ATLANTA
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Friday named a new director for the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tapping a health activist who pushed
for expanding AIDS testing and banning smoking in restaurants.News (Updated
May 17, 2009)
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By Matthew Bigg Matthew
Bigg Fri May 15, 2:58 pm ET
ATLANTA
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Friday named a new director for the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tapping a health activist who pushed
for expanding AIDS testing and banning smoking in restaurants.
Dr. Thomas Frieden, 48,
who has been New York City's top health official since 2002, will head the
federal agency charged with protecting Americans from illnesses ranging from
heart disease to new flu strains.
Under Frieden's
leadership,
He will take over as
director of an organization that has been central to global efforts to combat
the H1N1 flu virus. The illness, also known as swine flu, has killed 65 people,
most in
"Frieden is an expert
in preparedness and response to health emergencies, and has been at the
forefront of the fight against heart disease, cancer and obesity, infectious
diseases such as tuberculosis and AIDS," the White House said in a
statement.
"Frieden has been a
leader in the fight for health care reform, and his experiences confronting
public health challenges in our country and abroad will be essential in this new
role," it said.
In
Frieden also worked in
Frieden, who will start
his job in June, told a news conference he was "deeply honored" by the
appointment.
"REAL WORLD
EXPERIENCE"
The new CDC director
brings "real world experience fighting AIDS" to the agency, according
to The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the largest HIV/AIDS organization in the
country.
Frieden has pressed for
expanding routine testing for AIDS as a first step to controlling a virus that
is spreading in the
Jeff Levi of the Trust for
But he argued that the
agency's director is often a passive diplomat with fewer powers of direct
persuasion than a state or city health officer and that the organization must
wait to be invited by state authorities or governments to intervene.
In evidence of divided
reaction to some of Frieden's decisions in
Frieden "doesn't give
any consideration to personal responsibility or privacy" when it comes to
health, said Justin Wilson, a research analyst for the center.
Frieden will likely follow
the lead of former CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding in becoming a visible
spokesperson for the agency. The CDC has been headed by acting director Dr.
Richard Besser since Gerberding resigned in January.
Besser became the public
face of the organization's fight against H1N1 during daily televised news
briefings. He will continue in his role coordinating CDC's office of terrorism
preparedness and emergency response, the statement said.
The CDC, based in
(Additional reporting by Maggie Fox in Washington and Edith Honan in New York, Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Paul Simao)
May 15, 2009, 4:02 am
HO
But two brothers have
opened an upmarket condom boutique here, saying customers want more choice and
more sophisticated options -- even in a country known for being socially
conservative, where sex education is taboo.
"Doing this business
is good for the public and the society," says Nguyen Khanh Phong, 28.
"We went to the
authorities and asked for permission and they allowed us," adds his
21-year-old brother Nguyen Hoang Long.
"Now things come
easier," he adds, noting that the business -- open for more than two months
now -- is thriving.
The shop, called Volcano,
makes no attempt to hide what it's selling. Condom boxes are stuck to the glass
doors of the tiny store, the walls are painted pink and shelves are stacked with
condoms from across
"We spent a lot of
money," Phong says. "It looks friendly."
The Fuji Shock brand from
"When they take this
out, it's like some chocolate candy," Phong says, showing off the shiny
wrapper.
Another Japanese condom on
display has a light that illuminates when the man ejaculates.
"Our customers really
like the design of the Japanese condoms," Long adds.
High-tech Japanese condoms
are not for sale at Tai Sanh's condom booth, one of many spread out in the
ethnic Chinese quarter of the southern city, formerly known as
Cigarette in hand, Sanh,
60, sits on a low red stool behind his display case filled with boxes of VIP
condoms. Customers looking for something more exotic may opt for the X-Men. At
10,000 dong each, the condom has round rubber studs.
Sanh says roadside vendors
make buying condoms much easier, especially for
"We sell a lot,"
Sanh says, adding that he stays out of trouble with the authorities by not
selling pornographic DVDs, sex toys or fake anti-impotency drugs, which are
banned.
In the capital
Making and distributing
pornography and other "debauched cultural products" can be punished
with jail terms of up to 15 years in communist
But such things are easy
to find.
At one Chinese medicine
shop in
Long and Phong stick to
selling condoms, which they say is a big enough market in a country where
attitudes about sex are changing -- especially among the youth.
"Vietnamese are
open-minded people," Long says.
They say they want to
offer their customers the widest variety of condoms available. They even stock
the locally-made brands, although Phong says they lack "special
features".
