Nation+Beyond

Adults in the United States with multiple sex partners may be at an especially high risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV because they do not regularly use condoms, reveals a new survey of 10,000 New Yorkers. Forty percent of those reporting multiple sex partners also said they did not use a condom the last time they had sex. -------------------- Noting that about 85% of HIV-positive men in Cuba are gay or bisexual, the country's center for STD prevention is launching new campaigns aimed at men who have sex with men. Most outreach to date has been conducted toward women. -------------------- Only about 10% of the 90,000 HIVers in Peru are receiving antiretroviral therapy, according to government figures. To help increase that number, the nation's health department has allocated $5 million for treatment programs this year. -------------------- To help prevent HIV infections among the estimated 47% of students in Brazil who are sexually active, health officials have announced they will install 400 machines dispensing free condoms in schools across the country. -------------------- More than 41% of a random sample of gay and bisexual men in the United Kingdom who tested positive when screened for HIV said they had been unaware they were infected. The high percentage, researchers say, shows that programs encouraging regular testing are still needed. -------------------- Rising HIV infection rates among women in Russia have led to stepped-up efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission. About 6,000 pregnant HIVers underwent antiretroviral treatment last year to prevent infecting their babies. -------------------- The Czech Republic has installed automatic syringe machines in the capital of Prague to help curb the spread of HIV among injection-drug users. A clean syringe and disinfection materials can be bought for about $1.25. -------------------- An appeals court in Egypt upheld three-year prison sentences given to five HIV-positive men whose infections were assumed to have occurred through homosexual sex, which is illegal in the Muslim nation. Nine men have been imprisoned so far this year because of their infections. -------------------- An agreement between the United Nations and Yemen will provide $10.6 million over the next three years to fight the spread of HIV by better screening the nation's blood supply, working to promote safer sex among high-risk groups, and expanding treatment programs. -------------------- Hundreds of activists walked across Swaziland this summer as part of the fifth annual AIDS Walk Africa to raise funds for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation's programs in the country. Swaziland is home to about 15,000 child HIVers and more than 60,000 AIDS orphans. -------------------- Noting that HIV-positive men in Malaysia rarely seek condoms, officials are urging women to carry prophylactics at all times to protect themselves against infection through sexual contact. -------------------- A new study has shown that funding cuts to prevention programs in the Victoria province of Australia have resulted in sharply rising HIV infection rates. New diagnoses among gay men have risen 131% since 1999 in Victoria, while climbing only 8% in New South Wales, where funding cuts have been limited.