The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) wants Pesident Yoweri Museveni to become a champion in the fight suppress and eliminate the virus world-wide “We want you Mr. President to speak about the fight against HIV/AIDS. We want you to become a champion in the fight against HIV/AIDS in …
Read More »Uganda launches new HIV and AIDS treatment guidelines
Uganda’s Minister of State for Health Sarah Opendi has launched new HIV and AIDS treatment guidelines. In the new guidelines, anyone infected with HIV should begin antiretroviral treatment soon after diagnosis. All HIV-infected individuals will now be eligible for antiretroviral treatment regardless of disease stage or CD-4 cell count. The …
Read More »HIV toll tops one million in Russia and keeps climbing
Moscow, Russia | AFP | Russia’s HIV infection rate is growing 10 percent a year and over one million Russian have been diagnosed with the disease in nearly three decades, the country’s top AIDS expert said Tuesday. The number of registered cases reached 1,087,339 on September 30, Vadim Pokrovsky, head …
Read More »Pope urges ‘responsible behaviour’ to stop AIDS spread
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Wednesday issued a call for “responsible behaviour” to prevent the spread of AIDS without specifying whether that included wearing condoms. The pontiff also issued a fresh call for every sufferer, no matter how poor, to have access to treatment. In …
Read More »South Africa launches major new trial of AIDS vaccine
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa on Wednesday begins a major clinical trial of an experimental vaccine against the AIDS virus, which scientists hope could be the “final nail in the coffin” for the disease. More than 30 years of efforts to develop an effective vaccine for HIV …
Read More »Almost half of HIV infections worldwide undetected
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday that nearly half of all people with HIV around the globe do not know they are infected, and called for broader access to at-home testing kits. The UN health agency said that 40 percent of people with the …
Read More »Without a vaccine the AIDS epidemic can still end, UNAIDS boss
Over the years, the HIV/AIDS discussion has changed from tackling transmission to treatment and prevention. Worldwide, experts are now looking to a cure to end the epidemic.In Uganda, however, despite efforts to reduce new infections, what still baffles experts are the increasing infection rates in adolescents now at 66% of …
Read More »HIV treatment soars, but young African women suffer
Windhoek, Namibia | AFP | The number of HIV-infected people taking anti-retroviral medicine has doubled in just five years, the UN said Monday, while highlighting high infection rates among young African women. A new report by UNAIDS said it was on course to hit a target of 30 million people …
Read More »COMMENT: Responsive health systems
COMMENT: By Moses Mulumba Beyond private sector driven health systems and commoditising the provision of healthcare Experts met this week for the Fourth Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in the beautiful Canadian city of Vancouver. This particular symposium theme was built around resilient and responsive health systems for a …
Read More »Malawi man convicted over ‘cleansing’ sex ritual
Nsanje, Mozambique | AFP | A Malawian man accused of sleeping with more than 100 girls and women in a series of traditional cleansing rituals was on Friday convicted by a court of “engaging in harmful practices”. Eric Aniva — who has said he is infected with the HIV virus …
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