Patient / Public:
Health Professional:
Article Opinions:	0 posts

During a briefing on the eve of World AIDS Day Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that the International AIDS Society (IAS) has chosen Washington, D.C., to host the 2012 International AIDS Conference (IAC) now that the “decades-old ban on HIV-positive visitors” to the U.S. has been lifted, Agence France-Presse reports (11/30).

The conference - which will attract thousands of HIV/AIDS experts, advocates and policymakers - will mark the first on U.S. soil since 1990, according to Reuters. “We have to continue to seek a global solution to this global problem,” Clinton said at the briefing, held to discuss the Obama administration’s commitment to HIV/AIDS (Quinn, 11/30).

“The return of the conference to the United States is the result of years of dedicated advocacy to end a misguided policy based on fear, rather than science,” IAS President-elect Elly Katabira said in an IAS press release. “The ban on foreign nationals with HIV/AIDS visiting the United States will effectively be lifted early next year,” AFP writes (11/30).

Washington Post: “‘We are absolutely delighted,’ Robin Gorna, [IAS] executive director, said of Congress’s repeal, to take effect Jan. 4, of travel restrictions on HIV-positive foreigners. ‘It has been a matter of great distress to many of us that we have not been able to hold the conference in the United States because of discriminatory laws.’” Although “[t]he organizers of the conference do not ask attendees about their health status,” Gorna estimates in recent years the conferences have drawn “‘a couple of thousand, at least,’ … [who are] infected with the virus” (Brown, 12/1).

The IAS “urged other nations that maintain bans on HIV-positive visitors to follow suit,” according to Reuters (11/30).

“Twelve nations ban travel by people infected with HIV including China, which is reconsidering its policies as a result of the U.S. decision, Gorna said. Other nations include Malaysia, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates, Bloomberg/Boston Globe reports. “This is a real moment in history to put an end to the AIDS crisis and we can only do that if we learn from each other,” said Gorna (12/1).

The Chicago-Tribune examines the history of the U.S.’s HIV travel ban (Rubin, 12/1).

Newsweek Examines PEPFAR Under Obama, Advocates Grade President’s HIV/AIDS Efforts

Newsweek examines the future of PEPFAR under the Obama Administration: “[A]fter years of steady gains in funding, health experts say PEPFAR’s funding will likely flatline under the Obama administration. At the same time, they expect the gap between the number of people who need treatment and the number getting it to widen,” the magazine writes.

“Up until now, PEPFAR was defined by the ‘E’ in its name: emergency. The emphasis was on starting up strong and making a big impact, which often meant bypassing local governments to get as many people on treatment as possible, as quickly as possible. But while that has produced impressive results, the approach is far from sustainable.”

The magazine continues that if the number of new infections does not decrease rapidly, “PEPFAR risks becoming a black hole of an entitlement program, committed to funding treatment indefinitely as more and more patients live longer and longer. … The way out of this conundrum, according to policy experts Shift more resources over to prevention efforts. Transfer programs to local ownership and put national governments on the hook for delivering services. Monitor and evaluate which programs are working, then report the results.”

The article looks at how this approach is part of U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Eric Goosby’s agenda for PEPFAR and includes information on the risk and benefits associated with changing PEPFAR (Paul, 11/30).

Clinton said at Monday’s World AIDS Day event that “President Obama is dedicated to enhancing America’s leadership in the fight against global AIDS, with PEPFAR serving as the cornerstone of our global health initiative to promote better and more sustainable health outcomes,” ABC’s “Political Punch” blog reports.

The blog also examines a report card released by Health GAP, Africa Action, Treatment Action Group and the Global AIDS Alliance that gave President Obama’s HIV/AIDS efforts during his first year in office a “D+.” Among the greatest concerns of the group, the blog writes, is funding: “Despite repeated public commitments to expand funding for successful global AIDS programs, the first budget request to Congress prepared by President Obama, for FY2010, would for the first time essentially flat-fund U.S. global AIDS investments - it will not even keep pace with global medical inflation, estimated at 4-10% this year,” according to the report (Miller, 11/30).

Despite Gains, UNICEF Report Highlights Impact Of HIV/AIDS On Children

Despite some progress in HIV prevention and treatment targeting children, an annual report by UNICEF, the WHO and U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), released Monday, finds efforts still needed to connect children living with HIV/AIDS with treatment and protect children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, PlusNews reports.

The report examines progress “in four key areas in 2008: prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), paediatric HIV care and treatment, prevention of HIV among adolescents and young people, and protection and support for children affected by HIV and AIDS,” finding the greatest progress in PMTCT, “with 45 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women globally receiving antiretroviral (ARV) treatment to prevent them passing HIV to their children; up from 24 percent in 2006,” the news service writes (11/30).

