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gov mark sanford of south carolina approves $4million new state adap funds, reducing persons there with AIDS waiting for meds from 470 to 362.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
July 2nd, 2007 Across The Nation | South Carolina Gov. Sanford Approves $4M for HIV/AIDS Treatment[Jul 02, 2007] South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) on Wednesday approved a measure that will provide $3 million annually, as well as a one-time grant of $1 million, to provide increased access to HIV/AIDS treatment in the state, the Columbia State reports. The funds also will be used to reduce the number of people on the waiting list for the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program. As of June 29, the state’s ADAP waiting list stood at 362 people (Reid, Columbia State, 6/29). ADAPs are federal- and state-funded pr...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - July 2, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

rahul bedi reports from new delhi: millions of free condoms converted, sold as balloons, toys, construction materialsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Indians use condoms as toys By Rahul Bedi in New DelhiLast Updated: 3:28am BST 30/06/2007 India is struggling to prevent millions of condoms from being made into toys or sold as balloons. The contraceptives were distributed free to control the country’s population and restrict the Aids virus. However, they are being used instead to strengthen roads, provide extra waterproofing for houses and to carry water. Health activists said millions of condoms were melted down for their latex and made into toys. Others were dyed and sold as balloons. In rural areas, villagers used them as water containers. India’s soldiers covered...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - June 30, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

champ teleconference 7-19-07: anal carcinoma and pap screeningEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVM),Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP),Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA),HIV Medical Association (HIVMA),National Coalition for LGBT Health, andStop AIDS invite you toa teleconference on Anal Health:What We Should Know AboutAnal Carcinoma and Pap Screening.THURSDAY, July 19th at 2pm EST[1pm Central, 12noon Mountain, 11am Pacific] Toll-free number: 866-247-3147Passcode: 4277# Please register by contacting Sarah at showell@champnetwork.org or 401-427-2303 x2 with your name, city/state, email, phone, and organization (optional).______________________________________...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - June 29, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

seth berkley, AIDS vaccine initiative: there’s “no way out of this epidemic without an AIDS vaccine”Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Opinion | Development of HIV/AIDS Vaccine Crucial to Fight Against Pandemic, Letter to Editor Says[Jun 29, 2007] A recent Washington Post article “shed welcome light on how, despite advances in access to AIDS treatment in the developing world, the disease is overwhelming efforts to combat it,” Seth Berkley, president and CEO of the AIDS Vaccine Initiative, writes in a Post letter to the editor. However, the article “failed to explore how these facts underscore the imperative for doing everything possible to find a safe, effective vaccine for AIDS,” according to Berkley. He adds that researchers have “made si...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - June 29, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

NASTAD ADAP watch: 529 PWAs fester on HIV med waiting lists or under formulary restrictions nationwide (470 in south carolina) 6-25-07Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
chers— 529 persons with AIDS in Alaska, Montana, Puerto Rico and South Carolina line up to stay alive, line up on waiting lists to receive life-sustaining HIV meds paid for by ADAP funds (AIDS Drug Assistance Programs), according to the ADAP Watch report issued by NASTAD (National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors) Monday, 6/25. Tuesday morning Kaisernetwork carried the story. from my notes for an april 2, 2007 workgroup report for campaign to end aids, karen [bates] said in south carolina, 512 hivers are currently on the waiting list to receive adap drugs there for the last 6-8 months. five hivers hav...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - June 26, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

bryant responds to green respondingEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
chers--- i am remiss in not having posted this on the 20th, when i received it. i talked with larry on the phone, when he double-checked about permission to post ted’s response. to compensate, i offer the following metaphoric anecdote. namasté ---lyr [winston] churchill, who considered himself a true democrat, constantly opposed granting freedom to india. In more ways than one, [mahatma] gandhi was a much greater democrat, especially in believing in self-determination of people and the universal equality of mankind. . . . [in 1931], gandhi met face to face with churchill during the indian round table conferen...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - June 22, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

