A large-scale marketing campaign aimed at increasing HIV/AIDS awareness and testing was launched on Friday by the Bahamian National Center for HIV/AIDS, the Bahama Journal reports. The initiative — called the HIV Prevention and Effective Condom Social Marketing Strategy — was created under a partnership between the AIDS Secretariat and the Bahamas Loving Care Association and also involves taxi cab drivers. Rosa Mae Bain, director of the National AIDS Program, said, “We need to look at the masses. We need to address the country at large” and “not to point fingers, but to lend a helping hand.” According to the Journal, 7,349 people in the Bahamas are living with HIV/AIDS — 1,767 of whom have developed AIDS. Bain said officials “need every single Bahamian to know if they are HIV-positive or not” so they can receive services and medication to treat the virus, adding that people have been “dying prematurely because they didn’t know their status.”
About 1,700 people living with HIV have access to antiretroviral drugs in the Bahamas, an increase from 300 in 2002, and government spending for the medications is about $1 million, according to Bain. Bain said that the “concern is of the 7,000 people still living (with the virus), only a third of them are on medications. Granted, everyone doesn’t need to be [on] medication if his or her immune system is still strong, but you need to be in care so that we would know if (the strength of the immune system) is failing.”
Samuel Williams, president of the Bahamas Loving Care Association, urged members of the business community to support the new initiative and “issue some money to the AIDS Foundation so that they can go to every school in this country and send this message out.” Richard Johnson, also of the Loving Care Association, said the HIV/AIDS epidemic is not taken seriously by many people in the Bahamas, adding that “a lot of people deny the fact and it has caught up with us.” He added that the spread of the virus is preventable and that it is “incumbent on all of us to do whatever we can to bring the message to those who believe that it will not affect them” (Jones, Bahama Journal, 12/12).
[click link for full article]
Archive Page 5
Hiv Testing, Education Strategy Launched In Bahamas
Published at Dezember 15th, 2008Cytokinetics Announces Clinical And Preclinical Data Regarding Ispinesib For Breast Cancer Treatment
Published at Dezember 15th, 2008Cytokinetics, Incorporated (NASDAQ: CYTK) announced today that two posters, one summarizing interim Phase I clinical trial data evaluating ispinesib in the treatment of breast cancer and another containing preclinical data for ispinesib, were presented at the 31st Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) held on December 10-14, 2008.
[click link for full article]
Recent London Improvements In Curative Radiation Therapy For Relevant Early Prostate Cancer
Published at Dezember 14th, 2008UroToday.com - The most effective form of treatment for localized prostate cancer remains a matter of great debate. There are no randomized controlled trials comparing radiotherapy with prostatectomy.
[click link for full article]
President-elect Obama Nominates Daschle As Head Of Hhs, Director Of New White House Office Of Health Reform
Published at Dezember 13th, 2008President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday during a press conference in Chicago officially nominated former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) as the next HHS secretary, Reuters reports. Daschle also will serve as director of a new White House Office of Health Reform (Reuters, 12/11).
Jeanne Lambrew, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress who wrote a book with Daschle about health care reform, will serve as deputy director of the office. Previously, Lambrew worked on health policy in the Clinton administration (Rubenstein [1], “Health Blog,” Wall Street Journal, 12/11). According to the AP/Detroit News, Lambrew, “one of Daschle’s most trusted advisers,” will “oversee planning efforts” (Freking, AP/Detroit News, 12/11).
Daschle said, “We’re going to bring the American people into this conversation and make health care reform an open and inclusive process that goes from the grassroots up” (Rubenstein [2], “Health Blog,” Wall Street Journal, 12/11). He added that he seeks to “make health care in this country as affordable and available as it is innovative” (Wayne/Armstrong, CQ Today, 12/11). Daschle has proposed to establish a Federal Health Board modeled after the Federal Reserve to determine the medications, medical devices and other treatments that federal health care programs should cover. Under his proposal, the president would nominate members of the board, and the nominations would require confirmation by the Senate (Pear, New York Times, 12/12).
