\rIn related news, ActionAid ahead of the Nairobi conference released a report calling for countries to scale up local health care capacity in order to effectively address HIV/AIDS. According to the report, titled \"Primary Concern: Why Primary Health Care is Key to Tackling HIV and AIDS,\" equipping local health centers with more resources is the best way to tackle HIV/AIDS. Advocates at the report\'s launch in Nairobi also called for governments to expand access to primary health care by establishing more clinics and improving existing centers.
Linda Mafu, Africa regional coordinator for the World AIDS Campaign, said, \"Health centers need to be spread out and properly equipped, so they have the capacity to deal not only with HIV, but with other diseases that affect the population.\" Mafu added that this could help ease transportation burdens and delays from long waits to visit health centers. Okello added that health officials should train primary health care workers on \"the skills to integrate HIV management into their other work.\"
Although an efficient public health sector could provide HIV/AIDS services, the private sector and nongovernmental organizations might need to support health systems for the foreseeable future, the report said. According to the report, many populations such as commercial sex workers choose to \"opt out of the public health system,\" and delays in implementing HIV programs and strengthening health systems could \"lead to higher numbers of AIDS-related deaths\" (IRIN/PlusNews, 5/27).
![\"Online\"](\"http://www.kaisernetwork.org/images/paper_icon.gif\"){kind=icon}
The ActionAid report is available online. ","2009-05-27 00:00:00","May 27, 2009","2");
currentCount = 3;
headline[currentCount] = new headline ("58598","1","HIV / AIDS Daily Report","World Cup Campaign To Build Centers To Provide HIV/AIDS Education, Other Services to At-Risk African Youth","Authorities in South Africa have begun construction of one of the 20 planned Football for Hope centers in Africa -- part of a 2010 World Cup campaign called \"20 Centers for 2010\" aimed at reducing the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, poverty and crime in local communities -- the AP/Google.com reports. The center under construction in South Africa\'s Khayelitsha township will include a soccer field, community center and after-school programs that will focus on sex education and HIV/AIDS education. The International Federation of Football Association, or FIFA, in alliance with Streetfootballworld, a network of development groups, is providing the campaign with $10 million in funding. Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Namibia, Rwanda and other African countries will be home to the remaining 19 centers.According to FIFA President Joseph Blatter, the campaign \"emphasizes the power of football far beyond the boundaries of the pitch.\" He added that the centers will \"provide a platform for communities to address social issues such as children\'s rights, education, health, HIV/AIDS prevention and will leave a legacy for Africa that will last long after the final whistle of the 2010 FIFA World Cup has been blown.\" Helen Zille, premier of the Western Cape Province, said construction of the center in the township \"shows what we can do when we focus on getting things right rather than concentrating on what\'s wrong,\" adding that she hopes the center is successful with its HIV/AIDS education efforts. The center will be run by Grassroots Soccer, an HIV/AIDS education organization that uses the sport to educate youth. Nocawe Tyali, a life-skills and football teacher who works with teenagers, said the new center will give young people an alternative to high-risk behaviors and enable the area to offer more youth football programs that include an HIV/AIDS prevention message (Nullis, AP/Google.com, 5/25). ","2009-05-27 00:00:00","May 27, 2009","4"); currentCount = 4; headline[currentCount] = new headline ("58600","1","HIV / AIDS Daily Report","Solomon Islands Could See Increase in HIV Cases, WHO Says","A recent estimate from the World Health Organization says that the number of HIV cases in the Solomon Islands could reach at least 350 by 2010, the Solomon Star News reports. The Star News reports that 12 new HIV cases were confirmed in 2008, although the actual number of new cases could be higher because of unreported cases. Of the 12 cases reported in 2008, eight were among women and four were among men, according to a health report.