[RECTALMICRO] LUBRICANT SURVEY: JULY DEADLINE APPROACHES!Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
chers--- thought i’d pass this along. jim pickett, from the aids foundation in chicago, posted a lot of interesting stuff on the TimeToDeliver site at the toronto AIDS conference. namasté ---rk ------ Forwarded MessageFrom: Jim Pickett Reply-To: Jim Pickett Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:12:11 -0500To: LISTSERV.CRITPATH.ORG>Conversation: LUBRICANT SURVEY: JULY DEADLINE APPROACHES!Subject: [RECTALMICRO] LUBRICANT SURVEY: JULY DEADLINE APPROACHES!IRMWG members ---- many of you have taken the survey, and perhaps there are those who have not yet. Please take a minute or two to either forward the survey on to friends and lists...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - June 22, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

green responds to bryant about pacha: a different storyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
chers--- acz contacted dr. green and obtained the following response to larry bryant’s (info@campaigntoendaids.org 877-ENDAIDS) 6-15 press release that demanded an apology after a meeting with the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA). dialogs are hard work. what else can be said here? namasté ---rk From: EGreendc@aol.com [mailto:EGreendc@aol.com]Sent: Monday, June 18, 2007 11:55 AMTo: P.Dobson@aids.org; rk@aids-write.org . . . I didn't say what they claim. I did say that Africans are unfairly accused of being "promiscuous" and that this is plain not true. The people who wrote the attack must really look...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - June 22, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

AIDS ADVOCATES DEMAND APOLOGY FOR RACIST COMMENTS MADE BY MEMBERS OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HIV/AIDSEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Discussion period on the first day of a two-day open-to-the-public meeting at Washington, D.C.'s TK venue, the conversation took a surreal, but all too common turn, when Harvard researcher Edward C. Green, Ph.D., suggested that prevention research and interventions done in Africa should be utilized in America's black communities. The presumption that black people living in Africa and the U.S. are indistinguishable shocked the audience into stunned silence. On the subject of the disproportionate incarceration rates of black men, Franklyn N. Judson, M.D., rationalized that, "there are more blacks in jail, since they commit...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - June 17, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

june international carnival of pozitivities honored by blog carnival & call for july icp contributionsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Dear Friends of the International Carnival of Pozitivities (ICP): The International Carnival of Pozitivities (ICP) has been selected by Blog Carnival as their featured carnival for today, June 15, 2007. I am thrilled to receive this honor, especially since it highlights the work of our last host, James Wortz, and all of the contributors to this volunteer project. Many, many kudos to all of you who have contributed in the past. Please visit Blog Carnival today. You might find another carnival that brings you passion. Peace to you all. Ron Hudson 2sides2ronPoundcake LoveThe International Carnival of Pozitivities (ICP) The 1...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - June 15, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

navajo nation AIDS awarenessEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Across The Nation | Navajo Nation Addresses HIV/AIDS Awareness Among Tribe Members[Jun 12, 2007] The AP/Santa Fe New Mexican on Saturday examined efforts to raise HIV/AIDS awareness among members of the Navajo Nation tribe. The Navajo Area Indian Health Service has identified 240 HIV/AIDS cases among group members from 1985 to 2006. There were 7.6 HIV/AIDS cases per 100,000 Navajo Nation American Indians in 2005 and 7.8 cases per 100,000 Navajo Nation American Indians in 2006, the AP/New Mexican reports. According to CDC data, there were 10.6 HIV/AIDS cases per 100,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives in 2005, comp...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - June 15, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

TB Testing, Treatment Should Be Linked With HIV Prevention Programs, WHO Official SaysEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Kaiser Network | Global Challenges | TB Testing, Treatment Should Be Linked With HIV Prevention Programs, WHO Official Says [Jun 08, 2007]http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=45457 African countries, especially those in Southern Africa, must link tuberculosis testing and treatment with HIV prevention programs to more effectively fight HIV/AIDS, Kevin de Cock, head of the World Health Organization's HIV/AIDS department, said recently at the 3rd South African AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, Reuters reports. De Cock said that the continued use of traditional treatments for TB could fu...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - June 8, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

