shealso sells charcoal."I try to look after them like other children but it isvery difficult because of my low income. Sometimes there is notenough for all of them," she said."My main aim is to stay around long enough to make sure thekids can get an education and find jobs," said Mujenge, who haslived in Kibera for 20 years.She would love to return to her village in western Kenya."But I am an outcast at home. They say I can infect others. Icannot go back."Grace Atema, 65, looks after three grandchildren and herdaughter, mother of two of them. She washes clothes twice aweek to raise money."I put everything I get towards the children. But I worrywhat would happen if I died. How would they survive?" she said.(Editing by Sara Ledwith)
Kenyan woman Kanotu Mumo (L) speaks during an interview with Reuters at Kibera slums in Nairobi, Kenya, Nov. 8, 2007. (Antony Njuguna/Reuters)NAIROBI (Reuters) - Skinny and gap-toothed, her nosesmudged with black dust, grandmother Kanotu Mumo sorts charcoalinto small pots for sale on the stoop of her slum hut.
Mumo is an "AIDS granny" in Kibera, one of Africa's biggestslums. Like grandmothers all over Africa, they have been leftto fend for orphans after their own children and husbands died.
Her hut, stacked with sacks of charcoal, measures 10 by 8feet and is too dark to see more than a few inches (cm) even inthe middle of the day.
Somehow she shelters four grandchildren, two greatgrandchildren and the child of a dead relative, who sleep onmattresses and two beds. There is no toilet or running water.
According to U.N. figures, at least 12 million children inAfrica have lost one or both parents because of AIDS. This is80 percent of all AIDS orphans in the developing world.
The number of orphans in Africa has increased by 50 percentsince 1990 while falling in other regions. The United Nationssays there will be 53 million by 2010, some 30 percent of thembereaved by AIDS.
The burden of this disaster is borne by extended families,most often grandmothers, who might have otherwise dreamed ofreturning to their home villages for retirement at the end of atough life.
Kanotu Mumo moved to Kibera, home to 800,000 people, whenher husband died about 25 years ago in eastern Kenya. "I can'tremember. It has been so long. When my husband died therelatives threw me out and sold the land."
Unlike many of the grandmothers, doleful and worn down bytheir fate, Mumo smiles and jokes. She says she cannot rememberher age. As she talks, two teenage granddaughters come and go.
Her story is typical of the everyday tragedies of Kibera.Two daughters and a son died of AIDS. Another son was stoned todeath by a mob after he was caught stealing. "I am embarrassedto talk about it but it was due to the unemployment."
She lives close to the railway line that runs through thesprawling slum, acting both as a pedestrian thoroughfare andplace for traders to lay out shoes and clothes.
She sells her charcoal -- the slum's primary fuel -- for afew shillings profit, after buying from a nearby wholesaler whocarries it to her hut.
SCHOOL
Like other grandmothers interviewed by Reuters, Kanotu Mumocomes to the Stara school in Kibera to clean twice a week.Their grandchildren attend the school and are fed from hugevats of steaming maize porridge and beans.
The project, supplied and funded by Dutch charityChildsLife International, the U.N. World Food Programme andKenyan aid agency Feed the Children, was started seven yearsago by a group of Kibera mothers, after friends died and leftthem to look after their children.
The school on the edge of Kibera houses more than 500lively children, 70 percent of them orphans, dressed in greenuniforms.
More than 30 of the children are HIV positive and receiveanti-retrovirals from a nearby clinic in the slum, suppliedagainst vouchers from the school.
The small size of the premises means classes are noisy andovercrowded, with up to 80 children of mixed ages. The school,headed by dynamic Kibera resident Josephine Mumo, has provenskilful in raising support.Singer Harry Belafonte, Barbara Bush, mother of PresidentGeorge W. Bush, and actress Drew Barrymore have been backers.Without their grandmothers and projects such as Stara, manymore orphans in Kibera and elsewhere would end up asglue-sniffing street children or child prostitutes.Josephine Mumo says that when the mothers started theschool, they brought in children who had been raped as theywent door-to-door begging for food.SURVIVE FOR THE CHILDRENMany of the grandmothers are themselves weakened by HIV aswell as old age, making it even harder for them to feed theircharges.Peris Owuor, 50, is a Kibera grandmother looking afterseven grandchildren. "Sometimes my body does not feel good andI cannot go to look for food," she said.Owuor, whose husband died of AIDS in 1998, washes clothesto make money, at 150 Kenya shillings ($2.25) a day, and triesto help feed her three surviving children who have no jobs."But when my body is not good I just have to stay at home."Another grandmother, Antonina Mujenge, also HIV positive,cares for five of her own children and four grandchildren. Shealso sells charcoal."I try to look after them like other children but it isvery difficult because of my low income. Sometimes there is notenough for all of them," she said."My main aim is to stay around long enough to make sure thekids can get an education and find jobs," said Mujenge, who haslived in Kibera for 20 years.She would love to return to her village in western Kenya."But I am an outcast at home. They say I can infect others. Icannot go back."Grace Atema, 65, looks after three grandchildren and herdaughter, mother of two of them. She washes clothes twice aweek to raise money."I put everything I get towards the children. But I worrywhat would happen if I died. How would they survive?" she said.(Editing by Sara Ledwith)
Swiss firm to launch trials of possible anti-AIDS vaccine
Swiss firm to launch trials of possible anti-AIDS vaccine
AIDS antiretroviral drugs on display. Swiss firm Mymetics said on Wednesday it will start in 2008 Phase 1 trials of a possible anti-AIDS vaccine that seeks to produce mucosal antibodies that can resist HIV.(AFP/File/Simon Maina)GENEVA (AFP) - Swiss firm Mymetics said on Wednesday it will start in 2008 Phase 1 trials of a possible anti-AIDS vaccine that seeks to produce mucosal antibodies that can resist HIV.
The trials will take place in Belgium on a sample of between 30 to 40 women, Mymetics' scientific director Sylvain Fleury told journalists.
Over 85 percent of HIV infections are the result of genital or intestinal mucosa (membrane in body passages) being exposed to the disease, he said.
Any HIV vaccine that could successfully achieve antibody production into both genital and intestinal tracts might open the door to a new HIV vaccine approach, Mymetics claimed on its website.
The Swiss-based company, which is quoted on the Nasdaq stock index in New York, said it hopes to take its research further, and then either enter into a partnership with a larger company, or sell the product technology, in order to move to Phase III trials targeted at between 15,000-20,000 people.
