Across The Nation

Many Americans Support Increased Domestic Funding To Address HIV/AIDS, Report Says

[May 14, 2009]

Many Americans support increased funding to address HIV/AIDS in the U.S. according to a report released Wednesday for the National AIDS Coordinating Committee with support from the MAC AIDS Fund, Reuters Health reports.

The report -- titled "Impressions of HIV/AIDS in America: A Report on Conversations With People Throughout the Country" -- aimed to provide a better understanding of perceptions regarding HIV/AIDS among average U.S. residents. For the report, researchers interviewed "people in five focus groups, which featured a cross-section of Americans living in urban, suburban and rural settings. Several experts in HIV/AIDS also contributed to the report," according to Reuters.

Focus group participants were generally supportive of increased domestic funding for HIV/AIDS programs, particularly prevention, education and vaccine research programs. The report found that HIV/AIDS has fallen "off the radar" of many Americans but that many people are sympathetic to HIV-positive people. The report also found that some people continue to attach a stigma to HIV and do not understand how the virus is transmitted. Many participants also said HIV-positive people have "risky lifestyles," the report found.

"Many people we spoke with had inconsistent views of HIV/AIDS," lead researcher Jonathan Rochkind said, adding, "Even though most people were aware of the primary ways HIV is transmitted, when presented with the idea of being in casual contact with people who are HIV-positive, they often said it was a possibility HIV could be transmitted that way and that they were concerned about the risk." Rebecca Haag, CEO and president of the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, said the report "highlights the empathy people have for those living with HIV/AIDS, and an understanding that access to medical care and drug treatment is critical." Haag added, "Unfortunately, the reality in this country is that about one-half of those living with HIV/AIDS are not in care and treatment" (Reuters Health, 5/13).

The report is available online (.pdf).

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Global Challenges

Vigils Held Worldwide To Protest Jailing of Iranian Physicians Who Addressed HIV/AIDS

[May 14, 2009]

Health professionals on Tuesday held vigils in several cities worldwide to protest the imprisonment of Iranian brothers Kamiar and Arash Alaei -- physicians and leading HIV/AIDS advocates in the country -- following the release of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, the Albany Times Union reports. Vigils were held in cities such as New York City and Washington, D.C., as a day of global protest against the brothers' imprisonment. Vigils also were held in cities across Africa, Asia, Europe and South America, according to the Times Union.

Jonathan Hutson -- a spokesperson for Physicians for Human Rights, which is leading a campaign for the brothers' release -- said, "The release of Ms. Saberi has shifted the world's attention to the plight of others who are likewise jailed in Iran on trumped-up charges." He added, "This is not an issue of politics, but of global health. The only battle they were engaged in is the public health battle to prevent and treat the deadly epidemic of AIDS. They need to be allowed to return to their lifesaving work" (Grondahl, Albany Times Union, 5/13).

Related Editorials

Three newspapers recently published editorials related to the Alaei brothers. Summaries appear below.

Boston Globe: "[I]f Iran's leaders want to convey a message of conciliation and justice, they should have" the Alaei brothers "exonerated on their appeal of convictions for working with an 'enemy government' and 'seeking to overthrow the Iranian government,'" a Globe editorial says. The Globe adds the PHR and "several other public health and human rights groups are sponsoring rallies in New York; Washington, D.C.; and other cities around the world to call for the doctors' release," concluding, "We hope Iran's leaders get this message as well" (Boston Globe, 5/12).

Los Angeles Times: "Human rights activists say there are several hundred political prisoners jailed in Iran solely for exercising rights that in the West are often taken for granted," a Times editorial says. The editorial continues that Iran "should allow international human rights organizations or independent jurists access to" the Alaeis' case records and "provide fair and open trials to all prisoners," concluding that "[d]efendants should be innocent until proven guilty, and the burden of proof must be on the prosecution" (Los Angeles Times, 5/12).

New York Times: The recent release of Saberi, who "had been sentenced to eight years in a notorious Iranian prison on espionage charges, is welcome news and a humanitarian gesture by Iranian leaders" but "should not be overstated," a Times editorial says. "Working conditions are still treacherous for journalists and other professionals in Iran," the editorial says, adding that PHR is "campaigning" for the release of the Alaei brothers, "whose unfair trials and horrifying sentences are still intact" (New York Times, 5/12).