ICP 11 upEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The 11th International Carnival of the Pozitivities is up at Living in the Bonus Round, a blog I've enjoyed reading for the past year or so. A recent ACZ article is featured this month, as well as posts by my friends at Acid Reflux and DIRELAND, not to mention some first-time appearances at ICP. Check it out!
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - May 4, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

acz blast from the past: brad biggers from the suicide prevention line in louisiana, january 2005Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
. . . three suicide calls in 2 hours is certainly a stressful event. They all are running together in my mind right now. Let me think about if I can sort out which was which.The first one was one of our most common kinds of suicide call: the "I just found out I have HIV and my life is over" call. These calls are not easy. Living with AIDS or HIV means completely changing your life, which is often enough to make it feel like your life is over. You also have to overcome the stigma attached to AIDS, and make the choice of if and when to tell your friends and family, and what to do about your previous partners, and how to conf...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - April 28, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

claire howard @ the peoria journal star: 4-parter on HIV/AIDS in our heartlandEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
from the kaiser family network hiv/aids report April 26, 2007 http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=44512 Across The Nation | Peoria Journal Star Publishes Series of Articles on HIV/AIDS [Apr 26, 2007]The Peoria Journal Star recently published a four-part series on HIV/AIDS. Headlines appear below. "Avoiding Infection" (Howard, Peoria Journal Star, 4/23). http://www.pjstar.com/stories/042307/TRI_BD10FCHA.025.php The Client Advisory Board at Heart of Illinois HIV/AIDS Center is a club no one should want to join. "When you join this club, you don't ever get out for the rest of your life," s...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - April 26, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

laurie garrett @ us council on foreign relations speaks to senate subcommittee 4-18-07Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
laurie garrett : "health systems are the key. Those targeted programs, such as PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), are terrific, but without functioning public health and medical systems in place, PEPFAR and its like are just big band-aids that barely cover gaping wounds."excerpt from garrett's statement: Treatment, yes: But not without prevention Let me give you an example. About a year ago I was in a small town in Haiti. The people in this town were overwhelmed with infectious diseases. Their illnesses swamped the beleaguered clinics, where long lines of mothers and children stood in the tropica...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - April 24, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

canadian HIV/Aids activist june callwood dies at 82Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Activist Callwood dies at 82 Catherine Dunphy and Debra Black toronto star Staff ReportersApr 14, 2007 09:32 AM http://www.thestar.com/News/article/203138 “I’m okay, I’m 82 years old for heaven’s sake. Dust to dust is the way it ought to be. The death of the young is inexcusable.”During one of her last visits to Casey House, the AIDS hospice she helped found that is named after her late son, June Callwood noticed that the place felt tired and that there was a 60-watt bulb in the ceiling of the lounge. No one could sit there and read under that light, she fretted. Friends rallied, the hospice’s original inte...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - April 16, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Guest Post: AIDS is becoming feminine - Be conscious!Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The following comes from AIDS Combat Zone reader Mohammad Khairul Alam, Executive Director of Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation in Dhaka, Bangladesh. You can see other posts by Mr. Alam at his blog.Lately, More than half of all new HIV infections occur in women between the ages of 15 to 24 years. The impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls is particularly acute. In many developing or poor countries, women are often economically, culturally and socially disadvantaged and lack equal access to treatment, financial support and education. In a number of societies, women are mistakenly perceived as the main transmitters of ...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - April 13, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

“A-A-A-A-AIDS," he saidEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
sunday night, april 8, 2007 los angeles [dateline] just got home from an unusual encounter at a los angeles-area medical cannabis dispensary where i spend time as an AIDS activist & a mmj (medical marijuana) advocate & a poet. “johnnie,” a clinic patient with whom i’ve been talking for months now, told me tonight he has AIDS instead of leukemia. “not HIV,” he tells me. “AIDS.’ he could barely get the word out of his mouth for all his fear: “A-A-A-A-AIDS.” suddenly, the two of us are at the beginning of a long dialog. here is someone who has asked me, and whom i know how to help. “A-A-A-A...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - April 10, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

