News (Updated May 21, 2006)
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Tue May 16, 2006 08:28 AM ET
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HONG KONG (Reuters) - China needs to manufacture pediatric HIV drugs for its tens of thousands of children suffering from the disease, an AIDS activist said, adding that the state was not giving enough help to the most vulnerable.
Antiretroviral drugs help prevent HIV replication and prolong the lives of people with the disease. But pediatric formulations are not widely produced as they are not regarded as commercially viable, because rich nations are very successful in preventing mother-to-child transmission of the virus.
Chinese companies began producing at least three generic ARVs in 2002, which sharply reduced the cost of caring for its citizens living with the disease, but does not manufacture dosages for children.
"Over the last four years, children have died literally in my arms. There are many, many children without ARVs yet, so if we can provide ARVs on time, we can prolong their lives," said Chung To, a leading Hong Kong-based AIDS activist.
To is the founder of the Chi Heng Foundation, which provides education and help for children suffering the impact of AIDS in China. To goes often to the central province of Henan, where many impoverished farmers and members of their families contracted HIV in the 1990s after they sold blood to unsanitary clinics.
The Bill Clinton Foundation donated ARVs drugs for 200 children in 2005, 86 of which were distributed through Chi Heng.
"Until last summer, there were no pediatric ARVs available in China. So if you were a child with HIV in China, it is very hard to get treatment today," To told Reuters.
"I hope the Bill Clinton effort will make them (China) more aware that there are children affected by HIV, they shouldn't just take care of adults."
China lowered by around 30 percent the estimated number of people living with HIV/AIDS to 650,000 in January, but activists say the figure is unbelievably small.
It says it has 76,000 AIDS orphans and estimates the figure will hit 260,000 in 2010.
"Even going by this figure (650,000), there can't be just 76,000 children impacted by AIDS. You can't have ten times more adults to just one kid," To said. He reckons there are at least a million children either living with the disease or suffering the impact of it - living with HIV/AIDS-stricken parents.
To also urged China not to wait to help such children. For now, aid is given only to children who have lost both parents.
"For children with parents living with HIV, they suffer a lot more because they have to take care of their parents, they are traumatized seeing the death of their parents ... they have to earn money, so they end up taking care of both dying parents and younger siblings," he said.
China strongly encourages citizens to test for HIV. In 2005 alone, there were 70,000 new infections and 25,000 died of AIDS.
Thu May 18, 2006 08:32 AM ET
By Ben Blanchard
BEIJING (Reuters) - A group of non-governmental organizations in China say the government has excluded them from participating in a global initiative against HIV/AIDS and are electing their own representative despite Beijing's opposition.
The more than 60 groups say the government imposed their own delegate on the Chinese coordinating board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria because of official distrust of independent groups.
At stake is more than $300 million in grants, they say, which the board distributes and oversees.
The main U.N. AIDS body in China says it is worried the arguments are going to distract people from the fight against the disease, which last year caused 25,000 deaths in the country.
"It should be a partnership between government and civil society," Wan Yanhai, director of Beijing Aizhixing Institute of Health Education, told Reuters.
A government-sponsored election last month resulted in a group from the northeastern city of Shenyang being given a seat, Wan and other delegates said.
"They want to control the voice of civil society," he said. "They don't like independent voices."
Joel Rehnstrom, China country coordinator for UNAIDS which is involved in the fund, said he was aware of the dispute and it concerned him.
"The biggest potential impact is that attention is focused on the mechanics of the governance mechanism and representational issues, instead of focusing on making the projects more effective," he told Reuters by telephone.
"If this becomes a drawn-out issue then we're losing time and effort unnecessarily."
China's Health Ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.
China, which the Communists have run as a one-party state since 1949, is wary of groups it cannot directly control, although it does tolerate many independent AIDS groups.
Some activists say they need to be involved in the Global Fund to stop funds being abused.
"There has been corruption," said Lu Jun, who works for a group that fights discrimination in education for people suffering infectious disease. "Some government officials have used the money to buy cars and go on holiday."
The government was just making excuses to exclude NGOs, he added. "They said we did not have the ability to organize an election," Lu said. "We're doing this to show them we can."
UNAIDS' Rehnstrom said he appreciated that in China the government was still leery of independent groups.
"We have the government saying the right things in terms of wanting to promote increased NGO involvement, but it's also within limits," he said.
"The government still wants to be in control and wants to see NGOs in much more of a support or implementation role."
The Geneva-based fund, launched with great fanfare in 2002, has become the largest global supporter of malaria and tuberculosis programs and among the top three AIDS funders.
But it has struggled to win long-term financial backing from donors, the largest being Europe, the United States and Japan.
It has already approved grants worth $5 billion to improve anti-retroviral and anti-malarial drug access, distribute bed nets and expand testing to stop the spread of tuberculosis.
