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Friday, November 30, 2012
Photos: World AIDS Day 2012
Health officials: Athens has spiraling HIV crisis
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Athens is seeing an alarming increase in new HIV infections, particularly among intravenous drug users, health officials warned Friday, as Greece struggles through a protracted financial crisis in which funding for health care and drug treatment programs has been slashed.
While there were about 10-14 new HIV infections per year among Athens drug users from 2008 to 2010, that number shot up to 206 new cases last year and 487 new cases by October this year - a 15-fold and 35-fold increase respectively, officials said.
'There is no doubt we have a big and rapidly developing epidemic in Athens,' said Angelos Hatzakis, an epidemiology and preventive medicine professor at Athens University.
A total of 1,049 new cases of HIV infection were recorded in Greece in the first 10 months of this year, including the 487 drug users. Of the others, 256 were homosexual men, while 108 caught the virus through heterosexual intercourse, the figures showed.
'One of the reasons is the financial crisis,' said Marc Sprenger, director of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. 'There are more people who are vulnerable, marginalized' and who use drugs.
They turn to cheaper drugs and turn to injecting instead of smoking in order to get the same high from a smaller quantity, officials said.
'We are very concerned,' Sprenger said. 'What we see now is this increase, and if you don't really pay attention to this, it will become in the future a really huge burden.'
Greece has been hammered by a financial crisis since late 2009 that has left the country facing a sixth year of a deep recession and with a quarter of the workforce unemployed. The country relies on international rescue loans from other European countries that also use the euro and the International Monetary Fund to stay solvent.
But in return, the Greek government has imposed several rounds of spending cuts and tax hikes. Charities dealing with drug users and HIV sufferers have also struggled to find funds during the crisis.
This news article is brought to you by PARENTING KIDS - where latest news are our top priority.
While there were about 10-14 new HIV infections per year among Athens drug users from 2008 to 2010, that number shot up to 206 new cases last year and 487 new cases by October this year - a 15-fold and 35-fold increase respectively, officials said.
'There is no doubt we have a big and rapidly developing epidemic in Athens,' said Angelos Hatzakis, an epidemiology and preventive medicine professor at Athens University.
A total of 1,049 new cases of HIV infection were recorded in Greece in the first 10 months of this year, including the 487 drug users. Of the others, 256 were homosexual men, while 108 caught the virus through heterosexual intercourse, the figures showed.
'One of the reasons is the financial crisis,' said Marc Sprenger, director of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. 'There are more people who are vulnerable, marginalized' and who use drugs.
They turn to cheaper drugs and turn to injecting instead of smoking in order to get the same high from a smaller quantity, officials said.
'We are very concerned,' Sprenger said. 'What we see now is this increase, and if you don't really pay attention to this, it will become in the future a really huge burden.'
Greece has been hammered by a financial crisis since late 2009 that has left the country facing a sixth year of a deep recession and with a quarter of the workforce unemployed. The country relies on international rescue loans from other European countries that also use the euro and the International Monetary Fund to stay solvent.
But in return, the Greek government has imposed several rounds of spending cuts and tax hikes. Charities dealing with drug users and HIV sufferers have also struggled to find funds during the crisis.
This news article is brought to you by PARENTING KIDS - where latest news are our top priority.
Ukraine fights spreading HIV epidemic
BUCHA, Ukraine (AP) - Andrei Mandrykin, an inmate at Prison No. 85 outside Kiev, has HIV. He looks ghostly and much older than his 35 years. But Mandrykin is better off than tens of thousands of his countrymen, because is he receiving treatment amid what the World Health Organization says is the worst AIDS epidemic in Europe.
Ahead of World AIDS Day on Saturday, international organizations have urged the Ukrainian government to increase funding for treatment and do more to prevent HIV from spreading from high-risk groups into the mainstream population, where it is even harder to manage and control.
An estimated 230,000 Ukrainians, or about 0.8 percent of people aged 15 to 49, are living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Some 120,000 are in urgent need of anti-retroviral therapy, which can greatly prolong and improve the quality of their lives. But due to a lack of funds, fewer than a quarter are receiving the drugs - one of the lowest levels in the world.
Ukraine's AIDS epidemic is still concentrated among high-risk groups such as intravenous drug users, sex workers, homosexuals and prisoners. But nearly half of new cases registered last year were traced to unprotected heterosexual contact.
'Slowly but surely the epidemic is moving from the most-at-risk, vulnerable population to the general population,' said Nicolas Cantau of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, who manages work in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. 'For the moment there is not enough treatment in Ukraine.'
