<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Diaz, Clara</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:diazc@unaids.org">diazc@unaids.org</a>></span><br>Date: Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 8:04 PM<br>
Subject: Today's News (2012.11.23ex)<br>To: <br><br><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">Please
find attached the following AIDS-related articles compiled by UNAIDS<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">UNAIDS<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">1.
<u></u><u></u>El País<u></u>, <u></u>Spain<u></u><u></u> - </span></font></span><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35">Las muertes por sida
registran un retroceso histórico<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">2.
Daily <u></u><u></u>Mail<u></u>, <u></u>UK<u></u><u></u> - </span></font></span><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">End of AIDS in sight
says UN report as new HIV infections continue to fall<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">3.
<u></u><u></u>BMJ<u></u>, <u></u>UK<u></u><u></u> - </span></font></span><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Foundation is laid for
the “end of AIDS,” says UN report <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">4.
The Times, <u></u><u></u>Malta<u></u><u></u>
- </span></font></span><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">UN hails sharp decline in child HIV infections <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">5.
Leadership, <u></u>Nigeria<u></u> - </span></font></span><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">'Access To HIV Services
A Barrier For Disabled People In <u></u>Africa<u></u>'<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">6.
Courier <u></u>Mail<u></u>, <u></u>Australia<u></u>
- </span></font></span><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">AIDS deaths plunge in sub-Saharan <u></u>Africa<u></u>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">7.
Kyiv Post - </span></font></span><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">As world makes progress on HIV, <u></u><u></u>Ukraine<u></u><u></u> struggles <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">8.
FIGO - </span></font></span><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">South Africa</span></font></span><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB"> increases
antiretroviral provision by 75% in last 2 years <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR">9. AFP
- </span></font></span><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="FR">Brésil
: un demi million de personnes atteintes du sida <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><u></u><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">AFRICA</span></font></b></span><u></u><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB"> AND MIDDLE EAST <u></u><u></u></span></font></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">1.
New Era, <u></u><u></u>Namibia<u></u><u></u>
- </span></font></span><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">No room for complacency (Editorial)<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">2.
New <u></u><u></u>Vision<u></u>, <u></u>Uganda<u></u><u></u> - </span></font></span><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Even With Limited
Funding We Can Still Fight HIV/Aids <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">3.
<u></u><u></u>Tanzania<u></u><u></u>
Daily News - </span></font></span><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Call for Legislation Against HIV Stigma <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">4.
AllAfrica.com - </span></font></span><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Mali</span></font></span><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">: Full-Scale HIV
Program to Resume<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR">5. Cameroon
Tribune - </span></font></span><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="FR">Prévalence de VIH/SIDA en baisse chez les militaires <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><u></u><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">ASIA</span></font></b></span><u></u><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB"> AND PACIFIC<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">1.
<u></u><u></u>Kuensel<u></u>, <u></u>Bhutan<u></u><u></u> - </span></font></span><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Zeroing in to attain
zero levels <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">2.
<u></u><u></u>China<u></u><u></u>
Daily - </span></font></span><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">More care promised for AIDS patients <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">3.
<u></u><u></u>Jakarta<u></u><u></u> Post - </span></font></span><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Coverage for people
with HIV/AIDS must be clear <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">4.
IRIN PlusNews - </span></font></span><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">PHILIPPINES</span></font></span><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">: Social media link to
rising HIV among MSM <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">5.
The Age, <u></u><u></u>Australia<u></u><u></u>
- </span></font></span><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">A touch of kindness <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><u></u><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">EUROPE</span></font></b></span><u></u><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB"><u></u><u></u></span></font></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">1.
AFP - </span></font></span><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">G.Bissau warns AIDS patients without treatment since coup<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">LATIN AMERICA AND <u></u>CARIBBEAN<u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">1. RPP, <u></u><u></u>Peru<u></u><u></u> - </span></font></span><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35">Diez mil pruebas
rápidas gratuitas de VIH realizarán en Lima y Callao<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">2.
Inter Press News Agency - </span></font></span><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Chile</span></font></span><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB"> in the Vanguard of
Monitoring AIDS Therapy <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><u></u><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">NORTH AMERICA</span></font></b></span><u></u><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB"><u></u><u></u></span></font></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">1.
Wall Street Journal - </span></font></span><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">How Fight to Tame TB Made It Stronger <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR">===========================<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="FR">UNAIDS<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR">===========================<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="FR">Las muertes por sida registran un retroceso
histórico<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">El País</span></font></span><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">, <u></u>Spain<u></u></span></font></span><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB"><u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">21/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="ES-TRAD"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Paloma
Marín Madrid<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR">El
acceso a tratamientos antirretrovirales, las campañas de salud pública y la concienciación
han logrado que el número de infectados por VIH se reduzca. También las muertes
por sida. En 2005, pico histórico de muertes, 2,2 millones de personas
fallecieron por esta enfermedad en el mundo. En 2011, se llevó por delante a
alrededor de 1,7 millones. Un descenso histórico, según la agencia las Naciones
Unidas sobre el SIDA (Onusida). El último informe de este organismo muestra
otro avance en la lucha contra la pandemia en el mundo: en los últimos dos
años, el número de personas con acceso a tratamientos antirretrovirales ha
aumentado en un 63%.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR">Sin
embargo, las cifras de la pandemia siguen siendo alarmantes: se calcula que en
2011 un total de 34 millones de personas eran portadoras del VIH. Ese año hubo
2,5 millones de nuevos infectados, un 20% menos que en 2001. A pesar de todo,
dice Onusida, los nuevos contagios se están reduciendo: en 25 países de
ingresos bajos y medios, la mitad de ellos en el África subsahariana --la
región más afectada por el VIH--, se ha logrado una reducción de más del 50% en
los casos de nuevas infecciones por el virus.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR"><u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR">En la
actualidad, 8 millones de personas reciben tratamientos antirretrovirales. Esto
significa, que hay más enfermos que nunca que reciben ayuda. "Es un gran
éxito", según ha declarado Michel Sidibé, director del departamento de la
ONU dedicado a combatir esta enfermedad, durante la presentación del informe
anual. "Los avances que hemos obtenido en los últimos 24 meses solían
tardar una década, y nos han demostrado que se puede salvar vidas", ha
dicho. Si se conciencia a la sociedad de países con altas tasas de infectados
por VIH, si se promueven las políticas sanitarias adecuadas y se fomenta el uso
de tratamientos de antirretrovirales, dice Onusida, es posible reducir las
muertes y las infecciones.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">“Estamos
actuando más rápido y con más eficacia que nunca”, ha señalado Sidibé.
“Esto demuestra que con voluntad política podemos alcanzar nuevos retos y
los Objetivos del Milenio”, ha afirmado. Donde más se ha notado la
drástica caída de nuevos contagios por VIH es en los países con bajos y
medianos ingresos. Ejemplo de ello son Malawi con una reducción del 73%,
Namibia en 68%, o Sudáfrica en un 41%.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Así,
el África subsahariana es un ejemplo de ello. A pesar de ser la zona con más
infectados del mundo (23,5 millones de personas), ha reducido en un tercio sus
niveles de mortalidad y ha aumentado considerablemente el número de personas
que reciben tratamiento en los últimos dos años.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">El
informe muestra también que otros países están asumiendo su responsabilidad en
esta materia como Camboya, Perú, México o la República Dominicana. Y es que más
de 81 países han aumentado sus inversiones (entorno al 50% desde 2001) en
políticas sanitarias para prevenir y ofrecer tratamientos. Onusida también
subraya el "importante papel" que están jugando las naciones con
mayor crecimiento en los últimos años como Brasil, Rusia, la India, China y
Sudáfrica.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">La
agencia de la ONU toma este último país como un claro ejemplo de buena conducta
y responsabilidad en la lucha contra el VIH. En los últimos dos años, Sudáfrica
ha aumentado en un 75% los tratamientos antirretrovirales. Esto ha garantizado
que 1,7 millones de personas hayan tenido acceso a las medicinas adecuadas y
que se haya disminuido en más de 50.000 los infectados en este periodo de
tiempo.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR">Sin
embargo, la agencia pone el foco de atención en los países del centro de Europa
y del Este, Asia Central y Oriente Medio. Estas zonas han aumentado su número
de infectados por VIH con porcentajes que varían entre el 17 y el 21%.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR">Prevención
y más medios<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR">No
todo está hecho y queda un largo camino. La agencia de la ONU estima que
alrededor de 6,8 millones de personas no tienen acceso a ningún tipo de
tratamiento. Además, cuatro millones de parejas conviven con el VIH y no toman
precauciones para no contagiar a su cónyuge.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR">Para
evitar posibles contagios, Onusida propone algunas medidas, entre ellas mejorar
las tasas de retención de tratamiento del VIH, reducir su coste y explorar
nuevas formas para mantener el acceso al tratamiento; además de la circuncisión
masculina voluntaria<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><a name="13b2d6c67370ad4b_UNAIDS2"><b><font color="white" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:white;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">2</span></font></b></a><b><font color="white" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:white;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB"> <u></u><u></u></span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">End of AIDS in sight says UN report as new HIV
infections continue to fall<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Daily <u></u><u></u>Mail<u></u>,
<u></u>UK<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">22/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><a name="13b2d6c67370ad4b_UNAIDS3"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">By Claire Bates<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">With
the number of people being diagnosed with HIV falling, AIDS could one day be eradicated,
experts claim.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">A
report from the United Nations said this was thanks to better access to drugs
that can both treat and prevent the incurable human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV) that causes AIDS.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">This
meant the aim of ending the AIDS epidemic was not 'merely visionary' but
'entirely feasible.'<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">Some
34 million people had HIV at the end of 2011. Worldwide, the number of people
newly infected with the disease, which can be transmitted via blood and by
semen during sex, is falling. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">At
2.5 million, the number of new infections in 2011 was 20 per cent lower than in
2001.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">Deaths
from AIDS also fell to 1.7 million in 2011, down from a peak of 2.3 million in
2005 and from 1.8 million in 2010.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">The
report said this allowed the 'foundation to be laid for the eventual end of
AIDS.'<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">In
2012, over 100,000 people are living with HIV in the <u></u><u></u>UK<u></u><u></u>. Of these, a quarter do not know
they are carrying the virus. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">However,
sub-Saharan Africa is the most severely affected region with almost one in
every 20 adults infected, nearly 25 times the rate in <u></u>Asia<u></u>.
