THIS WEEK: Uganda gets $478million health grant Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Global Fund and government of Uganda have signed a new grant of $478million to fund HIV/AIDs, malaria and tuberculosis activities. Health minister Jane Ruth Aceng, Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda and US ambassador Deborah Malac witnessed the …
Read More »Men at higher risk of dying of AIDS than women: UNAIDS
Ottawa, Canada | AFP | Men are less likely to test for HIV or access antiretroviral therapy and, therefore, are more likely to die of AIDS-related illnesses than women, UNAIDS said on Friday. Around the world, fewer than half of HIV-positive men are getting treatment, compared to 60 percent of …
Read More »‘Miracle cure’ business for HIV/AIDS thriving
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Blessing wanted to believe the advert on Facebook that promised “a cure for AIDS”. Infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), she felt the ad was her only hope — so against her better judgement, she clicked on the link. The 30-year-old Nigerian had created …
Read More »French NGO helps African mums shake off AIDS stigma
Paris, France | AFP | To young African migrant women seeking help at a centre outside Paris, AIDS is much more than a disease. It is social death. The women, some of whom were infected after being raped on the perilous journey across land and sea to Europe, complain …
Read More »PrEP: A shield against AIDS
Paris, France | AFP | “It’s magic,” said Francois, smiling. “Every time I take a pill I think about the people who aren’t so lucky as to have this option.” Taking a drug normally prescribed to treat AIDS as a way to shield against the deadly disease — known as …
Read More »Five key numbers on AIDS
Paris, France | AFP | Ahead of World AIDS Day on Friday, here is a snapshot in numbers, based on UN data, of the deadly disease which was identified in the early 1980s. – 17 seconds – Roughly 1.8 million people worldwide contracted the virus that causes AIDS in 2016. …
Read More »In US, people with HIV often go 3 years without knowing
Washington, United States | AFP | People who are infected with HIV in the United States often go for years without being diagnosed, with the median, or midpoint, being three years, according to US government data Tuesday. That’s a slight improvement over the previous report in 2011, which found the …
Read More »Diabetes, obesity behind 800,000 cancers worldwide: study
Paris, France | AFP | Nearly six percent of new cancers diagnosed worldwide in 2012 — some 800,000 cases — were caused by diabetes and excess weight, according to a study published Tuesday. Among the 12 types of cancer examined, the percentage of cases chalked up to these factors was …
Read More »Healthy withdrawal
New research shows why creative people sometimes need to be alone Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Spending too much time alone can be unhealthy and there is growing evidence that the psychosocial effects of too much solitude can last a lifetime. But newly published research suggests that not all forms …
Read More »UN says 11 million Yemen children desperately need aid
Amman, Jordan | AFP | More than 11 million children in war-torn Yemen are in desperate need of humanitarian aid, the United Nations children’s fund warned on Sunday. “Today it is fair to say that Yemen is one of the worst places on earth to be a child,” said Geert …
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