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Nature (12/30/99) Vol. 402, No. 6764, P. 850
The South African government plans to double both the budget of
its Medical Research Council (MRC) and its spending on AIDS
vaccine development. The MRC budget will rise to about $39
million over the next three years, with about one-third of that
sum coming from international sources. The research activities
within the MRC have been reorganized into six groups: ethics, HIV
vaccine development, bioinformatics/human genomics, telemedicine,
public health research for AIDS and tuberculosis, and research
into crime and violence.
"Clinton Wants $175 Million More for AIDS Programs"
Boston Globe Online (01/18/00); Gullo, Karen
Administration officials announced Monday that President Clinton
will ask Congress to increase federal AIDS spending by $175
million for the 2001 budget. Clinton plans to request $50
million more for prevention efforts at the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. The Ryan White CARE Act, which provides
money for treating low-income patients at clinics, may also receive
$125 million more than this year's spending level. While
officials noted that the proposed $50 million increase for the
CDC would be the largest boost in prevention funding that the
president has ever requested, some AIDS groups noted that the
additional funding is not enough.
Washington Post (01/18/00) P. A17; Mallaby, Sebastian
In a commentary, the Washington Post's Sebastian Mallaby
discusses the efforts of Seth Berkley to develop an AIDS vaccine.
Berkley's group, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative
(IAVI), aims to help the poorest countries that are fighting
AIDS. Public and private AIDS vaccine research had been stalled
by ethical and financial concerns; however, Berkley took a
different approach. He identified two research groups in the
United States and Great Britain, invested $9.1 million in them,
and then stated that any successful vaccine developed by these
researchers would have to be distributed cheaply in developing
countries. In 1999, Bill and Melinda Gates donated $25 million
to IAVI, and the British government has also contributed
millions. According to Mallaby, Berkley's tale shows that
nongovernmental organizations are having positive influences,
calling governments into action, and catching the attention of
the United Nations and World Bank. Berkley now plans to begin a
purchasing fund to buy and distribute the vaccine immediately
when it is ready.
"HRSA Announces $21.7 Million to Fund HIV/AIDS Programs in
Underserved Areas"
Reuters Health Information Services (01/17/00)
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has given
$21.7 million to fund 51 grants for early HIV intervention care
and services for underserved persons. The grants are funded
under the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act.
Programs under the act help communities determine HIV-related
priorities and fund programs for them, according to HRSA's Dr.
Joseph O'Neill.
Reuters Health Information Services (01/14/00)
A 1997 Los Angeles County Health Survey shows that more adults
with high-risk sexual behaviors are being tested for HIV.
Researchers, led by Dr. Loren Miller of the Harbor-UCLA Medical
Center in Torrance, assessed Los Angeles County Department of
Health Services data on more than 8,000 households. According
to a study in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
(1999;22:490-497), about 35.5 percent of those surveyed reported
being tested for HIV in the past two years, while more than half
of the individuals who reported engaging in high-risk sexual
behavior said they had been tested for HIV in the past year.
Nearly two-thirds of the individuals who engaged in high-risk
sex--who represented 5.6 percent of those surveyed--were heterosexual
men,
the researchers found.
Nando Times Online (01/17/00); Hranjski, Hrvoje
AIDS is spreading fast throughout Rwanda, after the country's
genocide caused 10 years of bloody upheaval. While the Rwandan
government made fighting AIDS a top priority in 1997, many
residents care little about the disease after seeing entire
families killed. Adding to the difficulties, notes Dr. Chantal
Kabagabo of the National AIDS Control Program, is that only 150
Rwandans can afford the monthly cost of AZT, about $500. While a
national survey conducted in 1997 found that the rate of HIV
infection among urban Rwandans has stayed constant, at about 10
percent, the rate among rural residents increased from 1.3
percent in 1986 to 10.8 percent in 1997.
Reuters (01/17/00); Esipisu, Manoah
The HIV infection rate for 15- to 19-year-olds in the Zambian
capital of Lusaka dropped to 15 percent in 1998, compared to 28
percent in 1993. Overall, HIV rates are stable for the country,
suggesting that sexual behavior is changing there. A new report
conducted by Zambian and international scientists attributes the
decline to increased use of condoms, fewer sexual partners, and a
fear of AIDS. UNICEF has praised the new findings, as Zambia
joins Uganda and Senegal as the only sub-Saharan countries to
post declines in their number of HIV infections.
Reuters Health Information Services (01/17/00)
Medecins San Frontieres (MSF) has urged the Clinton
administration to take steps for expanding international access
to AIDS drugs. MSF wants the United States to actively support
the production of antiretroviral drugs in countries like Thailand
that have the ability to produce the drugs locally. The group
noted that Thailand is legally able under international law to
manufacture a generic version of ddI, but the government
reportedly has been pressured not to by the drug's manufacturer
and by the U.S. trade representative.
"AIDS in the Developing World: An Interview With Peter Piot"
AIDS Clinical Care (01/00) Vol. 12, No. 1, P. 1; O'Rourke,
Matthew
In an interview with AIDS Clinical Care's Matthew O'Rourke, Peter
Piot--executive director of UNAIDS and an assistant
secretary-general of the United Nations--discussed the AIDS
epidemic in developing countries. UNAIDS' four main roles are
political advocacy, coordination of efforts of the United Nations
and governments, determination of the best ways to combat AIDS
globally, and providing the world with information on AIDS. The
current state of the AIDS epidemic is focused on sub-Saharan
Africa. Last year 2.6 million people worldwide died from AIDS,
and Africa hosts nearly 70 percent of the infected population.
According to Piot, the Caribbean is the second most affected
region, although the number of infections in Asia--particularly
in India, which has recorded some 4 million HIV cases--also
continues to grow. Piot explained that UNAIDS allocates
resources by generally keeping the budgets for prevention and
treatment separate. He noted, however, that funding for
prevention is "absolutely insufficient," with only $165 million
spent on prevention in Africa in 1997. UNAIDS' prevention
strategies include targeting AIDS information to high-risk
groups, social marketing of condoms, peer education, and
increasing access to voluntary testing and counseling. Piot also
discussed AIDS vaccines and microbicides, and he stressed that
AIDS "remains above all a global problem." The epidemic has not
been resolved, and he noted that people in the developing world
have a particularly dire need for more information about HIV and
AIDS.