BEIJING, Nov 14 (Reuters) - China's booming southern province of Guangdong is to build at least two prisons exclusively for HIV/AIDS-infected convicts to try to halt the disease's spread, state media reported on Monday.

"Since the fatal virus is able to spread quickly in such an environment (prisons) ... the number of AIDS-carrying inmates would be sure to increase, posing further problems for the management," the newspaper quoted one official as saying.

China says it has 840,000 HIV-AIDS cases among its 1.3 billion population, but experts say at least a million poor farmers were infected in botched blood-selling schemes in the 1990s in the central province of Henan alone.

A top Chinese HIV expert recently echoed a grim U.N. warning that the number of HIV-AIDS cases could reach 10 million in China by 2010 if no effective measures are taken to curb the disease.

BEIJING, Nov 17 (Reuters) - China on Thursday denied planning to build special prisons for HIV/AIDS-infected convicts to try to halt the disease's spread.

"China will increase facilities in the present prisons to provide free examinations and treatment for AIDS prisoners in order to give them better medical care."

China says it has 840,000 HIV-AIDS cases among its 1.3 billion population, but experts say at least a million poor farmers were infected in botched blood-selling schemes in the 1990s in the central Henan province alone.

A top Chinese HIV expert recently echoed a grim U.N. warning that the number of HIV-AIDS cases could reach 10 million in China by 2010 if no effective measures are taken to curb the disease.

Hong Kong records largest gain in HIV, big rise among gays

By Kamil Zaheer

SHILLONG, India, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The emerging battle against bird flu could divert attention and funds away from global efforts to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS, the head of the United Nations' AIDS programme said.

A U.N. summit of world leaders agreed in September to ensure that everyone in the world needing anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs to fight HIV/AIDS would get them by 2010.

"If there is a big bird flu epidemic, it could probably undermine these efforts," Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS told Reuters in an interview late on Friday.

Piot said HIV infections continued to rise alarmingly in southern Africa, the world's worst-hit AIDs region, and he doubted the increase would plateau anytime soon.

He also highlighted the growth in the number of infections in Russia and other former members of the Soviet Union but said that world attention could be shifted to the fight against the spread of bird flu, which has killed more than 60 people in Asia.

Earlier this month, international health experts agreed on a $1 billion programme to halt the spread of the deadly bird flu virus.

"I am quite convinced that there will be an impact in East and Southeast Asia. The money has to come from somewhere and that is a risk for the AIDS programmes," he said.

At present, about one million people in low and middle income countries are getting ARV treatment out of 6.5 million in need.

Asked whether he felt the 2010 goal of universal ARV access would be met, Piot said: "Given our current efforts, no."

Last year, the U.N. forecast that more than 80 million Africans may die from AIDS by 2025 and HIV infections could soar to 90 million or over 10 percent of Africa's population.

Africa has more than 25 million people with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, out of a global total of 40 million cases.

DENIAL

Barring a few exceptions, such as Uganda, where the percentage of HIV cases had fallen sharply in over a decade, UNAIDS says the scenario is getting bleaker for Sub-Saharan Africa.

"My concern is that it (new HIV infections) continues to go up. It must stop somewhere," Piot said ahead of the release of the U.N. annual global report on AIDS in New Delhi on Monday.

"I am scared, particularly for southern Africa," said Piot. "It is really staggering and it is still getting worse."

The situation in countries like South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho and Botswana was most worrisome, Piot said.

South Africa already has the world's highest cases at more than five million in a population of 45 million.

More than 40 percent of Swaziland's population of one million is HIV positive and the number of new infections is rising, Piot said during a visit to India's remote northeast.

Piot said South Africa continued to have "horrific" increases in infections. He did not say what the increase in 2005 was over 2004.

Piot, a microbiologist from Belgium, said some African governments were still in denial more than a decade after the epidemic devastated many African communities, partly due to taboos about discussing sex.

"Most countries have waited far too long to recognise it is an epidemic," Piot, who has headed UNAIDS since it started functioning in January 1996, said.

"Avian flu and SARS, these typically last a few weeks or a few years but AIDS persists for several generations," Piot said.

UN says urgent need to ensure funds reach HIV/AIDS prevention workers

CHICAGO, Nov 16 (Reuters) - A former U.S. Food and Drug Administration official who quit the agency because it failed to make a "morning after" contraceptive available without a prescription said on Wednesday she fears other health advances could also be sidetracked.

Susan Wood, who headed the FDA's Office of Women's Health, said she was "very worried" political pressure on the agency from the same conservative groups who opposed wider availability of the contraceptive could also result in a delay for a new vaccine that protects against cervical cancer.

That vaccine counteracts sexually transmitted human papillomavirus or HPV, which causes most cases of cervical cancer.

"I am deeply concerned about that," she said in response to a question from the audience following a lecture at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

She said some of the same forces who opposed over-the-counter sales for Barr Pharmaceuticals' <BRL.N> Plan B emergency contraceptive are suggesting that reducing one of the risks involved in sexual contact could lead to promiscuity among young women -- the same argument they used against Plan B.

"That appalls me." she said. "I also worry when and if we reach an HIV vaccine" that the same argument will be raised, she said.

