AIDS

August 23, 2007 -- New York Governor Eliot Spitzer today announced that he has signed legislation ensuring that victims of sex offenses will be able to get timely information from the criminal justice system that can help guide their medical treatment. Under this new law, New York courts can order that an indicted defendant be tested for the HIV virus. Previously, victims could only request and receive such information at the time of a defendant’s conviction.    » read more »

Rick Springfield's Performance Is Part of Show Integration With National Non-Profit Organization LIFEbeat

HIV/AIDS Meetings Disrupted, Offices Shuttered, Advocates Targeted

(New York, August 21, 2007) – The Chinese government’s ongoing harassment of HIV/AIDS activists and intensified surveillance of AIDS support groups raise serious questions about its commitment to combating the illness, Human Rights Watch said today.    » read more »

August 13, 2007 - As host country of the 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP), Sri Lanka is gearing up to welcome more than 3,500 delegates from over 60 countries.

Speaking ahead of the conference, Dr. Nimal Edirisinghe, Program Director for the World Bank-funded National HIV/AIDS Prevention Program, said this the first time the conference is taking place in a low-prevalence developing country.

“We have the opportunity to show the whole world that our health, education, and cultural systems are very well developed.”    » read more »

August 2, 2007 -- Washington, D.C. – Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, along with Reps. Eliot Engel (D-NY) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), today reintroduced the Early Treatment for HIV Act (ETHA) with a bipartisan group of 54 original co-sponsors. Speaker Pelosi released the following statement:    » read more »

17 July 2007 -- The death sentence of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the AIDS virus, HIV, has been commuted to life in prison. The Bulgarians' effort now is to get the nurses repatriated.

The ruling came after the families of the children each received one million dollars in compensation.

The families agreed to drop their demand for the execution of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor charged with having infected with HIV more 400 Libyan children at a hospital in the northeastern coastal city of Benghazi.    » read more »

04 July 2007 -- A week ago, VOA’s Daybreak Africa program ran an interview with Africa analyst Emira Woods, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies. Woods described U.S. First Lady Laura Bush’s most recent visit to Africa as lacking substance. She also described President Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR as driven by the administration’s political ideology.    » read more »

Legislation removes the stigma from getting an HIV test, preserves informed consent for patients and promotes early detection

June 27, 2007 -- SPRINGFIELD – On National HIV Testing Day, Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich signed a new law making HIV testing a routine part of general medical care. Senate Bill 929 allows medical providers to proceed with a test once they have secured verbal informed consent, instead of written consent, from a patient clearly acknowledging that a test will be administered as part of their check-up or routine blood work.    » read more »

DPH Reaches Out to Health Care Providers to Promote Screenings

June 26, 2007 -- In honor of National HIV Testing Day on June 27, the Kentucky Department for Public Health is promoting routine voluntary HIV testing for people 13-64 years old.

The campaign comes on the heels of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initiative to incorporate routine testing nationwide. In Kentucky, the campaign for increased HIV testing runs during the June.    » read more »

June 25, 2007 -- In an effort to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) is recognizing June 27 as National HIV Testing Day.

"This year marks the 26th anniversary of HIV/AIDS," said Janet Olszewski, MDCH Director. "Unfortunately, an estimated quarter of a million Americans are currently infected with HIV and do not know it. Having yourself tested can save lives, especially your own."    » read more »

20 June 2007 -- Rwanda has just hosted a four-day international conference in the capital Kigali on improving services for HIV / AIDS patients. More than two thousand delegates attended the meeting, which was organized by President Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.    » read more »

Kigali, Rwanda, June 16, 2007 – The 2007 HIV/AIDS Implementers’ Meeting opens today in Kigali, and is expected to draw over 1,500 delegates from around the world. Rwanda was chosen to host the meeting in recognition of the country’s leadership in the fight against HIV/AIDS and the impressive results it has achieved.    » read more »

Measure would eliminate the requirement in the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to spend at least 33 percent of funding on these abstinence-only programs

June 6, 2007 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) today introduced a measure to provider greater flexibility for U.S. funding for critical HIV/AIDS prevention programs.    » read more »

02 June 2007 -- Many Pentecostal churches in Kampala invite the afflicted to be cured. Mrs. Frances Adroa, who is HIV-positive, took them up on the offer.    » read more »

Vague Language Meaningless Without Real Resources

(New York, May 30, 2007) – Expanding access to HIV testing is critical in the fight against AIDS, but new WHO/UNAIDS guidelines pay only lip service to the conditions that will make testing successful, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch was responding to the release of new WHO/UNAIDS guidelines on provider-initiated HIV testing and counseling.    » read more »