Battling Aids

Every adult resident of this world have been taught the importance of safe sex in preventing AIDS. The French ad agency TBWA has come up with an interesting advert as a part of the AIDS prevention campaign. The colorful illustration creates an imaginary world of genitals with a nude woman exploring it in a protected capsule with the caption – Explore. Just protect yourself. Public awareness campaigns are most of the time rather boring but this is an unusual portrayal of an important campaign with a dash of the artist’s imagination that does not preach but makes one aware.

via:PubADict

Young gay men in America face an increased danger from AIDS. The situation is worst amongst the black community in the country. These are the finding of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a federal body. It says the incidence of AIDS infection in young gay men is ten times higher than in the homosexual community as a whole. In the 13-to-24-year-old group, the average annual increase was 12 percent. In the youngest age bracket, the yearly rise averaged 8 percent among Hispanics, 9 percent among whites and 15 percent among blacks.

It seems New York city is hell bent on finding the HIV status of all the residents. The recent proposal to test the HIV status of every individual turning up at a clinic or hospital is ample testimony of the trend. However, a lot of practical issues have to be looked into.

For one thing, every person needs pre-test counseling. They have to be informed about the whole test procedure and the implications of a positive or negative result. This in itself is a significant task considering the varied health problems of the people. If a person comes to a doctor for spraining his ankle, the whole HIV testing procedure will be a nuisance for the person. Their will be hardly any people ready to invest so much of their time, when it wouldn’t have any bearing on the present problem.

AIDS, the word which rings disaster has been included in the report submitted by the International federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which called on the government and humanitarian agencies to pay more attention to AIDS in their response to natural disaster and armed conflicts.

AIDS or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is a fatal disease that attacks the human immune system and makes it completely non operational leading to death. However, what makes the disease even more lethal is the stigma attached to it. Intravenous drug users, homosexuals, sex workers and prostitutes are usually the victims of this disease. This is largely attributed to the lack of information about AIDS amongst these sections of the society. Even after being diagnosed with the disease they are left untreated due to the fear on the part of doctors and nurses of contracting the disease. These people lack even the basic healthcare and preventive facilities which adds to their woes.

AIDS, the killer disease that has orphaned millions of kids and widowed thousands of women may not be a global epidemic as once predicted, according to a WHO expert. Kevin De Cock, the WHO expert is of the opinion that the threat may be confined to gay men, drug addicts and prostitutes and their clients. He also says that the large-scale heterosexual spread was unlikely to occur anywhere outside sub-Saharan Africa whereas the experts were concerned about the growing number of HIV cases in Asia earlier. The United Nations had predicted that the number if people with HIV worldwide as 40 million and later slashed the estimate to 33 million. Nearly 3 million people are now receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) in low- and middle-income countries, according to a new report jointly launched by WHO, UNAIDS and UNICEF. There are criticisms that the organizations were spending huge amounts educating people in places where the threat is less instead of working in countries that had high-risk groups. Though De Cock’s statement comes as a relief for all those who are concerned, the fact that it continues to be a deadly disease with no cure cannot be overlooked.

Via: Dailymail

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Till date AIDS retains the status of an incurable disease and no vaccine has been developed to treat it. There are about 25 million people who have succumbed to this deadly disease since 1980 and there are 35 million people who are infected with it. Till now the most effective method of controlling AIDS is to give the victim an anti-retroviral treatment after making him/her undergo the PEP (Post-exposure prophylaxis) program, which is an elaborate method spanning four weeks in which the patient has to face a lot of discomfiture. The side effects that may be nausea, diarrhea, fatigue or malaise will surely prove to be highly taxing on the bodily resources and dispositions of the victims. It is sad but true to realize that just like the treatments for other life threatening diseases, the treatment for AIDS with anti-retroviral drugs is an expensive affair and beyond the reach of the common man.

The Notwane Netball Club hosted ‘HIV/AIDS Youth Under-20 tournament’ that will be played in Gaborone. It is a tournament played with a noble mission of fighting HIV/AIDS. Other than Notwane, you can watch out for the performances of the Moshupa Lovers, Phikwe Prisons, Flying Hawks, BDF Cats and Jungle Queens. The tournament will begin at midday and it will last for two days.

What makes this tournament a must-watch is that you have a chance of educating yourself immensely on HIV/AIDS which happens to be one of the major life-threatening diseases of the globe today. You will appreciate the efforts the Notwane Netball Club is putting in fighting this disease. The agenda of their noble mission includes conducting tests for diagnosing aids and also imparting awareness education. Their objective to eradicate HIV/AIDS from Botswana by 2016 shows their commitment to the cause of their nation. Their efforts to spread their message across through sports are worth-congratulating. This is because sports events attract huge crowds and hence are apt for conveying information on important social issues to the masses.