Stigma is also a big problem for those with HIV in Ukraine. Liliya, a 65-year-old woman who would give only her first name, recently attended a class on how to tell her 9-year-old great-granddaughter that she has HIV. The girl, who contacted HIV at birth from her drug-abusing mother, has been denied a place in preschool because of her diagnosis.
'People are like wolves, they don't understand,' said Liliya. 'If any of the parents found out, they would eat the child alive.'
While the AIDS epidemic has plateaued elsewhere in the world, it is still progressing in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, according to Cantau. Nearly 21,200 new cases were reported in Ukraine in 2011, the highest number since the former Soviet republic registered its first case in 1987, and a 3 percent increase over 2010. As a result of limited and often delayed treatment, the number of AIDS-related deaths grew 17 percent last year to about 3,800.
Two years ago, Mandrykin, the prisoner, was on the verge of becoming part of that statistic, with his level of crucial CD4 immune cells - a way to measure the strength of the immune system - dropping to 11. In a healthy person, the CD4 count is usually over 600.
'I was lying in the hospital, I was dying,' said Mandrykin, who is serving seven years for robbery, his fourth stint in jail. 'It's a scary disease.'
After two years of treatment in a small prison clinic, his CD4 count has risen to 159 and he feels much better, although he looks exhausted and is still too weak to work in the workshop of the medium-security prison.
The Ukrainian government currently focuses on testing and treating standard cases among the general population. The anti-retroviral treatment of more than 1,000 inmates, as well as some 10,000 HIV patients across Ukraine who also require treatment for tuberculosis and other complications and all prevention and support activities, are paid for by foreign donors, mainly the Global Fund.
The Global Fund is committed to spending $640 million through 2016 to fight AIDS and tuberculosis in Ukraine and then hopes to hand over most of its programs to the Ukrainian government.
Advocacy groups charge that corruption and indifference by government officials help fuel the epidemic.
During the past two years, Ukrainian authorities have seized vital AIDS drugs at the border due to technicalities, sent prosecutors to investigate AIDS support groups sponsored by the Global Fund and harassed patients on methadone substitution therapy, prompting the Global Fund to threaten to freeze its prevention grant.
Most recently, Ukraine's parliament gave initial approval to a bill that would impose jail terms of up to five years for any positive public depiction of homosexuality. Western organizations say it would make the work of AIDS prevention organizations that distribute condoms and teach safe homosexual sex illegal and further fuel the epidemic. It is unclear when the bill will come up for a final vote.
AIDS drug procurement is another headache, with Ukrainian health authorities greatly overpaying for AIDS drugs. Advocacy groups accuse health officials of embezzling funds by purchasing drugs at inflated prices and then pocketing kickbacks.
Officials deny those allegations, saying their tender procedures are transparent.
Much also remains to be done in Ukraine to educate people about AIDS.
Oksana Golubova, a 40-year-old former drug user, infected her daughter, now 8, with HIV and lost her first husband to AIDS. But she still has unprotected sex with her new husband, saying his health is in God's hands.
'Those who are afraid get infected,' Golubova said.
This news article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE 201 - where latest news are our top priority.
Ahead of World AIDS Day on Saturday, international organizations have urged the Ukrainian government to increase funding for treatment and do more to prevent HIV from spreading from high-risk groups into the mainstream population, where it is even harder to manage and control.
An estimated 230,000 Ukrainians, or about 0.8 percent of people aged 15 to 49, are living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Some 120,000 are in urgent need of anti-retroviral therapy, which can greatly prolong and improve the quality of their lives. But due to a lack of funds, fewer than a quarter are receiving the drugs - one of the lowest levels in the world.
Ukraine's AIDS epidemic is still concentrated among high-risk groups such as intravenous drug users, sex workers, homosexuals and prisoners. But nearly half of new cases registered last year were traced to unprotected heterosexual contact.
'Slowly but surely the epidemic is moving from the most-at-risk, vulnerable population to the general population,' said Nicolas Cantau of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, who manages work in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. 'For the moment there is not enough treatment in Ukraine.'
Stigma is also a big problem for those with HIV in Ukraine. Liliya, a 65-year-old woman who would give only her first name, recently attended a class on how to tell her 9-year-old great-granddaughter that she has HIV. The girl, who contacted HIV at birth from her drug-abusing mother, has been denied a place in preschool because of her diagnosis.
'People are like wolves, they don't understand,' said Liliya. 'If any of the parents found out, they would eat the child alive.'
