LONDON
— Current efforts to prevent of HIV and AIDS in Britain were slammed as
"woefully inadequate" in a report by the House of Lords on Thursday,
amid rising infection rates and sharp increases in the cost of treating the
disease. News (Updated
September 4, 2011)
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(AFP) –1 September, 2011
LONDON
— Current efforts to prevent of HIV and AIDS in Britain were slammed as
"woefully inadequate" in a report by the House of Lords on Thursday,
amid rising infection rates and sharp increases in the cost of treating the
disease.
The number of patients
treated for HIV/AIDS has trebled since 2000 and will pass 100,000 next year,
according to the Lords Select Committee report.
The peers called for a new
campaign to raise public awareness about AIDS, on the 25th anniversary of the
'Don't Die of Ignorance' campaign.
Diagnoses in recent years
have more than doubled since the mid-1990s, according to the report, while
treatment costs have risen to almost £1 billion a year.
In the absence of a vaccine
or cure for AIDS, the Lords committee called for more resources to be poured
into preventing new infections.
The government has a budget
of £2.9 million to spend on national prevention programmes in 2010/11, compared
to £762 million on treatment.
Antiretroviral drugs have
dramatically slowed the speed at which AIDS kills, but a lifetime of treatment
costs an estimated £280,000 to £360,000.
"Prevention must be
the key policy," said Lord Fowler, who chairs the select committee.
"One essential message remains the same as in the 1980s: the more the
partners, the greater the risk. Protect yourself. Use a condom."
The committee also said
better testing must be a priority, and proposed that all new patients at GP
surgeries should be tested for the virus. More than a quarter of people carrying
the virus have not been diagnosed and are unaware of their condition, making
them more likely to infect others.
The report was welcomed by
the Terrence Higgins Trust, which runs HIV testing clinics and supports people
diagnosed with the virus.
"We wholeheartedly
agree with the recommendations," the Trust's Genevieve Reed told AFP.
"We know that budgets
are hard-pressed at the moment, but focusing on prevention would reduce the
number of new people becoming infected.
"So spending more on
awareness and prevention could actually reduce the cost to the NHS of treating
the disease."
A Department of Health
spokesman said: "Effective treatment through medical advances has
transformed the outlook for people with HIV. Today many people are living near
normal lives -- this is enormously important in reducing any stigma.
"There is still no
cure and prevention and safe sex are still as vital as they were 25 years ago.
Wearing a condom with all new or casual partners should be normal practice.
"We need to reduce
undiagnosed HIV so testing in a variety of health care settings is important -
especially in high prevalence areas.
"The department
continues to fund the Terrence Higgins Trust and the African Health Policy
Network prevention programmes. This is in tandem with targeted local NHS
programmes."
Copyright © 2011 AFP.
(AFP) –31 August, 2011
The
The family of a 38-year-old
man, surnamed Chiu, decided to donate his organs after he fell to his death last
week, unaware that he was an HIV carrier.
Medical technicians
performing standard blood tests found that Chiu was HIV positive before his
liver, lungs and kidneys were harvested.
But the message was wrongly
relayed and doctors were given the green light to carry out the operations.
Health officials have
called the cases "critical medical negligence" and said that random
inspections will be carried out at the hospitals.
Copyright © 2011 AFP.
01 Sep 2011
Source: Content partner //
IRIN
KAMPALA, 26 August 2011 - A
new national HIV/AIDS strategic plan for Uganda is due to be finalized before
the year's end, and gay rights activists are urging its authors to break with
tradition and, for the first time, provide for programming for men who have sex
with men.
The current national
strategic plan, which covers the period between 2007/2008 and 2011/2012, does
not mention MSM, despite studies reporting that they are at higher risk [
http://pag.ias2011.org/abstracts.aspx?aid=2984 ] of contracting HIV than other
adult men.
The plan lays out a
framework for responding to the epidemic, pinpointing priority areas for
programming; the next one is expected to guide the country's HIV programmes
until 2015.
"[The strategy]
directs how resources from donors and governments are utilized," said
Kikonyogo Kivumbi, executive director of the Health and Science Press
Association (UHSPA-Uganda), which advocates for the rights of sexual minorities.
"It means that whoever is going to access those resources in the delivery
of public health services, if the policy directs them [to], they can introduce
LGBTI [Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Intersex]-friendly services."
The Crane Survey, a
2008/2009 study [ http://www.uhspa.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2011/06/Crane-Survey-Report-Round-1-Dec10.pdf
] of high-risk groups in
"These people are
engaging in sex. Whether you want it or not, infections [and] HIV will
occur," said Kivumbi.
According to Frank Mugisha,
executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), the absence of a national
dialogue around safe sex education for sexual minorities means that many members
of the MSM community do not know how to avoid HIV transmission.
