HIV in Africa: Some solutions

The Economist last week had in hopeful article on ways to break the cycle of HIV transmission, particularly among young woman who have sex with older men. Much of the discussion is on PrEP A more promising idea is to prevent girls and young women from becoming infected, ideally using methods which do not require…

A positive trend on HIV

In 2011, the worldwide prevalence of HIV and AIDS was 34 million.  In that same year, 1.7 million people died of HIV or AIDS. However, the growth in HIV may be slowing.  Al Jazeera reports: Globally, new HIV infections are down by 33 percent since 2001 and have been more than halved among children. But…

How to Survive a Plague

Last weekend, I watched the movie How to Survive a Plague.  The movie discusses the AIDS activist group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power).  Although I am not a  movie critic (you can see reviews by professional critics here), I do want to discuss one key issue that the move discusses: should the FDA liberalize its…

Malaria returns to Greece

The impact of Greece economic crisis affects not only their population’s wallets, but also their health as well.  Contagious diseases such as malaria and HIV are on the rise in Greece. Some 70 cases have been reported there this year, and at least 12 people appear to have been infected in the country. (The others…

American Views on HIV/AIDS

A survey by the Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation revealed the following regarding Americans opinions on HIV and AIDS: 45 percent say they would be “very comfortable” in having their child having an HIV+ teacher, up from 36 percent in 2011. 79 percent say that everyone with HIV in the U.S. should get treatment…

Good News in the Fight Against HIV

Almost one in five South Africans have HIV.  South Africa is the country with the most individuals living with HIV (5.6 million); it also has the most HIV deaths annually (310,000). Despite these grim facts, there is some good news.  The Economist reports: “Although the number of South Africans living with the disease continues to…

AIDS turns 30

The Center for Disease Control issued the first official notice of the disease that would become known as AIDS 30 years ago on June 5.  My current home, San Francisco, was especially hard hit.  NPR interviews physicians at the San Francisco General Hospital and the Center of AIDS Research at University of California, San Francisco. “At…

World AIDS Day + CoR

Today is World’s AIDS Day.  Typically this is a day for bad news, but there are some positive trends in the AIDS epidemic.  Time notes that “The number of new infections is falling, as are AIDS-related deaths. Overall, 33 countries have seen their infection rate drop by more than 25% between 2001 and 2009, thanks,…