Thu May 18, 2006 07:06 PM ET
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They found that programs promoting the importance of using condoms or the benefits of abstinence improved students' knowledge but had little impact on the measures they took to protect themselves.
"Our study adds to the growing body of evidence that current HIV prevention efforts based in schools do not alter sexual risk behavior," said Dilys Walker, of the National Institute of Public Health in Morelos, Mexico.
The researchers analyzed the effect of different HIV prevention programs on nearly 11,000 students in 40 public high schools in Mexico.
In 15 schools the program promoted the use of a condom. Students in 15 other schools were told about condoms and emergency contraception and 10 schools, which acted as a control group, had the standard sex education course.
All the pupils were questioned at the beginning of the program and four and 16 months later, to determine changes in their behavior.
The researchers found no long-term influence on the use of condoms or sexual behavior but students who received information about emergency contraception -- the morning-after pill -- reported increased use.
They suggested combining the promotion of condoms and emergency contraception in the same program because it did not increase risky sexual behavior in the students.
"Innovative approaches designed to decrease adolescent risk behavior are urgently needed," Walker said in the report in the British Medical Journal.
By Charnicia E. HugginsThu May 18, 11:24 AM ET
Despite the potential social and emotional consequences, gay men with HIV usually do not regret disclosing their status to friends and family members, according to a new study.
"Results suggest that although disclosure is regarded as an anxiety provoking activity and negative reactions are typically anticipated, HIV disclosure appears to elicit very little regret to a wide variety of social network members," the authors write.
The findings may be useful for those contemplating disclosing their HIV-positive status.
"Disclosure of HIV status may be a difficult event but once the hurdle is jumped, regret is minimal," study author Dr. Julianne M. Serovich, of The Ohio State University, in Columbus, told Reuters Health.
Prior studies have shown that the consequences of disclosing HIV-positive status may include rejection, abandonment, ostracism and degradation. Such disclosure may also be associated with certain benefits, however, such as more social support and increased medical attention and access to assistance. Yet, while researchers have examined people's decisions about whether to disclose their HIV status, little research has focused on whether people regret their disclosure afterwards.
Serovich and her colleagues examined this in a study of 76 gay men with HIV who had disclosed their HIV-positive status to at least one family member, friend or other member of their social network. The 21- to 61-year-old study participants all contracted the virus through sex and had been diagnosed with HIV for anywhere from 1 month to 16 years.
Based on their questionnaire and interview responses, 80 percent of the men's social network were aware of their HIV-positive status, and 75 percent of the men expressed little or no regret about disclosing their status to these individuals, Serovich and her team report in AIDS Education and Prevention.
When regret was expressed it was usually concerning disclosures within the nuclear family, work environment, and with previous or casual sex partners, the report indicates.
For example, men were four times as likely to regret telling their nuclear family, especially their parents, that they were HIV positive, as they were to regret disclosing that information to friends, study findings show.
"This result should not be surprising given the differential emotional bonds and experiences shared among family versus friends," Serovich and her co-authors write.
Still, the researchers note, only 22 of the 318 cases of disclosure to family members were associated with regret.
"I was encouraged by the results and hope that these can be shared with those who are contemplating disclosure," Serovich told Reuters Health.
She did caution that the findings are based on a small number of mid-western, primarily Caucasian men. Serovich noted that it is not known whether they can be generalized to heterosexual men, women, or people of other races or ethnicities.
SOURCE: AIDS Education and Prevention, April 2006.
UNITED NATIONS
(Reuters) - Oscar-nominee Naomi Watts on Monday joined the UN fight
against AIDS, saying she could no longer stand by and watch people die.
Watts, 37, who starred in "King Kong" and "Muholland Drive," was appointed special representative for UNAIDS, the umbrella UN coordinating body for HIV-AIDS, which recently named conductor and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich as its goodwill ambassador.
Born in Britain and raised in Australia, Watts just returned from five days in Zambia, where only one in five people stricken with the disease receive treatment.
"Given these stark realities, I could no longer stand on the sidelines," Watts told a news conference at UN headquarters in New York.
Asked about the Bush administration's emphasis on abstinence rather than contraceptives in foreign aid, she said, "While it (abstinence) is probably the safest way to avoid it, it is impossible for certain people to practice it."
"So I am a big believer in the use of contraception," Watts said.
About 40 million people worldwide are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and some 25 million people have died from the pandemic, most of them in Africa.
Watts was highlighting the new UNAIDS campaign called "4 for Everyone" -- referring to prevention, treatment, care and support.
Watts, whose screen credits also include "The Ring" and "21 Grams," is the latest in a string of celebrities to sign up for UN duties.
Michael Douglas promotes arms control as a peace messenger for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Australian Nicole Kidman in January became a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Fund for Women; Angelina Jolie represents the UN High Commissioner for Refugees; Danny Glover travels for the UN Development Program and tennis star Roger Federer volunteers on behalf of the UN Children's Agency,
The concept was first popularized by entertainer Danny Kaye, who from 1954 until his death in 1987 clocked thousands of miles for UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund, and was selected to accept the agency's Nobel Peace Prize in 1965.
