Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report Will Not Publish Monday, May 26

The Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report will not publish on Monday, May 26, in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. The report will resume publication on Tuesday, May 27.

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Science & Medicine

Advocates Call for Increased Funding, Renewed Efforts for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Research

[May 23, 2008]

Advocates and researchers at a panel discussion on Thursday called for an increase in funding for and a renewal of efforts to develop an HIV/AIDS vaccine, CQ HealthBeat reports. Panelists at the forum, which was sponsored by the Caucus for Evidence-Based Prevention and the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, said that continued declines in funding from public and private institutions would severely undermine HIV/AIDS vaccine research.

AVAC Executive Director Mitchell Warren cited a recent headline in a Kenyan newspaper that read, "HIV Research Hits a Dead-End," adding, "In many ways that headline isn't entirely wrong; we have hit some barriers." Warren also referenced AVAC's latest annual report on HIV vaccine research efforts, saying, "The reality is there's a lot to be looking at; there's a lot to be planning for."

Panelists also emphasized the importance of a comprehensive strategy to fight HIV/AIDS. They used the metaphor of a "basket" or a "toolbox" of mechanisms to point out that there is no one universal approach to eliminating the disease. "We need to continue to ... have the discussion that there is no such thing as a magic bullet," Carl Dieffenbach, director of the division of AIDS at NIH, said. However, the vaccine "is the main ingredient that we need to put in this toolbox," he added.

In addition, Dieffenbach said that NIH should put more money toward reducing the risk of HIV vaccine research and development. He noted that drug makers generally are motivated to conduct vaccine research by the potential of a product's market success, but efforts often are hindered by the high risk involved. "There is so much unfunded opportunity," he said (Cooley, CQ HealthBeat, 5/22).

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Global Challenges

Japan Pledges $560M to Global Fund

[May 23, 2008]

Japan on Friday announced that it had pledged $560 million to the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, AFP/Google.com reports. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said the funds will be allocated "in the coming years" from 2009, but he did not specify over how many years the aid will be disbursed. A foreign ministry official said that the pledge aims to "demonstrate Japan's diplomatic efforts to help Africa" as Japan prepares to host an internal conference on aid to the continent next week, as well as the Group of Eight industrialized nations summit in July. According to AFP/Google.com, Japan hopes to make Africa a primary focus while it chairs the G8.

"HIV/AIDS is poised to inflict an even heavier toll than even the plague in the Middle Ages, becoming the most damaging infectious disease in human history," Fukuda said. He added, "Amidst these tragedies, it is the African region that has been most seriously affected." World Bank representative Kazushige Taniguchi welcomed the new pledge but added that "increasing financial assistance alone cannot solve the problems in Africa." He said, "For example, there's a private aid foundation which touts its specialization in aid on AIDS, but in some developing countries, life-or-death resources such as clean water and food are needed much more." Japan earlier this week pledged to double its financial assistance to Africa by 2012 as part of efforts to reduce poverty and conflict, according to the foreign ministry official. The official added that Japan last made a pledge of $500 million to the Global Fund in 2005, and the funds were disbursed over three years through February 2008 (AFP/Google.com, 5/23).

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Guyanese Health Minister Ramsammy Discusses HIV/AIDS, Health Worker Shortages at World Health Assembly

[May 23, 2008]

Guyana's Health Minister Leslie Ramsammy recently examined issues surrounding HIV/AIDS and health worker shortages at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, the CMC/redOrbit reports.

HIV/AIDS continues to "defy our best efforts and our best technologies," Ramsammy said, adding that the global health community needs a "re-energized battle against HIV" and "must commend those countries that have responded courageously and have made a significant dent on the transmission of HIV."

According to Ramsammy, Guyana provides access to antiretroviral drugs to all people living with HIV/AIDS because the "benefits of earlier treatment overwhelm" the side effects of the drugs. He added that physicians in Guyana should increase their efforts to encourage people to be tested for HIV and that the country's public health community is "convinced" that abstinence-only HIV prevention programs "do not work."