New ACZ Contributor - Richard KearnsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The AIDS Combat Zone family continues to grow. Fellow blogger, activist, poet, and ACZ friend Richard Kearns of AIDS-Write.org has offered to help keep the posts flowing during my time in Africa. Richard is a long-term AIDS survivor with an inside view of West-Coast AIDS issues, with special attention to medical marijuana, PLWHA's over 50, and the Los Angeles activist scene. Richard worked with me on TimeToDeliver.org last year during the 2006 International AIDS Conference and has been an active participant in the ICP Blog Carnival. Please join Faith and me in welcoming Richard Kearns to AIDS Combat Zone!And don't forget, ...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - April 10, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

PEPFAR far away from effective preventionEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
I'm cross-posting today with my blog. Today is the first day of Blog against Theocracy and I'm participating...obviously.PEPFAR is the U.S. President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief. In May 2003, Congress approved a $15 billion dollar U.S. expenditure on HIV prevention and treatment. 3 billion is supposed to be spent on prevention programs. It is, in my opinion one of the most theocratic, far-reaching, fucked up Bush Administration policies. Here’s why: Just to start with, a major tenet of PEPFAR is ABC, otherwise known as the prevention model (in other words, it's for prevention-he he.).ABC stands for Abstinen...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - April 6, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Two quick notesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
1) I've written a guest post over at AIDS-Write.org. Check it out2) Though I will not be able to continue blogging during my Peace Corps placement, I will be sending out emails via a Yahoo Group that I've set up. If you would like to receive updates while I am away, enter your address below. Updates may be infrequent depending on my options for internet access.If you can't see the form, you can also subscribe by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lifecalls/join? or sending an email to lifecalls-subscribe@yahoogroups.comNote: this post will self-destruct after about a week, to help prevent spammers from joining my group.
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - March 31, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

quick noteEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
I've written a guest post over at AIDS-Write.org. Check it out
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - March 31, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Happy birthday Elizabeth TaylorEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Dear Ms. Taylor,Happy 75th birthday! Thank you for all of your work in raising awareness of HIV disease and raising funds for care and research. Dame Elizabeth Taylor was the first celebrity to make noise about the HIV epidemic months before Rock Hudson died 21 years ago. For this alone, she should be commended, however, she continued to press on. She did not get bored or complacent like SO MANY other celebrities. Celebrities that are either doing it to enhance their image or doing it because they care so much for "the people with the AIDS" but then they hear that PETA is having a protest and, well, they get distracted...D...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - February 26, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

An AIDS warrior gets called to the front lineEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
As many of you know, I am a prospective volunteer in the United States Peace Corps. I applied over a year ago with the intention of joining after I finished the coursework for my Master's of Public Health degree. The application process usually only takes around 9 months, but married couples such as my wife and me are told to allow 18 months, so we applied early.For most of the past year, we have only had vague notions of where our Peace Corps placement would take us and when we would depart. We were told early on that our most likely placement would be Africa, but that with 24 potential countries, that didn't help much. W...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - February 17, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Three steps backEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Around my office, we attempt to make strides against HIV every day. It doesn't always work, but at least we're trying. I can't say the same for everyone.1. This morning Dr. Robert Gallo gave video testimony in a case in Australia where a man was accused of transmitting the virus to three women. His defense? HIV does not cause AIDS. Are we still doing this?2. President of The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, smallest country on the continent of Africa, has claimed that he can cure AIDS through traditional family medicine and the Koran. He has claimed to have cured a number of patients already. A little over 1% of the population of 1.6...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - February 13, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Give your sweetheart HIV for valentine's dayEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
I came across the coolest site today:GIANTmicrobesGIANTmicrobes sells plush toys designed to look like your favorite bacteria, viruses, parasites, and vectors. That way you can give your sweetie HIV, syphilis, hepatitis C, mono, heartworm (awwwww) and many others this February 14th... without needing to seek medical attention afterwards!I love it.
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - February 2, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Doctor and nurses receive death sentencesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Seven years in a Libyan prison and justice has been miscarried again. Five nurses from Bulgaria, all of whom, according to NPR have been tortured and one Palestinian doctor who was born in Egypt but has lived most of his life in Libya have been sentenced to death for allegedly infecting over 400 children with HIV in a Libyan hospital. In fact, the HIV epidemic in the Benghazi hospital began prior to most of these individuals' tenure at the hospital.Despite scientific evidence to the contrary, including testimony from Dr. Luc Montagnier, the six medical professionals have been convicted twice.According to reports all of the...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - December 19, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