There are also almost five million people with HIV in South, South-East and <u></u>East Asia<u></u> combined.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">'Although
AIDS remains one of the world's most serious health challenges, global
solidarity in the AIDS response during the past decade continues to generate
extraordinary health gains,' the report said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">It
said this was due to 'historic success' in bringing HIV programmes to scale,
combined with the emergence of new combination drugs to prevent people from
becoming HIV infected and from dying from AIDS.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">Since
1995, AIDS drug treatment - known as antiretroviral therapy - has saved 14
million life-years in poorer countries, including 9 million in sub-Saharan <u></u>Africa<u></u>, the report said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">Some
eight million people were being treated with AIDS drugs by the end of 2011, a
20-fold increase since 2003. The U.N. has set a target to raise that to 15
million people by 2015.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">Scientific
studies published in recent years have shown that getting timely treatment to
those with HIV can also cut the number of people who become newly infected with
the virus.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">UNAIDS
said the sharpest declines in new HIV infections since 2001 were in the
Caribbean and in sub-Saharan Africa - where new infections were down 25 per
cent in a decade.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">Despite
this, sub-Saharan <u></u>Africa<u></u> still accounted for
71 per cent of people newly infected in 2011, underscoring the need to boost
HIV prevention efforts in the region, UNAIDS said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">HIV
trends are also a concern in other regions.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">Since
2001, the number of new HIV infections in the Middle East and North Africa was
up more than 35 percent from 27,000 to 37,000, it said, and evidence suggests
HIV infections in Eastern Europe and <u></u>Central Asia<u></u>
began increasing in the late 2000s after being relatively stable for several
years. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><a name="13b2d6c67370ad4b_UNAIDS4"><b><font color="white" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:white;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">4<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Foundation is laid for the “end of
AIDS,” says UN report <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">British Medical Journal<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">21/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Zosia
Kmietowicz<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Global
solidarity in responding to AIDS has led to such “extraordinary health
gains” that the 2012 annual update on the epidemic from UNAIDS, the joint
United Nations programme on HIV and AIDS, has said that it “has enabled
the foundation to be laid for the eventual end of AIDS.”1<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">However,
although much of the report signalled progress, there were still some countries
where the number of people affected by HIV was expanding, and to tackle these
national epidemics in the next few years would require “significant
effort,” it says.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
report shows that the rate of new HIV infections more than halved in 25 low
income and middle income countries. More than half these countries are in
Africa, the region most affected by HIV. In some of the countries with the
highest prevalence of HIV the rate of new infections has been cut dramatically
since 2001: by 73% in Malawi, 71% in Botswana, 68% in Namibia, 58% in Zambia,
50% in Zimbabwe, and 41% in South Africa and Swaziland.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">“The
pace of progress is quickening. What used to take a decade is now being
achieved in 24 months,” said Michel Sidibé, executive director of UNAIDS.
“We are scaling up faster and smarter than ever before. It is the proof
that with political will and follow through we can reach our shared goals by
2015.”<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Deaths
from HIV and AIDS around the world stood at 1.7 million in 2011, the lowest
since a peak of 2.3 million each year in the three years from 2004 to 2006,
says the report.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Certain
regions have made huge strides in tackling the epidemic. Between 2005 and 2011
deaths related to AIDS fell by nearly half in the Caribbean (from 20 000
to 10 000), by 41% in Oceania (from 2300 to 1300), and by nearly a third
in sub-Saharan Africa (from 1.8 million to 1.2 million).<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">However,
two regions have experienced major increases in the number of deaths: by 21% in
Eastern Europe and Central Asia and by 17% in the Middle East and North Africa.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
2012 report is based on reports from 186 of the 193 member states of the United
Nations.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
number of people infected with HIV stood at 34 million worldwide in 2011 and
has risen by about 0.5 million a year in the past 10 years. Sub-Saharan Africa
remained the region most affected by HIV, with 69% of the global total of
people infected with the virus.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
number of people who became newly infected with HIV in 2011 was estimated to be
2.5 million, showing a steady decline since the peak of 3.2 million in 2001.
New infections among children have declined the most, from 550 000 in
2001 to 330 000 in 2011, showing that elimination of new infections in
children was possible, says the report.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Treatment
for HIV is becoming more widespread. Since 2009 the number of people accessing
antiretrovirals has risen by 63% and stood at more than eight million in 2011.
However, seven million people still have no access, including 72% of children
infected with HIV.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Investment
in HIV and AIDS in 2011 was $16.8bn (£10.6bn; €13.1bn), 30% short of the
amount predicted to be needed each year by 2015, says the report. For the first
time ever, domestic investments by low and<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">middle
income countries surpassed foreign funding to these countries for HIV
programmes in 2011. Total budgets from public and private sources in these
countries rose from $3.9bn in 2005 to $8.6bn in 2011.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">In
2011 the UN set ambitious goals to accelerate action on HIV and AIDS and set 10
specific targets for 2015 to guide collective action. These included reducing sexual
transmission of HIV and transmission among people who inject drugs by half;
eliminating new infections among children and substantially reducing the number
of mothers dying from AIDS related causes; and providing antiretrovirals to 15
million people.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
report says, “The results summarized here are encouraging, since progress
achieved to date conclusively demonstrates the feasibility of achieving the
targets set in the 2011 Political Declaration. However, the findings also
reveal that, to reach most of those targets by 2015, a significant additional
effort is required.”<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Notes<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Cite
this as: BMJ 2012;345:e7899<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">References<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">UNAIDS.
Report on the global AIDS epidemic 2012. <a href="http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/campaigns/20121120_globalreport2012/globalreport" target="_blank"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">www.unaids.org/en/resources/campaigns/20121120_globalreport2012/globalreport</span></font></a><u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#ff99cc" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#ff99cc" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><a name="13b2d6c67370ad4b_UNAIDS5"><b><font color="white" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:white;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">5<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">UN hails sharp decline in child HIV infections
<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">The Times, <u></u><u></u>Malta<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">21/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Twenty-five
countries, many in hard-hit Africa, have at least halved new HIV infections in
the past decade, with particular progress made towards protecting children from
the deadly virus, the UN said yesterday.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">“We
are moving from despair to hope,” Michel Sidibe, the executive director
of UNAIDS, told reporters in Geneva, pointing out that around half of all
reductions in new HIV infections in the past two years had been among children.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">“It
is becoming evident that achieving zero new HIV infections in children is
possible,” he said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">In
its annual report on the state of the global pandemic, UNAIDS said that 25 low-
and middle-income countries had managed to at least halve their rate of new HIV
infections since 2001, representing a reduction of 700,000 new HIV infections.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">More
than half of those countries were in Africa, the region most affected by HIV,
the agency said, pointing out for instance that Malawi had cut new infections
by 73 per cent, while Botswana had seen a 68 per cent drop.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Globally,
new HIV infections fell to 2.5 million last year from 2.6 million in 2010 and
represented a 20-per cent drop from 2001, UNAIDS said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">“The
pace of progress is quickening. What used to take a decade is now being
achieved in 24 months,” Sidibe said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Particular
progress had been made in bringing down the number of children newly infected
with HIV.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Last
year, 330,000 children worldwide were infected with the virus that causes AIDS,
down from 370,000 in 2010, and 43 per cent fewer than in 2003, UNAIDS said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">And
in sub-Saharan Africa – a region that today is home to 90 per cent of the
world’s infected youngsters – the number of children newly infected
with the virus that causes AIDS dropped 24 percent between 2009 and 2011 alone,
UNAIDS said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
number of global deaths linked to AIDS has meanwhile fallen for five
consecutive years, the agency said. (AFP)<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><a name="13b2d6c67370ad4b_UNAIDS6"><b><font color="white" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:white;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">6<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">'Access To HIV Services A Barrier For Disabled
People In <u></u>Africa<u></u>'<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Leadership, <u></u><u></u>Nigeria<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">22/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">OLUWASEUN
OLUWAROTIMI<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">People
with disabilities in <u></u>Africa<u></u> are, if not more
vulnerable to HIV infection like the rest of the population, and they also face
barriers to access to HIV and Aids services.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">This
is according to the 'Disability and HIV and Aids Best Practice Report' booklet,
launched on Thursday by Deputy Minister of Women, Children and People with
Disabilities, Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, in partnership with the South African
National AIDS Council (Sanac) and UNAIDS.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">The
booklet captures the life stories of people with disabilities living with HIV,
and tells often unheard, and unseen stories of real people and how the issues
around HIV and disability have affected them.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">According
to the 2011 General Household Survey, it is estimated that approximately 5.2%
of South Africans aged five years and older are disabled. Women (5.4%) were
slightly more likely to be disabled than men (5%).<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">The report
has revealed that people living with disabilities face barriers to access to
HIV and Aids services mainly because they are seen as asexual and so at minimal
risk from HIV infection and have poor physical access to many HIV Counselling
and Testing sites, where there are issues of confidentiality around HIV testing
for hard of hearing people to deal with.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">Speaking
at the launch, Bogopane-Zulu said the booklet traced and documented their
collective work as a sector across organisations for the past 10 years.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">"I
am emotional because for me, it's not just a job. We are launching what we've
been doing for 10 years. For us it's been a journey; we launch it with a lot of
pride. Together, we know what our problems are, we know our challenges are, we
know what can be done because we went out there and found solutions
ourselves," said the deputy minister.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">She
said sex education, such as teaching people correct condom usage, largely
neglected the needs of those with disabilities. This had forced them to find
creative means of addressing the challenges.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">She
reiterated that people with disabilities knew what their challenges were; they
just needed support to be able to share them with the rest of those like them.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">"Despite
you not having hands or being totally blind, you can take the responsibility
for your own sexuality, you have the right not to be infected with HIV."<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">Dr
Rose Mulumba, executive manager in charge of the National Strategic Plan for
HIV and AIDS at SANAC, said that the council wanted to focus its resources,
time, energy and actions on people with disabilities.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">"What
we need from you is your collaboration in terms of what are the activities you
think should be undertaken around people with disabilities. We don't want to
dictate to you as a sector. What is it that can make a difference in as far as
disability and Aids are concerned," said Mulumba.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">UNAIDS
Country Coordinator, Dr Catherine Sozi, said the booklet launch showed that
when government, civil society and development partners got together, they
could do well.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">She
noted that <u></u><u></u>South Africa<u></u><u></u>
was ahead of a lot of the countries but there was still a lot of work to be
done. She said the document was going to be disseminated throughout the world
and hoped that a few years down the line, they could document the progress made
since today's launch.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">She
said that UNAIDS will continue to support the sector to make sure they
continued to fight and defend their rights. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">"We
need to analyse the data and make sure that we work towards access to rights,
information, services," said Sozi.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><a name="13b2d6c67370ad4b_UNAIDS7"><b><font color="white" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:white;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">7<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">AIDS deaths plunge in sub-Saharan <u></u>Africa<u></u> <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Courier <u></u><u></u>Mail<u></u>,
<u></u>Australia<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">21/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">AAP
- DEATHS from HIV/AIDS have fallen sharply in sub-Saharan Africa in recent
years, with particular progress made on protecting children from the deadly
virus, the UN says. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">"Between
2005 and 2011, the number of people dying from AIDS-related causes in
sub-Saharan Africa declined by 32 per cent, from 1.8 million to 1.2
million," the UN's program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said in its annual report
on the state of the global pandemic.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
number of new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa, which remains the epicentre
of the crisis, meanwhile plunged 25 per cent over 10 years, from 2.4 million in
2001 to 1.8 million last year, according to the report published ahead of World
AIDS Day on December 1.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Despite
the progress made to bring down the infection rate in the region, sub-Saharan
Africa still counts 23.5 million people living with HIV, or 69 per cent of the
global total, according to the report.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">Women
are disproportionately affected, accounting for 58 per cent of all HIV
infections in sub-Saharan <u></u>Africa<u></u>, and,
alarmingly, 92 per cent of all pregnant women in the world who live with the
virus were in the region.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">Yet
particular progress had been made in bringing down the number of children newly
infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa - a region that today is home to 90 per
cent of the world's infected youngsters, UNAIDS said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">Between
2009 and 2011, the number of children in the region infected with the virus
that causes AIDS dropped 24 per cent, with a number of countries, including <u></u>Kenya<u></u> and <u></u><u></u>South Africa<u></u><u></u>, seeing falls of
between 40 and 59 per cent.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">However,
11 countries in the region saw far more modest declines, while the number of
new infections among children rose in four countries: <u></u>Angola<u></u>, <u></u>Congo<u></u>,
<u></u>Equatorial Guinea<u></u> and <u></u><u></u>Guinea-Bissau<u></u><u></u>.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">UNAIDS,
which spearheads the international fight against AIDS, said that low and
middle-income countries in the region had increased their HIV prevention
investment by 15 per cent from 2010 to 2011.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">In 21
countries in sub-Saharan Africa, external funding sources account for more than
50 per cent of HIV investments, while other countries including <u></u>South Africa<u></u> and <u></u><u></u>Botswana<u></u><u></u> provided more than 75 per
cent of their own expenditure, UNAIDS said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><a name="13b2d6c67370ad4b_UNAIDS8"><b><font color="white" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:white;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">8<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><a name="13b2d6c67370ad4b_UNAIDS9"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">As world makes progress
on HIV, </span></font></span></a><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Ukraine</span></font></span><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB"> struggles <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Kyiv Post<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">22/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">by
Oksana Grytsenko<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">Embracing
a white teddy bear, eight-year old Amina smiles nicely inside a playroom at the
<u></u><u></u>Kyiv<u></u> <u></u>Center<u></u><u></u> for HIV-infected children.