Approximately 5 to 6 million South Africans are infected with HIV. Nineteen percent of the country’s adult population aged between 15 and 49 carries the deadly virus. Unfortunately, only one-third of the HIV infected South Africans have access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) despite of an AIDS prevention program supported by the South African government in collaboration with US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS. According to a study by researchers of Massachusetts General Hospital, more than 1.2 million deaths from AIDS could be prevented in South Africa in the next five years by accelerating efforts to provide access to ART.

The highly aggressive human immunodeficiency virus or (HIV) that is responsible for destroying the body’s immune system has a less aggressive mutant. Researchers at South Africa’s Centre for the AIDS Program of Research discovered the variant of the common HIV virus that is less potent when transmitted to other humans.

The HIV virus works in the body by invading a cell and using it to replicate itself. The Class I Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) is the most important gene that when inflicted by the HIV determines the rate of progression of AIDS in the body. However, genetic composition of certain variants of the HLA, HLA-B*57 or B*5801 alleles has the ability to force mutation of HIV virus damaging its reproductive ability and weakening its progression. This mutant of HIV virus that escapes being targeted by cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs) are weaker that the wild-type virus and when transmitted even to individuals without the beneficial HLA gene considerably slows down the progression of AIDS in the body.

Source: Yahoo

The legitimacy of Circumcision or male genital modification has been often hotly debated in all societies especially in the US and UK. Circumcision is part of the ritual followed by adherents of certain religions and the process is not illegal any where in the world.

In the latest issue of the British Medical Journal two doctors Geoff Hinchley, a consultant with the British National Health Service and Kristen Patrick have hotly debated over the issue.

Hinchley believes that circumcision, despite of its medical benefits like preventing sexually transmitted disease is not a harmless traditional practice and could cause mental and physical damage to young boys.

He contends that the decision should be left to individuals until they were old enough to make individual health care choices.

However, circumcision proponent Kristen Patrick argues that the process involves little risk if carried under proper medical supervision. It is done under local anesthesia and the pain is comparable to that from an injection for immunization.

Homeopathy is often observed as second fiddle to allopathic treatment and Saturday’s workshop in south London that will be attended by 80 homeopaths will be attempting to wipe out that notion. The homeopaths will try and convince the medical world that homeopath can be as effective as allopath in the treatment of HIV and AIDS!

The event is being organized by the Society of Homeopath and is believed to be marked occasion in the further development of homeopathy. The vent will focus on the AIDS epidemic in Africa and will try and justify the significance of homeopathy in the eradication of the HIV virus from Africa.

During an interview with Reuters, a Kenyan woman Kanotu Mumo revealed the condition in which she has to fend for her grandchildren and lives in Kiberia, which is the one of the biggest slums in Africa. There are a many such grandmothers in Africa who have to fend for their grandchildren who are left behind after their parents have died of AIDS.

While talking about the UN figures, the fact is that there are almost 12 million children in Africa who have lost one or both of their parents due to AIDS. This is about 80 percent of the AIDS orphans of the developing world. It is since 1990 that the numbers of orphans have increased by 50 percent.

Do you know, among all US cities, Washington D.C has the highest rate of AIDS?! It has been reported by city health officials, released on Monday. People living in Washington are not being tested for HIV and come up with the infection at advanced stage that quickly develops to AIDS.

According to the report, Washington with a population of 600,000 has 128 cases of AIDS per 100,000 of its people in 2006. The rate is higher than the national average of 14 AIDS cases per 100,000 people. More and more babies are born with HIV infections every year, with the city accounting for 9 percent of all pediatric AIDS cases in USA during 2005.

After more than a decade of researching better treatments for HIV patients, a new drug had been found in UK to lengthen the life expectancy of the victims. The recent introduction of Pfizer’s Celsentri (Maraviroc) is truly helpful for the HIV patients as it guards the entrance of the immune system and blocks the virus, which in turn delays the process of developing into AIDS.

Although the drug is not a cure-all treatment, this is an alternative that patients can look forward to, since not all symptoms are remedied by other available HIV drugs in the market. Many AIDS organizations have shown interest in the drug saying this is a good sign of giving cure to the victims and will aid in reducing the progression of HIV into AIDS.

Already struggling with HIV for decades, trying to snatch life from the deadly ailment, the sub-Saharan Africans now have yet another monster to fight away — tuberculosis.

The region being undoubtedly the most affected by the virus, inhabited by just over 12 percent of the world’s population, Africa is estimated to have more than 60 percent of the AIDS-infected population! The poor areas of the sub-Saharan Africa are more vulnerable.