According to Long Island Newsday, Obama “has provided few details about his health care proposal” and has not “outline[d] how his administration would pay for an overhaul that some estimate could exceed $100 billion a year” (Levey, Long Island Newsday, 12/12). During the press conference, Obama “pointed to better health information-technology and disease prevention programs as ways to cut costs from the system,” the Wall Street Journal’s “Health Blog” reports. Obama also cited the Medicare Advantage program as an example of not “necessarily giving good bang for the buck” (Rubenstein [2], “Health Blog,” Wall Street Journal, 12/11).
Health Care Reform as Part of Economic Recovery
Obama during the press conference said that the current economic recession increases the need for health care reform (Levey, Chicago Tribune, 12/12). He said, “If we want to overcome our economic challenges, then we must finally address our health care challenge” (Edney, CongressDaily, 12/11). Obama said that health care reform “has to be intimately woven into our overall economic recovery plan” and is “not something that we can sort of put off because we’re in an emergency” (Rubenstein [2], “Health Blog,” Wall Street Journal, 12/11). According to Obama, health care reform is needed, regardless of whether the effort requires “additional dollars to pay for some investments in the short term” (Wolf, USA Today, 12/11).
Daschle said that “addressing our health care challenges” can help reduce personal debt, improve U.S. competitiveness and “pull our economy out of its current tailspin” (Connolly, Washington Post, 12/12).
During the press conference, “Obama didn’t offer many specifics on how he expected to pay for health reform” but “pointed to better health information technology and disease prevention programs as ways to cut costs from the system,” the Wall Street Journal’s “Health Blog” reports. Obama also cited the Medicare Advantage program as an example of a program not “necessarily giving good bang for the buck” (Rubenstein [2], “Health Blog,” Wall Street Journal, 12/11). Obama “has provided few details about his health care proposal” and “has declined to outline how his administration would pay for an overhaul that some estimate could exceed $100 billion a year,” according to Long Island Newsday (Long Island Newsday, 12/12).
Role of Economic Stimulus Package
Obama and congressional Democrats have begun to “significantly expand the health provisions” in a $500 billion economic stimulus package that lawmakers hope to complete in early January 2009 to allow Obama to sign the legislation after he takes office, the Washington Post reports. According to the Post, Obama and congressional Democrats maintain that “pouring billions of dollars into an array of health programs will not only boost the economy but also make a down payment on promises of broader health care reform.”
Obama has said that the package will include an additional $40 billion for state Medicaid programs over two years through an increase in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage. In addition, the package likely will include funds for health information technology. The package also might include a reauthorization of SCHIP and an expansion of the 1986 Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which allows all employees who lose their jobs to retain employer-sponsored health insurance provided that they pay 102% of the premiums.
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) said, “Investing in the health of the American people is a crucial part of the nation’s economic recovery,” adding, “Modernizing our health care system through better use of information technology is the key to easing the heavy burden of health care costs.” Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said, “It’s very important that health IT be part of the economic recovery,” adding, “It represents the beginning of health care reform” (Washington Post, 12/12).
Editorial
“In a noteworthy coincidence,” Obama announced Daschle as his nominee for secretary of HHS the day after the first trial date was set for lawsuits by sickened 9/11 rescue and recovery workers, a New York Daily News editorial states, adding, “The juxtaposition was a reminder of how miserably the Bush administration failed men and women who became ill because they responded to Ground Zero.” According to the editorial, Daschle “must do far better” than President Bush and HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt in addressing the needs of 9/11 workers.
The Daily News continues that re-opening a fund that provided payments to survivors of people killed on 9/11 and those who were injured that day “would eliminate the time-consuming process of working potentially 10,000 lawsuits through federal court.” The editorial notes that the fund was closed “before thousands of responders developed symptoms of lung damage and other illnesses.” Daschle should “take the lead” and ensure the lawsuits never have to be carried out by re-opening the fund, the editorial states (New York Daily News, 12/12).
Opinion Piece
“The deepening recession creates the opportunity for federal intervention and government experimentation of a scale unseen since the New Deal,” Post columnist Charles Krauthammer writes. He continues, “Obama was quite serious when he said he was going to change the world,” adding, “And now he has a national crisis, a personal mandate, a pliant Congress, a desperate public — and at his disposal, the greatest pot of money in galactic history.”