What’s left out of the picture is the untold suffering her tender life
has faced.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"> She
has fought bouts of hepatitis, pneumonia and she still can’t walk because
cerebral palsy, diseases that strike weakened immune systems. Amina was born
with HIV, which in most cases is preventable.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">Amina
is one of about 230,000 Ukrainians who live with HIV. Since the disease was
first registered in 1987, some 27,800 people have died from AIDS-related
illnesses. Almost 3,000 AIDS-related deaths were recorded in <u></u><u></u>Ukraine<u></u><u></u> in 2012 alone, official
data shows. The number of new infections is still growing.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><u></u><u></u><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">Ukraine</span></font></span><u></u><u></u><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">’s situation looks particularly grim on the
global background. A recent UNAIDS report said that the number of people newly
infected with HIV is falling, and that an eventual end to the AIDS epidemic
“is more than merely visionary. It is entirely feasible.”<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">But
Amina lives in a different reality.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">“When
she was only nine months old the virus started hitting all her internal organs,
she was like a vegetable,” said Oksana, Amina’s mother, a former
drug addict, adding that antiretroviral therapy gave her daughter “a new
life.” <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">This
so-called cocktail drug treatment that supports the immune system has given
prolonged life to some 36,000 HIV-positive people in <u></u><u></u>Ukraine<u></u><u></u>.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">By
Nov. 1, there were 5,374 Ukrainians who have officially applied for, but are
not yet receiving, the antiretroviral therapy. And the estimated number of
people in need of antiretroviral pills is 170,000, according to the World
Health Organization. Ukrainian officials explain this huge disproportion by the
difference in national and WHO criteria applied to prescribe this therapy.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">Despite
the number of people globally infected with HIV stabilizing, the deadly virus
is still spreading with immense speed in <u></u><u></u>Ukraine<u></u><u></u>, with about 50 new cases
registered every day. Together, <u></u>Russia<u></u>
and <u></u>Ukraine<u></u> account for 90
percent of newly reported HIV cases in the region of Eastern Europe and <u></u>Central Asia<u></u>. Experts say that around half of
HIV-positive Ukrainians are not aware of their status.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">Andriy
Mandrykin, 35, said he found out about his disease in jail, where he was sent
for attempted robbery and was given seven years. He believes he was infected by
injected drug use, and says there are about 10 more HIV-positive prisoners out
of 60 in his cell. “I think I would die without ART [antiretroviral]
therapy,” Mandrykin said sullenly looking at the floor of a prison
hospital in Bucha, Kyiv Oblast. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">Prisoners,
along with drug addicts, sex workers and men having sex with men, are the groups
most vulnerable to getting infected by HIV and contracting related diseases
like tuberculosis or hepatitis. “Those who get into pre-trial detention
centers have a 90 percent chance of being infected with tuberculosis,”
said Andriy Klepikov, head of International HIV/AIDS Alliance in <u></u><u></u>Ukraine<u></u><u></u>.
He added that imprisoned drug addicts neither have access to clean syringes nor
to substitution methadone therapy.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">Foreign
donors still fund 50 percent of HIV/AIDS programs, the largest being The Global
Fund, an international foundation that targets three modern pandemics –
AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. <u></u><u></u>Ukraine<u></u><u></u>
has become the largest recipient of Global Fund’s financing in the
region, having received $300 million to date, including $275 million for
anti-AIDS and $25 million for anti-tuberculosis programs.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">But
the country has constantly been at the brink of losing grants over government
inaction, discriminatory legislation and new corruption allegations. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">In
2004, Global Fund halted cooperation with Ukraine’s Ministry of Health
after a scandal revealing that the government was purchasing antiretroviral
medications at inflated prices that sometimes exceeded real costs by 27 times. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">HIV
advocacy groups claim that the medical procurement problem persists. “In
[the public] procurement system corruption unfortunately still exists,”
said Hanna Koshykova of All-Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV.
“For some drugs their [government] prices are 1.5 or two times higher
than ours.”<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">However,
government officials deny the allegations. “Corruption has become a
popular buzzword, and all troubles with medical procurement are explained by
corruption,” said Alla Scherbynska, deputy head of Center for AIDS
protection. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">But
her boss, Natalia Nizova, said many people are deprived of antiretroviral
treatment not because of the lack of money, but because many of those infected
with HIV don’t address their medical needs. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">Klepikov
of the AIDS Alliance said his organization is currently suing the health
ministry for criminalizing syringe exchange, a crucial initiative that prevents
the use of used syringes, and an important precaution for stopping the
transmission of HIV among injection drug users. “Basically social workers
who carry used needles and syringes risk getting three years in prison,”
he said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">Social
work with drug addicts has already brought considerable success in the fight
against AIDS. The number of newly registered HIV positive people who were
infected by injection drug use since 2008 has decreased in comparison with the
number of those infected through sexual contact.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">Meanwhile,
epidemiologists fear that the number of HIV cases among men having sex with men
will increase in the coming years, as this group has become more visible and
open to HIV testing. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">Advocacy
groups point to a scandalous draft law that prevents the “promotion of
homosexuality” that could lead to the spread of the disease among this
group. Activists say the law makes it difficult to reach out to gays whose
lifestyle will inevitably become more discreet. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">“With
the passage of such legislation the HIV epidemic in <u></u>Ukraine<u></u>
will be only fueled,” said Kent Klindera, head of the US-based GMT
initiative, the foundation supporting gay men around the globe, including <u></u><u></u>Ukraine<u></u><u></u>.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">Jean-Elie
Malkin, director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Eastern Europe and
Central Asia, said that <u></u><u></u>Ukraine<u></u><u></u>’s
anti-AIDS policy surprises him. “I see a paradox in <u></u><u></u>Ukraine<u></u><u></u> between the fact that we
know where the problem is. The paradox [is] between this knowledge and the
fact that we are not going to scale when it comes to these
interventions,” he told the Kyiv Post. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><i><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-style:italic" lang="EN-GB">Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko can be reached at
<a href="mailto:grytsenko@kyivpost.com" target="_blank">grytsenko@kyivpost.com</a>.<u></u><u></u></span></font></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#ff99cc" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#ff99cc" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><b><font color="white" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:white;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">9<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">South
Africa</span></font></span><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB"> increases
antiretroviral provision by 75% in last 2 years <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">International Federation of Gynecology and
Obstetrics (FIGO)<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">23/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">South
Africa has increased its provision of state-sponsored antiretroviral therapy by
75 per cent in the last two years, according to a new report.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
study released ahead of World Aids Day by the Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/Aids (UNAids) found that the action gave 1.7 million people access to the
life-saving treatment for HIV.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Indeed,
the report states South Africa has shown great leadership in the fight against
HIV in the sub-Saharan region of Africa, as it has increased its domestic
public investment in combating the disease five-fold since 2006.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Authorities
in the country spent $1.9 billion on the problem in 2011.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">UNAids
said the efforts had contributed to a 41 per cent reduction in the number of
new HIV infections in the country since 2001.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
area in which South Africa had made substantial progress was in cutting the
number of new cases in children, which fell by at least 40 per cent between
2009 and 2011.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Posted
by David Smith<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><a name="13b2d6c67370ad4b_UNAIDS10"><b><font color="white" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:white;font-weight:bold" lang="FR">10<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="FR">Brésil : un demi million de personnes
atteintes du sida <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="FR">AFP<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">20/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">BRASILIA
- Quelque 530.000 Brésiliens vivent avec le virus du sida mais 135.000
l'ignorent, a indiqué mardi le ministère de la Santé en lançant une campagne
pour augmenter les tests de diagnostic rapide au Brésil.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Des
530.000 personnes qui vivent avec le VIH actuellement, 135.000 l'ignorent et
30% des patients arrivent encore trop tard dans les services de santé, souligne
le ministère dans un communiqué.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">D'après
les chiffres de l'Onusida, quelque 490.000 personnes vivent avec le sida au
Brésil (194 millions d'habitants), a précisé son représentant dans le pays,
Pedro Chequer, lors d'une conférence de presse.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">L'ONU
et le ministère brésilien de la Santé ont utilisé un nouveau système de calcul
et ont révisé à la baisse les chiffres des personnes atteintes du sida au
Brésil, selon lesquels 600.000 personnes étaient porteuses du virus.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Brasilia
a annoncé une campagne d'examens rapides pour détecter le sida, les hépatites
virales et la syphilis d'ici au 1er décembre, journée mondiale de lutte contre
le sida.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Les
examens de diagnostic rapide - qui peuvent être faits avec une seule goutte de
sang et dont les résultats sont prêts en une demi-heure -, ont commencé à être
pratiqués au Brésil en 2005.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">On
estime que cette année 2,9 millions de diagnostics ont été réalisés contre
528.000 il y a sept ans.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Le
taux de personnes atteintes du sida au Brésil en 2010 était de 0,42 pour chaque
groupe de 100.000 habitants.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Lors
de la dernière décennie, 11.300 personnes par an en moyenne sont mortes de
cette maladie dans le pays.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Le
nombre de décès a baissé de 12% lors de la dernière décennie surtout en raison
du diagnostic précoce et de l'accès gratuit aux médicaments, deux domaines où
le Brésil a été cité en exemple dans les pays en développement.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">©AFP<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">===========================<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><u></u><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">AFRICA</span></font></b></span><u></u><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB"> AND MIDDLE EAST<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">===========================<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">No room for complacency (Editorial)<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">New Era, <u></u><u></u>Namibia<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">23/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
UNAIDS global report on the progress made by Namibia as a nation to drastically
roll back HIV/AIDS should not make us complacent in our fight against the
pandemic.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
figures look good, but complacency could set us back and reduce to nothingness
the billions we have spent to make an impact on this disease that remains