The cost of such trials is too much for Mymetics to afford on its own, company chairman Christian Rochet said.
Mymetics estimates the vaccine could produce annual sales revenue of between two to four billion dollars (1.3-2.7 billion euros) per year.
AIDS antiretroviral drugs on display. Swiss firm Mymetics said on Wednesday it will start in 2008 Phase 1 trials of a possible anti-AIDS vaccine that seeks to produce mucosal antibodies that can resist HIV.(AFP/File/Simon Maina)GENEVA (AFP) - Swiss firm Mymetics said on Wednesday it will start in 2008 Phase 1 trials of a possible anti-AIDS vaccine that seeks to produce mucosal antibodies that can resist HIV.
The trials will take place in Belgium on a sample of between 30 to 40 women, Mymetics' scientific director Sylvain Fleury told journalists.
Over 85 percent of HIV infections are the result of genital or intestinal mucosa (membrane in body passages) being exposed to the disease, he said.
Any HIV vaccine that could successfully achieve antibody production into both genital and intestinal tracts might open the door to a new HIV vaccine approach, Mymetics claimed on its website.
The Swiss-based company, which is quoted on the Nasdaq stock index in New York, said it hopes to take its research further, and then either enter into a partnership with a larger company, or sell the product technology, in order to move to Phase III trials targeted at between 15,000-20,000 people.
The cost of such trials is too much for Mymetics to afford on its own, company chairman Christian Rochet said.
Mymetics estimates the vaccine could produce annual sales revenue of between two to four billion dollars (1.3-2.7 billion euros) per year.
Pope calls for new efforts to fight AIDS
Pope calls for new efforts to fight AIDS
Pope Benedict XVI looks on after the weekly general audience at the Vatican, Wednesday Nov. 28, 2007. The pontiff on Wednesday urged stepped-up efforts to stop the spread of the HIV virus, saying he felt 'spiritually close' to those suffering from AIDS. (AP Photo/Ettore Ferrari, Pool)VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday called for intensified efforts to stop the spread of the HIV virus, saying he felt "spiritually close" to those suffering from AIDS.
"I am asking all people of goodwill to multiply efforts to stop the spread of the HIV virus, to oppose the scorn that often strikes those affected and to take care of the sick, especially the children," Benedict told his weekly public audience in connection with World AIDS Day, which was Saturday.
"I am spiritually close to those who suffer as a result of this terrible illness as well as to their families, in particular those struck by the loss of a close relative," the pope said. "I assure my prayers for all."
Also on Wednesday, a U.N. food agency said that reducing hunger in poor countries was key to fighting AIDS and other infectious diseases.
Hunger and disease create a vicious cycle, as famished people are more likely to fall victim to infectious and chronic diseases, which then reduce their ability to provide food for themselves and their family, the Rome-based World Food Program said in a report.
Malnutrition also makes recovery more difficult even when proper drugs are available, so the international community must take care to couple medical help with food aid, the agency said in its "World Hunger Series" report for 2007.
"Food is often cited by people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS as their greatest and most important need," said Elizabeth Mataka, the U.N.'s special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. "Nutrition interventions for HIV programs are often overlooked in the international HIV policy debate and they remain critically underfunded."
Speaking at a presentation of the report in Rome, Mataka said that, according to U.N. figures, the number of people affected by HIV in 2007 was 35.2 million, down from 39.5 million in 2006.
"It seems that we are witnessing a slowing down of the epidemic, but we have to do more," she said. "Setting a limit to hunger and HIV is an absolute imperative."
Pope Benedict XVI looks on after the weekly general audience at the Vatican, Wednesday Nov. 28, 2007. The pontiff on Wednesday urged stepped-up efforts to stop the spread of the HIV virus, saying he felt 'spiritually close' to those suffering from AIDS. (AP Photo/Ettore Ferrari, Pool)VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday called for intensified efforts to stop the spread of the HIV virus, saying he felt "spiritually close" to those suffering from AIDS.
"I am asking all people of goodwill to multiply efforts to stop the spread of the HIV virus, to oppose the scorn that often strikes those affected and to take care of the sick, especially the children," Benedict told his weekly public audience in connection with World AIDS Day, which was Saturday.
"I am spiritually close to those who suffer as a result of this terrible illness as well as to their families, in particular those struck by the loss of a close relative," the pope said. "I assure my prayers for all."
Also on Wednesday, a U.N. food agency said that reducing hunger in poor countries was key to fighting AIDS and other infectious diseases.
Hunger and disease create a vicious cycle, as famished people are more likely to fall victim to infectious and chronic diseases, which then reduce their ability to provide food for themselves and their family, the Rome-based World Food Program said in a report.
Malnutrition also makes recovery more difficult even when proper drugs are available, so the international community must take care to couple medical help with food aid, the agency said in its "World Hunger Series" report for 2007.
"Food is often cited by people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS as their greatest and most important need," said Elizabeth Mataka, the U.N.'s special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. "Nutrition interventions for HIV programs are often overlooked in the international HIV policy debate and they remain critically underfunded."
Speaking at a presentation of the report in Rome, Mataka said that, according to U.N. figures, the number of people affected by HIV in 2007 was 35.2 million, down from 39.5 million in 2006.
"It seems that we are witnessing a slowing down of the epidemic, but we have to do more," she said. "Setting a limit to hunger and HIV is an absolute imperative."
Thai drug users denied access to AIDS treatments: rights group
Thai drug users denied access to AIDS treatments: rights group
This file photo shows a volunteer having his blood tested before the start of a trial on an AIDS vaccine, in Thailand. Thailand is failing to provide treatment to drug users most at risk of AIDS despite its reputation as a pioneer in the global battle against the disease, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.(AFP/File/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)BANGKOK (AFP) - Thailand is failing to provide treatment to drug users most at risk of AIDS despite its reputation as a pioneer in the global battle against the disease, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.
The Thai government estimates that 40 to 50 percent of injection drug users are living with HIV, a figure that has not changed over the past two decades despite general success in preventing infections, the group said in a report.
"Thailand wants to be seen as a success story in the fight against AIDS, yet it is failing to address the epidemic among the population hit hardest by HIV," said Rebecca Schleifer, an advocate with Human Rights Watch.
"The Thai government has recognised that the HIV infection rate is 'unacceptably high,' and it has the expertise to address this public health emergency," she said.
