The world'€™s largest open scientific conference on HIV/AIDS ended in Cape Town this week with a sense of optimism over future possibilities to stem the epidemic, outrage over funding cutbacks and revelations over failure to steadfastly implement tried and tested HIV prevention interventions and speed up universal access to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment.
CAPE TOWN - Healthcare workers in KwaZulu-Natal are almost six times more likely to contract drug resistant tuberculosis than the general population in the province, a poster presentation at 5th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2009) has revealed.
CAPE TOWN - Prevention scientists attending the 5th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2009) have cautioned against not preparing for the success of Microbicides and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) trials.
CAPE TOWN - Scientists have renewed the call for more immediate and urgent effort to be directed towards HIV prevention amid the dominance of treatment interventions and the world-wide search for a quick fix vaccine, which many agree, is years away.
Returning the focus to an HIV prevention method that has been known to work for over a decade holds the key to not just eliminating paediatric AIDS, but putting South Africa on the road to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, reducing deaths among mothers and children, uplifting health systems and drawing men into HIV services.
AIDS needs to removed from isolation and become an entry point to transforming society, attaining the Millennium Development Goals, uplifting health systems and ultimately making better health and development outcomes a reality.
A small study published in the latest Annals of Internal Medicine has shown that progressively increasing the dose of Efavirenz during the first two weeks of treatment can reduce side effects experienced by HIV patients who take the drug daily.
Two thousand people are now on the waiting list for antiretroviral medication at Edendale Hospital, which stopped giving new patients ARVs nine weeks ago.
DAKAR: (IRIN) - Military forces from 20 countries in West and Central Africa have launched a regional HIV network to share information on combating HIV within their ranks and communities, following the example of other military-led efforts to fight the spread of HIV.
JOHANNESBURG: (PlusNews) - Sexual abuse is widespread in South Africa's prisons, but the provision of health services to this vulnerable population remains problematic.
NAIROBI: (PlusNews) - As Kenya prepares its third National AIDS Strategic Plan, several high-risk groups are calling on the government to give them more say in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
JOHANNESBURG: (PlusNews) - A UN assessment has revealed that flooding in northern Namibia during March severely disrupted HIV and AIDS treatment, care and prevention services.
JOHANNESBURG: (PlusNews) - A new maternal mortality study names HIV and AIDS as the cause of one in four maternal deaths in Zimbabwe.
JOHANNESBURG: (PlusNews) - When it comes to incorporating gender-related policies and interventions into their HIV/AIDS programmes, three of the largest global AIDS donors talk the talk, but have largely failed to walk the walk.
JOHANNESBURG: (PlusNews) - Risky sexual behaviour has a language of its own on the University of Zimbabwe's (UZ) campus in the capital, Harare.
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