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More than 17 percent of gay men in Chicago have HIV, and 39 percent went untested in the last 12 months because of fear of the results, according to a study of nearly 600 gay men in the city by the Chicago Department of Health, the Chi-Town Daily News reports. The study also found that gay black men had an infection rate that was more than twice the rates of gay white and Hispanic men. Jim Pickett, director of advocacy for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, said the findings indicate that, “We need to incorporate HIV into a broader or more holistic framework (covering) gay men’s health needs from top to toe.” The city will formally release the study’s results next week (Parker, Chi-Town Daily News, 6/2).

This information was reprinted from dailyreports.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily U.S. HIV/AIDS Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at dailyreports.kff.org.

© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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The U.S. government recently announced a commitment to double its support for Malawi’s efforts to fight HIV/AIDS to $45 million annually, Xinhua reports (Xinhua, 6/2).

The “Partnership Framework” was established after U.S. Ambassador to Malawi Peter Bodde and Malawi’s Secretary to the Treasury Randson Mwadiwa signed a “landmark document” on May 18 that sets the foundation for a new framework for the U.S.-Malawi collaboration to combat HIV/AIDS, according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Malawi.

The document calls for “increased focus on reducing new HIV infections, while maintaining ongoing activities aimed at improving the quality of treatment and care and mitigating the impacts on individuals and households,” according to the release, which adds that objectives should be achieved within a context of “enhanced Malawian leadership and ownership of the overall response.”

At the signing of the partnership, Bodde said the framework with Malawi “will serve as the model for those that follow in other countries” (Embassy of the U.S., Lilongwe, Malawi release).

Malawi is the first country to sign an agreement with the U.S. following the 2008 reauthorization of PEPFAR. According to Xinhua, about 200,000 HIV-positive people in Malawi are receiving free antiretroviral treatments. There are about one million people living with HIV/AIDS in the country (Xinhua, 6/2).

This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org.

© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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Jamaica has already achieved some U.N. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets and is “on track” to attain five more, according to a report that mapped the country’s progress toward the MDGs, the Jamaica Observer reports.

According to the report, which was led by the Planning Institute of Jamaica, the country has met goals to reduce proportion of people who live below the national poverty line, the proportion of hungry people and the prevalence of underweight children younger than age five.

The targets that are “on track,” meaning that 90 percent of the criteria for achievement has been met, include calls for combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases. According to the report, there has been a general decline in the number of HIV/AIDS deaths and cases, which is likely the result of increased access to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment.

In addition, 92 percent of the population already has access to safe drinking water and 98.9 percent has access to basic sanitation. By 2015, it is possible that everyone in Jamaica will have access to basic sanitation, based on forecasts that account for the current progress, the Jamaica Observer reports.

But without what the report called, “mitigating actions,” the global recession “will negatively impact the achievements in poverty reduction since these have been based on controlled inflation, growth of the informal sector to over 40 percent of the economy, and growth in remittances.”

In addition, “Violence and the numbers of vulnerable youth are likely to increase and together these factors will cause slippage in MDG progress,” the report said.

The report identified progress towards reaching targets related to child and maternal health as “far behind” and it listed this goal as less then 70 percent complete. The national report will be presented to the United Nations Economic and Social Council at the annual ministerial review in Geneva in July (Thompson, Jamaica Observer, 6/2).

This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org.

© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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