The report blames the problem on police harassment and discrimination against drug users, saying health care workers deny antiretroviral treatment to people who need it if they are using illicit narcotics.
Many injection drug users were also driven into hiding and afraid of authorities after former premier Thaksin Shinawatra led a "war on drugs" in 2003, when at least 2,500 people died in extrajudicial killings, the group said.
Thailand has generally been lauded for its universal treatment programme, which has included a controversial battle with pharmaceutical companies for cheap or generic versions of cutting-edge treatments.
"An HIV diagnosis is still a death sentence for most drug users in Thailand," said Paisan Suwannawong, director of the Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group.
"Thailand must stop discrimination against drug users seeking health care services, or it will never meet its promise to ensure access to AIDS treatment to all who need it."
This file photo shows a volunteer having his blood tested before the start of a trial on an AIDS vaccine, in Thailand. Thailand is failing to provide treatment to drug users most at risk of AIDS despite its reputation as a pioneer in the global battle against the disease, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.(AFP/File/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)BANGKOK (AFP) - Thailand is failing to provide treatment to drug users most at risk of AIDS despite its reputation as a pioneer in the global battle against the disease, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.
The Thai government estimates that 40 to 50 percent of injection drug users are living with HIV, a figure that has not changed over the past two decades despite general success in preventing infections, the group said in a report.
"Thailand wants to be seen as a success story in the fight against AIDS, yet it is failing to address the epidemic among the population hit hardest by HIV," said Rebecca Schleifer, an advocate with Human Rights Watch.
"The Thai government has recognised that the HIV infection rate is 'unacceptably high,' and it has the expertise to address this public health emergency," she said.
The report blames the problem on police harassment and discrimination against drug users, saying health care workers deny antiretroviral treatment to people who need it if they are using illicit narcotics.
Many injection drug users were also driven into hiding and afraid of authorities after former premier Thaksin Shinawatra led a "war on drugs" in 2003, when at least 2,500 people died in extrajudicial killings, the group said.
Thailand has generally been lauded for its universal treatment programme, which has included a controversial battle with pharmaceutical companies for cheap or generic versions of cutting-edge treatments.
"An HIV diagnosis is still a death sentence for most drug users in Thailand," said Paisan Suwannawong, director of the Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group.
"Thailand must stop discrimination against drug users seeking health care services, or it will never meet its promise to ensure access to AIDS treatment to all who need it."
China says estimated HIV/AIDS cases rise to 700,000
China says estimated HIV/AIDS cases rise to 700,000
A couple walk past an AIDS billboard inside a Beijing subway station, August 2006. China is estimated to have about 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases, with tens of thousands of new infections each year, the government has said, but activists warned the problem was far greater.(AFP/File/Frederic J. Brown)BEIJING (AFP) - China is estimated to have about 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases, with tens of thousands of new infections each year, the government said Thursday, but activists warned the problem was far greater.
"The result of estimates is that at the end of 2007, China will have about 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases, and 85,000 with AIDS," Health Minister Chen Zhu told a press conference in Beijing.
Chen said there were an estimated 50,000 new HIV infections in 2007, when 20,000 people died from AIDS, figures he described as a slightly better than previous years.
"The upward trend of AIDS disease has slowed, but we should still strengthen our work," Chen said.
The health ministry said there were 223,501 confirmed HIV/AIDS cases in China at the end of last month. This compares with 183,733 cases reported at the same time last year.
The latest figures were based on work carried out by the Chinese government, the United Nations and the World Health Organisation.
In January last year, the three sides said there were an estimated 650,000 people with HIV/AIDS, following similar research carried out together.
But independent AIDS activists have long warned that these figures underestimate the rampant spread of the disease.
"We believe the actual figures far exceed these official estimates," said activist Hu Jia.
Hu said provincial authorities tended to under-report the real figures to the central government, which still banned third parties from carrying out independent investigations.
"In fact, during the past two years, local governments have stepped up their crackdowns on the grass-roots non-government organisations... they are not willing to have them witness the AIDS situation," he said.
Another leading AIDS campaigner, Wan Yanhai, has previously said the number of people suffering from the disease in China could be 10 times higher than official estimates.
The health ministry on Thursday said heterosexual contact was a top cause of new infections in 2007, accounting for 44.7 percent.
Intravenous drug abuse caused 42 percent of the infections, and sex between men 12.2 percent, while 1.1 percent of the cases happened because infected mothers passed it on to their unborn children, the ministry said.
But Hu said the official statistics announced omitted infections through unsafe blood transfusions, especially those at public hospitals, possibly because the government was nervous about facing up to its responsibility.
Thousands of people, mainly uneducated peasants, were infected mainly in Henan province during the 1990s through tainted blood transfusions at illegal blood collection stations.
Gao Yaojie, a retired doctor and veteran Chinese AIDS activist, told AFP in an interview earlier this week that the deadly practice was still going on despite government attempts to eradicate it.
"Farmers sell blood because they are too poor to make a living and pay school fees for their kids and so on," Gao said from Henan province.Accurate AIDS statistics are hard to come by in China, mainly because of huge size of the country and the lack of transparency.
A couple walk past an AIDS billboard inside a Beijing subway station, August 2006. China is estimated to have about 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases, with tens of thousands of new infections each year, the government has said, but activists warned the problem was far greater.(AFP/File/Frederic J. Brown)BEIJING (AFP) - China is estimated to have about 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases, with tens of thousands of new infections each year, the government said Thursday, but activists warned the problem was far greater.
"The result of estimates is that at the end of 2007, China will have about 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases, and 85,000 with AIDS," Health Minister Chen Zhu told a press conference in Beijing.
Chen said there were an estimated 50,000 new HIV infections in 2007, when 20,000 people died from AIDS, figures he described as a slightly better than previous years.
"The upward trend of AIDS disease has slowed, but we should still strengthen our work," Chen said.
The health ministry said there were 223,501 confirmed HIV/AIDS cases in China at the end of last month. This compares with 183,733 cases reported at the same time last year.
The latest figures were based on work carried out by the Chinese government, the United Nations and the World Health Organisation.
In January last year, the three sides said there were an estimated 650,000 people with HIV/AIDS, following similar research carried out together.
But independent AIDS activists have long warned that these figures underestimate the rampant spread of the disease.
"We believe the actual figures far exceed these official estimates," said activist Hu Jia.
Hu said provincial authorities tended to under-report the real figures to the central government, which still banned third parties from carrying out independent investigations.