The numbers are in: Circumcision and HIVEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The results of the NIAID Trial of Male Circumcision to Reduce HIV Incidence are in. The results: a 50% reduction in new HIV cases among the men who were circumcised at the beginning of the study; results so dramatic that the study was haulted early so that the control participants (uncircumcised men who were compared to those circumcised) could be offered the procedure.Due to the scale of this study, the results are rightly being heralded as monumental. Expect to see major demand for widespread circumcision in places with high prevalence. Correspondingly, I predict a number of governments and NGOs will begin incorporating ...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - December 14, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Cuts make senseEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
But not in the way that you think. I'm not talking budget cuts, which has been on the minds of all of us receiving ADAP and Ryan White funding.No, I'm talking about circumcision. Yes, the NEW YORK TIMES has finally picked up on what scientists the world over have been promoting for years and Bills Clinton and Gates have been promoting since the Toronto conference. The fact is that two circumcision studies were halted, one in Kenya and one in Uganda, when it was discovered during a Data & Safety Monitoring meeting yesterday that circumcision reduced risk of HIV infection by one-half. Both of these studies were randomized. ...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - December 14, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Guest Post - Paul GulleyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
AIDS Combat Zone reader Paul Gulley, a student at Elon University, shares his thoughts on the impact of AIDS on sub-Saharan AfricaAIDS and the Impact on Sub-Saharan AfricaFew countries have as much money and as many resources as the United States. The US consistently leads the rest of the world in the field of medicine, attempting to find cures for numerous diseases. With that advantage, it places a burden on the US to help other countries, such as poorer African countries like Nigeria, with the AIDS epidemic that exists. If the US spent more time, energy, and ultimately money in these countries, statistics show that the A...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - December 12, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Free Training via Teleconference - Monday Dec. 11thEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The folks at CHAMP are holding free teleconference trainings at Noon and 8 PM (EST) on Monday December 11th. The topic of the training is The Art of Messaging - Making Media Impact. You may remember the CHAMP folks from the Time To Deliver collaborative blog during the International AIDS Conference. Full details follow.Please join us for a teleconference training on the art of message discipline and having an impact in the media.MONDAY, December 11th at 12noon EST and 8pm EST – you can join either call.Toll-free number: 866-247-3147 Passcode: 4277#Please register by contacting Sarah at showell@champnetwork.org or 401-427...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - December 8, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Site to check outEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
An anonymous AIDS Combat Zone reader leads us to AIDS: Remember me?, a site put up by the European Commission to encourage dialogue about HIV/AIDS. It's being done in conjunction with an event in Brussels, Belgium on the eve of World AIDS Day to screen new HIV commercials and select a favorite. Other areas of the site to check out include a contest encouraging you to write your own HIV/AIDS 60 second TV spot (European Union nationals only) and a vlog (video blog) you can participate in. This is the citizen-driven web at its finest!
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - November 18, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Blogging updateEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Though there has been a lot going on lately around the HIV blogosphere, I've barely had time to breathe, much less pay adequate attention to the 'Zone. Here's my update:In conjunction with the USF chapter of Student Global AIDS Campaign, I've sent several fellow public health students to the 2006 United States Conference on AIDS as volunteers, activists, and hopefully to get a couple of first-hand reports from the conference. I'll learn more later this week.The bloggers over at Effect Measure have done a series of posts on the "Tripoli six" healthcare workers who have been held for seven years and are now facing execution ...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - September 25, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