Plan B is a set of prescription-only pills that can prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of sexual intercourse. Barr's request to sell Plan B without a prescription drew intense political lobbying from supporters and opponents.

After the FDA initially rejected the proposal in May 2004, the company filed a new application asking to sell Plan B over the counter for females age 16 and older while keeping the prescription requirement for younger girls. In August 2005, the FDA said it was indefinitely postponing a ruling on the matter.

Wood told her audience the Plan B denial was unprecedented because FDA staff and an advisory panel of outside experts both agreed on the need to make the drug available without a prescription.

Americans need to "demand better of our health agencies ... of our government," she said. The Plan B decision, Wood said, "is a clear example, unfortunately, of when something has gone terribly wrong."

An investigative report done for the U.S. Congress and released earlier this week found that the FDA's 2004 decision was "unusual," in part because of the involvement of high-level managers.

Congressional Democrats who requested the investigation said it provided evidence that opposition from political conservatives had swayed the FDA review.

But the FDA said it questioned "the integrity of the investigative process that results in such partial conclusions ... the report mischaracterizes facts and does not appear to take into consideration the input provided by the FDA."

Friday November 18, 9:04 AM

India seeks novel ways to tackle AIDS By Kamil Zaheer BIJAN, India (Reuters) - Lounging in a food shack next to a dusty highway, truck driver Manoj grins as he talks about having sex with prostitutes. "It depends on my mood whether I put on a condom or not," says Manoj, as a monkey scampers around the tin-roofed building, some 60 km (35 miles) from New Delhi. "Sometimes I am not in the mood," says the 24-year-old high school dropout. For officials and HIV/AIDS campaigners in India -- home to the largest number of infections after South Africa -- Manoj's attitude 19 years after the nation of one billion reported its first HIV case is a worrying challenge. Today, India's HIV/AIDS population is 5.13 million. India is using a host of methods to get its message across, from tapping into the country's obsession with cricket to using advertising slogans on soft drink bottles and spreading the word on safe sex by train. In July, the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) in a bold pilot campaign asked newspaper readers across the cricket-mad nation to save their "wickets" and not lose their "stumps" to AIDS. To drive home the point, the advertisement showed three cricket wickets covered by condoms, a bold departure from more conservative TV ads with cricketers like Indian captain Rahul Dravid wearing a helmet and asking people to protect themselves. This was followed by another newspaper advertisement warning readers in a country where most people do not discuss sex openly to remain "Not out!" to AIDS by practising safe sex. "Using cricket helps us talk about condoms and safe sex without the gatekeepers (of morality) coming in the way as the game cuts across all social groups and both men and women," said K. Anathakrishnan Ravi, general manager of advertising agency R.K. Swamy BBDO which created the campaign for NACO. NOT JUST CRICKET NACO says it is working on different strategies to trumpet the message in the world's second most populous nation where condom usage is still low and most HIV-infected people are in rural areas. In the southern Andhra Pradesh state, which has an HIV infection rate of 2.25 percent among adults compared with the national average of 0.92 percent, the local government is distributing condoms at liquor stores and milk stands. NACO's outgoing chief S.Y. Quraishi said his agency was talking to Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc., which have a national distribution network reaching remote areas, to get the softdrink giants to put safe sex messages on bottles. He says NACO is looking for generic messages on bottles such as "For an AIDS-free India" rather than bold statements about condom use which may make some soft drink consumers in rural areas uncomfortable. More than 40 percent of India's population with HIV/AIDS is between 15 and 40 years old and many consume soft drinks. "Fighting HIV is a national cause. We need to get the message across and want to piggyback on Coke and Pepsi," Quraishi said, adding NACO also wants to send packs of condoms with crates of soft drinks to shops in the countryside through delivery trucks. NACO, which has been criticised by voluntary groups for a sluggish response to the HIV epidemic, said it was ready to push the envelope of what is socially acceptable. It is helping staid state broadcaster Doordarshan, which reaches about 400 million viewers, to develop a TV serial featuring an HIV-infected character, a first for Indian TV. "Some people may be shy but you have to get them to talk about sex and AIDS," Quraishi said. RED RIBBON EXPRESS NACO also plans to hire a train from Indian railways, one of the world's biggest networks that spans the entire country, to spread the anti-AIDS message. The "Red Ribbon Express" will carry actors who will perform AIDS awareness plays; doctors to carry out HIV tests; and volunteers who will cycle to villages every time the train stops. In the northern city of Chandigarh last month, thousands of people including local politicians rang bells, honked horns and clanged food utensils to create an "alarm" about AIDS. But voluntary groups say much more needs to be done. "You have to reach the village before the village lad leaves to look for a job," said Alok Mukhopadhyay, the head of the Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI). "Otherwise, he lands up in the city where he is exposed to prostitutes but without knowledge of how to protect himself." He says authorities should target rural fairs and religious gatherings that are attended by millions of people. NACO thinks it is a good idea and, along with voluntary groups, wants to screen short films, stage street plays about AIDS and organise discussions at gatherings like rural fairs. VHAI says it has used puppeteers and magicians to entertain people at such gatherings as well as educate them about AIDS. But many like Manoj still have not got the message. "AIDS? Yes, I have heard about it -- it has something do with sex," he said, still grinning. "I don't think about it."

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