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Merry Christmas everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates lately. The holidays are in full swing, and this is my first chance to even think about blogging in days. As you can imagine, there's quite a backlog of AIDS news, so I shall do my best to put it out there. Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that a 2002 study on the AIDS drug nevirapine had violated federal safety rules and produced drug resistance in mothers and newborns. Unfortunately, this report was misinterpreted by authorities in Africa, who took the report as meaning that nevirapine was an unsafe or inaffective drug. Making matters worse, it has also been reported that the director of the NIH's AIDS division re-wrote a report on nevirapine and deleted negative information. Unfortunately this seems to be a case of politics and sloppy science standing in the way of the fight against AIDS. Africa as a whole is extremely wary of American motives, policies, and actions, and when a situation such as this one becomes evident, it sets up a tremendous potential for setbacks. The music community was stunned to learn that Andy Bell, lead singer of the UK band Erasure, is HIV positive. The group still plans on releasing a new album in January, and going on tour. The silver lining to this story is that Bell plans to begin an HIV education campaign targeting young people. I doubt this admission will be as effective as Magic Johnson's disclosure of his own HIV status, but I'm confident that Bell's voice will add weight to current HIV education efforts in the UK. Bell is openly gay, and his partner of twenty years, Paul Hickey, has also tested positive. A new BBC documentary has accused the New York City Administration for Childrens' Services (ACS) of forcing HIV positive children under its protection to participate in drug trials. The filmmakers' accusations would place ACS in violation of federal law prohibiting certain use of foster children in experiments. Glaxo SmithKline has been accused of taking advantage of the situation, but denies any wrongdoing. For some good news, Ugandan Public Servants will be given free access to AIDS drugs. This should have numerous benefits, including increasing the productivity of these workers, making it more appealing for these workers to get tested for AIDS, and reducing the job turnover rate due to sickness and death. Hopefully other governments will follow Uganda's example. Stay Safe Post a comment in response: |
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