incurable.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">We
should actually redouble our efforts and become more resolute to fight this
pandemic of biblical proportions that has caused untold suffering, misery and
grief among our people.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Since
the first HIV-positive case in Namibia was reported in 1986, HIV/AIDS has
remained a major public health hazard in the country.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">HIV
in Namibia is mainly spread through heterosexual sex, driven by high rates of
multiple and concurrent partnerships, transactional sex and child abuse,
misconceptions among the general population about the risk of contracting HIV,
low and inconsistent condom use and low rates of male circumcision.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Talking
about circumcision, Uganda has over the last two years circumcised 380 000 men
compared to a mere 10 000 Namibian men and male children circumcised in 2009,
though this figure could now be higher.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">In
proportion to our small population, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is among the
highest in the world and since 1996 the pandemic remains the leading cause of
death.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Dr
Richard Kamwi the minister of health and his selfless team, and of course the
US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) implemented
through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), all
deserve praise. PEPFAR’s efforts are praiseworthy because it has availed
billions mainly in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
US accounts for 48 percent of all international assistance for HIV in the
world.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">In
2011, Namibia was among the six countries in sub-Saharan Africa that exceeded
75 percent coverage of services to prevent mother-to-child-transmission (PMTCT)
of HIV.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
other countries in the region that achieved coverage of more than 75 percent
were Botswana, Ghana, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia. On the downside of
the scale, countries such as Angola, Chad, Congo, Eriteria, Ethiopia, Nigeria
and South Sudan reported PMTCT coverage of less than 25 percent.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">According
to the UNAIDS regional fact sheet, between 2009 and 2011 the number of children
newly infected with HIV fell in sub-Saharan Africa by 24 percent.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Another
encouraging sign globally is that the number of people with access to
antiretroviral therapy increased by 63 percent in the last 24 months, while
AIDS-related deaths fell by more than 25 percent between 2005 and 2011.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Namibian
health officials and the country’s development partners have done
sterling work for the entire nation and their joint efforts resulted in a
drastic reduction in new HIV infections that were reduced by 68 percent. This
compares favourably to the reduction of 71 percent (Botswana), 58 percent
(Zambia) and 50 percent in Zimbabwe during that period.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">It
is indeed gratifying that it is possible that Namibia, just like other
countries in Africa and beyond, could achieve zero new HIV infections in
children.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">We
were again listed among the six African countries (Burundi, Kenya, Namibia,
South Africa, Togo and Zambia) that saw the number of children newly infected
with HIV fall by at least 40 percent between 2009 and 2012.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">This
global partnership in the fight against HIV/AIDS is indicative of the political
will of our leaders to ensure we have an HIV-free generation. The combined and
resolute efforts of the entire global community show “we are moving from
despair to hope.” Despite all these remarkable achievements, we should
not become complacent, because doing that will be at our own peril as a global
human race.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><a name="13b2d6c67370ad4b_AfricaMiddleEast2"><b><font color="white" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:white;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">2<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Even With Limited Funding We Can Still Fight
HIV/Aids <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">New <u></u><u></u>Vision<u></u>,
<u></u>Uganda<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">23/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">By
Johnson Akampa<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">LAST
year's World Aids Day campaign theme was centred on Getting to zero
AIDS-related deaths, zero new infections and zero discrimination.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">This
will not be attainable unless the Government and policy makers live up to the
financial pledges they have made. The year 2011 saw unprecedented progress in
science, political leadership, and results in HIV/AIDS response.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">However,
that seems to have been ripped apart due to the financial crises in the health
sector.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">The
global HIV/AIDS report has demonstrated that treatment scale-up is beginning to
deliver results both in averting an estimated 2.5 million AIDS-related deaths
since 1995 and stopping new infections.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">The
World AIDS Campaign chairperson, Allyson Leacock said: "Just when we
should be increasing our efforts to achieve universal access to treatment, we
are tearing apart the progress made and losing the momentum in the HIV
response."<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">Leacock's
comments come after the Global Fund announced its intention to scrap the next
funding for the fight against HIV/AIDS.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">This
decision has postponed any possibility of new funding until 2014. But rather
than scaling up treatment programmes to end the scourge, many countries are
turning their backs on millions of the world's poorest and most marginalised
people.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">The
International Treatment Preparedness Coalition says funding for HIV had already
begun to flatline at the end of the last decade. Last year the Global Fund
failed to raise the minimum $13b that was needed to maintain its current
programmes.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">Of
the overall $20b target, it raised $11.5b secured in pledges.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">In a
challenging year, the Global Fund also faced mixed reactions as it unearthed
the misuse of funds by recipients.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">This
reduced funding indicates a worrying slow-down in international commitment to
the global AIDS response. Several donors have since delayed converting their
pledges into cash.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">The
AIDS epidemic, is therefore, far from being over. But with sustained commitment
to comprehensive treatment, prevention and care services, it is still possible
to create an AIDS-free generation.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">Facts
about HIV in <u></u><u></u>Uganda<u></u><u></u>:<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">It
has been suggested that the high number of AIDS-related deaths in the 1990s may
have been largely responsible for the decline in the number of people living
with AIDS in <u></u><u></u>Uganda<u></u><u></u>
during this period.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">In
2000 the Ugandan health ministry estimated that 800,000 people had died of an
AIDS-related illness since the beginning of the epidemic.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><i><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-style:italic" lang="EN">Writer is a national peer trainer at School Net <u></u><u></u>Uganda<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><a name="13b2d6c67370ad4b_AfricaMiddleEast3"><b><font color="white" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:white;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">3<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><a name="13b2d6c67370ad4b_AfricaMiddleEast4"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Call for Legislation
Against HIV Stigma <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Tanzania</span></font></span><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB"> Daily News<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">22/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">By
Alvar Mwakyusa<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">FIRST
Vice-Chairman of the Christian Council of Tanzania (CCT), Dr Bishop Valentino
Mokiwa, has called for legislation against stigma for people living with
HIV/AIDS.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">The
legislation, as envisaged by Bishop Mokiwa, would protect victims of stigma at
work places, schools and the general public. Dr Mokiwa, also the Head of the
Anglican Church in <u></u><u></u>Tanzania<u></u><u></u>,
made the remarks while officiating at a seminar for pastors on how to educate
the public on various social economic issues.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">"I
for one consider people who dishonour others because of HIV/Aids or any other
disease as mad people. There should be a punishment for people who
stigmatize," the prelate said in <u></u><u></u>Dar
es Salaam<u></u><u></u>. Some 30 pastors from CCT member churches
are undergoing training on how to prepare radio and television programmes which
will eventually make them educate the public on spiritual, social and economic
issues.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">"Stigma
is a disease and a result of self-denial, why do you stigmatize someone while
you are not sure of your status," he queried. He said the church is a part
of the society and thus it cannot distance itself from challenges such as
diseases and poverty among others.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN">"Even
in the Holy Scriptures, Jesus is on record of having healed people with
leprosy, and this was at the time that people suffering from the disease were
highly stigmatized," the cleric noted.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><a name="13b2d6c67370ad4b_AfricaMiddleEast5"><b><font color="white" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:white;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">5<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Mali</span></font></span><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">: Full-Scale HIV
Program to Resume<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">AllAfrica.com<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">21/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Bamako/Geneva
— The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria today signed an
accord with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to resume a
full-scale HIV program including delivery of life-saving HIV treatment to tens
of thousands of people in Mali.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Under
the accord, the Global Fund approved funding for EUR 58 Million (US$75 million)
for HIV screening, prevention and treatment in Mali over the next three years.
Some 50,000 people in Mali are currently living with HIV.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">"The
signing of this agreement involving the Global Fund, the UN Development
Programme and Mali brings hope for many of our citizens who can now say they
have not been forgotten," Mali's Minister for Foreign Affairs Tiéman
Coulibaly said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
program targets key populations at higher risk and one of its priorities is to
intensify efforts to reduce the risk of HIV transmission from mother to child
and support more systematic voluntary screening of pregnant women.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
Global Fund and its partners took steps to restore confidence in grant
management in Mali after mismanagement of funds was discovered.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">As
a temporary measure, the scope of the Global Fund's grant was reduced in 2011
to funding of essential services to ensure continuity of treatment for 25,288
people in Mali who were receiving antiretroviral therapy with Global Fund
support. Under the arrangement, it was also possible to start new patients on
treatment and the total number on treatment has now risen to 30,000.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">UNDP
was asked by the Mali Country Coordinating Mechanism to take over managing the
HIV program grant.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
Global Fund has since 2011 scaled up mechanisms for management and oversight of
grants, while UNDP has further strengthened safeguards against fraud and
expanded access by the Global Fund to UNDP internal audits of programs financed
by the Global Fund.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">"The
new funding to expand HIV programs in Mali is a major step forward and
underscores the Global Fund's commitment to support life-saving work in the
country particularly at a time when the humanitarian situation requires special
attention. More than 30,000 people in Mali now get regular treatment and
another 20,000 people rely on quality care. We expect these numbers to
increase," said Mark Edington, Head of the Global Fund's Grant Management
division.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">UN
Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for Mali, Aurélien A.