The brothers say their
customers are willing to pay for quality and service.
Frequent buyers receive a
discount. For their more shy customers, they offer delivery service.
"To open this shop we
spent more than 20 million dong," but first-week sales reached around 1.5
million dong and revenue now exceeds 10 million dong per week, Long says.
The pair say they will
open new condom outlets next month in Ho Chi Minh City and in nearby Tay Ninh
province, and are also looking for a location in the central city of Hue,
Vietnam's ancient royal capital.
Business may be good, but
in a city where billboards warn about the dangers of HIV/AIDS, the brothers say
they are actually serving a greater good, one backed by the authorities.
"The government is
encouraging us to sell this," Long says.
14 May 2009 14:17:22 GMT
Source: IRIN
Reuters and AlertNet are
not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet
sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
KARACHI
, 14 May 2009 - For the first time, female Pakistani sex workers have been given
a chance to talk about the difficulties of protecting themselves from HIV, at a
national meeting in the city of Karachi.
Although
Ministry of Health data
from 2006 to 2007 showed that female sex workers were a high-risk group in at
least 12 cities.
Less than a quarter of the
4,639 female sex workers surveyed reported using condoms consistently, and 10
percent had had sex with an injecting drug user in the past six months.
Illiterate sex workers were much less likely to use condoms than those with some
level of education.
The meeting in
"Although a few of
our clients agree to wear a condom, the majority of them prefer sex
otherwise," said Nasree*, a female sex worker and peer educator who
attended the conference.
"It is very hard for
us to convince them to put on a condom, but I feel that a female condom would
put us in a position where we can protect ourselves against HIV and sexually
transmitted infections." She added, however, that female condoms were hard
to come by.
Another sex worker, Naila*,
said legalising sex work would make it easier to protect their rights. "The
police harass us for no reason; female sex workers who are working as outreach
workers also get into trouble," she commented.
"For a way out, many
times sex workers succumb to pressure and end up having sex with the policemen;
those who don't, end up getting a beating and being violated forcefully."
Daniel Baker, UNFPA's
country representative for
UNFPA's Dr Safdar Kamal
Pasha confirmed that the recommendations made by the sex workers who attended
the meeting would be crucial to future programming.
"The female sex
workers agreed that there should be vocational training and the means for
alternative work opportunities for those who want to move out of sex work, as
well as those who are past their prime and do not find sustainability in sex
work," he said.
Other recommendations
included prioritising HIV testing and referral services for sex workers, and
finding ways to curb the stigma and discrimination they faced.
*Not their real names
13 May 2009 14:38:37 GMT
Source: IRIN
Reuters and AlertNet are
not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet
sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
NAIROBI, 13 May 2009 - One
in three Swazi girls has experienced some form of sexual violence before the age
of 18, which often leads to serious social and health problems including HIV and
unwanted pregnancies, a new study has found.
"[Sexual violence]
has devastating short-term and long-term mental, reproductive, and physical
health consequences," said the authors of the study supported by the UN
Children's Fund and the United States Centres for Disease Control, and published
in the latest edition of the British medical journal, The Lancet.
An estimated 22 percent of
Swazi women aged between 15 and 24 are infected with HIV; the authors noted that
sexual violence could be an important route of HIV transmission in
high-prevalence countries like
The study categorised
sexual violence into types including forced intercourse, coerced intercourse,
and forced touching. Forced intercourse before the age of 18 was reported by
five percent of girls, with coerced intercourse being reported by nine percent.
Almost 90 percent of girls reported the first experience of sexual violence
between the ages of 13 and 17.
"Sexual violence was
associated with significantly increased probability ... of ever feeling
depressed, thoughts of suicide, attempted suicide, unwanted pregnancy, pregnancy
complications or miscarriages, sexually transmitted diseases, difficulty
sleeping, and alcohol consumption," the report said.
Disturbingly, researchers
found that in three-quarters of cases, the perpetrators of sexual violence were
men or boys related to or known to the girls.
"Future strategies
should focus on prevention of perpetration by men of sexual violence, and since
sexual- and intimate-partner violence might have common roots, local and
national initiatives could be reviewed, adapted and scaled up for this
purpose," the authors recommended.
By VERONIKA OLEKSYN,
Associated Press Writer Veronika Oleksyn, Associated Press Writer Sat May 16,
11:51 pm ET
VIENNA – "Desperate
Housewives" star Eva Longoria Parker, former U.S. President Bill Clinton
and singer Katy Perry attended a flamboyant Austrian charity gala Saturday
dedicated to raising money for people with HIV and AIDS.
