| | | AIDS and human rights |  The International AIDS Society Conference on HIV pathogenesis, treatment and prevention opened in Sydney this week to much fanfare – somewhat overshadowed by the Australian prime ministers continuing stand on excluding HIV-positive immigrants from entering the country. For a country that has excellent treatment and prevention policies – and a relatively low rate of infection with the virus (although it has increased in some states recently) – this stance is perhaps surprising. What apparently started this was charges brought against an individual for deliberately and recklessly transmitting HIV to a number of people. An interesting response, given the high rates of HIV transmission in most developing countries – generally not willful, but as a result of failing prevention measures and poorly applied treatment programmes. HIV is, of course, primarily a sexually transmitted infection, and as such, individuals infected with the virus are often subject to moral censure by certain sectors of society. Hence the stigma that is still attached to the disease. It's time to start seeing HIV as just another virus – one among a large number of viruses that are transmitted through the sharing of body fluids – in one way or another. And routine testing – called for recently by the WHO – is one way of doing this. Perhaps this is the only way that we will start to make some inroads into the infection that is ravaging our continent – and keep the promise.
Dr Bridget Farham, editor: www.bizcommunity.com.
| | Headlines | NSAIDs can reduce colorectal cancer risk
New joint replacement using crosslinked polyethylene put to first clinical use
Tackling HIV/Aids across borders: SA initiates regional partnership
Nuts for all - allergen-free peanuts
Mass male circumcision - what will it mean for Africa's women?
Industry news: Axitinib prolongs overall survival in advanced pancreatic cancer
Chemo instead of radiotherapy cuts long-term side-effects for children with brain tumours
A ban on domestic travel could delay the spread of a flu pandemic
IAS news: HIV negative women may be able to conceive naturally with their HIV positive partner
IAS news: Not enough awareness of post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV
IAS news: Standard TB drug doses insufficient
Overview - at the cutting edge - male circumcision and HIV
Poor countries losing out on family planning benefits
Self-monitoring blood glucose: is it useful?
Advanced imaging algorithm makes for clearer ultrasound images
Is the US ready for bird flu? No
Swaziland ARV rollout on track but not without challenges
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Medical | | Urgency needed to avert a humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe
An urgent call on Zimbabwe's ZANU-PF government and the international donor community to mobilise food aid to avert an impending crisis has been met with assurances by government that "no one will starve".
Aid agencies assess Pakistan's flood-hit areas
A joint team from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank, with support from the UN and wider humanitarian community, is to begin a needs assessment in Pakistan's flood-hit provinces of Balochistan and Sindh today, 24 July.
Return to peace in Côte d'Ivoire means return to health care fees
As Côte d'Ivoire's peace process creeps forward and emergency health care providers start withdrawing, the government is beginning to provide medical care again and that will mean reintroducing fees.
Malnutrition rising in Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Nutrition surveys by the Sri Lankan government and international agencies show rising levels of acute malnutrition in the northern Jaffna district.
Industry news: Axitinib prolongs overall survival in advanced pancreatic cancer - Kailas Bergman: Magna Carta
Pfizer announced that axitinib (AG-013736), an investigational oral, selective inhibitor of VEGFR 1, 2,3 (vascular endothelial growth factor receptors 1, 2, 3) combined with gemcitabine showed a trend towards prolonged overall survival (OS) in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, compared with gemcitabine alone, according to preliminary data from a randomized Phase II trial.
Industry news: Medscheme moves into financial services - Gail Mazaham: Magna Carta
Rapid expansion into broad-based financial services, utilising the springboard of a strong market positioning as a premier supplier of healthcare schemes to 1.7 million South Africans, is central to the future growth strategy of Medscheme.
July is men's health month - Issued on behalf of Lilly by The Write Agency
July is Men's Health month, a month dedicated to educating men around the country about the health risks they may face, how to prevent them, what symptoms to look out for, and where to get medical assistance
Association news: The public's right to know - Greer van Zyl: HPCSA
The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has assured the public that they have a right to check the credentials and misconduct record of healthcare practitioners in South Africa.
Industry news: Hot food for hospital patients - Nicolle Kairuz: Cathy Findley Public Relations
Compass Group SA have introduced Serve Plus, an innovative new patient dining service...
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Chronic diseases | | NSAIDs can reduce colorectal cancer risk
A study of US patients with osteoarthritis provides additional evidence that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin reduce the risk of colorectal cancer.
Self-monitoring blood glucose: is it useful?
This recent paper in The British Medical Journal overturns the idea that diabetics who self-monitor their blood glucose maintain better diabetes control.
Call for entries in oncology journalism award
Following the success of the inaugural Luminous Award in 2006, Lilly Oncology has announced the call for entries to Luminous 2007. The Luminous Award was created by Lilly to honour journalism that serves readers and viewers by providing responsible, accurate and timely information on advances in cancer prevention, research, development and treatment.
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Emergency medicine | | Nuts for all - allergen-free peanuts
An agricultural researcher at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCA&T) in the United States has developed a simple process to make allergen-free peanuts.
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HIV/AIDS | | Tackling HIV/Aids across borders: SA initiates regional partnership
HIV and Aids knows no borders and Southern Africa has the highest HIV infection rates in the world. The Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication, the largest HIV and Aids communication programme in the country, has over the past five years implemented a groundbreaking project to tackle the epidemic across borders.
Regional partnerships in HIV/AIDS across Africa
Tackling HIV/Aids across borders: SA initiates 9 country regional partnership
IAS news: Antiretrovirals reduce HIV transmission during breastfeeding
Antiretroviral therapy appears to dramatically reduce the chances of breastfeeding women with HIV transmitting the virus to their infants, according to two studies presented on Tuesday at the 4th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention, writes Theo Smart from Sydney.