According to Krauthammer, Obama will “show himself ideologically” with the nearly $1 trillion stimulus package. “It is his one great opportunity to plant the seeds from everything he cares about: a new green economy, universal health care, a labor insurgence, government as benevolent private-sector ‘partner,’” Krauthammer writes.
He adds that Obama’s recent comment that addressing health care is a priority in overcoming economic challenges is “the perfect non sequitur that gives carte blanche to whatever health care reform and spending the Obama team dreams up.” He concludes that Obama has “the money, the mandate and the moxie” to transform the U.S. (Krauthammer, Washington Post, 12/12).
Broadcast Coverage
ABC’s “World News Tonight” on Thursday reported on the Daschle nomination (Stark et al., “World News Tonight,” ABC, 12/11).- C-SPAN on Thursday broadcast a speech by Daschle about health care (C-SPAN, 12/11).
- C-SPAN on Friday reported on prospects for health care reform. The segment includes comments from Edward Howard, executive vice president of the Alliance for Health Reform; NPR health correspondent Julie Rovner; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey; Mark Hayes, health policy director for the Senate Finance Committee; Jocelyn Moore, legislative assistant to Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.); John McDonough, senior adviser to Kennedy; and Charles Clapton, director of health policy for the Senate HELP Committee (”Washington Journal,” C-SPAN, 12/12).
- Fox News‘ “Special Report with Brit Hume” on Thursday reported on the Daschle nomination (Hume, “Special Report with Brit Hume,” Fox News, 12/11).
- NBC’s “Nightly News” on Thursday reported on the Daschle nomination (Harwood, “Nightly News,” NBC, 12/11).
NPR’s “Day to Day” on Thursday reported on the Obama press conference (Brand/Gonyea, “Day to Day,” NPR, 12/11).- PBS’ “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” on Thursday reported on the Daschle nomination (Bowser, “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” PBS, 12/11).
Zimbabwe’s Cholera Outbreak Puts Hiv-positive People At Risk, Health Officials Say
Published at Dezember 13th, 2008People living with HIV/AIDS are especially vulnerable to contracting cholera in Zimbabwe, which currently is experiencing an outbreak of the waterborne illness, Stanley Takaona, Deputy President of the Zimbabwe HIV/AIDS Activist Union, said recently, IRIN/PlusNews reports. HIV-positive people with weakened immune systems have a more difficult time recovering from cholera and are at an increased risk of the illness, according to Takaona. He said, “This disease leaves people completely wasted; it is very hard for many [HIV-positive people] to recover,” adding that other people living with HIV/AIDS “have not been so lucky, but documenting deaths in this section of the population is a major challenge for us.” Douglas Gwatidzo, chair of the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights, said that the outbreak also has taken away attention from the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country, which, according to UNICEF, causes more than 400 adult deaths daily.
According to Tsitsi Singizi, a UNICEF communications officer, there is a lack of knowledge about cholera’s specific symptoms, which has led some HIV-positive people to come to cholera treatment centers, mistaking diarrhea — a common HIV-related opportunistic infection — for cholera symptoms. As a result, many people living with the virus have been exposed to cholera. Singizi said, “UNICEF and its partners are doing the best they can to ensure that our treatment centers stay as clean as possible, so that the next person seeking treatment does not pick up infection.”
IRIN/PlusNews reports that the cholera outbreak has been especially detrimental in Harare and other cities, where water cuts, poor garbage collection and unrepaired sewage systems are blamed for the illness’ spread. Medecins Sans Frontieres reports that at least 1.4 million people are at risk of contracting cholera if the outbreak is not brought under control through improved sanitary conditions. The United Nations on Wednesday estimated that the cholera outbreak has resulted in 746 deaths, but other health groups estimate that the actual figure is much higher (IRIN/PlusNews, 12/10).
[click link for full article]
Pope Discusses Hiv, Tb, Malaria In Annual Peace Address
Published at Dezember 12th, 2008Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday during his annual peace address discussed HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria and said that the three diseases are a common cause of poverty, Agence France-Presse reports (Agence France-Presse, 12/11).