Other celebrities spotted
at the Life Ball were actress Fran Drescher, former Baywatch babe Pamela
Anderson and model Amber Valletta.
The annual bash, held in
and around
Saturday's partygoers did
their best not to disappoint.
As crowds craned their
necks to catch a glimpse, a couple covered in blue body paint kissed for
photographers. Another duo, also scantily clad, resembled silver sea urchins.
The party kicked off with
an extravagant outdoor opening ceremony that combined music and dance segments
with pleas to stay focused on fighting the devastating disease.
Longoria Parker, wearing a
strapless gown, told the crowd that in many parts of
"There's a terrible
shortage of doctors and other health care workers who are trained to provide the
proper treatment and care for those children," said Longoria Parker, a
representative of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), a nonprofit
organization dedicated to the support of HIV/AIDS research.
"We know we live in
an interdependent world where we cannot separate our fates from those a long way
away," he said. "Tonight, you are not just enjoying an extraordinary
extravaganza, you are helping children and women and men to live in far away
places who would have no money, no medicine, no hope."
In 2002,
Once the opening ceremony
ended, some 4,000 ticketed guests danced the night away inside city hall — a
vast building with a courtyard and multiple floors.
"It's my first Life
Ball and I'm really enjoying it," said Nicolas Lucas, a teacher dressed up
as Neptune, God of the sea.
In an interview with The
Associated Press earlier this week, Life Ball founder and organizer Gery Keszler
said he came up with the idea of the Life Ball almost two decades ago when one
of his best friends got sick.
"It was a very risky idea because, at the time, AIDS was an absolutely taboo topic," Keszler said.
Mon May 11, 8:14 AM
JOHANNESBURG
Aaron Motsoaledi, a
medical doctor currently serving as a provincial education official, will take
office as the new health minister on Monday -- the second change in the post in
less than a year.
The outgoing minister
Barbara Hogan had won praise for breaking with the denialist policies of former
president Thabo Mbeki and his health minister Manto Tshabala-Msimang, known as
Dr Beetroot for shunning life-saving drugs for vegetables.
Zuma immediately sought to
dispel concerns about the appointment, calling Motsoaledi "a well-known
doctor who has handled this department at a provincial level in the past."
"He is a very
energetic and able comrade so I don't think you should be very worried,"
Zuma added.
But activists warned that
repeated changes in a ministry known for disorganisation would do little to
focus the nation's efforts on easing the plight of the 5.7 million South
Africans living with HIV.
"I have to say that
it's very disappointing," said Mark Heywood, spokesman for the Treatment
Action Campaign pressure group, noting that changes in leadership had also been
made at the provincial level across the country.
"We have an entirely
new political team responsible for health at a time where the health system is
in critical need of rescucitation and in need of continuity and
understanding."
Zuma carries heavy baggage
into his fight against HIV. He's a polygamist in a country where multiple sex
partners have pushed up infections and was number two under Mbeki, who caused
long delays in the roll out of life-saving drugs.
But his biggest
credibility challenge will be overcoming a 2006 bombshell while on trial for
rape, for which he was acquitted, when he said he faced a small risk of
infection in unprotected sex with his HIV positive accuser.
Zuma, who headed the
country's national AIDS council at the time, went on to say that he had showered
to minimise the chance of contracting the disease.
The much-ridiculed
statements have haunted him ever since, despite an apology and his astonishing
political come-back to the country's top office.
"Zuma's 'shower
theory' has undermined his authority on HIV/AIDS and raised concerns about his
capacity to effectively lead the government in the struggle against
HIV/AIDS," said Elizabeth Mills of the
"Zuma has not
demonstrated leadership with regards to sexual monogamy nor condom use,"
she added.
The new president has
committed himself to strong AIDS messages but activists want visible leadership
for a strong national response.
"I hope we will avoid
destructive messages and controversies which detract from combating the HIV
epidemic," said Laetitia Rispel of the Centre for Health Policy at the
University of the
Another challenge will be
finding cash to maintain the world's largest anti-retroviral drugs programme
that had nearly 700,000 South Africans on treatment at the end of November.
The government plans to
boost its battle by 932 million rand (112 million dollars) and double treatment
over the next three years. But Zuma's team is facing the country's first
recession in 17 years.
"I look forward to
seeing how he translates rhetoric into practice as our new president. Time will
tell," Mills said.
"Should Zuma prove us
wrong in our cautious optimism, then South Africans will stand up together and
fight until we are heard. We've done it before, and we'll do it again."
