Events Calendar
Subscribe
Global Health News
  • AIDS panel reiterates call for prison needle exchange

    By Carol Sanders, Winnipeg Free Press
    February 3, 2010
    Source: Montreal Gazette
    WINNIPEG — The longer Parliament is on hold, the longer prison inmates are sharing dirty needles and diseases with the community at large, former prisoners and health advocates say.
    The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network was supposed to appear Tuesday before the Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety [...]

  • Vaccine stops TB in African HIV trial

    Last Updated: Friday, January 29, 2010
    Source: CBC News
    An experimental vaccine helps prevent tuberculosis in people infected with HIV, researchers have found.
    The Mycobacterium vaccae, or MV vaccine, reduced the rate of tuberculosis by 39 per cent among 2,000 people infected with HIV in Tanzania, researchers said in Friday’s online issue of the journal AIDS.
    Tuberculosis accounts for [...]

  • Armed conflicts have an impact on the spread of tuberculosis: the case of the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia

    Author: Abdi GeleGunnar Bjune
    Credits/Source: Conflict and Health 2010, 4:1
    Source: 7th Space Interactive
    A pessimistic view of the impact of armed conflicts on the control of infectious diseases has generated great interest in the role of conflicts on the global TB epidemic. Nowhere in the world is such interest more palpable than in the Horn of Africa [...]

  • Yukon fights TB spread with control team

    Tuesday, January 26, 2010 | 5:17 PM CT
    Source: CBC News
    Health officials in the Yukon are working to stop the spread of tuberculosis in the territory, which has one of the highest infection rates in Canada.
    Chief medical officer Dr. Brendan Hanley said the Yukon currently has 26 active cases of TB in three undisclosed rural communities.
    Two [...]

  • China's TB control project avoids 770,000 deaths

    Source: Xinhua
    BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) — A total of 770,000 deaths from tuberculosis (TB) were avoided over the past eight years in China thanks to a large-scale TB control project, it was announced Wednesday.
    The project covering 670 million Chinese, nearly half of China’s population, also prevented 20 million people from getting infected with TB bacteria.
    China’s [...]

  • Glaxo offers free access to potential malaria cures

    Exclusive: GSK boss says drug companies must balance need to satisfy shareholders with social responsibility
    Sarah Boseley, health editor
    Wednesday 20 January 2010
    Source: The Guardian
    The chief executive of the world’s second biggest pharmaceutical company will today announce that he is putting into the public domain thousands of potential drugs that might cure malaria.
    Andrew Witty, the British boss [...]

  • Circumcising babies could help Africa AIDS fight

    Tue Jan 19, 2010 6:04pm GMT
    By Kate Kelland
    Source: Reuters
    LONDON (Reuters) - Circumcising newborn boys to stop them becoming infected with the AIDS virus in later life is more cost-effective than circumcising adult men, Rwandan health experts said on Tuesday.
    A study by Agnes Binagwaho and colleagues at Rwanda’s health ministry found that the operation, which has [...]

  • For doctors in Haiti, worst is yet to come

    Source: Reuters
    Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
    WASHINGTON
    Mon Jan 18, 2010 12:01pm EST
    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An earthquake killing up to 200,000 people would have been bad enough anywhere, but in Haiti, where AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria are rampant, children are malnourished and hygiene is already a challenge, it may create one of the worst medical disasters [...]

  • China strives to make medical prescriptions affordable to all

    2010-01-15 15:15:00
    by Xinhua writers Bai Xu, Yang Dingdu, Shen Chong
    Source: Xinhua News
    WUHAN, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) - Wang Zhengyan became a celebrity recently after a “best doctors” poll from local people. She has been a doctor for 26 years.
    “She is loved by patients because she always prescribes medicines [...]

  • Atlantic Examines Drug-Resistant TB Control Worldwide

    Thursday, January 14, 2010
    Source: Kaiser Global Health Policy Report
    The Atlantic examines the emergence of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis around the world, with a look at the situation in South Africa. “[T]he resurgence of tuberculosis is not limited to South Africa. India and China have the largest numbers of tuberculosis cases, and multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has [...]

  • New Study Raises Concerns About HIV-Drug Resistance

    By Eben Harrell
    Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010
    Source: Time
    Last January a team of scientists at the World Health Organization (WHO) published a study in the British medical journal the Lancet making the audacious claim that the tools already exist to end the AIDS epidemic. Doctors have long noted that antiretrovirals — the drugs commonly used to [...]

  • Clean-Cut: Study Finds Circumcision Helps Prevent HIV and Other Infections

    The first microbiome study of the penis offers some clues as to why removing foreskin cuts the risk of HIV infection in circumcised men
    By Carina Storrs
    Source: Scientific American
    The World Health Organization declared three years ago that circumcision should be part of any strategy to prevent HIV infection in men. The organization based its recommendation on [...]

  • Tobacco use prevalence, knowledge, and attitudes among newly diagnosed tuberculosis patients in Penang State and Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Author: Ahmed Awaisu Mohamad, Haniki Nik Mohamed Noorizan, et al.
    Credits/Source: Tobacco Induced Diseases 2010, 8:3
    Source: 7th Space Interactive
    There is sufficient evidence to conclude that tobacco smoking is strongly linked to tuberculosis (TB) and a large proportion of TB patients may be active smokers. In addition, a previous analysis has suggested that a considerable proportion [...]