“According to UNICEF, infant diagnosis in the first two months of a newborn’s life and early initiation of [ARV] can substantially decrease child mortality, but globally, the report cited that only 15 percent of children born to HIV positive mothers are being tested within the first two months,” Xinhua/People’s Daily reports. The report also noted that “positive diagnosis of HIV on its own does not guarantee a child access to life-saving treatment,” the news service writes (12/1).

Leaders Call For Global Attention In Fight Against HIV/AIDS

Ahead of World AIDS Day, U.N. Special Envoy on AIDS in Africa, Elizabeth Mataka, called for emphasis on sustained HIV prevention programs targeting women and girls - a population “more vulnerable to HIV infections,” the Times of Zambia/allAfrica.com reports. Mataka also called attention to the need for enhanced prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) across the continent (12/1).

The BBC features an interview with French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy - also an ambassador for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria - where she addresses the importance of targeting women and children in the fight against HIV/AIDS (Dreaper, 12/1).

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova on Monday addressed the need for the international community to maintain its commitment to HIV/AIDS despite the state of the global economy, Xinhua reports. Bokova “called for cooperation within a framework of respect for human rights as a cornerstone of effective and equitable national responses to ensure genuine multisectoral responses to the AIDS epidemic,” the news service writes (12/1).

News Outlets Examines The Stigma Associated With HIV/AIDS

VOA News examines how despite the recent report that the number of new HIV infections worldwide has gone down, health experts worry that fear over the disease continues to “[bar] the path to more comprehensive prevention.” The article includes comments by several health experts on stigma and the need for improved HIV prevention programs (Hennessy, 11/30).

Reuters examines the impact of HIV/AIDS on children living with the disease in China: “Heavy stigma still surrounds the disease in China, and children - probably the most vulnerable group among AIDS patients - are almost invariably barred from schools and even abandoned by their parents and relatives.” The article continues, “China’s total HIV cases number about 740,000, of which about 100,000 have full-blown AIDS. … Some 10,000 children in China are HIV-positive, due mainly to botched blood transfusions or mother-to-child transmission,” the news service writes. The article also includes information about where the highest percentages of children living with HIV live and efforts to help them access treatments (Chan, 12/1).

Media Examines Country-Level Responses To HIV, World AIDS Day

• Stabroek News examines PEPFAR’s efforts in Guyana (12/1); while the Accra Daily Mail reports on how the U.S. program is partnering with Ghana (Boafo, couldn’t find date).
• Kenya Broadcasting Corporation: Kenya marks World Aids Day (Kola/Wangui, 12/1).
• Inter Press Service: INDIA: Towards an AIDS-Free Society, But at What Price (Lal, 12/1).
• Bloomberg: Zambia’s HIV-Infection Rate May Have Increased 18% in Two Years (Simwanza, 12/1).
• The Independent: Uganda reflects on World AIDS Day (Rubin, 12/1).
• PlusNews: UGANDA: Government boost for PMTCT, paediatric services (12/1).
• Agence-France Press: AIDS epidemics risk being generalized In Ukraine (11/30).
• Daily Observer/allAfrica.com: Ghana: The Country to Observe World Aids Day Tuesday (Faal, 11/30).

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.

Michael Saag, M.D., director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Center for AIDS Research and a renowned leader in the establishment of best practices for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) treatment, has been installed as chair of the board of directors of the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA).

HIVMA is the largest professional society of physicians, scientists and health-care professionals dedicated to the field of HIV and AIDS. The organization actively promotes quality in HIV care and advocates for policies that ensure a science-based, comprehensive and humane response to the AIDS pandemic, including adequate funding for HIV research, prevention, care and provider training and resources.

A professor of medicine, Saag also directs UAB’s Division of Infectious Diseases. He is on the board of directors of the International AIDS Society-USA, and he helped author U.S. Department of Health and Human Services guidelines for antiretroviral treatments and edits the Sanford Guide to HIV/AIDS Therapy. Saag will serve a one-year term with HIVMA that ends November 2010.

Saag is credited with being the first to demonstrate the value of viral-load testing in a clinical practice. This test allows physicians to follow the response to antiretroviral treatment, just as they follow the blood-sugar response to insulin when treating diabetics. He also is among the first to perform clinical trials of several antiretroviral drugs that are approved worldwide.

Saag helped establish UAB’s 1917 Clinic, a comprehensive HIV outpatient clinic devoted to patient care and clinical-trial coordination. Opened in 1988, the clinic has grown into a hub for HIV basic science and treatment-outcomes research at UAB.