Critics ask why WHO hasn't
pursued generic Tamiflu to help poor countries fight swine flu
Maria Cheng, Associated
Press Writer
On Monday May 11, 2009,
2:48 pm EDT
Antivirals such as Tamiflu
are believed to be effective against swine flu if administered early.
Tamiflu, made by the Swiss
drugmaker Roche, sells for as much as $100 per treatment in countries such as
the
Many rich nations sit on
stockpiles of expensive Tamiflu, which was created in 1996 and is patent
protected in most countries. However, Roche granted two companies in
Roche could not say how
many developing countries have ordered Tamiflu at the cheaper price.
"We remain ready to
discuss options with any manufacturers who can make Tamiflu," David Reddy,
who works on Roche's global pandemic task force in
Despite this availability,
the World Health Organization -- which maintains its own stockpiles of Tamiflu
for poor nations -- has not ordered up new batches of generic Tamiflu, even
though WHO raised its pandemic alert level to phase 5, signaling it believes a
global flu outbreak to be "imminent."
Critics say Roche should
allow even more companies to produce generic Tamiflu, and that money from donor
countries would go further in the Third World, if WHO was buying generic flu
medicines itself or advising poorer countries to do so.
Meanwhile, in
Some critics suspect WHO
is reluctant to anger drug companies, which supply it with free stockpiles of
drugs, by encouraging the use of generics. Given all they spend on research and
development to produce new drugs, Western pharmaceuticals have long fought to
keep generics out of the market in all circumstances.
"There needs to be a
better system in place so that WHO does not have to rely on the goodwill and
charity of drug makers to get medicines for poor countries," said Sangeeta
Shashikant of Third World Network, a nonprofit development organization.
WHO insists it's doing its
best to secure antivirals for poor countries.
"WHO will work on
behalf of its member states to secure further antivirals as needed, either
through donations or purchase at the lowest possible price, to support
developing countries in need," said Elil Renganathan, a WHO official
working on antivirals.
Tamiflu and a similar
medicine, Relenza, are mainly used to treat flu, but they only work if started
within 48 hours of first symptoms. Studies show they cut the duration of illness
by about one day, compared with no treatment. Little is known about whether
these medicines cut the chances of serious flu complications, like pneumonia,
and few studies have tested them in children.
Experts say vaccines would
offer the best protection against a swine flu pandemic, but they won't be
available for months.
And even when they are,
rich countries are first in line:
WHO is appealing to
vaccine makers to save some of their vaccines for poor countries, but it's
doubtful they will get enough to treat a significant portion of the population.
Last week, Cipla said it
could produce 1.5 million treatments of a generic version of Tamiflu in the next
few weeks. But Yusuf Hamied, the company's chairman, said it is ready to make
millions more courses as soon as poor countries and agencies like WHO place
orders.
"We could make a lot
more, but there needs to be firm commitment from countries and international
agencies like WHO," he said. "The ball is in their court."
So far, WHO has not
recommended that countries with production capacity start making their own
generic supplies of antivirals.
WHO has a stockpile of
about 5 million Tamiflu treatment courses donated by Roche, and last week the
agency began sending 2.4 million treatments to 72 poor countries. But such
numbers pale in comparison to hundreds of millions of people in the developing
world who would be vulnerable in a flu pandemic.
WHO says it is exploring
generic production, but no decisions have been made. WHO says it is unsure how
much massive generic production could increase the global supply and would not
estimate a cost.
Renganathan said WHO wants
to ensure any generic medicines meet drug safety standards. He said they are
investigating the possibility of generic production with companies wherever they
are located.
Still, critics say WHO has
been slowfooted on generics.
"I don't know why WHO
hasn't pursued generics," said Tido von Schoen-Angerer, director of
Medecins Sans Frontieres' Access to Essential Medicines Campaign.
"A big role for WHO
is to increase the world's generics supply of antivirals and make sure all
countries have access," von Schoen-Angerer said. "It's not clear why
WHO hasn't prioritized this."
With a large supply of
generics, developing countries that could afford them, like
High rates of HIV,
malaria, tuberculosis, malnutrition and other health problems greatly deepen the
vulnerability of the world's poorest countries to a flu pandemic.
So far, critics say
there's no indication from WHO that generic options will be prioritized for poor
countries that can't afford Roche's Tamiflu.
"Countries are going
to scramble to get as many medicines as they can in this situation," said
Martin Khor, executive director of the South Centre, a think tank focused on
developing countries.
"WHO should be
helping countries to get stockpiles of antivirals as cheaply as possible."