todaysDate = "July 29, 2010";
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headline[currentCount] = new headline ("58635","1","HIV / AIDS Daily Report","Report Estimates Significant Impact of Widespread Circumcision Effort in Botswana","Botswana\'s campaign to circumcise about 500,000 men by 2012 will prevent nearly 70,000 new HIV cases by 2025, according to a report published Thursday in the Journal of the International AIDS Society, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. The government\'s national campaign aims to circumcise 460,000 men over the next five years, and the country has begun airing television and radio advertisements to encourage men to be circumcised at local clinics. \"Scaling up safe male circumcision has the potential to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS in Botswana significantly,\" according to the study.
The report puts the estimated cost of the circumcision campaign at about $47 million. A UNAIDS report estimates that the HIV prevalence among pregnant women in Botswana was 43% in 2003, the year that antiretroviral drug access was introduced in the country (AFP/Yahoo! News, 5/28).
![\"Online\"](\"http://www.kaisernetwork.org/images/paper_icon.gif\")
An abstract of the study is available online. ","2009-05-29 00:00:00","May 29, 2009","3");
currentCount = 2;
headline[currentCount] = new headline ("58636","1","HIV / AIDS Daily Report","Thai HIV/AIDS Advocates Urge Increased Treatment Access for IDUs","The Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group recently called on the country to launch a comprehensive harm reduction program for injection drug users in an effort to help curb the spread of HIV, Thailand\'s The Nation reports. According to the group, many IDUs are unable to access drug treatment and substation therapy because of the stigma surrounding drug use in the country. Karyn Kaplan, director of development and policy for the group, said, \"Health care workers have denied many injecting drug users access to an antiviral drug and the use of methadone.\"
Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai recently announced that the country\'s harm reduction programs have helped to curb the spread of HIV among IDUs, adding that local substitution programs have reduced the number of HIV-positive IDUs and that the country needs increased support from UNAIDS for such efforts. TTAG called for the government to provide prevention and treatment options, such as substitution therapy and needle-exchange programs. The Nation reports that methadone treatment is offered at hospitals across the country as part of the national health care scheme, but many health care workers refuse to administer treatment. In addition, government treatment is offered for 45 days. Kaplan said that the government should revise its policy regarding treatment access for IDUs, as a majority of IDUs are incarcerated and living with HIV or hepatitis-C without treatment access. She called on the government to \"implement the international standards of medical treatment for [IDUs], without discrimination and human rights violations\" (The Nation, 5/27). ","2009-05-29 00:00:00","May 29, 2009","4");
currentCount = 3;
headline[currentCount] = new headline ("58637","1","HIV / AIDS Daily Report","Legislation Needed To Boost HIV/AIDS Efforts in Solomon Islands, Health Official Says","Isaac Muliloa -- national coordinator of the HIV and sexually transmitted infections unit at the Solomon Islands\' Ministry of Health -- recently said that a lack of national HIV/AIDS laws is hindering efforts to address the disease, the Solomon Times reports. Recent World Health Organization estimates said that the number of HIV cases in the Solomon Islands could reach 350 by 2010.
Muliloa said that legislation is needed to address continued discrimination against HIV-positive employees in the workplace. He added that the HIV/AIDS and STI unit is relatively new in the health ministry, as is the Solomon Islands\' National AIDS Council. According to Muliloa, officials are continuing to work toward implementing policies. The Times reports that the Solomon Islands does not have laws in place criminalizing the intentional transmission of HIV (Solomon Times, 5/27). ","2009-05-29 00:00:00","May 29, 2009","5");
currentCount = 4;
headline[currentCount] = new headline ("58638","1","HIV / AIDS Daily Report","Researchers Plan To Target Immune Cells Responsible for Eluding Antiretroviral Treatment","Certain human immune cells known as macrophages are composed of hybrid HIV strains that elude treatment and antiretroviral drugs, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Florida and other institutions, the Gainesville Sun reports.