Agbénonci, welcomed the new partnership and said it would be consistent with
the country's national development strategy. "We also place this
intervention in the context of a larger vision and long-term investment in
capacity-building, to encourage a national response strategy less dependent on
foreign aid in the long-run and therefore more sustainable," Mr Agbénonci
said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
Global Fund, an innovative public-private partnership, has played a key role in
the global response to the three pandemic diseases through a range of
partnerships, including with the United Nations. It is the largest
international channel of support for work on these diseases, which
disproportionately affect the world's least developed countries.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">UNDP
acts as Principal Recipient for about one-tenth of the Global Fund's overall
portfolio, mainly in uniquely challenging environments such as in countries
emerging from crises.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">UNDP's
partnership with the Global Fund has brought treatment to more than 26 million
cases of malaria and 700,000 cases of tuberculosis from Southern Sudan and the
Democratic Republic of Congo to Liberia, Belarus, Haiti, and Tajikistan.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Since
its creation in 2002, the Global Fund has become the main financier of programs
to fight AIDS, TB and malaria, with approved funding of US$ 22.9 billion for
more than 1,000 programs in 151 countries. To date, programs supported by the
Global Fund are providing AIDS treatment for 3.6 million people,
anti-tuberculosis treatment for 9.3 million people and 270 million
insecticide-treated nets for the prevention of malaria.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
Global Fund has been funding programs in Mali since the December 2003 and has
disbursed approximately US$ 90 Million, to provide ARV treatment to 30'000
patients, to detect and treat 17'000 smear positive TB patients and to
distribute 720'000 LLINs to population in Mali. In the coming months, the
Global Fund expects to sign one Malaria and one TB grant.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">A
decade ago, virtually no one living with HIV in developing countries had access
to life-saving antiretroviral therapy. Now more than 8 million people do.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">UNDP
works with countries to understand and respond to the development dimensions of
HIV and health, and promotes ownership of the response effort by the government
and the people, to make it sustainable.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><a name="13b2d6c67370ad4b_AfricaMiddleEast6"><b><font color="white" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:white;font-weight:bold" lang="FR">6<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="FR">Prévalence de VIH/SIDA en baisse chez les
militaires <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="FR">Cameroon Tribune<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">19/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#ff99cc" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#ff99cc" lang="ES-TRAD"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Par
Monica Nkodo<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR">Les
forces armées ont fait leur test. Et les effets sont plutôt concluants, si l'on
en croit la restitution des résultats officiels de la prévalence VIH dans les différents
corps. Vendredi dernier, au cours d'une cérémonie présidée par Jean Baptiste
Bokam, secrétaire d'Etat auprès du ministre de la Défense, chargé de la
gendarmerie nationale, les responsables de cette opération de sensibilisation
ont rendu public l'aboutissement de leur étude. Il en ressort que le taux de
prévalence du VIH dans les forces armées est de 6%, contre 11,3% en 2005, date
de la dernière enquête. Une baisse de l'infection dont s'est réjoui Jean
Baptiste Bokam, avant de suggérer l'utilisation de ces résultats à bon escient
dans l'avenir pour aider certaines couches comme les femmes, les plus touchées
dans l'armée.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR">L'opération
était menée par le ministère de la Défense à travers le Centre de recherches
pour la santé des armées (CRESAR), la direction de la santé militaire et le
point focal VIH/Sida au Mindef. Elle a concerné 107 unités de l'armée
camerounaise. 2534 personnes ont été testées, soit 266 femmes et 2.268 hommes.
Chaque cible de l'étude a répondu à un questionnaire comportemental au cours
d'un entretien en tête-à-tête avec des enquêteurs expérimentés. Parmi les
personnes testées, 247 officiers, 1416 sous-officiers et 871 militaires de
rang. La garde présidentielle enregistre la plus faible prévalence du VIH
(0,5%), tandis que la gendarmerie nationale présente le pourcentage le plus
élevé avec 7,3%.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR">L'étude
a été financée par le programme-prévention Vih/Sida du département de défense
de l'armée américaine (DHAPP) et la coordination technique a été assurée par
l'organisme américain Johns Hopkins-Global Viral Forecasting Initiative
(JH-GVFI). Selon le Lieutenant-Colonel Wagmene, point focal VIH au Mindef, «
cette opération a permis de fournir des données sur les faits et d'obtenir une
base de référence pour le suivi efficace du programme militaire de prévention
du Vih/Sida. » Cette cérémonie de restitution était couplée à la réception des
dons pour l'Hôpital militaire de Yaoundé, dont un laboratoire de bactériologie
et d'autres équipements, comme un incinérateur pour brûler les déchets de l'hôpital.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">=======================<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><u></u><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">ASIA</span></font></b></span><u></u><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB"> AND PACIFIC<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">=======================<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Zeroing in to attain zero levels <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Kuensel</span></font></span><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">, <u></u>Bhutan<u></u></span></font></span><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB"><u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">21/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">By
Sonam Pelden<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">To
ensure that all babies are born HIV free in the country, the health ministry
has pledged to eliminate vertical transmission of the virus in the next three
years.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
move towards zero mother-to-child transmission comes at the onset of the World
Aids Day that Bhutan would be observing on December 1.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Health
officials said about nine percent of the total 291 HIV positive cases were
transmitted vertically, “still high” for a small country like
Bhutan, which otherwise has the lowest HIV prevalence rate in the region.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">That
only 65 percent of pregnant women in the country voluntarily get tested for HIV
could be the reason why babies are born HIV positive today, health officials
said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">With
the commitment to ensure that no babies are born HIV positive by 2015, the
health ministry is extending its voluntary counselling and testing (VCT)
services from district hospitals to basic health units across the country.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Excluding
those BHUs, which are near district hospitals, and based on the number of women
in reproductive age group, plus those who avail ante-natal care (ANC) service
in the community, initial estimates show that about 135 strategically located
BHUs would have to set up HIV testing facilities.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Taking
these services to BHUs would mean the remaining 35 percent of pregnant women,
who come for ANC check ups, would then have easy access to get tested for HIV.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">“Ensuring
100 percent coverage of VCT services for ANC women in reproductive age group,
including pregnant women, is a stepping stone to achieving this goal of zero
vertical transmission of HIV,” officials with the national HIV/AIDS and
STIs control program said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Program
manager, Namgay Tshering, said the health ministry would ensure that every
childbearing age woman sought HIV testing services by the first trimester of
their pregnancy to prevent transmissions, if any.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
first task, however, is to sensitise and make women aware on the importance of
HIV testing during pregnancy. “It’s a core package of mother and
child health, but the main issue today is that we don’t have these
testing facilities in BHUs,” he said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">That
getting tested for HIV is voluntary and not mandatory is another challenge in
getting every pregnant woman tested for HIV.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Officials
said discussions were held to start these services in BHUs since last year, but
it was put on hold, given the cost involved in setting up, and also because of
low HIV prevalence rate.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">While
cost analysis is still underway, the government is estimated to spend about Nu
55 on each woman, who gets screened for HIV. Along with that, the ministry
would also offer testing services for hepatitis and syphilis, and train BHU
health workers.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
cost of providing these services for a year alone amounts to about USD 30,000,
said health officials. “Bhutan is taking this bold decision to improve
testing facilities, and the health ministry is going forward to strengthen
access to HIV tests as soon as possible,” Namgay Tshering said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">With
improved access, health officials are expecting to increase HIV test rates
among pregnant women to more than 90 percent from today’s 65 percent or
so.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Namgay
Tshering said, as part of the preventive approach, the program is also looking
into “simplification” of ART drugs, by combining the three tablets
into one to improve compliance. This move, which is likely to happen after the
present stock of drugs ends, is expected to fulfill the ‘zero
AIDS-related deaths’ goal.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
revised national guidelines for treatment and management of people living with
HIV, including prevention of mother to child transmission, state that a
pregnant woman should be put on a short term ARV prophylaxis from the 14th
week, and not by the 28th week of pregnancy, even if her CD4 count, a marker of
disease progression, is above the threshold of 350. The mother would have to
take medication until a week after delivery.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">“We’re
initiating treatment early to ensure that the chances of transmission is
minimised,” Namgay Tshering said. “If a pregnant woman isn’t
on ART, the risk of transmitting HIV virus is 15-30 percent.”<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">He
said, if the baby is breastfed after the mother is detected positive, the risk
of transmission is between 10-20 percent. But, Bhutan follows a
non-breast-feeding policy, so that the risk of transmitting is reduced to two
percent from 20 percent.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">“HIV
screening among people has otherwise drastically increased, indicating that the
program has been successful,” Namgay Tshering said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">From
about 6,500 in 2010, the number of people getting tested for HIV more than
doubled to 14,600 last year, records with the program show. Until November
this year, there were 17,700 people from across the country that came forward
for HIV tests.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">World
Aids Day this year is themed “Getting To Zero” for countries to
work towards zero new HIV infection, zero AIDS-related deaths and zero
discrimination.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><a name="13b2d6c67370ad4b_AsiaPacific2"><b><font color="white" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:white;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">2<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">More care promised for AIDS patients <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">China</span></font></span><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB"> Daily<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">23/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">By
Shan Juan and Wang Qingyun<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Vice-premier's
comments spur action after treatment denied <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Hospitals
designated to treat HIV/AIDS will be upgraded to protect the rights of patients
and ensure better healthcare services, Minister of Health Chen Zhu pledged on
Thursday. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">He
was speaking at a ceremony to mark the end of the China-Australia Health and
HIV/AIDS Facility, a joint project, and after Vice-Premier Li Keqiang on
Wednesday called for proper medical treatment for people who have HIV or AIDS. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Li
contacted the ministry after learning of a recent case in which a 25-year-old
HIV carrier - identified as Xiaofeng - was denied cancer treatment in Tianjin
due to his condition, and only secured treatment at another facility after
hiding his status. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">"The
Health Ministry will improve services at designated hospitals to better help
people with HIV/AIDS beyond just treating them," Chen told China Daily.
"We'll also improve working conditions for medical workers." <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Thanks
to anti-retroviral treatment, patients can now live much longer and may need
treatment for other medical conditions, he said. Because their immune system
may be weakened, patients with HIV/AIDS could be susceptible to other
illnesses. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Each
city on the mainland has at least one designated hospital to carry out
anti-retroviral and HIV/AIDS related treatment, said Wu Zunyou, director of the
National Center for AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Control and
Prevention. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Zhao
Yan, deputy director of the center's AIDS treatment and care division, said:
"However, many of them, particularly those specializing in infectious
diseases, are not competent enough to treat other diseases like cancer or eye
conditions." <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Meng
Lin, a member of the China Alliance of People Living with HIV/AIDS, said:
"It's just makeshift measures to meet other medical demands at designated
hospitals". <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Meng,
an AIDS patient in Beijing, suffered kidney problems as a side effect of
anti-retroviral drugs in August. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">"I
first went to a designated hospital specializing in treating infections, but
they couldn't treat kidney disease at all," he said. "I just want to
go to the right hospital, where my disease can be treated properly." <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">He
added that he was rejected numerous times while seeking medical services at
non-designated hospitals. "I was denied even in non-surgery cases,"
he said. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Meng
admitted that he used to hide his status from doctors to get treatment. "I
have no way out. Lie or die." <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">China
issued a regulation on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in 2006. It stipulates
that no hospital can deny treatment on grounds of a patient being HIV-positive.
<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">So
far, no hospital has ever been penalized by health authorities for such a
violation, according to Meng. "We just hope the laws and regulations are
well enforced," he added. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Health
Minister Chen called for more kindness and less discrimination. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Also,
Wu Zunyou urged tougher punishment for medical institutions, which turned their
back on sufferers. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">In
another development, the health bureau in Tianjin announced Thursday that it is
holding staff workers in the Cancer Institute and Hospital of Tianjin Medical
University accountable for refusing to conduct lung cancer surgery on Xiaofeng.
