Archive for March, 2009

 Islamic religious leaders in Somalia are increasing efforts to reduce stigma and discrimination against HIV-positive people in the country, IRIN/Plus News reports. Religious leaders in the predominantly Muslim country are encouraging people to treat HIV-positive people with respect and are becoming involved in HIV prevention efforts, according to IRIN/Plus ... Full story

   Health experts are developing plans to increase HIV/AIDS awareness in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan in response to the virus' rising incidence in the province, Moira McKinnon, Saskatchewan's chief medical health officer, said recently, the Regina Leader-Post reports. McKinnon said a committee recently created to address ... Full story

      The House on Tuesday passed a bill (H.R. 1429) by voice vote that aims to reduce the spread of HIV in federal prisons, CQ Today reports. Under the bill, sponsored by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the Federal Bureau of Prisons would be required to develop a ... Full story

At least 3 percent of District residents have HIV or AIDS, a total that far surpasses the 1 percent threshold that constitutes a "generalized and severe" epidemic, according to a report scheduled to be released by health officials tomorrow. This Story... Full story

  WASHINGTON —  At least 3 percent of residents in the nation's capital are living with HIV or AIDS and every mode of transmission is on the rise, according to a report to be released Monday by D.C. health officials. The findings in the 2008 epidemiology report by the D.C. HIV/AIDS Administration point to a ... Full story

Hair strands might help determine the effectiveness of antiretroviral drugs for HIV-positive people, researchers from the University of California-San Francisco said recently, VOA News reports. Monica Gandhi of the university and colleagues have found that antiretroviral levels in hair samples strongly correlate with HIV levels ... Full story

  HIV-positive people who do not develop AIDS and do not require antiretroviral medication could provide insight for new strategies in vaccine development, according to a study published Sunday in the journal Nature, London's Independent reports. Michel Nussenzweig -- head of Rockefeller University's ... Full story

 Guyana's Health Minister Leslie Ramsammy said recently that a U.S.-supported HIV/AIDS prevention program has helped to reduce the country's HIV/AIDS prevalence from nearly 3% to about 1%, the AP/Google.com reports. Ramsammy said that the USAID/Guyana HIV/AIDS Reduction and Prevention Project, or GHARP, "is a huge ... Full story

    Police officials in Dayton, Ohio, are hoping to create the city's first rehabilitation center for commercial sex workers, following a reported increase in HIV-positive sex workers arrested in 2008, the Dayton Daily News reports. According to the Daily News, 12 sex workers, including two men, arrested last year ... Full story

  A report finding that about 3% of District of Columbia residents are living with HIV/AIDS likely underestimated the city's actual disease burden, Shannon Hader, director of the district's HIV/AIDS Administration, said Monday at the release of the report, the Washington ... Full story