New Study: Uganda’s HIV incidence drops due to condoms, not abstinence or faithfulness

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

In the Rakai district … researchers found that abstinence and
fidelity have actually been declining, but the expected rise in HIV infections
stemming from such behavior has not occurred.

“Condom use may be offsetting other high-risk behaviors,” said Maria
Wawer, a professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health,
who presented the study at a [...]

NY Times Editorial: Children and AIDS

From the New York Times February 22nd:
We are thrilled to hear that mother-to-child transmission of the AIDS
virus has been nearly wiped out in America and Western Europe, thanks
to early H.I.V. testing for pregnant women and the widespread use of
antiretroviral therapy, which inhibits the passage of the virus to
babies.
Bizarrely, this could be bad news for the [...]

AIDS and democracy: what do we know?

Literature review on HIV/AIDS, governance and democracy Nelufule, M. Health Economics & HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD), University of Natal, 2004

This paper builds on an earlier literature review which examines the connections between HIV/AIDS, governance and democracy. It was prepared for the Democracy, Governance and HIV/AIDS in Africa Roundtable which took place in Pretoria, South Africa [...]

AIDS-Linked Death Data Stir Political Storm in South Africa

More from South Africa on mortality from HIV/AIDS. Excerpts from the Times:

In an implicit but devastating account of the havoc AIDS is causing
here, South Africa’s government reported Friday that annual deaths
increased 57 percent from 1997 to 2003, with common AIDS-related
diseases like tuberculosis and pneumonia fueling much of the rise.
The report, by the government agency Statistics [...]

Group Awarded AIDS Grant Despite Negative Appraisal

Excerpts from the Washington Post:
The Bush administration’s global AIDS program last fall awarded a grant
to promote abstinence in African youth to a politically connected
Washington advocacy group, even though the expert committee reviewing
requests for government money judged the request “not suitable for
funding.”
Waxman is seeking details of the Children’s AIDS Fund’s grant
application, why expert reviewers rejected it [...]

Up to 23% in South African Army have HIV/Aids

“Between 17 and 23 percent of SA National Defence Force members may be infected with HIV/Aids, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said on Tuesday.”
This official figure from the government has been bandied about to undermine previous reports from a report that said 89% of the military was HIV positive. That figure came from [...]

HIV outreach and prevention efforts a mixed bag

More on HIV prevention, in the wake of last week’s announcement.  It’s not encouraging, to say the least.

A nationwide team of researchers and public health workers recently
completed perhaps the most ambitious effort to reduce H.I.V.
transmission rates among high-risk gay men. The Explore project, as it
is known, followed 4,295 sexually active men in six American cities [...]

Rare, aggressive strain of HIV reported

The Times is reporting a possibly resistant, aggressive strain of HIV in NYC:
A rare strain of H.I.V. that is highly resistant to virtually all
anti-retroviral drugs and appears to lead to the rapid onset of AIDS
was detected in a New York City man last week, city health officials
announced on Friday.
It was the first time a strain [...]

two Robert Wood Johnson funding possibilities

I know that RWJ focuses on domestic policy, but I’m pretty sure that
Evan Lieberman’s crossnational study is somehow funded by them. This
leads me to think that there might be to frame our project so that it
fits the framework of at least one of the grants below. (The first
grant, “Changes in Healthcare Financing and Organization”, doesn’t
explicitly [...]

Defining Global Health for the 21st Century: UCSF Symposium

There’s an event today (2/11/05) to launch a new global health program. Take a look at the speakers:
• Welcome by J. Michael Bishop, MD, UCSF Chancellor• “Building Strong Institutions for Science and
Technology in Every Nation: The Role of the National Academies,” Bruce
M. Alberts, PhD, President, National Academy of Sciences; Professor,
Biochemistry and Biophysics, UCSF.
• “Mobilizing an Effective [...]

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