<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
bureau also investigated the hospital that did the surgery on Xiaofeng to make
sure that all procedures, including sterilization and disposal, were properly
followed. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
bureau said such incidents must not happen again, and all hospitals in the city
should ensure HIV carriers get treatment. Also, it requires HIV carriers to
fully disclose their medical condition to doctors. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">China
has 780,000 people living with HIV/AIDS on the mainland, according to official
estimates. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Contact
the writers at <a href="mailto:shanjuan@chinadaily.com.cn" target="_blank">shanjuan@chinadaily.com.cn</a> and <a href="mailto:wangqingyun@chinadaily.com.cn" target="_blank">wangqingyun@chinadaily.com.cn</a> <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><i><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-style:italic" lang="PT-BR">(China Daily 11/23/2012 page1<u></u><u></u></span></font></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><a name="13b2d6c67370ad4b_AsiaPacific3"><b><font color="white" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:white;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">3<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Coverage for people with HIV/AIDS must be
clear <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Jakarta</span></font></span><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB"> Post<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">23/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#ff99cc" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#ff99cc" lang="ES-TRAD"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Elly
Burhaini Faizal, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">To ensure
that HIV/AIDS sufferers can also enjoy the benefits offered by the National
Social Security System (SJSN), the government needs to specify the protection
scheme covering this sexually-transmitted disease, experts say.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">Universal
health coverage mandated by the 2011 Social Security Providers (BPJS) Law is
expected to come into effect by January 2014. HIV/AIDS is among the ailments
that will be covered and yet, details of the coverage are unknown.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">“We
should be very specific about the benefit package to ensure that those affected
are aware of their entitlements,” Valérie Schmitt, a social security
specialist with the International Labor Office (ILO), said at a workshop on
Thursday. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">ILO country
director Peter van Rooij added, “Bureaucratic procedures and
discriminative regulations are still a barrier for people with HIV infections
to access social protection programs.” <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">According to
ILO data, around 59 percent of Indonesians are already covered by social
protection schemes. Of all the protection schemes, however, only Jamsostek has
introduced an HIV benefit package. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">“In
this regard, I want to stress that 41 percent of the population in <u></u><u></u>Indonesia<u></u><u></u>
has no access to health insurance or social protection. It means that 41
percent of the population is not covered for healthcare in relation to health
issues, including HIV/AIDS,” said Schmitt. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">A UN report
published Tuesday shows that the rate of new HIV infections in Indonesia
increased by more than 25 percent between 2001 and 2011, while the coverage of
HIV-prevention programs for homosexual men and sex workers in the country stood
at under 25 percent. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">Speaking at the
workshop, Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi said that health care coverage should
not contain provisions discriminating against people with HIV. “There is
no need to discriminate, including against HIV-infected people,” <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">she said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">HIV
screening, antiretroviral treatment for HIV-positive patients and
mother-to-child transmission prevention were among the intervention measures
introduced by the health minister as part of the BPJS HIV package. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">Speaking to
journalists, Nafsiah said the government remained committed to providing people
with universal access to HIV prevention programs, treatment, care and support. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">“People
must learn, however, how to be more responsible in defending themselves against
HIV by avoiding risky sexual behavior and practicing only safe, protected
sex,” she said. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">As the end of
support by the UN-backed Global Fund draws near, the country may face a serious
financial burden if it does not focus on preventive action, which is much more
cost effective in tackling the disease. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">“If
coverage for HIV-prevention programs for key populations remains low, we will
see that by 2020 the HIV prevention and control budget will increase to US$220
million per year. How do you think we can pay such a huge amount of money when
the Global Fund is offering no further financial support in 2015?” asked
Nafsiah.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><a name="13b2d6c67370ad4b_AsiaPacific5"><b><font color="white" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:white;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">5<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">PHILIPPINES</span></font></span><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">: Social media link to
rising HIV among MSM <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">IRIN PlusNews<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">21/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">MANILA,
21 November 2012 (PlusNews) - Social media, coupled with prevailing unsafe
sexual practices, is driving up levels of HIV infection among men who have sex
with men (MSM), health experts warn. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">“There
are indications that MSM who meet online have more opportunities for unsafe sex
with multiple partners,” Eric Tayag, head of the Department of Health
National Epidemiology Center (DOH-NEC), told IRIN/PlusNews in Manila. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">According
to recent results from the Philippines Integrated HIV and Behavior Serologic
Surveillance Survey (IHBSS), the rate of infection is rising among MSM aged
15-24. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Since
the DOH began recording HIV in 1984, there have been 10,830 reported cases in
the Philippines. In 2007, the Philippines noted an exponential rise in HIV
cases from 207 in 2005 to 2,349 in 2011 (a 587 percent increase), mostly among
MSM. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
latest DOH AIDS Registry shows there were 316 new HIV infections recorded in
September alone, and 82 percent were through MSM sexual contact. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">During
the same period in 2011, there were 253 new HIV cases and 83 percent was
transmitted through MSM sexual contact. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Hidden
group <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">But
reaching this group, largely hidden, remains a challenge. “Not all of
them identify as gay. Some are bi-sexual or even straight,” Tayag said. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Many
MSM, in an effort to remain anonymous, turn to social networking sites like
Facebook, Twitter and other gay social media sites like Planet Romeo and Manjam
to look for partners. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">“Over
a year, they can have anywhere between 43 to 500 partners,” said Tayag,
referring to the results of the latest IHBSS survey. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">A
2011 study by research group World Wide Foundation entitled Global Web Index,
named the Philippines as the leader in terms of the use of social media. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Risky
sexual behavior <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Aldrin*
admits to having participated in “P&P” sessions facilitated
through social media outlets. “P&P means party and play and it really
means an orgy that lasts all night,” he said. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Many
of the participants are high on “poppers”, a slang term for various
alkyl nitrites which are inhaled to enhance sexual pleasure, the 22-year-old
explained. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">“Sometimes,
we have six people at the party, sometimes 12 or more. It depends. We use
condoms, but sometimes I guess, they break,” he said. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Aldrin
freely admits to using social media networks like Facebook and gay dating sites
like Grindr, a mobile social networking and dating application allowing gay and
bisexual men to meet using their mobile phone’s GPS capacity. He notes,
however: “You have to know someone who knows someone to be
invited.” <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Low
condom use <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Others
say the real issue is low condom use, an ongoing problem in the Philippines,
and the fact that many men still refuse to get tested. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Condom
use among MSMs is at a low 34.1 percent, DOH reports, while according to the
Journal of the International AIDS Society, the Philippines has the lowest
condom use in Asia (20-30 percent among groups at highest risk of HIV,
including commercial sex workers). <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Just
2.3 percent of married women of childbearing age reported using condoms, the
country’s most recent National Demographic Health Survey reported. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">“The
process of getting tested is so complex,” Laurindo Garcia, who has been
living with HIV since 2004, complained. “There are very few places to get
tested and you have to travel a long way to get to a testing centre.” <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC) lists about 40 government-run social
hygiene clinics, mostly in urban areas, that administer HIV testing for free or
nominal fees. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">There
is currently no data on the number of people who have been tested for HIV.
Testing is strictly voluntary. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">“People
don’t know where to get tested. They mostly think about going to private
hospitals where an HIV anti-body test can cost anywhere between US$24-43, which
is just too expensive for the average person,” said Ryan Pinili,
president of Take the Test, a volunteer group offering free HIV counselling and
testing to the general public. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">In
response, the group, in partnership with local government units, has set up
monthly mobile testing centres in public areas such as municipal halls and at
beach resorts known to be frequented by MSM during peak holiday seasons. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">“Private
hospitals which are bigger and have more patients do not offer
counselling,” added Pinili, who says that counselling is an integral part
of understanding HIV. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Basic
coverage lacking <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">According
to a 2012 assessment by the Philippines National AIDS Council, based on current
trends, in general, the Philippines has a low HIV prevalence, estimated at
0.030 percent in 2010 or 30 cases per 100,000 adult Filipinos. Based on current
trends, prevalence will double but remain below 1 percent by 2015 [0.063
percent, or 63 per 100,000]. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">“What
we lack is basic coverage in terms of education, information and services.
It’s very basic, but that’s what we need to deal with first,”
said UNAIDS country coordinator Teresita Bagasiao. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><i><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-style:italic" lang="PT-BR">*not a real name <u></u><u></u></span></font></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><a name="13b2d6c67370ad4b_AsiaPacific10"><b><font color="white" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:white;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">10<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">A touch of kindness <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">The Age, <u></u><u></u>Australia<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">11/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Sarah
Whyte, Consumer affairs reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">Not
many people feel comfortable asking their mother to call a sex worker.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">But
for Mark Manitta, who is 48 and has cerebral palsy, this is exactly what he
asked his mother, Elaine, to do nearly 30 years ago.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">''It's
hard being a parent and this comes up,'' Mrs Manitta, 72, said. ''People see
them sitting in their wheelchair think, that's it. They don't see what's going
on in their lives and Mark would dearly love a relationship.''<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">Mark,
who communicates with a typing device , said his first encounter with a sex
worker was when he was 19. His mother drove him to a brothel and waited outside
for an hour.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">Advertisement
''I feel more relaxed after,'' he said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">Mark's
case is not unusual. There are many people with disabilities who use a
wheelchair or who have never had a relationship, but who crave physical and
sexual attention.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">''For
some people with disabilities, their social network can be smaller, which
limits the opportunity to meet people,'' said the vice president of Touching
Base, Denise Beckwith.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">Touching
Base is a <u></u><u></u>Sydney<u></u><u></u>
organisation that connects people with disabilities, including Mark, with sex
workers who have experience in seeing clients with impairments. It is nearly
always the family members or support workers who get in touch, said Ms
Beckwith, who has cerebral palsy.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">''Sex
workers are willing to see people with disabilities as human beings with human
rights and human needs,'' she said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">Four
months ago, Touching Base was receiving a call a week, now it is getting one a
day. Ms Beckwith attributes the increase to documentaries such as SBS's <u></u><u></u>Scarlet Road<u></u><u></u> and
films such as The Sessions, released on Thursday, which follows the true story
of the writer Mark O'Brien, who is in an iron lung and contacts a sex
therapist, played by actress Helen Hunt.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">Mark
Manitta has been seeing the same sex worker, Rachel Wotton, for 11 years. He
sees her once a month and pays $350 for an hour's session.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">Mrs
Manitta said the visits had become part of family life and helped Mark to feel
like a normal person.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">''I
met Rachel when Mark first [started seeing her]. I used to go shower him
[beforehand] and we used to meet on the way out. It was quite a few years ago
that it went on like that,'' she said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">''There's
always some negativity about it. It's just that people don't fully
understand.''<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">Ms
Wotton and Mark are now good friends. ''We go out for lunch first some times,''
Mark said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">Ms
Wotton, who had seen some clients for more than a decade, said they ''grow old
together''.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">''You
become more familiar with people, their nuances and people's humour,'' she
said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">She
first started sex work when she was in her second year of a psychology degree.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">''I
saw a younger guy recently with a disability and finally he lost his virginity
and he was really happy,'' she said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">Another
sex worker, Randy, who worked in an inner west brothel and had training with
Touching Base, said services offered to clients with disabilities was the ''new
horizon'' for them, and helped them fight for their ''sexual freedom''.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">''Someone
with disability has to organise it with the carer, the person with the money.
