The US Agency for International Development wants its HIV prevention funding efforts in Jamaica to reflect the country’s epidemic, according to Dr. Karen Hilliard, the USAID-Jamaica director.
“I think it’s fine to target adolescents with messages that they should postpone their sexual activities, but if they are not the ones in the driver’s seat I tend to think our messages are a little misdirected,” Hilliard said recently. “It’s one thing to tell adolescents they shouldn’t have sex, but we found in our research that they are postponing their sexual activities longer, but it is coerced sex that’s the problem for them and it’s not with other young people, it’s with middle-aged people, primarily middle-aged men,” she said.
“Jamaica has managed to keep [its 1.8 percent prevalence] somewhat under control because condom use is high here, but the incidence of things like intergenerational sex, sex for barter or money, and a high level of stigmatization against men who have sex with men forces it underground,” noted Hilliard. “In addition, one of the major drivers is multiple concurrent partners: one person gets infected and pretty soon everybody is. These are touchy issues to deal with from a societal level, but deal with them we must.”
“We are going to be working with the Ministry of Health to try to find more ways to get people to open up to the idea of being more sexually responsible,” Hilliard said.
Under a regional HIV prevention program, USAID will provide Jamaica with $10.7 million this year, Hilliard said. “We are hoping that over the next four years we will up that amount,” she added.
[Article source: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com]
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CHINA: Yao Ming in Campaign to Fight HIV Stigma in China: UN
Chinese NBA superstar Yao Ming is helping a UN campaign to fight stigma against those who are HIV-positive in China.
The campaign will use more than 30,000 posters of Ming and his fans, including some HIV-positive ones, as well as videos in 12 Chinese cities.
HIV-positive persons in China face extraordinary levels of reproach, according to the UN’s “China Stigma Index.” One-fourth of medical staff and more than one-third of government and educational officials looked down on those they learned were HIV-positive, the report said.
“These results really underscore the importance of ensuring health care professionals receive appropriate training to reduce stigma and discrimination and increase their ability to provide appropriate services to people living with HIV,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe.
The research, the first of its kind in China, is based on a survey of 2,000 HIV-positive persons. By the end of the year, the number of HIV-positive persons is expected to total 740,000, with 48,000 new infections in the previous 12 months.
The survey also found that, among HIV-positive persons of working age, about one-third had dropped out of the labor market because of the disease, and 55 percent had in some way curtailed their social activities because of their HIV status.
“Building understanding and care from society as a whole for people living with HIV, together with eliminating discrimination, are key elements of the AIDS response,” said Huang Jiefu, China’s vice minister of health.
[Article source: http://www.afp.com/english/home/ ]
GLOBAL: World Bank Says Greater Prevention Efforts Needed to Reverse Course of HIV/AIDS Epidemic
The World Bank on Tuesday urged nations and development partners to boost HIV prevention efforts, and it restated its commitment to funding effective HIV/AIDS programs in developing nations.
“Intensifying efforts to prevent new infections is essential if we are to ensure that AIDS treatment is sustainable,” Robert B. Zoellick, the bank’s president, said during a high-level World AIDS Day event in Washington. “A barrier to all our efforts against this disease is the stigma and discrimination experienced by people with HIV. This has been reduced, but it is not gone by any measure.”
In addition, poverty and hunger have hindered effective HIV/AIDS programs that the bank has supported, Zoellick said. Over the past three years, the World Bank has committed almost $1 billion to HIV programs through grants, loans and credits.
In a new World Bank-supported study, poor nutrition - compounded by rising food prices - reduced the efficacy of antiretroviral (ARV) therapy and weakened the immune system of chronically hungry adults.
Among the chronically hungry and malnourished, the risk of developing AIDS or dying could increase by 36 percent, said Dr. Bill Pape, executive director of the Haitian Group for the Study of Kaposi’s Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections (GHESKIO). The GHESKIO-Cornell University study found clinical evidence linking hunger to immune dysfunction and a lower number of white blood cells.
Low baseline weight is an independent predictor of mortality in adult AIDS patients receiving ARVs, Pape said. Studies in Haiti and other countries with the worst caloric deficits show anemia is also strongly associated with rapid HIV disease progression and mortality.
[Article source: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/]
CALIFORNIA: Sacramento Campaign Has Warning on Body Art
A new campaign launched by UC Davis Cancer Center and California State University-Sacramento seeks to warn young people of the potential dangers associated with getting a tattoo or body piercing.
The popularity of body art has tripled during the past decade. A 2006 survey from the Pew Internet Center found that 36 percent of 18- to 25-year olds and 40 percent of 26- to 40-year-olds have one or more tattoos. And in a study from Sacramento State, 40 percent of college students said they thought piercing and tattoo parlors were safe.
Experts, however, warn that the re-use of tattooing and piercing equipment can transmit blood-borne infections, including HIV and hepatitis C.
Paul King, spokesperson for the Association of Professional Piercers, acknowledged there are virtually no guidelines for body art practitioners in California. “It’s very much a ‘buyer beware’ situation,” he said. Only a few counties - including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Clara, and San Mateo - have comprehensive ordinances covering body art.
The new campaign, “Be Smart with Body Art,” encourages patrons to ask five questions before undergoing a procedure:
*Do you use new needles?
*Do you use new ink caps?
*Do you sterilize all equipment that may come in contact with blood?
*Do you use single-use latex gloves?
*Do you cover fresh tattoos to prevent hepatitis C transmission?
The campaign will reach out to students through campus events and online networking. For more information, visit http://www.besmartwithbodyart.org/.
[Article source: http://www.sacbee.com]