Tentative steps
A draft version of the new
strategic plan distributed to civil society organizations mentioned the MSM
community by name under an introductory section outlining groups that have
prevalence rates above the national average, but the strategy concluded that MSM
did not play "a big role" in the transmission of HIV in Uganda and did
not warrant a high rank among prevention activities.
The draft strategy did
recommend that more research be done within communities of MSM and injecting
drug users to determine whether the groups were at risk of an upsurge in new
infections.
Although it stops short of
actually including MSM in HIV programming, for Kivumbi, the draft strategy was
nevertheless a cause for celebration. "It's the first HIV programming to
mention MSM by name... It's a big and overwhelming shift," he said.
He added that his
organization would continue to advocate for explicit recommendations for the MSM
community. Had MSM been ranked among most at-risk groups - such as sex workers
and fishing communities - they could expect to access services including
risk-reduction counselling, condom distribution and community outreach.
However, James Kigozi,
spokesman for the Uganda AIDS Commission - which draws up the plan - told IRIN/PlusNews
that because homosexual activity was illegal in
For SMUG's Mugisha, any
mention in the strategy without specific intervention recommendations was just a
"first step". He urged the UAC to come up with policies based on
expert consultations and best practices in neighbouring countries rather than
just calling for more research, which would be extraordinarily difficult to
conduct in a country that criminalizes homosexual activity.
The authors of the Crane
Survey reported that it was "severely interrupted" by the arrests of
LGBTI advocates.
Apophia Agiresaasi,
executive director of Action Group for Health, Human Rights and HIV/AIDS (AGHA-Uganda),
said one of the lessons they learned while studying the ability of sexual
minorities to access healthcare was that collecting data among the MSM community
is difficult.
"They will say they
belong to a category that's more acceptable, or if they're in sexual
relationships with both men and women, they will identify [themselves] as
heterosexuals," she said. "Any statistics may be less than what is on
the ground."
Anti-gay bill
There was more good news
for gay rights activists, when the cabinet on 17 August turned against the
Anti-Homosexuality Bill [ http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=86620 ],
which called for the execution of people repeatedly convicted of committing
homosexual acts, among other offences, but there are still laws on the books
criminalizing homosexual activity.
"The government's
position is that the law is unnecessary - we have adequate laws to deal with it
[homosexuality]," Adolf Mwesige, Minister for Local Government and the
ruling party's lawyer, told IRIN/PlusNews. "We are trying to persuade
parliament to drop it; if they insist on it, we will oppose it."
David Bahati, the architect
of the controversial bill, insisted he would go ahead [ http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=92739
] with it despite widespread opposition. He told IRIN/PlusNews many of the more
controversial clauses had been removed.
"The [reworked]
legislation will take care of all concerns raised by different stakeholders,
including those concerns about HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment," he said.
But even if the national
strategy were to call for treatment and prevention services for MSM, there are
still significant hurdles to actually offering those interventions in a country
where homophobia is rampant.
Need for health worker
sensitization
In 2010, Mugisha was among
the 100 alleged gays and lesbians whose photographs were published in a local
magazine under the headline, "Hang Them".
For sexual minorities
attempting to access health services, this stigma can be difficult to overcome.
The 2010 AGHA-Uganda report found discrimination by doctors and healthcare
workers against LGBTIs was the biggest barrier to healthcare access for that
community.
"Some doctors are
homophobic," Mugisha said. "You don't have anything legally binding to
compel them to treat
"My desire would be to
tell the doctor, 'Yes, I'm having sex with another man,'", so he could
receive appropriate care, he added.
Mugisha said he knew people
who had been misdiagnosed at health centres because doctors were unfamiliar with
sexually transmitted infections that are more common among MSM and the people
seeking treatment were too afraid to reveal their sexuality.
While a policy
pronouncement might not immediately change doctors' attitudes, Mugisha said it
would give LGBTI patients leverage to fight discrimination.
But a change in policy
would need to be accompanied by sensitization training for healthcare providers
and lessons in LGBTI-specific health needs, which is missing.
AGHA-Uganda's study did
find some interest among health workers in learning more about care and
treatment specifically for LGBTI.
But until a national
directive becomes a reality, SMUG will continue to work with partner
organizations to compile a list of LGBTI-friendly health workers and clinics
where MSM and others can access some treatment.
"We want to work with
the government," Mugisha said. "Government can begin with the
policies... then we would have the backing of the law."
Tue, Aug 30 2011
By Alex Dobuzinskis
LOS
ANGELES (Reuters) - Pornography film shoots across the
The temporary moratorium
recommended by the Los Angeles-based Free Speech Coalition comes as public
health advocates escalated calls for greater enforcement of laws requiring porn
stars to wear condoms on the set.
The Free Speech Coalition
said it learned on Saturday that a porn film performer who has not been publicly
identified had initially tested positive for HIV. It called for an industrywide
moratorium on Sunday.