Mass male circumcision - what will it mean for Africa's women?
Women's voices have gone largely unheard in the debate on male circumcision as an HIV prevention method, but informal discussions with women reveal a range of concerns, preferences and views that researchers and governments would do well to consider before drawing up plans for rolling out a national circumcision programme.
Are you a trailblazer?
If you are, and South Africa's trailblazers are everywhere – become part of Masupatsela.
IAS news: HIV negative women may be able to conceive naturally with their HIV positive partner
A small Swiss study presented on Monday to the Fourth IAS Conference in Sydney, suggests that HIV-negative women may be able to conceive safely by having unprotected intercourse with their HIV-positive male partner – as long as the partner's seminal viral load is undetectable.
IAS news: Not enough awareness of post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV
Not enough is being done to raise awareness of post-exposure prophylaxis as a means of preventing HIV infection after sexual assault in middle-income and resource-limited settings, despite high background levels of sexual violence and HIV infection, two studies from Kenya and Thailand reported on Monday at the 4th IAS conference in Sydney.
Genital herpes massively raises risk of HIV infection
Chronic or recent infection with the genital herpes virus (HSV-2) increases the risk of acquiring HIV more than four- and five-fold, respectively, according to research undertaken amongst high-risk women in Tanzania
IAS news: Standard TB drug doses insufficient
A pharmacokinetic (PK) study conducted in people on directly observed tuberculosis (TB) treatment in Botswana calls into question whether the standard TB drug dosing is really adequate for all populations, particularly among people with advanced HIV living in sub-Saharan Africa.
Overview - at the cutting edge - male circumcision and HIV
Is mass male circumcision the new big thing in HIV prevention, or is it a risky social experiment that threatens to divert funding from tried and tested interventions?
Swaziland ARV rollout on track but not without challenges
Despite the Swazi government's claim that it is hitting its targets as it rolls out life-prolonging ART (antiretroviral therapy), HIV/AIDS activists warn that the government may be aiming too low and that serious challenges remain, particularly regarding women.
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Infectious diseases | | Dakar water channel poses potential health hazard
A water channel running through the centre of the bustling Senegalese capital, Dakar, may have been intended as a public recreation area and amenity, but the reality is different.
A ban on domestic travel could delay the spread of a flu pandemic
A near total ban on domestic travel could delay the spread of a flu pandemic by a week or more, particularly if the outbreak originates in a regional town or small city such as Darwin, according to new modelling by Australian researchers.
Is the US ready for bird flu? No
A new report from the White House has revealed that the United States remains unprepared for a possible bird flu pandemic.
Tshwane to start anti-polio campaign
[Janine du Plessis] The Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality will embark on a campaign next week to immunise children who are under the age of five years old against polio.
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Medical Technology | | New joint replacement using crosslinked polyethylene put to first clinical use
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) surgeons have performed the first total hip replacement using a joint socket lined with a novel material invented at the MGH.
Advanced imaging algorithm makes for clearer ultrasound images
University of Virginia Engineering School Associate Professor William F. Walker and Research Associate Francesco Viola have developed a new tool - an advanced imaging algorithm - that is, quite literally, transforming the way we see things.
Bringing doctors and lawyers into the 21st century
Doctors and lawyers generate huge amounts of electronic records and are under increasing regulatory and legal scrutiny. With recent changes to the Federal Rules to Civil Procedure, courts are requiring solo law practitioners and large practices alike to become litigation-ready and establish the integrity of their electronic records over their retention periods and throughout their chain of custody.
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Obstetrics and Gynaecology | | Poor countries losing out on family planning benefits
A new World Bank report today warns that poor countries, wealthy donors, and aid agencies are losing sight of the value of contraception, family planning, and other reproductive health programs in helping to boost economic growth, and reduce high birth rates which are strongly linked with endemic poverty, poor education, and high numbers of maternal and infant deaths.
Condom coating accord confirmed
Australian pharmaceutical company Starpharma Holdings Limited has announced that it has signed an agreement with a leading condom company in relation to the use of VivaGel as a condom coating.
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Paediatrics | | Chemo instead of radiotherapy cuts long-term side-effects for children with brain tumours
Using chemotherapy to delay or avoid radiotherapy in children under three with a type of brain tumour called ependymoma reduces the risk of potentially damaging long-term side effects, reveal trial results published online in the Lancet Oncology.
Childhood pneumonia mortality – a permanent global emergency
Worldwide, pneumonia is the dominant cause of death in children. The widely accepted estimate that the condition causes close to two million child deaths every year is based on data from many sources, and is probably conservative. It also omits about 1 million neonatal deaths that are believed to be due to sepsis or pneumonia.
Keeping it safe for children
[Gervais J. Henrie] Starting from next month, children giving evidence in Seychelles' courts will do so via a video link to reduce the trauma they normally go through while testifying in person in the courts of law.
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| | Events to diarise | AfriHealth 2007 Conference and Exhibition In-Sync Ltd - Nairobi, Kenya, 18 September
The AfriHealth 2007 Conference and Exhibition is designed to connect leading health information and communication technology experts from around the world. | | | | |
| | Quotes | | | "Who ever thought up the word "Mammogram?" Every time I hear it, I think I'm supposed to put my breast in an envelope and send it to someone." - Jan King | | More... Submit a Quote | | |
| | News for medical professionals | | IAS news: Integrase inhibitor raltegravir (MK-0518) shows promise
| Oral anticoagulant and antiplatelet therapy and peripheral arterial disease
| IAS news: Why doesn't daily acyclovir reduce HIV risk in HSV-2 infected women?
| Hypertension: two drugs better than one
| Etravirine Reduces HIV Viral Loads When Taken With Prezista
| Discontinuation of Aspen Lamzid & Aspen Nevirapine Combipack 120s
| | More... | | |
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