Africa: Daily HIV/Aids Report

Source from:  Kaisernetwork.org (Washington, DC) 7 November 2007 11/08/2007

Global Fund, Ryan White Program Would Receive Increases in Funding Under House-Passed FY 2008 Appropriations Bill PBS' 'NewsHour with Jim Lehrer' Reports on Impact of PEPFAR in African Countries Global Challenges HIV/AIDS Cases in China Increased by 3,000 Monthly From January 2006 to June 2007, Official Says Namibian Government Must Consult HIV-Positive People in Reviewing Prevention, Treatment Program, Survey Says Science & Medicine Laser Technology Could Be Used To Protect Against HIV, Study Says Global Fund, Ryan White Program Would Receive Increases in Funding Under House-Passed FY 2008 Appropriations Bill The House voted 269-142 to pass an appropriations bill that combines the fiscal year 2008 Labor-HHS-Education (HR 3043) and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (HR 2642) appropriations bills, the AP/Arizona Daily Star reports (AP/Arizona Daily Star, 11/7). The measure, which was approved by a House-Senate conference committee, includes increases in funding for the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Ryan White Program, CQ HealthBeat reports. The bill would provide $300 million in funding for the Global Fund, up from $99 million for the Global Fund included in the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill for FY 2007. Additional U.S. funding for the Global Fund is provided through foreign aid appropriations. The measure also would increase funding for the Ryan White Program by $84 million, including an increase for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program of $33 million (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 11/6). ADAPs are federal- and state-funded programs that provide HIV/AIDS-related medications to low-income, uninsured and underinsured HIV-positive individuals (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 10/10). The Senate is expected to vote on the legislation on Wednesday. According to CQ Today, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) will lead a Republican attempt to split the legislation back into two bills, which if successful, would send the Labor-HHS-Education measure back to the House. Senate Democrats need 60 votes to keep the bills together, CQ Today reports. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said if the bills are split, Congress will send the Labor-HHS-Education bill by itself to President Bush. Bush has said he would veto the Labor-HHS-Education bill by itself or as part of the conference report, if passed by the Senate (Wayne, CQ Today, 11/6). The Labor-HHS-Education bill contains $10 billion more in discretionary spending than the Bush administration requested (AP/Arizona Daily Star, 11/7). Link to this story. PBS' 'NewsHour with Jim Lehrer' Reports on Impact of PEPFAR in African Countries PBS' "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" on Tuesday reported on programs in Rwanda and Tanzania that are being funded by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The segment is the first of three reports examining the impact of PEPFAR, which was proposed by Bush in 2003 to fight global HIV/AIDS. Mark Dybul, U.S. Global AIDS coordinator, said initial concerns about funding levels and whether delivering antiretroviral drugs would be possible in developing countries have been addressed. "When President Bush started this, when he announced this, 50,000 people -- 50,000 people -- in all of sub-Saharan Africa were receiving antiretroviral therapy," adding, "Through last September, we supported treatment for 1.1 million people." The "NewsHour" segment also examined efforts to distribute antiretrovirals, reduce mother-to-child transmission and track adherence to antiretroviral treatment regimens in Rwanda (Dentzer, "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," PBS, 11/6). Audio and a transcript of the segment are available online. Video will be available Wednesday afternoon. A transcript of an extended interview with Dybul also is available online (Dentzer, "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" Web site, 11/6). Link to this story. The number of HIV/AIDS cases on mainland China increased by an average of 3,000 monthly between January 2006 and June 2007, Wang Ning, deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said Monday, China Daily reports. Wang added that 32,235 new HIV/AIDS cases have been recorded so far this year and that about 3,000 people have died of AIDS-related causes since January. At the end of June, HIV/AIDS cases had been reported in 74% of counties throughout China. Guangdong, Guangxi, Henan, Xinjiang and Yunnan provinces accounted for 76% of all HIV/AIDS cases nationwide, while Anhui, Guangxi, Henan, Hubei and Yunnan provinces accounted for 83% of all AIDS cases nationwide, China Daily reports (Chen, China Daily, 11/6). About 38% of new HIV diagnoses were transmitted sexually, an increase of 30% from last year, Wang said (Reuters, 11/5). In addition, about 3% of new cases were transmitted among men who have sex with men. Although the number of new HIV/AIDS cases among high-risk groups, such as injection drug users and commercial sex workers, has decreased, the general population is at higher risk, in part because of risky sexual behaviors, Wang added (China Daily, 11/6). About 220,000 people nationwide were living with HIV/AIDS at the end of September, and 25% of those had developed AIDS, Wang said. UNAIDS has estimated that about 650,000 people in China are living with HIV/AIDS, Reuters reports (Reuters, 11/5). Link to this story. Namibian Government Must Consult HIV-Positive People in Reviewing Prevention, Treatment Program, Survey Says Namibia must include people living with HIV in the review process of the country's prevention and treatment programs, including its mother-to-child prevention program, according to a recent survey conducted by Namibia's Ministry of Health, the Namibian/AllAfrica.com reports. The survey was conducted in nine cities in November 2005 among members of the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Namibia and members of the Rainbow Project -- an organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. According to the report, 21% of members of the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS said they had been "treated badly or unfairly" by hospital staff or health care workers. "A third of those who felt they had been maltreated by a health worker linked this with stigma-related behavior and specified that a health care worker was afraid to touch them," the report said. The report called on the Ministry of Health and nongovernmental organizations to train and use people living with the disease as "expert patients" as part of an antiretroviral treatment team. The report said that HIV-positive people could provide counseling, antiretroviral support and information and act as a bridge to health care workers. In addition, they could help identify gaps in the mother-to-child prevention program. The report said that the ministry also should train health care workers in interpersonal communication and consider offering viral load tests after six months of antiretroviral treatment and annually thereafter. Marcus Goraseb, deputy director of the Ministry of Health, welcomed the recommendations, adding that an effective HIV prevention strategy should include thorough planning with evidence-based information, dedication, sharing of experiences and accountability (Maletsky, Namibian/AllAfrica.com, 11/5). Link to this story. Science & Medicine Laser Technology Could Be Used To Protect Against HIV, Study Says A type of infrared laser technology could be used to protect the human immune system against HIV, as well as other viruses and infections, without causing side effects, according to a study published in the Nov. 1 issue of the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matters, BBC News reports. For the study, lead researcher Kong-Thon Tsen of Arizona State University and colleagues used infrared femtosecond lasers with carefully specified wavelengths to target viruses and bacteria without harming other cells. The technology, called Impulsive Stimulated Raman Scattering, generates vibrations that can destroy the protein coat of microorganisms. The researchers said they found a level of vibration that "inactivates both viruses and bacteria while leaving sensitive materials such as mammalian cells unharmed." The researchers said they have conducted experiments using the laser technology on E. coli bacterial cells, Tobacco Mosaic Virus cells, and human and hamster cells. Kong-Thon said that the "research so far suggests that ISRS will be ready for use in disinfection and could provide treatments against some of the worst, often drug-resistant, bacterial and viral pathogens." Jean-Yves Maillard, senior lecturer in pharmaceutical microbiology at Cardiff University, said the technology is "interesting" but added that it is "at a very preliminary stage, and any application in humans is a long way off" (BBC News, 11/6). An abstract of the study is available online. Enditem