He has authored dozens of scientific manuscripts, contributed more than 50 chapters to medical textbooks and served on the editorial board of the journal AIDS Research and Human Retrovir uses. He also has served on subspecialty committees of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American College of Physicians.

Saag earned his medical degree from the University of Louisville in Kentucky and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UAB. He is the Jim Straley Chair in AIDS Research and an active member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation.

About the HIV Medicine Association

The HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) is the professional home for more than 3,600 physicians, scientists and other health-care professionals dedicated to the field of HIV/AIDS. A part of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, HIVMA promotes quality in HIV care and advocates policies that ensure a comprehensive and humane response to the AIDS pandemic informed by science and social justice. For more information, visit http://www.hivma.org.

About the UAB Center for AIDS Research

The UAB Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) is one of the seven original centers established in 1988 by the federal government to stimulate research and advances in fighting AIDS and HIV. CFAR supports prevention and HIV-patient care at the 1917 Clinic and in Africa through a partnership with the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia.

Source
University of Alabama at Birmingham

Patient / Public:
Health Professional:
Article Opinions:	php?associatednewsid=158838′ rel=’nofollow’>0 posts

The following are stories from this week’s 5th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention meeting in Cape Town, South Africa:

SciDev.Net: Steven Reid of the Imperial College London spoke of three prototype tests he and his colleagues have been working on that would help to increase access to CD4 count measurements for HIV-positive patients in the developing world. The prototype tests - which analyze “finger prick blood” - would allow “patients to receive their results within about 20 minutes of testing, Reid said, and could be used by untrained technicians.” The cost of the tests range from $2 - $7 (Mengo, 7/23).

AP/Yahoo! News: Michael Silverman, an infectious disease expert, presented HIV infection rate data in Zimbabwe, based on his survey of 18,746 pregnant women at a rural prenatal clinic from 2001 to 2008. He found the “prevalence of the virus that causes AIDS fell from 23 percent in 2001 to 11 percent at the end of 2008.” The news service writes, “AIDS experts have long noted that the richest countries in Africa are also those with the highest infection rates,” and “Silverman said he concluded that ‘a lot of the effect (of the decline in HIV infections) is from the collapsing economy.’” He added, “You can’t pay the sex worker if you have no currency. It’s hard to have a concurrent relationship if you’re always in earshot of your spouse, because you can’t afford to travel.” The article includes several refutations of Silverman’s theory (Faul, 7/24).

Mail & Guardian: Researchers also discussed the high mortality rates caused by HIV and tuberculosis co-infection. “About 1.4-million of the 9.27-million people infected with TB worldwide are also infected with HIV, and 80 percent of the world’s co-infected live within sub-Saharan Africa, with 29 percent in South Africa alone,” the newspaper writes. Gerald Friedland of Yale University said that several studies have shown antiretroviral therapy is “essential to saving the lives of those co-infected” (Kardas-Nelson, 7/23).

KPBS.org: Examines South Africa’s HIV vaccine trial - a Phase I trial that will test the safety of the vaccine in humans - one of “about 30 [other] HIV vaccines undergoing clinical trials” (Goldberg, 7/22).

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.

Patient / Public:
Health Professional:
Article Opinions:	php?associatednewsid=158380′ rel=’nofollow’>0 posts

Speaking at the 5th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention on Monday, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Eric Goosby outlined President Obama’s global AIDS policy agenda, Plus News/IRIN reports. The news service writes, “Goosby began by reassuring delegates - many of whom are implementers of programmes funded by … PEPFAR … — that fighting AIDS would remain a central component of Obama’s foreign policy. However, there would be a renewed focus on other priorities such as maternal and child health, and tropical diseases.”

Goosby noted, “Each government ultimately holds responsibility for the health of its citizens,” and that U.S. policies would seek to support country programs and encourage more national government buy-in and leadership. “The end goal is for each country to control its responses both strategically and, eventually, financially,” he said. “Goosby also made it clear that scientific evidence rather than moral concerns would drive intensified efforts to reach high-risk groups - men who have sex with men, injecting drug users and sex workers - with HIV prevention and care,” Plus News/IRIN writes.

“The economic crisis has made countries look at what they can and can’t afford with a new lens,” he said. “We are trying to maximize our ability to ensure that everyone who is on ARVs [antiretrovirals] stays on them, and that we expand access to those who are not yet on them.”

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci “told delegates that a bill to lift the ban on funding needle exchange programmes was working its way through Congress, and restrictions on HIV-infected people entering the U.S. were also almost certain to be lifted in the near future.” Facui added, “With regard to science and policy, we will stay on the right path” (7/20).

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.