Johns Hopkins University

The rate at which South Africans contracted HIV fell by 30% between 2000 and 2008, mostly due to increased condom use, according to a new study published in the Royal Society journal Interface last month.

The study was conducted by an actuarial scientist and epidemiologist from the University of Cape Town, an expert from the Human Sciences Research Council and another from the department of infectious disease epidemiology at London's Imperial College.

One of the study's authors, Leigh Johnson, of the university's school of public health, said that the study used mathematical models to work out what is contributing to the significant decrease in HIV infections.

ReproLine was developed by JHPIEGO, an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University. JHPIEGO, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health of women and families throughout the world, works to increase the number of qualified health professionals trained in modern reproductive healthcare, especially family planning. ReproLine was developed to provide all JHPIEGO trainers continued contact with JHPIEGO, support for their training activities and tools for their professional development. Everything on the ReproLine site is provided to support the needs of trainers in their many roles.

A survey has revealed that 14 television and radio programmes and four print media campaigns to raise AIDS awareness have had a very profound effect on people's attitude and behaviour.

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development have learned that, contrary to popular belief, mild to moderate levels of maternal psychological stress during pregnancy may actually enhance fetal maturation.

New Study Shows Expanded Use of FC2 Could Prevent Thousands of HIV Infections and Save Millions of Dollars in Health Care Costs Annually in South Africa and Brazil Alone

A Ugandan drug trial's findings that the AIDS medication nevirapine is effective and safe in preventing HIV transmission from mother to unborn child during birth were well-supported, according to a new, independent analysis by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies

AIDS drugs alone cannot control the spread of HIV in established epidemics of the infection, new research suggests. Dr. Ronald H. Gray, from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and colleagues used data from studies in Uganda to develop a model that would predict the impact of AIDS drugs or an HIV vaccine on the course of the HIV epidemic there. The findings are reported in the medical journal AIDS. Under current treatment standards, AIDS drugs alone could not control the epidemic, the authors found. Still, treatment of 75 percent of eligible patients could result in a 7 percent decline in the HIV-infected population. Only if all HIV-infected persons were treated could the epidemic actually be controlled. An HIV vaccine alone could stop the epidemic, the researchers note, but it would have to be very effective. However, a less effective vaccine could be combined with AIDS drugs to bring the epidemic under control. None of these strategies would work if people started engaging in risky behaviors because they felt their risk of infection was low. We cannot rely on treatment to control the epidemic, Gray told Reuters Health, and we need to plan for an ever increasing population of persons requiring treatment in the future. Resources assigned to HIV treatment and prevention are inadequate, Gray said. If there is investment in treatment at the cost of prevention, the epidemic cannot be controlled. We need to balance humanitarian considerations against public health priorities, he concluded, and I am concerned that emphasis on treatment may distort this balance. ( Source: The Pop Reporter, 15 September 2003).

There have recently been a number of media reports that Boeringer-Ingelheim's application to the Food and Drug Authority of the USA for the registration of Nevirapine was withdrawn due to irregularities and deficiencies related to the HIVNet 012 trail in Uganda. (This was the first field study that demonstrated the efficacy of NVP to reduce mother to child transmission). The irregularities and deficiencies relate to documentation procedures and DO NOT relate to any of the substantive findings on both the efficacy and safety of NVP. Included in the full text are press statements made by WHO/UNAIDS, CDC, Boeringer Ingelheim, National Institute of Health (USA) and the Elizabeth Glaser Foundation. They all essentially state that NVP still works and is still safe.