In addition, sexually transmitted infections, particularly syphilis and chlamydia, are prevalent among pregnant women in the country and overall condom use is low, indicating that people could be at a high risk for HIV, according to the report. The most at-risk populations include mobile workers, commercial sex workers, students and men who have sex with men. Twelve facilities in the country currently offer HIV tests, and a relatively low number of tests are conducted, according to the Star News. The Ministry of Health has partnered with various groups and agencies to address HIV/AIDS in the country, the Star News reports (Carter, Solomon Star News, 5/26). ","2009-05-27 00:00:00","May 27, 2009","6"); currentCount = 5; headline[currentCount] = new headline ("58559","1","HIV / AIDS Daily Report","Boxers Holyfield, Retta To Participate in HIV/AIDS Charity Fight in Ethiopia","Boxer Evander Holyfield will fight Sammy Retta on July 26 in Ethiopia in an effort to raise money for HIV/AIDS organizations, Reuters India reports. Event organizers hope to raise between $5 million and $10 million from the fight. \"I continue to strive to be the very best, but what got me to come here is\" HIV/AIDS, Holyfield said, adding, \"If we don\'t find a cure to this, we\'ll be extinct.\"
According to Everton Boland -- CEO of Golden Globe, which is promoting the fight -- a significant portion of money raised will go directly to organizations addressing HIV/AIDS. Organizers said that a group established by African first ladies is the only recipient selected to date but they are considering others (Malone, Reuters India, 5/20). ","2009-05-22 00:00:00","May 22, 2009","4"); currentCount = 6; headline[currentCount] = new headline ("58538","1","HIV / AIDS Daily Report","HIV Transmission in Europe Occurs Primarily in Vacation Destinations, Study Finds","HIV in Europe is transmitted primarily in vacation destinations, according to a study published recently in the journal Retrovirology, the PA/Google.com reports. For the study, researchers led by Dimitrios Paraskevis of the University of Athens analyzed samples of HIV-1 subtype B virus, the most prevalent form of HIV in Europe, from 16 European countries and Israel (PA/Google.com, 5/20). The researchers created a family tree of the virus and examined its genetic characteristics to determine how it has evolved.
The study found that tourists are more likely to contract HIV in Greece, Portugal, Serbia and Spain, which are popular vacation destinations. Meanwhile, HIV-positive people in Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Luxembourg are more likely to have contracted the virus outside of these countries. The study also found that HIV-positive people in Israel, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom contract the virus both within these countries and in other countries. In addition, the study found that in Poland the virus spread mainly among residents through injection drug use.
\"Viruses move around with travelers -- thus health programs within countries should not only target the national populations, prevention efforts must also be aimed at migrants, travelers and tourists -- who are both major sources and targets of HIV,\" Paraskevis said (BBC News, 5/20). Lisa Power, head of policy at the Terrence Higgins Trust, said that the findings are not a \"surprise,\" adding, \"We\'ve known for some time with high levels of mobility in the world these days that it\'s very easy for viruses to move around. What it tells us is that you can\'t limit HIV prevention and support just to permanent residents\" (PA/Google.com, 5/20).
The study is available online. ","2009-05-21 00:00:00","May 21, 2009","2");
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headline[currentCount] = new headline ("58539","1","HIV / AIDS Daily Report","East African Officials Meet To Coordinate HIV/AIDS, Transport Efforts","East African health officials on Tuesday met in Kisumu, Kenya, to examine integrating HIV/AIDS issues into transport policies in the region, Xinhua/CRI.com reports. The East African Community in a statement released ahead of the conference on Monday said that the meeting, which runs through Friday, brings together more than 100 stakeholders at the national and regional levels, including experts from national AIDS commissions, as well as representatives from transport, health, trade, immigration, gender and youth ministries. Representatives from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda are attending the conference. Other representatives include those from the Lake Victoria Basin Commission, Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization, USAID, the International Organization for Migration, the Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa, East Africa Trade and Transport, and the East, Central and Southern African Health Community. Delegates from the EAC Regional Inter-Parliamentary Forum on Health, Population and Development also are attending.
The meeting aims to promote improved regional coordination and quality of HIV services for at-risk populations by bringing together national and regional efforts along major land, sea, ocean and inland transport systems. It also will provide an update on studies conducted to determine HIV transmission modes in the region, as well as identity appropriate HIV/AIDS prevention, care, treatment and support initiatives for communities located on transit hubs and corridors. According to the EAC statement, the meeting will identify ways for the transport sector to work in partnership with various implementing partners and local communities to address HIV/AIDS (Xinhua/CRI.com, 5/19). ","2009-05-21 00:00:00","May 21, 2009","3"); currentCount = 8; headline[currentCount] = new headline ("58541","1","HIV / AIDS Daily Report","Green Tea Chemical Shows Potential as Low-Cost Intervention Against Sexual HIV Transmission, Study Says","A chemical found in green tea might be an effective tool against the sexual transmission of HIV, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, AFP/Google.com reports.