ICPoz ThreeEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Fellow AIDS blogger Richard Kerns of AIDS-Write.org has just posted the third edition of the International Carnival of the Pozitivities, the web's first blog carnival dealing exclusively with AIDS issues. Richard has done a fine job of capturing the past month's activities, ranging from the International AIDS Conference to a Drug Enforcement Agnecy bust of a medical marijuana clinic in Los Angeles, and introduces us to several new bloggers such as NotPerfectAtAll and Tim. Be sure to check out the full carnival post, as Richard has given it an engaging first-person narrative.
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - September 10, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Quick NoteEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Today is the deadline for submitting articles to the next International Carnival of the Pozitivities, which is to be hosted at AIDS-Write.org. To submit an article, click here.
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - September 2, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Guest Post - The HIV/AIDS PotentialEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Written and submitted to AIDS Combat Zone by Vikram Sheel Kumar, MDAugust 24, 2006As the director of the HIV/AIDS department at the World Health Organization, Dr Jim Yong Kim once said that what we will do for HIV/AIDS will define our generation. In sub Saharan Africa, the disease is devastating nations. People in Botswana should live to the age of 72 years. Because of HIV/AIDS their life expectancy is instead is 34 years. By 2010 it is estimated to fall to 27. In India, the population is so large that we have not even begun to notice the potential of HIV/AIDS. A recent report by the National Council of Applied Economic Re...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - August 24, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

MailboxEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Nina Vucenik of the World Bank contacted me during the conference with a heads up that the World Bank has just released a new report on HIV/AIDS in South Asia. I haven't had the chance to look closely at it yet, but you can scope it out for yourself.The full reportReport summary pagePostscript - I made it safely home from the conference, but not before getting involved in protests over hotel workers being suspended for wearing AIDS buttons and ribbons. Several of us slipped letters under the doors of hotel guests informing them of the hotel's actions against the workers. News cameras had arrived on the scene by the time we...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - August 19, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

International AIDS Conference postsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
If you haven't yet, check out my International AIDS Conference posts at Time To Deliver and the International Collaborative Blog:Brad's PrologueOpening Ceremony Play By PlayRural Africa: Still Forgotten?A hidden epidemicAnd you may have seen yours truly on stage during one of yesterday's sessions. To see me click here then click the "video" link. My friends and I can be seen about 6-7 minutes into the video. We made the front page of the IAC newsletter and were featured in a CBC News Article. It's nice to sometimes make news rather than simply reporting it.I fly home tomorrow, and at that point hopefully I'll have a chance...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - August 17, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Help in South Africa contingent on bible studiesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
According to the Washington Post, a Baptist-affiliated treatment center in South Africa has started a program for traditional "witch doctors" known as "sangomas." The program is designed to spread HIV awareness messages through traditional medicine in the community - 80% of which consult sangomas according to WHO.A lofty goal, indeed. The program, however is contingent on the sangomas agreeing to study the Gospel of John twice a week before receiving lessons in human anatomy, symptoms of HIV infection and the function of antiretrovirals and other modern medicines.According to the Post, Nobuntu Matholeni, a chaplain at the ...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - July 6, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Tags: HIV AIDS South Africa PEPFAR Religion Traditional medicine Source Type: blogs

HousekeepingEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Just a few odds and ends before the July 4 holiday weekend begins...Tomorrow is the submission deadline for the first ever International Carnival of the Pozitivities AIDS Blog Carnival. If you've seen (or written) any good blog posts on AIDS topics please consider submitting them to the carnival.The World Bank Private Sector Development Blog has an interesting post on why global health issues may deserve higher priority than climate change. They remind us that it would take an Aceh-sized earthquake and tsunami every month to keep pace with the number of deaths caused by AIDS alone.The AIDS Awareness Blog links to a Reuters...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - July 1, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Tags: Carnival World Bank Climate Change Global Health Tsunami United Nations Source Type: blogs

Free Global Health E-BooksEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Fellow USF student and good personal friend Erika sent an email letting me know about Hesperian Publishers, a nonprofit organization that publishes health care manuals aimed at rural developing communities. The books (available in English, Spanish, and other languages) can be purchased online and many can be downloaded free of charge. The books offer step-by-step, illustrated instructions in clear, simple language. Though they are intended for developing nations, much of the content is helpful for individuals in Western nations as well. I've just downloaded HIV, Health, and Your Community, Where There Is No Doctor, and A B...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - June 30, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Tags: Hesperian Free books e-books medical advice health manuals Peace Corps Global Health Midwives Source Type: blogs