For the study, researchers examined tissue from HIV-positive people and discovered that as much as half of the macrophages present were hybrids, made from genetic material from several HIV viruses that when combined formed new HIV strains. Marco Salemi -- assistant professor of pathology, immunology and laboratory medicine at the University of Florida\'s College of Medicine -- said that macrophages likely make HIV more aggressive over time, adding, \"If we want to eradicate HIV, we need to find a way to actually target the virus specifically infecting the macrophages.\"
According to the Sun, current research and treatment target T-cells, and although antiretrovirals are effective at blocking infection from new cells and lowering viral loads, they are unable to reduce the viral level in an HIV-positive person to zero. The Sun notes that macrophages can be targeted by HIV multiple times, and once they are infected, they can live for months, unlike T-cells. The team of researchers, led by Michael McGrath of the University of California - San Francisco, is developing macrophage-targeting drugs through a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Sun reports (Chun, Gainesville Sun, 5/28). ","2009-05-29 00:00:00","May 29, 2009","6");
currentCount = 5;
headline[currentCount] = new headline ("58614","1","HIV / AIDS Daily Report","Farmer Still Under Consideration for Obama Administration Position, Takes Harvard Medical School Appointment","While Partners in Health co-founder Paul Farmer is still being considered for a senior role in the Obama administration, Farmer has been appointed chair of Harvard Medical School\'s Department of Global Health and Social Medicine -- Jeffrey Flier, the medical school\'s dean, said on Wednesday -- the Boston Globe reports. Flier said that Farmer will take a leave of absence from the medical school if he is offered a position with the administration. For now, Farmer is slated to succeed the current chair, Jim Kim, on July 1 (Smith, Boston Globe, 5/28).
Foreign Policy\'s \"The Cable\" reports that Farmer is \"under consideration to head\" USAID or \"serve in a top administration international assistance post that would encompass it.\" An unnamed \"international health activist\" said that Farmer might be appointed USAID administrator \"as an interim thing\" and that he might go on to lead a new position focused on \"global health in the process of foreign assistance reform over the coming year.\" Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is organizing efforts to reform the Foreign Assistance Act later this year. The act was originally written in 1961 (Rozen, \"The Cable,\" Foreign Policy, 5/26).
On Tuesday, Jack Lew, Deputy Secretary Of State for Management and Resources, said that the government is considering ways to significantly improve coordination of various agencies that work with global health assistance. \"We\'re open to creative ideas about how to bring appropriate resources to bear,\" Lew said, adding, \"When we look at public-private partnerships and recruiting, we\'re looking at how to cast the broadest net to bring in the right talent and commitment to address the challenge\" (Boston Globe, 5/28).
Partners in Health said it is pleased that Farmer is being considered along with other strong candidates. Wendy Sherman, an advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Aaron Williams, a former USAID official who is now with RTI International, are among some of the \"[p]reviously rumored contenders for the USAID administrator job,\" according to \"The Cable.\"
Last week, Farmer had a meeting with Clinton, Partners in Health said. Andrew Marx, a spokesman for the group, said that one of the reasons why people are \"excited about the idea of Paul is that he and Partners in Health in the past have been quite prepared to challenge the accepted wisdom.\" According to Marx, Farmer did not buy into the conventional approach to multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in the 1990s, when WHO\'s official policy was not to treat people who were diagnosed with the disease because it was complicated and the costs were high.
When asked if Farmer would be interested in a USAID administrator position that has strong democracy and governance components, Marx said, \"Good governance and democracy are important to us,\" adding that the group\'s work focuses on building up countries\' public health systems rather than creating independent health clinics.
David Bryden, senior program policy officer for the Center for Global Health Policy, said, \"There are many exciting things about Paul Farmer.\" According to Bryden, Farmer \"has been a person with a very practical mindset, he knows how to get the job done, put aside conventional wisdom when it\'s wrong. ... It\'s really exciting\" (\"The Cable,\" Foreign Policy, 5/26). ","2009-05-28 00:00:00","May 28, 2009","1");
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