According to the study, green tea polyphenol -- called epigallocatechin-3-gallete, or EGCG -- neutralizes a protein in sperm that aids in the transmission of HIV during sex. The researchers noted that they \"recently identified a peptide fraction in human semen that consistently enhanced HIV-1 infection.\" The study found that EGCG is able to neutralize the sperm protein, known as a semen-derived enhancer of virus infection, or SEVI. The researchers said that SEVI is \"an important infectivity factor of HIV.\"
According to the researchers, EGCG \"appears to be a promising supplement to antiretroviral microbicides to reduce sexual transmission of HIV-1.\" The researchers said that because a majority of people living with HIV contract the disease through heterosexual transmission and that 96% of new cases are reported in developing and impoverished nations, the use of green tea in topical creams could be a \"simple and affordable prevention method\" (AFP/Google.com, 5/19). ","2009-05-21 00:00:00","May 21, 2009","5"); function headline (drid,idcat,idcattext,title,content,pubdate,displaydate,ordernumber) { this.drid = drid; this.idcat = idcat; this.idcattext = idcattext; this.title = title; this.content = content; this.pubdate = pubdate; this.displaydate = displaydate; this.ordernumber = ordernumber; } function replaceSubstring(inputString, fromString, toString) { var temp = inputString; if (toString.indexOf(fromString) == -1) { while (temp.indexOf(fromString) != -1) { var toTheLeft = temp.substring(0, temp.indexOf(fromString)); var toTheRight = temp.substring(temp.indexOf(fromString)+fromString.length, temp.length); temp = toTheLeft + toString + toTheRight; } } else { var midStrings = new Array("~", "`", "_", "^", "#"); var midStringLen = 1; var midString = ""; while (midString == "") { for (var i=0; i < midStrings.length; i++) { var tempMidString = ""; for (var j=0; j < midStringLen; j++) { tempMidString += midStrings[i]; } if (fromString.indexOf(tempMidString) == -1) { midString = tempMidString; i = midStrings.length + 1; } } } while (temp.indexOf(fromString) != -1) { var toTheLeft = temp.substring(0, temp.indexOf(fromString)); var toTheRight = temp.substring(temp.indexOf(fromString)+fromString.length, temp.length); temp = toTheLeft + midString + toTheRight; } while (temp.indexOf(midString) != -1) { var toTheLeft = temp.substring(0, temp.indexOf(midString)); var toTheRight = temp.substring(temp.indexOf(midString)+midString.length, temp.length); temp = toTheLeft + toString + toTheRight; } } return temp; } tempCode = startCode; tempCode = replaceSubstring(tempCode,"@@todaysDate@@",todaysDate); tempCode = replaceSubstring(tempCode,"@@firstDate@@",firstDate); document.writeln(tempCode); for(x=1;x<=currentCount;x++) { tempItemCode = itemCode; tempItemCode = replaceSubstring(tempItemCode,"@@drid@@",headline[x].drid); tempItemCode = replaceSubstring(tempItemCode,"@@idcat@@",headline[x].idcat); tempItemCode = replaceSubstring(tempItemCode,"@@idcattext@@",headline[x].idcattext); tempItemCode = replaceSubstring(tempItemCode,"@@title@@",headline[x].title); tempItemCode = replaceSubstring(tempItemCode,"@@content@@",headline[x].content); tempItemCode = replaceSubstring(tempItemCode,"@@pubdate@@",headline[x].pubdate); tempItemCode = replaceSubstring(tempItemCode,"@@displaydate@@",headline[x].displaydate); tempItemCode = replaceSubstring(tempItemCode,"@@ordernumber@@",headline[x].ordernumber); document.writeln(tempItemCode); if (x != currentCount) { document.writeln(midCode); } } tempCode = endCode; tempCode = replaceSubstring(tempCode,"@@todaysDate@@",todaysDate); tempCode = replaceSubstring(tempCode,"@@firstDate@@",firstDate); document.writeln(tempCode);