The performer received a
preliminary positive result for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, at a health
facility outside of
Further diagnostic testing
was needed to confirm the performer was HIV positive, the trade group said.
Diane Duke, executive
director of the trade group, said she believed porn productions had largely been
shut down nationally as a result of the moratorium, and that she was unaware of
any companies that were refusing to comply.
"The industry has had
a successful system of health and safety self-regulation since 1998, despite any
misinformation being spread by our opponents," the Free Speech Coalition
said in a statement.
In 2010, another porn
performer, Derrick Burts, tested positive for HIV, which also prompted a
temporary shutdown of porn productions.
A number of other porn
stars have been infected with HIV over the years, said Brian Chase, assistant
general counsel for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which was organizing a
petition drive for a
Supporters said local
authorities were best suited to enforce such a measure.
Porn companies have
resisted efforts to compel condom usage by arguing it would force productions to
go underground or outside the
The porn industry continues
to operate in a legal gray zone, Chase said. "When you've got a situation
like that, you've got a lot of industry participants who feel they don't need to
follow the law," he said.
Until recently, many porn
performers had been regularly tested for HIV at a private clinic in
Since the closure, the Free
Speech Coalition has developed a health and safety program to take its place,
and it was in the process of signing up performers, producers and agents to
participate, the trade group said.
(Editing by Steve Gorman
and Cynthia Johnston)
Fri Sep 2, 2011
SOFIA, Sept 2 (Reuters) -
Bulgaria will seek to recover funds it donated to Libya as part of a deal that
led to the release of Bulgarian medics sentenced to death by Muammar Gaddafi's
government, Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said on Friday.
Five Bulgarian nurses and a
Palestinian doctor, convicted for allegedly infecting over 400 Libyan children
with the HIV virus, were freed in 2007 after the international community set up
a fund to support the HIV/AIDS victims and their families.
"I have raised the
issue to review the agreement with
"We saw the deal as a
success at the time, because the nurses came home alive... but the price for
The medics, who spent eight
years in a Libyan jail, have maintained their innocence and said they were
tortured into confessing.
Their death sentences were
commuted to life in prison after
01 Sep 2011 11:38
Source: Content partner //
IRIN
LUSAKA, 1 September 2011 -
While most pregnant women in Zambia are now tested for HIV, other sexually
transmitted infections such as syphilis are not being diagnosed, placing the
lives of thousands of women at risk.
By the time Emily Banda*,
31, found out she had syphilis, it was too late � her daughter had died at
five months and she had a miscarriage during her second pregnancy.
Banda was only tested for
HIV and syphilis after her divorce, when she had moved from the small town of
�At the hospital, they
counselled me and tested me... There were no signs that I had syphilis and the
doctor said I had [had] the problem for a long time,� she told IRIN/PlusNews.
A study conducted in
High co-infection rates of
syphilis and HIV in pregnant women increase the risk of HIV transmission from
mother-to-child. Like HIV, syphilis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality
among women and children in developing countries. The HIV prevalence rate among
pregnant women in
According to Susan Strasser,
EGPAF country director for
�In
The EGPAF study found that
integrating rapid syphilis screening and HIV testing for pregnant women was
feasible, cost-effective, and helped to prevent transmission of syphilis and HIV
from mother-to-child. Rapid syphilis tests were introduced in antenatal clinics
that provide services for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT)
of HIV in
Rapid syphilis testing is
now as simple as a malaria test, Strasser noted. �You can simply take blood
with a needle from a vein or finger prick and then you take the blood on the
slide, much like a rapid malaria test or rapid pregnancy test and then you have
the results after 20 minutes,� she said.
A regular syphilis test, on
the other hand, has to be carried out �by someone who is highly trained; it
needs electricity and it is usually done in batches�.
�A woman would have
the blood drawn for testing and then she will be told to come back in the
afternoon for the results or even the next day and... when they go home to tend
to [their] responsibilities, they don�t come back to get the results and
subsequently, they don�t get treated.�
Stigma and lack of support
from their male partners also prevents many pregnant women from accessing
treatment, Mulemi Kayumbwa, a clinical officer at Kalingalinga Hospice in
�We make sure that
syphilis-positive pregnant women are encouraged to notify their husbands, so
that they are all treated at the same time,� said Kayumbwa.
During the study, EGPAF
collaborated with the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia to pilot
the use of a partner invitation slip to encourage partners of syphilis-positive
pregnant women to visit the antenatal clinic for HIV and syphilis testing and
treatment services.
The study�s findings
convinced Zambia�s health ministry to include rapid syphilis testing in its
standard package of PMCT services and antenatal care, said Ministry of Health
spokesperson, Reuben Kamoto Mbewe. �Every woman who goes to the clinic for
antenatal is tested for syphilis. It is now mandatory.�
*not her real name