While you try to be as discreet as possible, that person has already had to
tell [a lot] of people,'' she said. Randy saw clients with disabilities in the
brothel and at their supported accommodation.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">''People
with disabilities don't get a fair rap in life, generally.''<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">Unlike
Helen Hunt's character in The Sessions, Ms Wotton did not see herself as a
''sex surrogate'', a therapist whose techniques included demonstration.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU">''I
am a sex worker and I make my money from clients seeing me. Some clients just
happen to have a disability,'' she said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-AU"><a href="mailto:swhyte@fairfaxmedia.com.au" target="_blank">swhyte@fairfaxmedia.com.au</a><u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">========================<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><u></u><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">EUROPE</span></font></b></span><u></u><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB"><u></u><u></u></span></font></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">========================<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">G.Bissau warns AIDS patients without treatment
since coup<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">AFP<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">21/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#ff99cc" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#ff99cc" lang="ES-TRAD"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">BISSAU
— HIV-positive people in Guinea Bissau have been without access to
treatment since the Global Fund to fight AIDS suspended funding over an April
military coup, the west African nation's AIDS boss said Wednesday.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">"Our
main funders, the Global Fund, suspended financial aid" following the
April 12 coup, said Joao Jose Silva Monteiro, coordinator of the national
secretariat to fight AIDS.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">"Our
staff and volunteers are no longer being paid and the drugs have dried
up," he warned. "Many patients no longer come to us because they are
demoralised and are convinced they are going to die."<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">He
stressed that his organisation, which is part of the health ministry, did not
conduct work of a political nature and appealed for funding to resume.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">"One
cannot punish it as if it were part of the government," Monteiro said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">According
to government figures, Guinea Bissau has an HIV prevalence rate of 3.3 percent,
one of the highest in western Africa.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
April coup leaders have handed over power to a civilian administration
following a transition deal but many of the country's Western partners do not
recognise the new authorities and have frozen aid.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Copyright
© 2012 AFP. All rights reserved<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">========================<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="FR">LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR">========================<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="FR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="FR">Diez mil pruebas rápidas gratuitas de VIH
realizarán en Lima y Callao<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="FR">RPP, Peru<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">22/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#ff99cc" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#ff99cc" lang="ES-TRAD"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Un
total de 10 mil pruebas rápidas gratuitas de VIH se realizará hasta el 1 de
diciembre, en diversos puntos de Lima Metropolitana y el Callao, informó el
Ministerio de Salud (Minsa).<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Esta
acción se realiza como parte del Día Mundial de Lucha Contra el Sida, a fin de
priorizar el tamizaje oportuno como estrategia de prevención y control para el
VIH con énfasis a población de varones para brindar acceso a tratamiento
precoz.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Como
se sabe, sólo la mitad de las personas que viven con VIH en nuestro país conoce
su diagnóstico, lo que constituye un riesgo debido a que sin la consejería ni
información adecuada, pueden estar trasmitiendo el virus a otras personas;
además de retrasar para sí mismos la oportunidad de acceder a un tratamiento
oportuno.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Según
la Dirección General de Epidemiología (DGE) del Minsa, al 2012 son
aproximadamente 74 mil personas que en nuestro país viven con VIH.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Por
otro lado el Programa Conjunto de las Naciones Unidas sobre el VIH/Sida
(ONUSIDA) destacó recientemente que el Perú redujo en un 55 % las muertes
relacionadas a SIDA, lo que constituye un avance en la lucha contra este grave
problema de salud pública.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><a name="13b2d6c67370ad4b_LatinAmericaCaribbean3"><b><font color="white" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:white;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">3<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Chile</span></font></span><u></u><u></u><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB"> in the Vanguard of
Monitoring AIDS Therapy <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Inter Press News Agency<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">22/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#ff99cc" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#ff99cc" lang="ES-TRAD"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">By
Marianela Jarroud<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><u></u><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">SANTIAGO</span></font></span><u></u><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">, Nov 22 2012 (IPS) - In <u></u><u></u>Chile<u></u><u></u>, not only do all people
diagnosed with HIV/AIDS receive treatment, but the country also has advanced
mechanisms for monitoring outcomes of the antiretroviral therapy.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">“Treatment
is available in many other parts of the world, but no one knows whether or not
it is working,” Marcelo Wolff, an infectologist who studies HIV/AIDS at
the <u></u><u></u>University<u></u> of
<u></u>Chile<u></u><u></u>, told IPS.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">In this South
American country, “coverage extends to nearly everyone living with
HIV,” added Wolff, who won a Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award this year,
which recognises innovative research that has made a notable contribution to
improved clinical care in the field of internal medicine.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">Officially,
some 22,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS in <u></u><u></u>Chile<u></u><u></u>, although the real number
could be between 40,000 and 70,000, Wolff said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">“It is
estimated that there are two to three undiagnosed people for every diagnosed
person,” he said, “which means the total would be between 0.3 and
0.4 percent of the population over the age of 15” in this country of 16.5
million people.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">The approach
involves a monitoring system in 32 public healthcare centres around the
country, which makes it possible to take timely measures addressing the
specific needs of each case.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">The
monitoring is carried out by the Chilean AIDS Cohort (ChiAC), established by a
team of professionals like Wolff, who joined a multidisciplinary and
non-governmental network, SIDA Chile (AIDS Chile), founded in 2003.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">“Knowing
about what is happening to the people being treated is the main novelty,”
Wolff said. “And the Chilean AIDS Cohort has been able to study that: the
survival, morbidity and hospitalisation rates, and labour and social
reinsertion.”<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">The same
monitoring system is used for all patients taking the life-extending
antiretroviral drugs, to evaluate the results of the therapy.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">The data
generated is used to inform policy-making. And specific measures can be taken
to adapt the therapy to local conditions, based on the results. The information
gathered also contributes to global assessments of the spread of HIV/AIDS.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">“Results
from developed countries and poor nations have traditionally been published,
but there were few evaluations from the large group of middle-income nations,
and the Chilean AIDS Cohort has provided that,” Wolff said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">Law 19,779,
approved in December 2001, guarantees the rights of all Chileans to prevention,
diagnosis, control and treatment, and safeguards the free and equal exercise of
other rights and freedoms of those living with HIV/AIDS, expressly prohibiting discrimination
in access to education, work and healthcare.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">In addition,
the “universal access of explicit guarantees plan”, which
guarantees the right to treatment, with specific guidelines, was expanded to
those living with HIV/AIDS.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">And the
“national programme of expanded access to antretroviral therapy”,
in effect since 2001, ensures access to the latest treatment options for all
patients.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">As a result
of the alliance between the government’s national programme and the
Chilean AIDS Cohort, “mortality has been reduced by more than 80 percent,
and the rate of hospitalisation has gone down, which has made it possible for
people to take up their day-to-day lives again.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">“Among
our patients, we have achieved results comparable to those of developed
countries,” he said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">Based on this
joint effort, the social and economic conditions of those living with HIV/AIDS
have improved, said Manuel Jorquera, the coordinator of the AIDS advocacy group
Vivo Positivo. “There is more timely treatment, and it is guaranteed,
along with the free monitoring,” he told IPS.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">These
benefits are tangible for Martín (not his real name), a 36-year-old journalist
who was diagnosed with HIV four years ago.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">“It was
difficult to digest at first, but I had the support of several of my friends
who are also living with HIV and who have managed to deal with the disease
really well,” he told IPS.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">Although
HIV/AIDS remains underreported, a higher proportion of cases are now
documented. Since the first cases were detected in this country in 1984, the
highest AIDS (six out of 100,000 people) and HIV (9.6 out of 100,000)
notification rates were recorded in 2011, according to the Health
Ministry’s Epidemiology Department.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">The evolution
of HIV/AIDS in <u></u><u></u>Chile<u></u><u></u>
is in line with global trends that reflect a 20 percent reduction in the number
of new infections worldwide and a 17 percent increase in the number of people
living with HIV in 2011, compared to 2001, when the AIDS epidemic was at its
height.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">There are 34
million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, according to the latest global
report, published by UNAIDS Tuesday Nov. 22.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">But not every
aspect involving HIV/AIDS has been solved in <u></u><u></u>Chile<u></u><u></u>.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">Martín said
that in his company people do not “officially” know he is gay,
although “many suspect it.” What they definitely do not know, he
said, is that he is HIV-positive and receives antiretroviral treatment at a
public hospital.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">“I have
a totally normal lifestyle,” he said. “I go to work, I go out with
my friends. But not even my mother knows I am infected. It would just destroy
her.”<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">His fears are
not unfounded. Despite the advances made at the level of public policies in <u></u><u></u>Chile<u></u><u></u>,
deep-rooted discrimination persists, which exacerbates the fear of having an
AIDS test.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">“People
feel the real fear of suffering from discrimination once it is known that they
are infected,” Wolff said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">In his view,
the most important challenge “is to keep people from being
infected,” and to do that, “prevention campaigns must be much more
direct than they have been.”<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">In addition,
he said, “we have to try and diagnose everyone who is living with
HIV/AIDS, and extend treatment to them.”<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial">But to do
that, the stigma surrounding the disease must be fought, he added.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">========================<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><u></u><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB">NORTH AMERICA</span></font></b></span><u></u><span><b><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold" lang="EN-GB"><u></u><u></u></span></font></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB">========================<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">How Fight to Tame TB Made It Stronger <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="EN-GB">Wall Street Journal<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD">23/11/2012<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font color="#e93e35" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#e93e35" lang="ES-TRAD"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">By
GEETA ANAND in Mumbai and BETSY MCKAY in Atlanta<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
World Health Organization's long-standing strategy for fighting tuberculosis is
showing deadly unintended consequences: By focusing for years on the
easiest-to-cure patients, it helped allow TB strains to spread that are now all
but untreatable by modern medicine.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
WHO and a growing chorus of global health experts are now calling for a
significant overhaul in the way nations with widespread drug-resistant TB
combat the disease. It amounts to a de facto acknowledgment that the WHO's TB
strategy, and the countries that use it, failed to adapt quickly enough as the
disease formed more powerful, resistant strains. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">"The
TB community has been too conservative" on a global scale, said Puneet
Dewan, until recently a senior officer in the WHO's India tuberculosis program.
"We should have pushed sooner for a more aggressive, comprehensive
approach" toward drug resistance, he said this month in an interview.
"There was a cost in failing to do that. We're paying that cost
today."<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
WHO played a particularly sizable role in designing the tuberculosis program in
India, which has seen a steep decline in regular TB. But India and other poor
countries are now in the midst of an epidemic of drug-resistant
strains—deadlier and harder-to-treat varieties of one of the world's top
infectious-disease killers.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">G.R.
Khatri, who headed India's TB program more than a decade ago, called the
epidemic of resistant TB in Mumbai "a recipe for disaster." The WHO
should have known it was so bad and bears responsibility, he said. "What
has the WHO been doing?"<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">In
pilot testing across India this year of a new diagnostic method, some 6.6% of
untreated TB patients were drug-resistant—suggesting far higher rates
than the 2% to 3% levels India and the WHO have cited for years. The test was a
collaboration of international aid groups and India's government.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">At
one clinic in Mumbai, research showed more than one quarter of 566 TB patients
tested in recent months were resistant to the most powerful treatment,
according to data obtained by The Wall Street Journal through India's Right to
Information Act. The results are preliminary, but in the absence of any nationwide
survey they offer a sense of what India's drug-resistance rates might be.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
WHO is in the midst of a "complete rethinking" of its strategy toward
drug resistance that involves helping countries move more quickly to address
their epidemics, said Mario Raviglione, the WHO's top tuberculosis official.