Benedict in his address, titled “Fighting Poverty To Build Peace,” added that HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria are a “significant factor in the overall deterioration of conditions” in countries affected by the diseases and that efforts to address the diseases “do not always achieve significant results” (Pope Benedict XVI speech text, 12/11). Benedict criticized global efforts to address the three diseases, saying, “It happens that countries afflicted by some of these pandemics find themselves held hostage, when they try to address them, by those who make economic aid conditional upon the implementation of anti-life policies” (Agence France-Presse, 12/11).
The pope also said it will be hard to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS “unless the moral issues connected with the spread of the virus are also addressed.” He called for education for young people and increased access to treatment for HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria for low-income people (Pope Benedict XVI speech text, 12/11).
[click link for full article]
Advocates Optimistic About Needle-exchange Program Approval In Bexar County, Texas
Published at Dezember 12th, 2008Advocates in Bexar County, Texas, on Tuesday said they are optimistic that the next state legislative session would pass a bill authorizing local health departments to operate needle-exchange programs aimed at reducing the spread of HIV and other bloodborne diseases, the San Antonio Express-News reports. Texas State Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon (D) and Sens. Leticia Van de Putte (D) and Robert Deuell (R) plan to reintroduce bills similar to legislation introduced in previous sessions in support of needle-exchange programs.
William Martin, senior fellow for drug policy at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, said he believes there is “a good chance” that a reintroduced needle-exchange bill “will succeed.” Martin, who has studied and testified in support of exchange programs during the past two legislative sessions, said that providing injection drug users “with access to sterile syringes allows us to be responsible, prudent and compassionate,” adding, “[T]hese are good criteria for public policy.” Charlene Doria-Ortiz, community health coordinator for Bexar County, said local officials are prepared to implement a needle-exchange program if the new bill passes, because health workers last year began organizing a pilot exchange program before a legal challenge halted their efforts (Finley, San Antonio Express-News, 12/10).
In 2007, the state Legislature authorized Bexar County to establish a pilot needle-exchange program. McClendon said lawmakers hoped to use the pilot program to consider passing a statewide program during the 2009 legislative session. However, District Attorney Susan Reed in August 2007 challenged the legislation, saying that anyone in possession of drug paraphernalia would be breaking the law, regardless of their intentions. State Attorney General Greg Abbott (R) earlier this year backed Reed, saying people who possess drug paraphernalia could be prosecuted because the law does not specifically exempt them. Abbott’s opinion meant that Bexar County officials did not move forward with the planned needle-exchange program, which would have been the first in Texas (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/23).
Police also arrested three volunteers from the Bexar Area Harm Reduction Coalition who had been openly operating an exchanging program. Neel Lane, an attorney who represents the coalition, said the arrests brought national attention to needle-exchange programs and “provided support for people already doing heroic work” (San Antonio Express-News, 12/10).
[click link for full article]
Fda Officials To Review New Female Condom
Published at Dezember 11th, 2008An FDA advisory panel this week is scheduled to review a new and possibly less expensive version of the female condom for its efficacy in preventing pregnancies, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, Reuters India reports. The Female Health Company is seeking FDA approval for its new product, called the FC2 female condom, which is manufactured with a synthetic rubber called nitrile. FHC’s older version of the female condom, which already is on the U.S. market, uses polyurethane. FDA on Thursday will receive advice from a panel of outside experts about whether existing data are sufficient to prove that FC2 is safe and effective for approval in the U.S.
Some FDA officials are questioning whether FHC should have performed clinical trials to determine how well FC2 prevents pregnancies and STIs. According to Reuters India, FHC said it did not conduct clinical trials on FC2 because although the new condom uses a material different from FHC’s original version, the two products function in the same way. FHC “asserts that such studies are not necessary,” the FDA officials wrote in documents released on Tuesday ahead of the review, adding, “This is an important review issue.” Mary Ann Leeper, an adviser and former president of FHC, said the two versions of the female condom are designed “exactly the same” and are used in the same manner, adding that the company does not “believe there is any more information required.” According to Leeper, conducting another trial would take five more years and cost millions of dollars, and the “whole idea is to increase access.” Although FHC has not conducted clinical trials on the new female condom, it has examined the durability of nitrile against tears and other issues, the company said.