HIV world mapEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The blog HIV Information for Myanmar posted an excellent HIV Cartogram -- that is, a map of the world where the size of each country is proportional to the number of people living with HIV/AIDS. It puts things in perspective to see South Africa, India, and Nigeria each appearing larger than North America and South America combined.[edited to correct link]Technorati Tags: hiv, aids, nigeria, india, south africa, north america, south america, map, cartogram, africa
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - April 27, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Tags: hiv aids nigeria india south africa north america south america map cartogram Source Type: blogs

Analysis: What the Andrew Stimpson case means for the fight against AIDSEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Okay, taking one look at my site meter has told me that the case of Andrew Stimpson, the British man who has seemingly fought off HIV, is getting a LOT of attention, so let me take a few minutes to address what it means for people with AIDS or at risk of contracting HIV.First of all, we don't yet know if there really is anything special about Mr. Stimpson. He may simply be a lucky guy with a healthy immune system that was able to do its job when push came to shove. He took vitamin supplements, a strategy proven to help keep the body healthy against HIV for a longer period of time compared to not taking vitamins. If this wa...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - November 14, 2005 Category: HIV AIDS Tags: aids hiv Andrew Stimpson hiv cure hiv treatment aids cure Source Type: blogs

US AIDS count reaches seven figuresEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The CDC says the US has passed the million mark for estimated cases of HIV and AIDS: In a sign of both success and failure in combating the nation's AIDS crisis, federal officials said Monday that for the first time more than one million Americans are now living with the HIV/AIDS virus.The sign of "success" is, of course, because if it weren't for the efficacy of lifesaving anti-retroviral medications, tens of thousands would not be alive today.This makes us the 11th nation to top 1,000,000 HIV infections according to the US government(Including Uganda, which has fallen back below a million), though some would also put Rus...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - June 15, 2005 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Upcoming Event: Free Public Health SummitEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Top Story: The Boston University School of Public Health will be hosting a free public health summit on Saturday, April 9, located on the BU Medical Campus. The summit is targeting "public health students, faculty, and interested folks," so it looks like everyone is welcome. Free lodging is even available for people who will need to stay overnight Friday and/or Saturday. Click here for the full agenda.I would go to this thing myself if it wasn't a thousand miles away. Because I won't be able to attend, I would like to offer my readers the opportunity to serve as my "correspondent in the field," to attend the summit and rep...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - March 31, 2005 Category: HIV AIDS Tags: aids events now public Source Type: blogs

AIDS and Personal ResponsibilityEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Top Story: Three weeks ago, my favorite sex advice column answered a reader's letter which asked what the reader should do about a good friend who is HIV positive but continues having sex with people without revealing his HIV status. In his response, columnist Dan Savage suggests dropping the friend, and goes on to propose "drug-support payments," where people who knowingly infect others with HIV are required to pay to support the cost of providing anti-retroviral medications to the people they infect, a burden which often falls onto underfunded state drug assistance programs. He went into more depth about it (as I'll let ...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - March 16, 2005 Category: HIV AIDS Tags: netherlands mozambique usa aids Source Type: blogs

AIDS - a hoax?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
I received a comment on yesterday's post that requested I do "a brief blurb on this controversy going on in the medical community about the relationship between HIV and AIDS..Maybe you could help clear up some of this issue." This is a topic I've had an eye on, and so I welcome the opportunity to address this topic.Unfortunately, I found that as I researched this topic, no "brief blurb" could adequately address the myriad of accusations put forth by purveyors of the "AIDS hoax" hypothesis. Luckily, I was able to find an article from Skeptic magazine, which thoroughly debunks the AIDS hoax hypothesis as being "a case study ...
Source: AIDS Combat Zone - January 19, 2005 Category: HIV AIDS Tags: aids aids hoax Source Type: blogs