Tuberculosis (TB) that is resistant to practically every medication that can be used to treat it is alarmingly common in South Africa, and proved uniformly and rapidly fatal in one outbreak in rural South Africa, warned Dr Neel Gandhi, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, at the Sixteenth International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada.
Equity and HIV/AIDS
Extensively drug-resistant TB rapidly fatal in South Africa
Alcorn K: AIDSmap, 23 August 2006
HIV/HCV coinfected patients more prone to end-stage liver disease without treatment
Highleyman L: AIDSmap, 22 August 2006
Individuals coinfected with HIV and hepatitis C virus are more likely to develop end-stage liver disease (ESLD) compared to patients with hepatitis C virus, alone, according to a study presented at the Sixteenth International AIDS Conference in Toronto on August 15th. However, the investigators found that coinfected patients who achieved a sustained response to hepatitis C therapy were no more likely to progress to end stage liver disease than their hepatitis C monoinfected peers. This could have important implications for prioritising recipients of hepatitis C therapy in resource-poor settings.
Home-based HIV counselling and testing in camps for internally displaced
Plusnews, 21 August 2006
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Northern Uganda has begun operating home-based HIV counselling and testing in ten camps for internally displaced persons in the Kitgum region. The IRC intends to reach about 100,000 camp residents in their homes. HIV has spread rapidly in the region because the situation in the camps has adversely changed the way people behave.
Is Uganda's HIV prevention success story 'unravelling'?
Marco M, Bernard EJ: AIDSmap, 22 August 2006
Warning signs that Uganda's HIV prevalence may be on the rise again were presented to the Sixteenth International AIDS Conference in Toronto. Data on both HIV prevalence and incidence show rising trends since 2000, which the investigators attribute to increased sexual risk behaviour, the natural epidemiological cycle, and "other factors". These may include a chronic condom shortage and the hotly debated 'ABC' policy which appears to focus on abstinence and faithfulness rather than condom use.
SA dismisses harsh AIDS policy criticism
Quinn A: The Zimbabwe Standard, August 2006
South Africa's Health Ministry spokesman Sibani Mngadi dismissed harsh criticism of its AIDS policy by a top UN official "with contempt" and said he was no Messiah for Africa's HIV/AIDS crisis. UN special envoy on AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis closed a global conference with probably the most blistering attack ever on South Africa's "lunatic fringe" approach to AIDS, calling it immoral and ineffective.
SADC study urges new 'DRC' model to fight HIV
Plusnews, 14 August 2006
In the fight against HIV/AIDS, think 'DRC' and not 'ABC', a new Southern African Development Community (SADC) report says. The report said the old model of controlling the lethal virus through a programme of ABC (Abstinence, Being faithful and Condom use) should be replaced by 'DRC' - Delaying sex, Reducing partners and continued Condom use.
Single-dose nevirapine not jeopardising mother's treatment, large Zambian study reports
Marco M: AIDSmap, 17 August 2006
Single-dose nevirapine used for prevention of mother-to-child transmission does not appear to be jeopardising the future treatment responses of mothers who take it, researchers from Zambia reported this week at the Sixteenth International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada. Their study is the largest investigation to date of the effects of single-dose nevirapine on subsequent maternal treatment response.
Swaziland: AIDS activists say sexual offences bill criminalises victims
Plusnews, 3 August 2006
Groups representing Swaziland's HIV-positive population are angry at a proposed Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act mandating life prison terms for rapists who infect their victims with HIV, claiming that the law will criminalise the victim. "Negative and positive persons must be accorded equal rights. But what are we criminalising here? Sleeping with someone without his or her consent, in other words rape, or HIV?" said Thembi Nkambule, National coordinator of the Swaziland National Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS (SWANNEPHA).
Toronto AIDS conference focuses on prevention
Plusnews, 22 August 2006
At the close of the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada, the pervading mood was one of guarded optimism. The conference theme, 'Time To Deliver', set the tone for a week of reflection on lessons learned from the past 25 years of the AIDS epidemic. UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis used it as a rallying call in his closing speech to define the needs of the next 25 years, with a special focus on prevention.
When putting AIDS in the crosshairs, set targets
Palitza K: Inter Press Service News Agency, 25 July 2006
Civil society organisations in South Africa are preparing to push government to meet its commitment for setting national targets on HIV/AIDS, made at the recent United Nations General Assembly Special Sessions on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS). South African officials at UNGASS promised to set national HIV/AIDS targets by the end of the year (2006), however, a pledge that civil society organisations now want to ensure they keep; claiming government's current approach to HIV/AIDS is not delivering the goods.