Human Interest

This World AIDS Day - 1st December 2006 - marks the 18th anniversary of the first ever World AIDS day, held in 1988, where the theme was Communication. The age of 18 years is synonymous with coming of age, the rite of passage into adulthood where a person becomes legally responsible and accountable for their lives. Therefore, it is appropriate that the theme this year is Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise Accountability. With events marking this day across the world, perhaps we need to stop for a few moments and consider what the term accountability actually means, specifically in terms of HIV/AIDS.

Although experts say that breastfeeding gives children the best start in life, protecting them from life-threatening diseases and providing essential nutrients, barely a third of all infants in developing countries are exclusively breastfed for the first six months.

MSF and MSF Podcasts : Toronto - Two new studies released by Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto demonstrate good outcomes in antiretroviral treatment of children living with HIV/AIDS across a wide array of resource-poor settings, but that paediatric drug formulations are excessively overpriced, costing up to six times more than adult equivalents.

Detailed guidelines for the treatment of infants and children in resource-limited settings have been issued this week by the World Health Organization ahead of the World AIDS Conference next week in Toronto. The guidelines highlight the difficulties in determining drug doses for children, and urge pharmaceutical companies to work towards producing fixed dose combinations that can be used to treat children.

Participate in the second Global Health Watch, by submitting human interest stories and case studies. We are calling on activists, health workers and academics from around the world to submit case studies and testimonies or stories based on individual or group experiences to supplement the second edition of the report and reinforce its main themes.

Superstars of Sports and Entertainment Join Campaign To Raise International Awareness and Funding

DEAD SEA, Jordan, June 13 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Two days ago a group of prominent women leaders from around the world gathered in Jordan at the invitation of Queen Rania Al-Abdullah for an unprecedented meeting to launch the Global Women's Action Network for Children and to affirm the inextricable link between women, children and youth and the two goals the Global Women's Action Network for Children selected for focused and long-term action: maternal and newborn mortality and girls' education. Currently, some 11 million mothers and newborns die from mostly preventable causes and 100 million children are denied education. Both are embodied in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted by the United Nations to be achieved by 2015. At the current rate of progress, the majority of nations will not meet them, but together this groundbreaking Network of multi-generational, multi-sector, multi-racial, multi-faith women that knows no geographic boundary has pledged to change that outcome.

SPRINGS, 23 May 2006 (PLUSNEWS) - A conversation with a group of mini-bus taxi drivers in Springs, about 50km east of Johannesburg, revealed a mixed set of attitudes and behaviour when it came to condom use and HIV. The men were the targets of a condom distribution and awareness-raising programme run by the Save Our Loved Ones Foundation (SOLOF), a local NGO.

BOMBAY, Feb. 18 -- India reported its first case of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu Saturday after chickens were found to have died from the virus. A man in Indonesia also died from the disease, that country's 19th death, officials said.

Avian Influenza (Update of INFOSAN Information Note No. 2/04 - Avian Influenza, 17 Dec. 2004) Highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks in poultry and in humans: Food safety implications