NAIROBINews (Updated October
2, 2011)
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26 Sep 2011
By Katy Migiro
NAIROBI
Only 60 per cent of
Kenyans know their HIV status and the government is keen to boost this figure.
Many people are unwilling
to undergo voluntary counselling and testing due to the stigma associated with
it, the report said.
“Testing for HIV can
have significant benefits,” the newspaper quoted Peter Cherutich, Head of the
National AIDS and STI Control Programme, as saying.
“Those who have taken an
HIV test and know the result are more likely to have a higher level of
education, be in employment, have accurate HIV knowledge, and a higher
perception of risk.”
Women account for 65 per
cent of new infections in
Compulsory HIV testing is
considered a violation of human rights by rights groups
26 Sep 2011
By Katy Migiro
Universal Corporation
Limited has applied to the World Health Organisation to certify the drug
Lamozoid, so that it can be included in the list of drugs approved by the Global
Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The Global Fund is the
largest multilateral donor to the HIV/AIDS response in developing countries so
getting on its list of approved medications is crucial for drugs suppliers.
“Since the funding for
these international orders will be from the global kitty, accredited firms enjoy
guaranteed payments besides expanding their export markets,” Palu Dhanani,
Universal Corporation Limited’s managing director, told the paper.
(AFP) – Sep 8, 2011
A lifetime ban on blood
donation by men who have had sex with another man was introduced in
But a review by a panel of
leading experts and patient groups found it could no longer support their
permanent exclusion.
However, men who have had
anal or oral sex with another man in the past 12 months, with or without a
condom, will still be barred from donating blood, the Department of Health said.
The experts considered the
risk of infection being transmitted through blood, the willingness of potential
donors to comply with the selection criteria and improvements in testing donated
blood.
The change brings the
criteria for men who have had sex with men into line with other groups who are
deferred from giving blood for 12 months due to infection risks associated with
sexual behaviour.
These include women who
have slept with a man who has had sex with another man, people who have slept
with prostitutes and those who have had intercourse with anyone who has injected
themselves with drugs.
The announcement was
welcomed by human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, but he said it fell short of
lifting the ban on gay men who always use condoms.
He said: "Although
the new policy is a big improvement on the existing discriminatory rules, a
12-month ban is still excessive and unjustified."
Tatchell, who launched the
first campaign against the lifetime ban in 1991, added: "Most gay and
bisexual men do not have HIV and will never have HIV.
"If they always have
safe sex with a condom, have only one partner and test HIV negative, their blood
is safe to donate.
"They can and should
be allowed to help save lives by becoming donors."
Copyright © 2011 AFP.
By Oren Dorell,
A group of top world
economists said Wednesday that adult male circumcision, a global priority for
preventing HIV infection, is not nearly as cost-effective as other methods of
prevention.
By Jinty Jackson, AFP/Getty
Images
A Swazi man awaits to be
circumcised in a massive, nationwide drive to circumcise its men in a bid to
curb the spread of HIV.
A successful adult male
circumcision effort would require "a large public campaign to get people
into the clinic," said Bjorn Lomborg, director of the
Getting men to volunteer
to be circumcised would not be easy and "it could cause more risky behavior,"
Lomborg said.
The economists conducted a
first-ever cost-benefit analysis of the top AIDS-fighting approaches by
comparing the costs of prevention and treatment options per lives saved.
The group told
representatives of global organizations at
Each year 2.5million
people are infected with the disease and 2million die, about 70% of them in
Africa, according to the
Marelize Gorgens, HIV
prevention coordinator at the World Bank, disagreed with the economists, saying
male circumcision is like a vaccine because it reduces the risk of infection by
60%.
"We need to spend
money on things we know work," Gorgens said.
The World Bank and the
U.S. State Department support a major push for adult male circumcision. But the
economists estimated the cost-benefit ratio for such circumcisions at 23:1. The
economists said increasing annual spending on an AIDS vaccine by $100million
would be a better investment because it could potentially eradicate the disease,
even though the cost-benefit ratio, 12:1, is lower, Lomborg said.
Other improvements
"are so cheap and effective" they jumped to the top of the list, he
said.
Preventing mother-to-child
transmission by treating HIV-positive pregnant women with medication and
improving the blood supply had a cost-benefit ratios of 95:1 and 393:1,
respectively.
"Making blood
transfusions safe costs almost nothing, but we're not doing it," Lomborg
said.