"In fact, during the past two years, local governments have stepped up their crackdowns on the grass-roots non-government organisations... they are not willing to have them witness the AIDS situation," he said.
Another leading AIDS campaigner, Wan Yanhai, has previously said the number of people suffering from the disease in China could be 10 times higher than official estimates.
The health ministry on Thursday said heterosexual contact was a top cause of new infections in 2007, accounting for 44.7 percent.
Intravenous drug abuse caused 42 percent of the infections, and sex between men 12.2 percent, while 1.1 percent of the cases happened because infected mothers passed it on to their unborn children, the ministry said.
But Hu said the official statistics announced omitted infections through unsafe blood transfusions, especially those at public hospitals, possibly because the government was nervous about facing up to its responsibility.
Thousands of people, mainly uneducated peasants, were infected mainly in Henan province during the 1990s through tainted blood transfusions at illegal blood collection stations.
Gao Yaojie, a retired doctor and veteran Chinese AIDS activist, told AFP in an interview earlier this week that the deadly practice was still going on despite government attempts to eradicate it.
"Farmers sell blood because they are too poor to make a living and pay school fees for their kids and so on," Gao said from Henan province.Accurate AIDS statistics are hard to come by in China, mainly because of huge size of the country and the lack of transparency.
Report: Sex main cause of HIV in China
Report: Sex main cause of HIV in China
China's Health Minister Chen Zhu speaks during a press conference on AIDS in China held in Beijing, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007. The number of people estimated to be living with HIV in China has risen to 700,000 and continues to be a challenge among high-risk populations, according to a report released Thursday by the U.N. and the Chinese government. The Chinese characters at right read 'Health.' (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)BEIJING - Sex has overtaken drug use as the main cause of HIV infections in China, leading to worries the disease may spread outside of high-risk groups into the general population, according to experts and a report released Thursday.
There were an estimated 50,000 new cases of HIV in 2007 taking the total to 700,000 people living with the virus in China, said the report issued jointly by UNAIDS and a committee of the State Council, China's Cabinet.
Despite a fall in the rate of new cases from when data was last collected in 2005, infections were still spreading and sex — not intravenous drug use — was now the main form of transmission, Chinese Minister of Health Chen Zhu said at a news conference.
"China's HIV epidemic remains one of low prevalence overall but with pockets of high infection among specific sub-populations," he said. "A number of core challenges remain."
Prostitutes and gay men were singled out for risky behavior that was contributing to most of the new cases, Chen said. Some 60 percent of prostitutes do not regularly use condoms, according to the report, which was to be officially released Saturday to coincide with World AIDS Day.
New cases were rising among these groups. Beijing must ensure transmission from high-risk populations, "can be stopped and held down, because there is substantial potential for spreading," said Bernhard Schwartlander, country coordinator for UNAIDS in China.
The current rate of infection was less than 1 percent of China's overall population, but put as many as 50 million others at risk now that the main form of transmission was sex, he said.
Prostitution is widespread in China, even though it is officially illegal. Raising concerns are the many migrant workers who visit brothels, exposing themselves, their spouses and other partners to infection.
HIV gained a foothold in China largely due to unsanitary blood plasma-buying schemes and tainted transfusions in hospitals. Chen told reporters Thursday that these practices had been "effectively contained," but did not elaborate.
After years of denying that AIDS was a problem, Chinese leaders have shifted gears dramatically in recent years, confronting the disease more openly and promising anonymous testing, free treatment for the poor and a ban on discrimination against people with the virus.
The topic, however, still remains very sensitive and authorities regularly crack down on activists and patients seeking more support and rights.
Stigma associated with HIV/AIDS and discrimination against people with the disease remains high in some communities and workplaces, the report said. This leads to high-risk people not getting testing or admitting they have HIV, aiding its spread, the report said.
Chen welcomed the work of civil groups and mass organizations that have reached out to those with HIV/AIDS. Celebrity awareness of the disease has also helped reduce stigma and increase awareness, he said.
"The report shows how far the government has come in responding to HIV," said Ed Settle, HIV/AIDS Program Manager for UNDP China.
"They've come to the realization that high risk groups need more attention and they recognize that civil society groups have more of a role in reaching out to the more vulnerable."
But many organizations have run into difficulties getting proper legal registration, the report noted. China has long been wary of NGOs, fearing they might be acting as agents for foreign governments or encouraging defiance of the Communist Party.
The number of officially reported HIV cases in China remained only 223,501 — far lower than the estimated total, probably in part because of reluctance to seek testing. The figure includes those who developed AIDS and those who died from the disease.
In 2004, China scaled back the estimated number of people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, from nearly 1 million to 840,000, and then further lowered the figure to 650,000 in 2005.Experts have said the figures are probably accurate because they are in line with a change in the way data are collected.Global health officials said earlier this month that the estimated number of people infected with HIV worldwide fell from almost 40 million last year to about 33.2 million this year, the result of a different methodology which shows that the AIDS pandemic is losing momentum.The old numbers were largely based on how many infected pregnant women were at prenatal clinics, as well as projecting the AIDS rates of certain high-risk groups like drug users to the entire population at risk. Officials said those figures were flawed, and are now incorporating more data like national household surveys.
China's Health Minister Chen Zhu speaks during a press conference on AIDS in China held in Beijing, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007. The number of people estimated to be living with HIV in China has risen to 700,000 and continues to be a challenge among high-risk populations, according to a report released Thursday by the U.N. and the Chinese government. The Chinese characters at right read 'Health.' (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)BEIJING - Sex has overtaken drug use as the main cause of HIV infections in China, leading to worries the disease may spread outside of high-risk groups into the general population, according to experts and a report released Thursday.
There were an estimated 50,000 new cases of HIV in 2007 taking the total to 700,000 people living with the virus in China, said the report issued jointly by UNAIDS and a committee of the State Council, China's Cabinet.
Despite a fall in the rate of new cases from when data was last collected in 2005, infections were still spreading and sex — not intravenous drug use — was now the main form of transmission, Chinese Minister of Health Chen Zhu said at a news conference.
"China's HIV epidemic remains one of low prevalence overall but with pockets of high infection among specific sub-populations," he said. "A number of core challenges remain."
Prostitutes and gay men were singled out for risky behavior that was contributing to most of the new cases, Chen said. Some 60 percent of prostitutes do not regularly use condoms, according to the report, which was to be officially released Saturday to coincide with World AIDS Day.
