Global Snapshot

The first HIV diagnostic center in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, began operations in May in one of the city's hospitals. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria helped to plan and finance the site. Similar centers have been established in Kabul and two other provinces. ---------- Australia set aside $9.8 million in May to develop an HIV prevention education campaign in response to a 41% increase in new cases from 2000 to 2005. In April the prime minister called on his cabinet to examine ways to make immigration restrictions for HIVers stronger than they already are. His move drew cries of racism'that he was suggesting immigrants, particularly Africans, introduced the virus into the nation. ---------- The William J. Clinton Foundation has entered into agreements with generic drugmakers Cipla and Matrix that significantly lower the price of anti-HIV treatment for second-line antiretrovirals as well as a once-a-day pill that is cost-prohibitive in the developing world. The agreements lower prices for 16 formulations of medications for 66 developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. ---------- The government of India has initiated a plan to promote sex education in schools, causing a public debate on the morality of the plan between educators who say that sex education will reduce HIV's spread and critics who fear it will corrupt young minds. Experts say if the virus is not curbed, cases could increase from 5.7 million to more than 20 million by 2010. ---------- Researchers have found evidence of resistance to anti-HIV meds among injection drug users and sex workers'although they had not been on antiretroviral regimens'in U.S. border towns of Mexico, causing concern over a potential public-health threat. ---------- According to conclusions from a 25-year study in the Netherlands, injection drug users are more cautious today about using needles than they used to be'despite successes in treating HIV that have developed since the era of combination therapy started'resulting in fewer cases of HIV and hepatitis C transmission. ---------- Because marital infidelity among men is so deeply ingrained across many cultures, existing HIV prevention programs'in countries like Mexico, New Guinea, and Nigeria'are putting women at risk of contracting HIV, according to a new study. Researchers say programs must make extramarital sex safer rather than trying unrealistically to eradicate it. ---------- At the Global Travel and Tourism Summit, held in Lisbon, Portugal, in May, the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria called upon the travel and tourism industry, which employs 10% of the global work force, to mobilize and step up its efforts against the three global epidemics. ---------- Experts in Russia say the HIV epidemic has infected as many as 1.3 million people, growing at a rate of at least 8% to 10% a year and spreading further among heterosexuals. Officially, only 402,000 cases of HIV have been registered in the health system. ---------- Up to 10 million children in South Asia are affected by HIV, according to officials from the United Nations Children's Fund. Only a portion of the children are HIV-positive, but the vast majority are at increased risk of contracting HIV because one or both parents have the virus or have died of AIDS. ---------- The Terrence Higgins Trust has launched a campaign in the United Kingdom to help people with HIV ensure that they receive fair and equal treatment in health care. 'Healthy Respect' explains the standards of care that people should receive based on the Disability Discrimination Act.