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About 20% of Surveyed Sex Workers Who Use in Drugs in Irish Capital Living With HIV, Report Finds

[May 14, 2009]

About one-fifth of commercial sex workers surveyed in Dublin, Ireland, are HIV-positive, while 78% of the surveyed group is living with hepatitis C, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs, the Irish Times reports. The report surveyed 35 drug users in the city who are or had been involved in the sex industry. The participants had an average age of 29. The report found that a majority of the sex workers surveyed, or 88%, were receiving methadone treatment but also using other drugs simultaneously.

In addition, the report included surveys of health workers, who said that it is becoming increasingly difficult to reach sex workers as they are becoming less visible in the city due to the increased use of mobile technology, such as the Internet and cellular phones, to contact clients (Gartland, Irish Times, 5/13). The researchers made several recommendations to address issues surrounding sex workers, including that the government should continue funding services for the population, the PA/Google.com reports. Teresa Whitaker, a researcher who worked on the report, said, "A dominant theme to emerge from the field work was that drug-using sex workers are vulnerable people with complex and multiple needs that span health, social and legal issues." She added, "For the most part, participants grew up in communities associated with social and economic marginalization and high levels of unemployment. They move more or less continually through drug and alcohol services, homeless hostels, the judicial system and other social care agencies" (PA/Google.com, 5/12).

The report is available online.

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Vietnamese HIV/AIDS Department Announces Funding for Prevention Efforts

[May 14, 2009]

Vietnamese officials announced recently that about 678 billion dong, or about $38.7 million, will be allocated for HIV/AIDS prevention efforts in the country in 2009, the VNA/VietnamPlus.com reports. The announcement was made during a press briefing earlier this week held by the Department for HIV/AIDS Prevention and the Vietnam Journalists Association to review Vietnam's HIV/AIDS efforts in 2008. Health officials at the briefing said that more than 27,000 people living with HIV/AIDS received treatment through one of the 207 district-level clinics put in place last year and that about 6,000 peer educators and health workers distributed information about the disease to 53.8% of the country's districts.

The new funding will help provide antiretroviral treatment to an estimated 32,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. It also will be used to provide post-exposure prophylaxis to health workers. In addition, the funding will allow up to 90% of HIV-positive pregnant women to receive antiretroviral treatment and information about preventing mother-to-child transmission. Last year, 20,260 new HIV cases were reported in Vietnam, of which 7,452 had progressed to AIDS, according to the HIV/AIDS department. The city of Ho Chi Minh reported the largest number of HIV cases with more than 34,000, accounting for more than 25% of the total number of cases in Vietnam (VNA/VietnamPlus.com, 5/12).

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Science & Medicine

Herpes Drug Acyclovir Does Not Reduce Risk of HIV Transmission, Does Slow HIV Progression, Study Says

[May 14, 2009]

The drug acyclovir, which suppresses herpes simplex virus-2, does not reduce the risk of HIV transmission when taken by HIV-positive people who also have herpes, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Washington, United Press International reports. According to United Press International, genital ulcers associated with HSV-2 are known to increase the risk of HIV transmission.

The study was conducted among 3,408 discordant couples, in which one member is HIV-positive and the other is not, at 14 sites in seven African countries: Botswana, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The primary results of the study found that 41 new HIV cases occurred in the couples in which the HIV-positive member took acyclovir, compared with 43 new infections among the couples who did not take the drug. The results were not statistically significant, according to the researchers (United Press International, 5/13). However, the study did find that acyclovir can slow progression of HIV by 17% in HIV-positive people who also have HSV-2 and whose CD4+ T cell counts are too high to begin antiretroviral therapy.

"Although the primary outcome of reducing HIV transmission was not observed, the study yielded important information that will inform HIV prevention research in a number of ways," Connie Celum, a professor of global health and medicine at the University of Washington's Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said. She added that the "findings will bear fruit for both the HIV prevention and vaccine fields for years to come."

The study, called the Partners in Prevention HSV/HIV Transmission Study, was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (University of Washington release, 5/8).

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