New cases were rising among these groups. Beijing must ensure transmission from high-risk populations, "can be stopped and held down, because there is substantial potential for spreading," said Bernhard Schwartlander, country coordinator for UNAIDS in China.
The current rate of infection was less than 1 percent of China's overall population, but put as many as 50 million others at risk now that the main form of transmission was sex, he said.
Prostitution is widespread in China, even though it is officially illegal. Raising concerns are the many migrant workers who visit brothels, exposing themselves, their spouses and other partners to infection.
HIV gained a foothold in China largely due to unsanitary blood plasma-buying schemes and tainted transfusions in hospitals. Chen told reporters Thursday that these practices had been "effectively contained," but did not elaborate.
After years of denying that AIDS was a problem, Chinese leaders have shifted gears dramatically in recent years, confronting the disease more openly and promising anonymous testing, free treatment for the poor and a ban on discrimination against people with the virus.
The topic, however, still remains very sensitive and authorities regularly crack down on activists and patients seeking more support and rights.
Stigma associated with HIV/AIDS and discrimination against people with the disease remains high in some communities and workplaces, the report said. This leads to high-risk people not getting testing or admitting they have HIV, aiding its spread, the report said.
Chen welcomed the work of civil groups and mass organizations that have reached out to those with HIV/AIDS. Celebrity awareness of the disease has also helped reduce stigma and increase awareness, he said.
"The report shows how far the government has come in responding to HIV," said Ed Settle, HIV/AIDS Program Manager for UNDP China.
"They've come to the realization that high risk groups need more attention and they recognize that civil society groups have more of a role in reaching out to the more vulnerable."
But many organizations have run into difficulties getting proper legal registration, the report noted. China has long been wary of NGOs, fearing they might be acting as agents for foreign governments or encouraging defiance of the Communist Party.
The number of officially reported HIV cases in China remained only 223,501 — far lower than the estimated total, probably in part because of reluctance to seek testing. The figure includes those who developed AIDS and those who died from the disease.
In 2004, China scaled back the estimated number of people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, from nearly 1 million to 840,000, and then further lowered the figure to 650,000 in 2005.Experts have said the figures are probably accurate because they are in line with a change in the way data are collected.Global health officials said earlier this month that the estimated number of people infected with HIV worldwide fell from almost 40 million last year to about 33.2 million this year, the result of a different methodology which shows that the AIDS pandemic is losing momentum.The old numbers were largely based on how many infected pregnant women were at prenatal clinics, as well as projecting the AIDS rates of certain high-risk groups like drug users to the entire population at risk. Officials said those figures were flawed, and are now incorporating more data like national household surveys.
Myanmar junta shuts AIDS monastery
Myanmar junta shuts AIDS monastery
YANGON (Reuters) - The Myanmar junta has shut down a Yangonmonastery which served as a hospice for HIV/AIDS patients andexpelled its monks, an opposition lawyer said on Friday.
"The authorities sealed Maggin monastery yesterdayafternoon" and expelled the monks, said Aung Thein of detaineddemocracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's National League forDemocracy.
"The authorities did not give them any documents and didnot say under which law the action was taken, so we cannot doanything to provide them with legal assistance," he added.
United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari criticized theclosure of the monastery, which was used as a hospice forHIV/AIDS sufferers and a refuge for provincial patients whocame to Yangon for medicines.
"Any actions that run counter to the spirit of nationalreconciliation, any action that will undermine the dialoguebetween the government and those who disagree with the policyof the government should be avoided," Gambari said in PhnomPenh.
"And I'd like to repeat that," he told reporters during avisit to Cambodia on a regional tour before returning to theformer Burma next month for more talks with the government andprobably Suu Kyi.
The abbots of Maggin monastery have long had the reputationof supporting pro-democracy campaigns, such as the one led bymonks in September which the junta crushed. The official deathtoll is 15, but diplomats believe it is much higher.
The suppression caused such international outrage the juntaallowed Gambari to visit and it appointed a senior general asintermediary with Suu Kyi, who has spent 12 of the past 18years under some form of detention.
Gambari, who expects to return to Myanmar in December, saidafter his last visit he had received assurances the crackdownwould stop.
But arrests have continued, raising doubts about thejunta's sincerity in beginning a real dialogue with theopposition.
"We get reports almost on a daily basis of people beingpicked up," Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar,told reporters in Bangkok.
"It's hard to see how shutting monasteries, continuing toarrest people and continued restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi,how this is progress," Villarosa said.
Myanmar state media say all but 91 of the nearly 3,000people arrested in the crackdown were released and monks fromraided monasteries were sent home.
Villarosa said she believed "a considerable number" ofmonks had been arrested and their whereabouts were unknown.
"It's the big question out there. Where are all the monks?"
(Additional reporting by Darren Schuettler in Bangkok; EkMadra in Phnom Penh)
YANGON (Reuters) - The Myanmar junta has shut down a Yangonmonastery which served as a hospice for HIV/AIDS patients andexpelled its monks, an opposition lawyer said on Friday.
"The authorities sealed Maggin monastery yesterdayafternoon" and expelled the monks, said Aung Thein of detaineddemocracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's National League forDemocracy.
"The authorities did not give them any documents and didnot say under which law the action was taken, so we cannot doanything to provide them with legal assistance," he added.
United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari criticized theclosure of the monastery, which was used as a hospice forHIV/AIDS sufferers and a refuge for provincial patients whocame to Yangon for medicines.
"Any actions that run counter to the spirit of nationalreconciliation, any action that will undermine the dialoguebetween the government and those who disagree with the policyof the government should be avoided," Gambari said in PhnomPenh.
"And I'd like to repeat that," he told reporters during avisit to Cambodia on a regional tour before returning to theformer Burma next month for more talks with the government andprobably Suu Kyi.
The abbots of Maggin monastery have long had the reputationof supporting pro-democracy campaigns, such as the one led bymonks in September which the junta crushed. The official deathtoll is 15, but diplomats believe it is much higher.
The suppression caused such international outrage the juntaallowed Gambari to visit and it appointed a senior general asintermediary with Suu Kyi, who has spent 12 of the past 18years under some form of detention.
Gambari, who expects to return to Myanmar in December, saidafter his last visit he had received assurances the crackdownwould stop.
But arrests have continued, raising doubts about thejunta's sincerity in beginning a real dialogue with theopposition.
