AIDS

HIV-positive women are no more likely to experience complications following caesarean delivery than HIV-negative women, members of the Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group 185 study team found.

Health authorities are to select clinics in each of the nine provinces for research into preventing the transmission of HIV from mothers to children, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said this week.

Durban had marked a turning point largely because of the spirit of the participants and the flurry of new initiatives. Two of those initiatives - one aimed at driving down the price of medicine, the other a grassroots effort designed to keep AIDS activists alive and fighting - epitomise the actions taken at the conference. They also reveal the daunting task of bringing treatment to the third world.

In an attempt to deal with impacts, it is now common practice for health care facilities to ration services to people with HIV. Much of the burden of HIV care in developing countries is now falling onto households and communities.

New technology has been developed for detecting syphilis, which has been found to detect previously undiagnosed syphilis cases. This has raised concerns, especially in light of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

AIDS is killing 10 teachers every month, according to a study conducted by the SA Democratic Teachers' Union.

For the first time since 1986, HIV is not listed as one of the 15 leading causes of death in the United States.

The United States announced plans on 18/7 to loan African countries $1 billion annually to finance the purchase of American AIDS drugs.

The workshop focuses on the response to prevention education and the concomitant need to anticipate the medium and long-term social and economic consequences of HIV/AIDS. Contact freeman@shep.und.ac.za for more information

Publication Webpage http://www.unaids.org/html/pub/publications/irc-pub01/jc397-migrantpop_en_pdf.pdf