Countries with the largest epidemics, such as India, China, South Africa and
Russia, haven't moved rapidly enough against drug resistance, he said.
"That is why you see no global progress." <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Dr.
Dewan said that perhaps he and others should have recognized Mumbai's epidemic
sooner. But partly because drug-resistant TB was a slow-moving emergency, he
said, it was hard to get a full sense of the scope.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">"It's
a bit like the frog in a pot on a stove," Dr. Dewan said. "If you
turn up the heat fast, the frog jumps out. If you turn up the heat slowly, the
frog doesn't jump out, it slowly dies."<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Only
now is India planning its first national survey of drug resistance in TB
patients, according to Prahlad Kumar, director of the National Tuberculosis
Institute, the government's Bangalore-based research center. A timetable hasn't
yet been set.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
policy changes are vindication for Zarir Udwadia, a prominent Indian physician
whose controversial findings earlier this year—he identified several
patients in Mumbai who were so drug-resistant that virtually none of the usual
medicines worked—helped sound the alarm. Patients like these reflect the
way drug-resistant TB "is mismanaged in India," Dr. Udwadia said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Dr.
Dewan said he has been taken by surprise by "crazy" levels of
resistance like those identified by Dr. Udwadia. Dr. Dewan's own views have
shifted quickly: As recently as last year, he said at a presentation in India
that there was too much "hype" regarding drug-resistant TB.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Globally,
studies suggest that drug-resistant TB is likely far more common than the WHO's
own estimate of 3.7% of previously untreated patients. Resistance is worsening
in many countries, the research indicates, even as the WHO's widely praised
program to fight regular TB has succeeded in reducing the overall number of TB
cases since the 1990s.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">For
decades, the WHO, aid groups and nations have been fighting TB world-wide. But
the governmental effort focused almost exclusively on traditional, treatable
strains, which are inexpensive to diagnose and defeat with drugs. However, this
approach largely ignored drug-resistant strains. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">In
India, that has left the lives of patients like 22-year-old Amol Dhuri hanging
in the balance. In January he was diagnosed with extensive
drug-resistance—but the lab that tested him hasn't yet been accredited by
the government to do this kind of testing. In fact, Mumbai, India's largest
city, doesn't yet have a single lab accredited to diagnose extensive drug-resistance.
<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Because
India's government will give patients the more powerful drugs only if they are
tested by an accredited lab, Mr. Dhuri hadn't until this week started taking
the drugs that have a shot at curing his strain.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">He
was taking a cocktail of drugs provided by the government at no charge, most of
which he was resistant to. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">"I
just don't understand why I'm taking these medicines and they're having no
effect at all," Mr. Dhuri said.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Mr.
Dhuri's drug regimen wasn't merely ineffective, it was potentially dangerous.
Giving a patient medicines not strong enough to kill the TB bacteria increases
the chance that it will mutate into drug-resistant strains.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">It
also left Mr. Dhuri wandering around, possibly spreading his drug-resistant
disease to others. The average TB patient infects 10 to 15 people a year,
according to the WHO.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Neither
Ashok Kumar, head of India's TB program, nor P.K. Pradhan, secretary of the
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, returned calls seeking comment on Mr.
Dhuri's case. But after the Journal's inquiries, Mr. Dhuri's drug-resistance
report from an accredited lab elsewhere in the country showed up by email late
last week, confirming his extensive drug resistance, Mumbai TB officials said.
They said they would put him on the correct treatment this week.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
WHO, the United Nations agency dedicated to public health, once insisted that
countries tackle only regular TB first before trying to treat resistant
strains. Now, it urges poor countries to treat both simultaneously.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">That,
however, requires much more money. There will be a shortfall of $3 billion a
year out of the $8 billion a year needed to fight TB in developing countries
between 2013 and 2015, according to the WHO's Dr. Raviglione.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">In
India, medicines to treat regular TB cost $9 a month, compared with $2,000 for
resistant strains. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Globally,
TB receives much less money from international donors than other major deadly
infectious diseases, according to data from the Institute for Health Metrics
and Evaluation at the University of Washington. International assistance for TB
was $1 billion in 2009. By contrast, malaria, which killed nearly half as many
people, received $2 billion that same year. HIV received $6.5 billion, although
HIV also costs more to treat and kills about 20% more people a year.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">"There
needs to be a giant leap in funding, thinking and innovation," said Soumya
Swaminathan, director of the National Institute of Research in Tuberculosis,
one of the Indian government's premier research centers.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Tuberculosis,
an ancient, airborne disease that mostly affects the lungs, is spread by
coughing and sneezing. In the 19th century, it was the biggest killer of adults
in most of Europe. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">In
the 1940s researchers discovered they could cure it, over many months, with a
cocktail of medicines. In many western nations, TB went into retreat. But in
poor countries, it thrived and spread amid poverty and a lack of treatments and
diagnostic tools. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
WHO in 1993 declared TB a global public-health emergency, following a
resurgence driven largely by the HIV epidemic. At the time, there were
approximately eight million cases a year world-wide.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Globally,
there was almost no funding for TB, no unified strategy to fight it, and
hundreds of treatment regimens in effect. Arata Kochi, the WHO's TB chief at
the time, called it "treatment chaos."<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
solution, many believed, was to devise a standard, simple-to-understand
treatment cheap enough to work in the world's poorest places. The WHO developed
a strategy known as DOTS, or Directly Observed Therapy Short-Course, so named
because patients were to be directly supervised to make sure they took their
medicine. Skipping doses, even briefly, gives the disease a chance to mutate
and become drug-resistant.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
WHO, which produces health standards and policies, urged countries to adopt its
DOTS program, though it can't oblige them. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
WHO played a particularly large role in India because of the size of the
country's TB burden. Dozens of WHO consultants provided technical support
nationwide.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Under
DOTS, India relied on a rudimentary but affordable diagnostic—peering at
a patient's spit under a microscope to spot the bacteria. Patients got a
six-month treatment of four standard medicines. Anyone still sick went back on
the same regimen for eight more months, plus one additional drug. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">This
could cure most people with regular TB. But it wasn't strong enough to cure
multi-drug resistant, or MDR, strains.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
WHO decided that tackling MDR was unfeasible in places with poor
infrastructure, little money and millions of patients lacking even basic
treatment. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">At
that time, "there were two million new cases of TB in India each
year"—almost none of which were being treated effectively—and
"97% of them weren't MDR," said Thomas Frieden, the physician who
spearheaded the India program on behalf of the WHO in its initial years. He is
now director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Dr.
Khatri, who set up the India DOTS program with Dr. Frieden in 1997, agreed with
the WHO's philosophy of treating regular TB first. "Every one minute, a
patient was dying of TB in India," he said. "So I believed we should
not plow a penny into MDR TB in India—and I did not." Dr. Khatri now
heads the nonprofit World Lung Foundation for South Asia.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">"It
was well-intentioned reasoning in a resource-limited world," said Dr.
Dewan, who left the WHO in recent weeks to join the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation's TB program in India.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Dr.
Raviglione, too, supports the WHO's original strategy. Without it, he said,
drug resistance would now be "enormous." DOTS eliminated many of the
slipshod medical practices that let the bacteria to mutate into super-resistant
strains.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Meanwhile,
however, evidence showed drug resistance emerging globally. Resistance was
found in all 35 countries surveyed for a 1997 WHO-affiliated report. In 2000, a
subsequent report found worrisome resistance rates in several countries,
including parts of China and India. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">In
2000, the WHO began a new program to tackle drug resistance and to "mop
up" the damage caused by TB programs that had been "careless in how
they treat the disease." But that program was never widely implemented,
aside from some pilot programs. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">This
pilot program didn't even reach Mumbai, India's largest city, until mid-2010. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Around
the same time, evidence emerged that resistant strains were more lethal than
thought. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">In
one South Africa neighborhood, some 40% of patients with multi-drug-resistant
TB—and 51% with higher levels of resistance—were dead within 30
days of their initial TB diagnosis, a 2010 study showed. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">If
that many people were dying within just 30 days, India's pilot program looked
inadequate: It waited 14 months from initial diagnosis before even testing for
resistance.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">"We
knew it was bad, but we didn't know it was this bad," Dr. Dewan said of
the study. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Then,
this year Dr. Udwadia and others at Mumbai's P.D. Hinduja National Hospital
& Medical Research Center identified an even more menacing threat. The
researchers called it "total drug resistance," because virtually none
of the 12 treatments used to treat TB worked.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
report "sounded an alarm" globally, Dr. Dewan said. India quickly
formulated a plan to increase its TB spending fourfold over five years,
although that plan is still awaiting funding. It would establish more labs and
120 drug-resistance specialty centers. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Because
most TB patients bypass the government's program when they first seek
treatment, the new plan emphasizes engaging India's burgeoning private
health-care providers.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Still,
even this proposal falls short. By 2017, the plan says, India would only be
able to treat fewer than half its estimated 100,000 multi-drug-resistant cases
annually. Meanwhile India is home to the world's largest population of TB
patients—2.2 million of last year's 8.7 million new cases—and
treatment delays remain typical. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Last
year the WHO began overhauling its "global architecture" for fighting
drug resistance, Dr. Raviglione said. Instead of one committee in Geneva
advising the world, regional expert groups will work with governments to help
them develop and fund programs to attack drug resistance. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">The
WHO is also helping countries implement a new test, GeneXpert, that can
diagnose TB and a common form of resistance in just 100 minutes, instead of
several weeks. This marks the first major diagnostic advance in more than a
century. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Eleven
new or repurposed TB drugs are also in clinical trials. Dr. Raviglione said a
task force is now studying how best to use them without fostering more drug
resistance. Meanwhile, India's central TB office says it has established 43
testing labs and plans to build 30 more by 2015. <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">—Shreya
Shah contributed to this article.<u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial" lang="PT-BR">Write
to Geeta Anand at <a href="mailto:geeta.anand@wsj.com" target="_blank">geeta.anand@wsj.com</a> and Betsy McKay at <a href="mailto:betsy.mckay@wsj.com" target="_blank">betsy.mckay@wsj.com</a> <u></u><u></u></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt"><span><i><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-style:italic" lang="PT-BR">A version of this article appeared November 23, 2012, on
page A1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: How
Fight to Tame TB Made It Stronger.</span></font></i></span><span><i><font color="#ff99cc" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#ff99cc;font-style:italic" lang="EN-GB"><br>
<br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></i></span></p>
</div>
</div>
</div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>HIV TWG Listserv<br><br>Address to post message: <a href="mailto:hivaids-twg@ngocentre.org.vn">hivaids-twg@ngocentre.org.vn</a><br><br>Subscribe to the listserv: <a href="http://mailman.ngocentre.org.vn/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hivaids-twg">http://mailman.ngocentre.org.vn/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hivaids-twg</a> <br>