"We get reports almost on a daily basis of people beingpicked up," Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar,told reporters in Bangkok.
"It's hard to see how shutting monasteries, continuing toarrest people and continued restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi,how this is progress," Villarosa said.
Myanmar state media say all but 91 of the nearly 3,000people arrested in the crackdown were released and monks fromraided monasteries were sent home.
Villarosa said she believed "a considerable number" ofmonks had been arrested and their whereabouts were unknown.
"It's the big question out there. Where are all the monks?"
(Additional reporting by Darren Schuettler in Bangkok; EkMadra in Phnom Penh)
Up to 50 million Chinese at risk from AIDS: UN
Up to 50 million Chinese at risk from AIDS: UN
A couple walk past an AIDS billboard inside a Beijing subway station, August 2006. Up to 50 million Chinese people are at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS, United Nations officials have warned, a day after the government said the spread of the disease has slowed.(AFP/File/Frederic J. Brown)BEIJING (AFP) - Up to 50 million Chinese people are at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS, United Nations officials warned Friday, a day after the government said the spread of the disease has slowed.
Chinese health minister Chen Zhu said Thursday there were an estimated 50,000 new HIV infections in 2007 and China has about 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases.
This compares with the estimated figure of 650,000 announced nearly two years ago based on work carried out by the Chinese government, the United Nations and the World Health Organisation.
But a day ahead of the World AIDS day, UN officials warned against complacency and cautioned that between 30 and 50 million people in China remained at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.
"Thirty to 50 million are exposed to substantial risk of HIV infection today. It shows you the potential and magnitude of the issue for the future," said Bernhard Schwartlander, China coordinator of UNAIDS.
The fact that heterosexual contact was the top cause of new infections in 2007, accounting for 44.7 percent, should also raise an alarm.
"It is remarkable and important to recognise that, because that shows the potential of that spread is quite significant," he said.
Schwartlander said although the current overall number of HIV/AIDS cases seemed relatively low for China's 1.3 billion population, infections were rising in more and more areas.
The rapid increase in male homosexual activities, expanding sex industry and more widespread drug use in China in recent years have also contributed to the potential for further spread of the disease.
"We may be seeing fewer infections than we have seen in earlier years, but that can change rapidly again," he warned.
Independent AIDS activists have long warned that the official estimates underestimated the rampant spread of the disease and the real number of people suffering from the disease could be 10 times higher.
But Khalid Malik, UN resident coordinator disagreed.
"The (official) numbers are estimates first of all, they (the real figures) could be a little lower, a little higher, but definitely not in the multiples."
A couple walk past an AIDS billboard inside a Beijing subway station, August 2006. Up to 50 million Chinese people are at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS, United Nations officials have warned, a day after the government said the spread of the disease has slowed.(AFP/File/Frederic J. Brown)BEIJING (AFP) - Up to 50 million Chinese people are at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS, United Nations officials warned Friday, a day after the government said the spread of the disease has slowed.
Chinese health minister Chen Zhu said Thursday there were an estimated 50,000 new HIV infections in 2007 and China has about 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases.
This compares with the estimated figure of 650,000 announced nearly two years ago based on work carried out by the Chinese government, the United Nations and the World Health Organisation.
But a day ahead of the World AIDS day, UN officials warned against complacency and cautioned that between 30 and 50 million people in China remained at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.
"Thirty to 50 million are exposed to substantial risk of HIV infection today. It shows you the potential and magnitude of the issue for the future," said Bernhard Schwartlander, China coordinator of UNAIDS.
The fact that heterosexual contact was the top cause of new infections in 2007, accounting for 44.7 percent, should also raise an alarm.
"It is remarkable and important to recognise that, because that shows the potential of that spread is quite significant," he said.
Schwartlander said although the current overall number of HIV/AIDS cases seemed relatively low for China's 1.3 billion population, infections were rising in more and more areas.
The rapid increase in male homosexual activities, expanding sex industry and more widespread drug use in China in recent years have also contributed to the potential for further spread of the disease.
"We may be seeing fewer infections than we have seen in earlier years, but that can change rapidly again," he warned.
Independent AIDS activists have long warned that the official estimates underestimated the rampant spread of the disease and the real number of people suffering from the disease could be 10 times higher.
But Khalid Malik, UN resident coordinator disagreed.
"The (official) numbers are estimates first of all, they (the real figures) could be a little lower, a little higher, but definitely not in the multiples."
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Ukraine AIDS epidemic "most severe" in Europe: UN
Ukraine AIDS epidemic "most severe" in Europe: UN
A woman lights a candle at a symbolic red ribbon in remembrance of individuals lost to AIDS. Ukraine's AIDS epidemic is the "most severe" in Europe, and is headed towards the general population, not only high-risk groups, UN officials said Friday in Kiev.(AFP/File/Andrej Isakovic)KIEV (AFP) - Ukraine's AIDS epidemic is the "most severe" in Europe, and is headed towards the general population, not only high-risk groups, UN officials said Friday in Kiev.
Twenty years after the debut of the epidemic in Ukraine, the situation was continuing to deteriorate, UN Special Envoy Lars Kallings said on the eve of World AIDS Day, December 1.
"If the spread of HIV is not stopped in the next three years, I fear that Ukraine will become the first generalised AIDS epidemic in Europe," he said.
During the first 10 months of the year, 14,480 new HIV cases were officially registered among Ukranians, said a statement from the UN.
Officially, 119,000 HIV cases have been registered to date, but the real number has been estimated at 377,600 since the end of 2005, the statement continued.
"That means that less than one-third of all people contaminated are aware that they have the disease," it added.
Nearly 22,000 Ukranians currently have AIDS and more than 12,000 have died, according to official statistics.
The transmission of HIV through the sharing of dirty needles between drugn users is the main cause of the epidemic in the former Soviet republic, the UN reported.
But heterosexual transmission is increasinly frequent, up 20 percent per year, which the UN fears is a sign the disease is making its way into the general population.
The UN noted that 7,000 HIV-positive people were receiving retro-viral treatment in Ukraine.
That had helped slow the rate of people developing full-blown AIDS, with 3,700 new AIDS patients registered during the first 10 months of 2007 against 3,900 during the same period last year.
The UN called on Ukraine to improve its control of treating the disease.