At the assembly, Ramsammy also discussed the continued migration of health workers from lower- to higher-income countries despite earlier agreements to increase efforts to stop the practice. Ramsammy said it is necessary for the assembly to establish an "equitable solution" to the problem, adding that developing countries "must benefit from their investment in training [health workers] while not limiting freedom of movement."

In addition, Ramsammy said the accessibility and availability of vaccines should not contribute to the gap in health care between developed and developing countries. "Vaccines must be seen as a global good," Ramsammy said, adding that WHO should advocate for increased vaccine productivity to meet demands worldwide (CMC/redOrbit, 5/21).

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Indian State Launches HIV/TB Testing Program

[May 23, 2008]

The Hindu on Thursday examined a cross-referral program for HIV and TB testing launched in January in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Under the program, all people who test positive for one of the diseases are tested for the other if they give their consent. Health workers accompany people to be tested.

About 37,000 people were referred from voluntary HIV counseling and testing centers to TB testing centers last year, compared with 19,000 in 2006. Of the approximately 37,000 people tested, 13,200 were HIV-positive, and almost 1,600 HIV-positive people were also found to have TB. The remaining 23,700 referred to TB testing centers tested HIV-negative but had TB.

According to Supriya Sahu, project director of the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society, almost 90% of people found to have TB are placed on the DOTS program. About 80,000 people contract TB annually in Tamil Nadu, and 25,000 TB patients were referred to HIV testing centers last year in the state.

Sahu said the next big challenge will be to make HIV and TB testing available in the same facility. "It will be prudent to test for HIV if found positive for TB and vice versa under one roof," she said, adding, "We are working towards such integration." There are about 760 HIV voluntary testing and counseling centers, and 30 TB testing centers in the state. According to Sahu, 15 to 20 centers currently provide both tests (Prasad, The Hindu, 5/22).

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Across The Nation

Miami Herald Examines Spread of HIV Among IDUs in Florida

[May 23, 2008]

The Miami Herald on Thursday examined the spread of HIV among injection drug users in Florida. According to the Herald, needle-exchange programs are banned in the state, so some health workers distribute sterilization equipment in an effort to curb the spread of HIV and other bloodborne diseases.

The lack of needle-exchange programs is "especially worrisome" for Miami-Dade County, which had the highest rate of people living with AIDS in the U.S. in 2006, according to CDC, the Herald reports. The Florida Department of Health has found that 13% of the 37,000 people in Miami-Dade living with HIV in 2007 contracted the virus through injection drug use. In Broward County, 11% of the people living with HIV in 2007 contracted the virus through injection drug use. In addition, a recent study conducted by the University of Miami and the health department found that of 934 interviewed IDUs in both counties, 29% reported reusing needles, and 52% said they had reused paraphernalia to prepare injections.

"Scientific research shows that in the context of a public health program, the exchange of needles reduces the prevalence of HIV/AIDS," UM President and former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala said, adding, "Our community ought to follow the science." Tom Liberti, who heads the state HIV/AIDS bureau, said, "We have the responsibility of preventing the spread of HIV in Florida," adding, "[B]ut we don't have the main tool for preventing the transmission of HIV through the exchange of used needles." Jose Szapocznik, chair of UM's Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, said that needle-exchange programs "protec[t] the entire society, not just" IDUs (Roth, Miami Herald, 5/22).

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Recent Releases

UNAIDS Releases Policy Brief To Address HIV/AIDS, Food Security

[May 23, 2008]

Policy Brief, UNAIDS: UNAIDS in collaboration with the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization released the policy brief to address issues surrounding HIV/AIDS, food security and nutrition. The brief provides guidelines for governments, civil society groups and other stakeholders on how to manage nutrition and food concerns in the context of HIV/AIDS and targets in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals related to the disease and chronic hunger. According to UNAIDS, poor nutrition and a lack of food security in many parts of the world are exacerbating the effects of HIV because they can accelerate the progression to AIDS-related illnesses and hinder the ability of HIV-positive people to provide food for themselves and their families (UNAIDS release, 5/21).

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