According to FHC, FDA approval of FC2 could boost female condom sales in the U.S., which account for 10% of the company’s 34.7 million unit sales in 2008. In addition, most of the company’s U.S. sales are to aid agencies such as USAID, which will not distribute the new female condom abroad without FDA approval. According to Leeper, FHC has encountered difficulty marketing female condoms but hopes to partner with another company involved in promoting HIV awareness. Female condoms can cost between $2.80 and $4 each in the U.S., compared with between 50 cents and $2 each for male condoms, Reuters reports. The new nitrile-based female condom, which costs less to produce than the polyurethane version, already is available in countries outside the U.S., FHC said (Heavey, Reuters India, 12/10).
[click link for full article]
Coalition Calls For Increased Involvement From Southern U.s. Lawmakers In National Hiv/aids Efforts
Published at Dezember 11th, 2008National policymakers should keep legislators from the Southern U.S. involved in efforts to address HIV/AIDS during the 111th Congress, the Southern AIDS Coalition said at a recent event during which the group also highlighted the effect of HIV/AIDS on women in the region, CQ HealthBeat reports. “We want to remind our policymakers and legislators … that the South is hugely impacted by HIV/AIDS, and any national discussion on this topic needs to include the South and the Southern AIDS Coalition,” coalition founder Evelyn Foust said, adding, “If we are not at meetings — that’s a problem.”
According to Foust, who also serves as the AIDS and STD Director at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. needs a “national AIDS strategy that has consensus from many people who care about this issue.” She added that a national strategy should “clearly commi[t] each state and the entire country to doing all we can.” The coalition was formed in 2001 to address disparities in federal HIV/AIDS funding in the Southern U.S., specifically in the 2006 Ryan White Program reauthorization. Foust said that the $6.7 million increase in Ryan White funding to the South in 2006 had a large impact on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment efforts, adding that the coalition now is focusing on maintaining these grants when the current legislation expires. “A lot of work was done on last reauthorization, and huge progress was made in making sure the dollars followed the epidemic, and we hope to continue to see that flexibility,” she said (McCarthy, CQ HealthBeat, 12/9).
[click link for full article]
Cdc Releases Data On Hiv Transmission Rates In U.s.
Published at Dezember 10th, 2008CDC in a research letter published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes released updated estimates of HIV transmission rates in the U.S., Reuters reports. According to the letter — written by researchers from CDC and Johns Hopkins University — the HIV transmission rate in the U.S. has decreased by 89% since 1984 and 33% since 1997. In addition, about 5% or less of people living with the virus will transmit it to another person in any given year, according to the letter (Fox, Reuters, 12/9). The study also found that in 1984, there were 44 transmissions per 100 people with HIV. By 2006, there were just under five transmissions per 100 HIV-positive people (CDC fact sheet, December 2008). David Holtgrave, a researcher at Johns Hopkins who led the study, said, “For every 100 persons living with HIV today, five or fewer will transmit the virus to an uninfected person in a given year.”
Richard Woltiski of CDC said the declining transmission figures “really show that people living with HIV are taking steps to be responsible and protect others” and “reflect the success of prevention efforts across the nation.” He added that the decreasing transmission rate is most likely the result of a “combination” of HIV prevention efforts that include “HIV testing, prevention programs for people who are living with HIV and those who are at risk for HIV, as well as the effects of HIV treatment that have prolonged the lives of so many people living with HIV.” The study was based on the latest CDC data on HIV/AIDS in the U.S. The agency in October announced that 1.1 million people are living with HIV in the U.S., and in August it announced that 56,300 new infections occur annually.
Woltiski said even with the “success” in lower transmission rates, “we cannot forget that new HIV infections are increasing among” men who have sex with men and that “African-Americans and Hispanics continue to experience disproportionate and unacceptably high rates of HIV and AIDS. The fight against HIV is far from over” (Reuters, 12/9).
A CDC fact sheet about HIV transmission rates is available online (.pdf). A Johns Hopkins press release about the study also is available online.
[click link for full article]