A woman lights a candle at a symbolic red ribbon in remembrance of individuals lost to AIDS. Ukraine's AIDS epidemic is the "most severe" in Europe, and is headed towards the general population, not only high-risk groups, UN officials said Friday in Kiev.(AFP/File/Andrej Isakovic)KIEV (AFP) - Ukraine's AIDS epidemic is the "most severe" in Europe, and is headed towards the general population, not only high-risk groups, UN officials said Friday in Kiev.
Twenty years after the debut of the epidemic in Ukraine, the situation was continuing to deteriorate, UN Special Envoy Lars Kallings said on the eve of World AIDS Day, December 1.
"If the spread of HIV is not stopped in the next three years, I fear that Ukraine will become the first generalised AIDS epidemic in Europe," he said.
During the first 10 months of the year, 14,480 new HIV cases were officially registered among Ukranians, said a statement from the UN.
Officially, 119,000 HIV cases have been registered to date, but the real number has been estimated at 377,600 since the end of 2005, the statement continued.
"That means that less than one-third of all people contaminated are aware that they have the disease," it added.
Nearly 22,000 Ukranians currently have AIDS and more than 12,000 have died, according to official statistics.
The transmission of HIV through the sharing of dirty needles between drugn users is the main cause of the epidemic in the former Soviet republic, the UN reported.
But heterosexual transmission is increasinly frequent, up 20 percent per year, which the UN fears is a sign the disease is making its way into the general population.
The UN noted that 7,000 HIV-positive people were receiving retro-viral treatment in Ukraine.
That had helped slow the rate of people developing full-blown AIDS, with 3,700 new AIDS patients registered during the first 10 months of 2007 against 3,900 during the same period last year.
The UN called on Ukraine to improve its control of treating the disease.
Bush announces Africa trip, presses for AIDS funds
Bush announces Africa trip, presses for AIDS funds
A large AIDS ribbon hangs from the North Portico of the White House, November 30, 2007. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)MOUNT AIRY, Maryland (Reuters) - President George W. Bushon Friday announced a trip to Africa early next year for afirst-hand look at U.S.-sponsored HIV/AIDS programs and pressedCongress to approve a doubling of funds to combat the diseaseglobally.
Bush used an appearance at a church in Mount Airy,Maryland, the day before World AIDS Day to reaffirm hisadministration's multibillion-dollar commitment to fightingwhat he called the "scourge of HIV/AIDS."
"We rededicate ourselves to a great purpose. We will turnthe tide against HIV/AIDS, once and for all," Bush said aftermeeting members of nongovernmental organizations andfaith-based groups working in the hardest-hit countries.
AIDS activists have praised Bush's global anti-AIDS effortfor getting life-extending drugs to people who otherwise wouldgo without them, but have criticized its prevention measuresfor focusing too heavily on encouraging sexual abstinence.
Police arrested about 40 people staging a sit-in protest onthe sidewalk in front of the White House against requirementsin the U.S. program that at least a third of the funds bedirected to promoting sexual abstinence until marriage.
Offering an upbeat assessment of his administration'santi-AIDS effort, Bush said he and first lady Laura Bush wouldvisit sub-Saharan Africa early next year to see "the results ofAmerica's generosity."
He gave no dates or itinerary for the trip, his second tothe region since taking office in 2001. He made a five-nationtour in 2003 during which he visited AIDS patients in Uganda.
Bush sees his initiatives against AIDS and malaria asforeign policy successes, and a trip to Africa in his finalyear in office could underscore that and give a boost to alegacy expected to be dominated by the unpopular war in Iraq.
Flanked by participants from Friday's meeting outsideWashington, Bush urged Congress to authorize legislationdoubling the U.S. financial commitment to combat AIDS globallyto $30 billion over five years, starting next year.
The program is focused on 15 countries -- 12 in Africa,plus Vietnam, Haiti and Guyana.
In 2003 Bush launched a five-year, $15 billion initiativecalled the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, orPEPFAR, to provide drugs to treat people infected with thehuman immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS and supportprevention efforts.
"I call on Congress to show America's leadership andcompassion by reauthorizing the emergency plan," he said.
More than 33 million people are infected with the AIDSvirus, according to the latest U.N. estimate.
Bush said the U.S. plan had helped increase the number ofpeople in sub-Saharan Africa receiving antiretroviral drugs to1.4 million from 50,000 five years ago.
(Editing by Vicki Allen)
A large AIDS ribbon hangs from the North Portico of the White House, November 30, 2007. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)MOUNT AIRY, Maryland (Reuters) - President George W. Bushon Friday announced a trip to Africa early next year for afirst-hand look at U.S.-sponsored HIV/AIDS programs and pressedCongress to approve a doubling of funds to combat the diseaseglobally.
Bush used an appearance at a church in Mount Airy,Maryland, the day before World AIDS Day to reaffirm hisadministration's multibillion-dollar commitment to fightingwhat he called the "scourge of HIV/AIDS."
"We rededicate ourselves to a great purpose. We will turnthe tide against HIV/AIDS, once and for all," Bush said aftermeeting members of nongovernmental organizations andfaith-based groups working in the hardest-hit countries.
AIDS activists have praised Bush's global anti-AIDS effortfor getting life-extending drugs to people who otherwise wouldgo without them, but have criticized its prevention measuresfor focusing too heavily on encouraging sexual abstinence.
Police arrested about 40 people staging a sit-in protest onthe sidewalk in front of the White House against requirementsin the U.S. program that at least a third of the funds bedirected to promoting sexual abstinence until marriage.
Offering an upbeat assessment of his administration'santi-AIDS effort, Bush said he and first lady Laura Bush wouldvisit sub-Saharan Africa early next year to see "the results ofAmerica's generosity."
He gave no dates or itinerary for the trip, his second tothe region since taking office in 2001. He made a five-nationtour in 2003 during which he visited AIDS patients in Uganda.
Bush sees his initiatives against AIDS and malaria asforeign policy successes, and a trip to Africa in his finalyear in office could underscore that and give a boost to alegacy expected to be dominated by the unpopular war in Iraq.
Flanked by participants from Friday's meeting outsideWashington, Bush urged Congress to authorize legislationdoubling the U.S. financial commitment to combat AIDS globallyto $30 billion over five years, starting next year.
The program is focused on 15 countries -- 12 in Africa,plus Vietnam, Haiti and Guyana.
In 2003 Bush launched a five-year, $15 billion initiativecalled the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, orPEPFAR, to provide drugs to treat people infected with thehuman immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS and supportprevention efforts.
"I call on Congress to show America's leadership andcompassion by reauthorizing the emergency plan," he said.