  • Circumcision health benefit virtually nil, study finds

    Little evidence that world’s most common surgical procedure can prevent sexually transmitted infections, urinary tract infections and penile cance
    André Picard
    Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010
    Source: The Globe and Mail
    While it is the most common surgical procedure in the world, there is virtually no demonstrable health benefit derived from circumcision of either newborns or adults, a new study [...]

  • Study finds that UNICEF program in Africa fails to save more children

    By Maria Cheng (CP) – Jan 11, 2010
    Source: The Canadian Press
    LONDON — A UNICEF program that spent $27 million to decrease child deaths from disease in West Africa has failed, according to a new study that found a higher survival rate in some regions that weren’t included in the program.
    The U.N. children’s agency pursued strategies [...]

Archive for January, 2010

Newer Entries »

State Radio In China To Launch HIV/AIDS Educational Program

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

Monday, January 11, 2010
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation Global Health Policy Report

China National Radio (CNR) on Jan. 16 is set to air a weekly one-hour program aimed at increasing HIV/AIDS awareness, Xinhua reports. People living with HIV will help co-host the program – “Positive Talks” – which will feature communication between hosts and the audience as well as experts on HIV/AIDS prevention and more, Yang Wenyan, deputy editor-in-chief of CNR, said Saturday. “Jointly produced by CNR and non-profit organization Marie Stopes International China, the program is expected to [reach] about 300 million people in 60 cities,” according to the news service (1/9).

“‘I truly believe that the program will be an important milestone in the fight against the epidemic,’ said Subinay Nandy, the country director in China of the United Nations Development Program, which funds the radio program,” China Daily reports (Juan, 1/11).
[...]
Read more Kaiser Family Foundation Global Health Policy Report

Posted in HIV | AIDS | No Comments

New Jersey Vote Backs Marijuana for Severely Ill

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI
Published: January 11, 2010
Source: New York Times

TRENTON — The New Jersey Legislature approved a measure on Monday that would make the state the 14th in the nation, but one of the few on the East Coast, to legalize the use of marijuana to help patients with chronic illnesses.

The measure — which would allow patients diagnosed with severe illnesses like cancer, AIDS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis to have access to marijuana grown and distributed through state-monitored dispensaries — was passed by the General Assembly and State Senate on the final day of the legislative session.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine has said he would sign it into law before leaving office next Tuesday. Supporters said that within nine months, patients with a prescription for marijuana from their doctors should be able to obtain it at one of six locations.

“It’s nice to finally see a day when democracy helps heal people,” said Charles Kwiatkowski, 38, one of dozens of patients who rallied at the State House before the vote and broke into applause when the lawmakers approved the measure.
[...]
Read more: New York Times

Posted in Global Health News | No Comments

South Africa plans to legalise prostitution before World Cup football

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

Source: Times of India
10 Jan 2010

LONDON: South Africa could legalise prostitution during the 2010 World Cup amid fears that the tournament will spread the HIV epidemic.

Around 500,000 football supporters will descend on South Africa for the tournament, the Daily Star reports.

Due to the rise in demand, health bosses want the government to consider making prostitution legal so sex workers can come forward to be screened for sexually transmitted infections and get free condoms.

Eric Harper, director of the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce, said: “It could be a potential recipe for disaster both for clients and sex workers.”

One HIV-positive prostitute, Isabella Siachina, said the World Cup is the answer to her prayers.

“All the girls are so excited. Next year we will be working all the hours in the day,” she added.

According to a 2005 study, 46 percent of female sex workers in Johannesburg have the virus.

Posted in Global Health News | No Comments

China to launch first radio program hosted by HIV carriers

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

Source: Xinhua

9 Jan 2010

BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) — HIV carriers will join professional anchors to host a radio program for China’s nationwide audience, scheduled to be broadcasting on China National Radio(CNR) as of Jan. 16.

The program, the first of its kind in China, will be broadcast live from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays on the CNR’s Business Channel, and the audience can also listen to the program online at www.cnr.cn and www.sohu.com.

The program, namely “Positive Talks”, will feature communication between hosts and audience, and experts will also be invited to publicize knowledge on HIV/AIDS and prevention and control of the disease, Yang Wenyan, deputy editor-in-chief of CNR, told the start-up ceremony here Saturday.

Yang said he expected the program to give more “attention, care and support” to China’s HIV-infected people.

Jointly produced by CNR and non-profit organization Marie Stopes International China, the program is expected to cover about300 million people in 60 cities.

A HIV-infected host with an alias of Ma Binjun said that AIDS is not just a kind of disease or some statistics, but involves the daily life of tens of thousands of HIV carriers and their relatives and friends.

Ma said he hoped the program would enhance understanding between the infected groups and the general public, and encourage the HIV-infected people to live an active life.

[...]

Read full article at Xinhua

Posted in Global Health News, HIV | AIDS | No Comments

Newer Entries »
About MGAC
McGill Global AIDS Coalition is an HIV/AIDS advocacy group dedicated to the eradication of HIV/AIDS and to the realization, worldwide, of the right to health. We are committed to helping to create an effective student advocacy network in Canada and to educating the McGill and Montreal community on global health issues
MGAC Outreach Subscription
Google Groups
Subscribe to MGAC Outreach (Learn more)
Email:
Visit this group
Topics
Links
Archives