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PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Tackling HIV/AIDS and relocation issues
312 travelers found HIV positive
IAC 2008: Landmark HIV and AIDS guide unveiled in Mexico City
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PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Tackling HIV/AIDS and relocation issues
PORT MORESBY, 4 August 2008 (IRIN)
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the National Aids Council (NACS) last month took their HIV/AIDS awareness programme to the inhabitants of the world's fast-sinking atoll, Carteret Islands, to prepare them for relocation to the main Bougainville Island. The Port Moresby-based team, led by John Kian of UNFPA, included Kaleaman Indistange of the NACS and UNFPA logistics manager Martha Somo. Members of the Provincial Aids Committee accompanied the delegation to Carteret Island and then on to Pororan Island in North Bougainville. Kian said the HIV/AIDS virus was now moving into these communities, with the continuous transfer of people from urban to rural areas due to rising costs of goods and services.
However, statistics were unavailable as people were reluctant to be tested. "We are letting leaders come up with strategies [such as practising safe sex and monogamy] to prevent HIV in their communities," Kian said. "We want them to know how to handle HIV within their communities and we want them to discuss HIV openly so that they also know how their communities would live side by side with people living with HIV/AIDS."
Posted 23/09/2008
312 travelers found HIV positiveBy Zhu Zhe/ China Daily
27/08/2008
Three hundred and twelve travelers were found to be HIV positive in the first seven months of this year, up 19 percent year-on-year, a report released Tuesday showed. They were among 756,000 travelers who received random blood checks at border crossings, according to the report compiled by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ). The increase in positive cases was mainly due to the growth in the number of people who underwent the checks, Xia Wenjun, a press officer with the administration, said. Such random checks were conducted on only 65,900 travelers in the same period last year.
Xia said such checks were usually conducted among high-risk groups, or those who appeared to have the symptoms. She would not elaborate. The report failed to say how many of the HIV positive travelers were foreigners. Under current laws and regulations of China, foreigners with HIV/AIDS are generally banned from entering the country, while the Chinese are referred to local disease control and prevention agencies. The HIV/AIDS ban is expected to be lifted next year on foreigners entering China, the Ministry of Health said earlier.
The report also said border quality and quarantine officers checked 9.6 million batches of products from January to July this year, and found 59,720 of them to be substandard. The rate is about the same as the corresponding period last year.
Posted 23/09/2008
IAC 2008: Landmark HIV and AIDS guide unveiled in Mexico City
An article from the HDN Key Correspondent Team
16 September 2008
The Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric AIDS Foundation recently unveiled a comprehensive new guide to improving and expanding HIV and AIDS prevention, care and treatment efforts in resource-limited settings. Launched at the 17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, the guide was produced with the support of several backers including the "A Day in the Life of Africa" Foundation, the US government and Harvard University. 'From the Ground Up: Building Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Care Programs in Resource-Limited Settings' is a three-volume publication containing practical guidance designed and written for health care providers, managers, policy makers and implementers, as well as the academic community.
Dr Richard Marlink, Vice President of the foundation, led the development of the groundbreaking new resource ahead of this weeks preview. "This guide distills our experiences over the past two decades from a wide range of international HIV/AIDS efforts, with a special focus on sub-Saharan Africa ," Dr Marlink said. "In this new era of expanded funding, a documentation of lessons being learned, in addition to the latest knowledge concerning the evolving 'science' of implementing care programs in resource constrained settings, is critically important." More than 230 authors from many of the world's leading public health institutions contributed to the text, sharing their first-hand experiences and recommendations. The guide's chapters are presented in a practical and accessible format, providing a comprehensive summary of crucial considerations for international HIV and AIDS programs in the 21st century. "'From the Ground Up' is a testament to the importance of working together, highlighting how greater collaboration and communication can enable those working on the front lines to mount new and more effective responses to the HIV/AIDS crisis," said Pamela W. Barnes, the foundation's president and CEO.
"While the road ahead is sure to be challenging, learning from the experiences of our colleagues can help us to end the AIDS pandemic – and come closer to an HIV-free generation."
Throughout the publication are profiles of leaders working on the front lines of the pandemic, written by award-winning former Boston Globe journalist John Donnelly with photographs taken by Dominic Chavez. The books will be published and made widely available to the public in November of this year.
While the printed version will be a valuable resource for HIV medicine and public health practitioners worldwide, the dynamic nature of the global health field requires that frequent updates be made. To facilitate this process, a second phase of the project is planned that involves the creation of both a web-based and CD-ROM version of the book. These digital platforms, currently in development and expected to be available by early 2009, will support frequent updates to the information contained in the original print version of the text, as well as the addition of a growing body of related content.
Posted 23/09/2008