More than 33 million people are infected with the AIDSvirus, according to the latest U.N. estimate.
Bush said the U.S. plan had helped increase the number ofpeople in sub-Saharan Africa receiving antiretroviral drugs to1.4 million from 50,000 five years ago.
(Editing by Vicki Allen)
Benin tree-planting scheme brings hope in anti-AIDS fight
Benin tree-planting scheme brings hope in anti-AIDS fight
A HIV positive mother and child pose next to a Moringa tree in a field belonging to the Apevivis association in Kpomasse. Anti-AIDS campaigners in the west African state of Benin are using a "tree of life" to help fight against the disease, in a project that provides food, revenue and hope for HIV-positive people.(AFP/Fiarce Vidjingninou)COME, Benin (AFP) - Anti-AIDS campaigners in the west African state of Benin are using a "tree of life" to help fight against the disease, in a project that provides food, revenue and hope for HIV-positive people.
As activists mark World Aids Day on December 1, the tree-planting project has been hailed by campaigners and residents alike.
"The Moringa, it is our new tree of life," said Nicolas Ahouansou, head of Apevivis, an association representing HIV-positive people in Come, 70 kilometres (45 miles) west of the capital, Cotonou.
"I had never planted a tree in my life" he admitted.
But for many members of the association, rejected by society or having lost their jobs because of their HIV-positive status, the work had restored their dignity and given them renewed hope, he added.
French aid agency Medecins du Monde (MDM, Doctors of the World), launched the scheme in 2005 in both Come and in the Ouidah region, 40 kilometres west of the capital.
Originally from India, the Moringa Oleifera tree also grows in tropical regions in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
MDM chose the tree because of its remarkable properties, the group's local coordinator, Lise Adjahi Pourteau, explained.
"The Moringa Olifera is a tree whose nutritional, medicinal and agropastoral virtues are known but under-utilised in Benin, where they are mainly used as hedges," she said.
"The fight against HIV involves a nutritional component of course," said Porteau. "Because often, the fact that patients start to take antiretrovirals when they are under-nourished can compromise the treatment."
Antiretroviral drug treatments are designed to stabilise the condition of HIV-positive people and prevent them from developing full-blown AIDS.
The idea of the tree-cultivation project was to encourage HIV-positive people to take responsibility for their own health by growing something that would help them get the vital nutrition they needed.
On a plot of land at Kpomasse, 35 kilometres from Come, members of the association keep a careful watch on their crop. But they know that the tree is a robust breed, fast-growing and resistant to drought.
"It's a magnificent plant," said Valerie, 33, one of the tree cultivators.
"With the antiretrovirals you get your strength back but many among us have already lost our jobs and we pass our time running after money so we can eat," she said.
"Growing (them) makes us more independent and you can eat everything in this tree, from the roots to the leaves and even the flowers," she added.
According to specialists, the leaves of the Moringa are richer in vitamins, minerals and proteins than most vegetables.
"Everything is good in this tree," said Kendourou Avelssi, a Come traditional doctor. Its virtues, he said, were known even by the ancients.Benin's anti-HIV/AIDS programme stresses the need for a balanced and adequate diet in the fight against the illness -- but this is by no means guaranteed in such a poor country.Medecins du Monde plans to evaluate what effect the tree's food products have on those who consume it.But for Ahouansou the tree already represents renewed hope. His dream, he says, is that "one day, each one of us could have a small parcel of land with Moringa trees."
A HIV positive mother and child pose next to a Moringa tree in a field belonging to the Apevivis association in Kpomasse. Anti-AIDS campaigners in the west African state of Benin are using a "tree of life" to help fight against the disease, in a project that provides food, revenue and hope for HIV-positive people.(AFP/Fiarce Vidjingninou)COME, Benin (AFP) - Anti-AIDS campaigners in the west African state of Benin are using a "tree of life" to help fight against the disease, in a project that provides food, revenue and hope for HIV-positive people.
As activists mark World Aids Day on December 1, the tree-planting project has been hailed by campaigners and residents alike.
"The Moringa, it is our new tree of life," said Nicolas Ahouansou, head of Apevivis, an association representing HIV-positive people in Come, 70 kilometres (45 miles) west of the capital, Cotonou.
"I had never planted a tree in my life" he admitted.
But for many members of the association, rejected by society or having lost their jobs because of their HIV-positive status, the work had restored their dignity and given them renewed hope, he added.
French aid agency Medecins du Monde (MDM, Doctors of the World), launched the scheme in 2005 in both Come and in the Ouidah region, 40 kilometres west of the capital.
Originally from India, the Moringa Oleifera tree also grows in tropical regions in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
MDM chose the tree because of its remarkable properties, the group's local coordinator, Lise Adjahi Pourteau, explained.
"The Moringa Olifera is a tree whose nutritional, medicinal and agropastoral virtues are known but under-utilised in Benin, where they are mainly used as hedges," she said.
"The fight against HIV involves a nutritional component of course," said Porteau. "Because often, the fact that patients start to take antiretrovirals when they are under-nourished can compromise the treatment."
Antiretroviral drug treatments are designed to stabilise the condition of HIV-positive people and prevent them from developing full-blown AIDS.
The idea of the tree-cultivation project was to encourage HIV-positive people to take responsibility for their own health by growing something that would help them get the vital nutrition they needed.
On a plot of land at Kpomasse, 35 kilometres from Come, members of the association keep a careful watch on their crop. But they know that the tree is a robust breed, fast-growing and resistant to drought.
"It's a magnificent plant," said Valerie, 33, one of the tree cultivators.
"With the antiretrovirals you get your strength back but many among us have already lost our jobs and we pass our time running after money so we can eat," she said.
"Growing (them) makes us more independent and you can eat everything in this tree, from the roots to the leaves and even the flowers," she added.
According to specialists, the leaves of the Moringa are richer in vitamins, minerals and proteins than most vegetables.
"Everything is good in this tree," said Kendourou Avelssi, a Come traditional doctor. Its virtues, he said, were known even by the ancients.Benin's anti-HIV/AIDS programme stresses the need for a balanced and adequate diet in the fight against the illness -- but this is by no means guaranteed in such a poor country.Medecins du Monde plans to evaluate what effect the tree's food products have on those who consume it.But for Ahouansou the tree already represents renewed hope. His dream, he says, is that "one day, each one of us could have a small parcel of land with Moringa trees."
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