Wed May 17, 3:45 PM ET
More than 210,000 people in AIDS-hit South Africa are on antiretrovirals (ARVs) in programmes run by the state, the private sector and non-governmental bodies, the chief government spokesman said.
"With 134,473 people initiated on ARV treatment by the end of March, and an estimated 80,000 initiated in the private and NGO sector, South Africa today has the largest ART (anti retroviral treatment) programme in the world," Joel Netshitenzhe said.
"While much more needs to be done in this regard, the advances... are cause for hope," the local SAPA news agency quoted him as saying.
In early February, South African President Thabo Mbeki said more than 100,000 people were receiving free antiretroviral drugs.
South Africa has one of the world's biggest AIDS caseloads with around one in seven people, or 6.5 million, living with HIV or AIDS, according to the health ministry.
AIDS activists estimate that as many as 500,000 HIV positive South Africans are in need of life-saving drugs.
By MIKE ECKEL, Associated Press WriterMon May 15, 8:26 PM ET
Vitaly is the face of
Russia's AIDS epidemic, epitomizing many of its most troubling
characteristics.
The 23-year-old furniture maker, a former intravenous drug user, tells few people that he carries the virus that causes AIDS, fearing harassment and discrimination. Should his immune system fail, it's likely he won't get the drugs needed to keep him alive.
"It's considered a dirty disease. People are afraid of it. It's become a joke for many. No one wants to deal with people who are infected," said Vitaly, who asked that his last name not be used because of those fears.
Critics say neglect of AIDS victims by authorities and callous treatment by regular Russians are part of a culture of denial that has helped place Russia on the verge of a public health crisis, as AIDS and HIV infections spread.
Russia has 334,000 officially registered HIV- or AIDS-infected people. The UNAIDS agency puts the figure at nearly 900,000 and many others say the real number is likely well over a million, around 1 percent of the country's population.
The critics also believe the epidemic will deepen amid Russia's decrepit health care system, plummeting health standards, a rising tide of illegal drugs and ubiquitous discrimination.
With hundreds gathering Monday for a major AIDS conference in Moscow, international health experts continue to warn that Russian officials have been too slow to react to a problem quickly moving beyond the traditional core of at-risk people — drug users, gay men and prostitutes — into the wider population.
Without dramatic policy decisions, experts warn, Russia will be overwhelmed.
"Russia's politics of AIDS will be misguided and contentious until its leaders and public believe that they face a threat worth fighting," Celeste Wallender, an expert at the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote in a policy paper in December.
Russia's AIDS/HIV prevalence rate was about 1.1 percent of the population in 2003, according to the United Nations' AIDS program. By comparison, the United States recorded a 0.6 percent rate and France 0.4 percent. The rate for the African country of Botswana was 37.3 percent.
Last month, President Vladimir Putin pledged a twentyfold increase in federal funding to fight the disease and the issue tops the agenda for the Group of Eight major industrialized nations summit in St. Petersburg in July. In his annual state-of-the-nation address this month, however, Putin made no mention of the disease, instead focusing on Russia's sharp decline in population.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church recently called Western-funded non-governmental organizations doing AIDS work immoral. The city legislature in Moscow, which has the highest rate of HIV infection in Russia, accused foreign NGOs of fueling the epidemic.
Provincial population centers such as Vitaly's home region of Saratov, 450 miles southeast of Moscow, also face a broadening epidemic.
Authorities in the region are working with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to help drop the costs for anti-retroviral therapy — drugs that can help manage AIDS' immunity-debilitating effects. But a lack of funding still means only about 10 percent of people who need treatment receive it.
Lyubov Potemina, director of the regional AIDS center, says the number of HIV-infected infants born to infected mothers has been cut dramatically and that more and more people are being tested as a matter of routine.
Yet, she says, nearly two-thirds of all new HIV cases last year were due to sexual transmission — a symptom of how the disease is spreading into Russia's heterosexual, non-drug-using population. In another indication of how dire Russia's epidemic is becoming, younger and younger people are becoming infected.
Russia's top AIDS official, Vadim Pokrovsky, says 1 percent of Russia's 18- to 24-year-olds are infected and at least 100 Russians become HIV infected every day.
With the government slow to respond to the problem, NGOs such as Lyudmila Borisenko's "Megapolis" youth organization, have largely been at the vanguard of anti-AIDS efforts. But a new law threatens to hamstring NGO efforts by creating onerous bureaucratic regulations.
Borisenko, whose organization educates youth about HIV/AIDS, says the disease remains highly stigmatized. People responded negatively when she first started her work 10 years ago, after Saratov recorded its first HIV infection.
"Doctors, parents said 'Why are you doing this? You're burying your children,'" she said. "Now we tell them, 'We're saving our children.'"