While the AIDS epidemic has plateaued elsewhere in the world, it is still progressing in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, according to Cantau. Nearly 21,200 new cases were reported in Ukraine in 2011, the highest number since the former Soviet republic registered its first case in 1987, and a 3 percent increase over 2010. As a result of limited and often delayed treatment, the number of AIDS-related deaths grew 17 percent last year to about 3,800.
Two years ago, Mandrykin, the prisoner, was on the verge of becoming part of that statistic, with his level of crucial CD4 immune cells - a way to measure the strength of the immune system - dropping to 11. In a healthy person, the CD4 count is usually over 600.
'I was lying in the hospital, I was dying,' said Mandrykin, who is serving seven years for robbery, his fourth stint in jail. 'It's a scary disease.'
After two years of treatment in a small prison clinic, his CD4 count has risen to 159 and he feels much better, although he looks exhausted and is still too weak to work in the workshop of the medium-security prison.
The Ukrainian government currently focuses on testing and treating standard cases among the general population. The anti-retroviral treatment of more than 1,000 inmates, as well as some 10,000 HIV patients across Ukraine who also require treatment for tuberculosis and other complications and all prevention and support activities, are paid for by foreign donors, mainly the Global Fund.
The Global Fund is committed to spending $640 million through 2016 to fight AIDS and tuberculosis in Ukraine and then hopes to hand over most of its programs to the Ukrainian government.
Advocacy groups charge that corruption and indifference by government officials help fuel the epidemic.
During the past two years, Ukrainian authorities have seized vital AIDS drugs at the border due to technicalities, sent prosecutors to investigate AIDS support groups sponsored by the Global Fund and harassed patients on methadone substitution therapy, prompting the Global Fund to threaten to freeze its prevention grant.
Most recently, Ukraine's parliament gave initial approval to a bill that would impose jail terms of up to five years for any positive public depiction of homosexuality. Western organizations say it would make the work of AIDS prevention organizations that distribute condoms and teach safe homosexual sex illegal and further fuel the epidemic. It is unclear when the bill will come up for a final vote.
AIDS drug procurement is another headache, with Ukrainian health authorities greatly overpaying for AIDS drugs. Advocacy groups accuse health officials of embezzling funds by purchasing drugs at inflated prices and then pocketing kickbacks.
Officials deny those allegations, saying their tender procedures are transparent.
Much also remains to be done in Ukraine to educate people about AIDS.
Oksana Golubova, a 40-year-old former drug user, infected her daughter, now 8, with HIV and lost her first husband to AIDS. But she still has unprotected sex with her new husband, saying his health is in God's hands.
'Those who are afraid get infected,' Golubova said.
This news article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE 201 - where latest news are our top priority.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Health officials tell Greece to act fast to control HIV
LONDON (Reuters) - A spiraling outbreak of HIV in debt-stricken Greece could run out of control if urgent action is not taken, European health officials said on Friday.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said infections with the AIDS-causing virus among drug users and other high-risk groups were rising fast, and that a failure to act would mean far higher costs in future.
ECDC director Marc Sprenger will meet Greek officials this week to say that free needles, syringes and opioid substitution projects must be stepped up, and testing and treatment for the human immunodeficiency virus made available to all.
'Immediate concerted action is needed in order to curb and eventually stop the current outbreak,' he told Reuters as the ECDC published a report on Greece's HIV problem.
Since 2009, recession in Greece has reduced economic output by a fifth and sent unemployment to a record high.
The healthcare system is under extreme pressure, making it harder for the poor, unemployed or homeless to get treatment.
While Greece has only 7.4 HIV infections per 100,000 people, compared to 10 per 100,000 in Britain or 27.3 in Estonia, rates have soared since 2011 in high-risk groups such as drug users.
From 2007 to 2010, there were only 10 to 15 cases a year of HIV infection in injecting drug users.
But during 2011, there were 256 such cases - or 27 percent of the total. Another 314 were reported between January and August 2012, most of them in the capital.
Combination drugs can give patients with HIV near-normal life expectancy, but the drugs must be taken for life, and cost 10,000 to 22,000 euros ($13,000 to $28,500) a year. Sprenger said Greece's costs were at risk of running out of control.
'If a scale-up (in prevention and testing) is not achieved, it's likely that HIV transmission among people who inject drugs in Athens will continue and even accelerate - and could eventually spread,' he said.
'The cost of prevention ... will be significantly less than the provision of treatment to those who become infected.'
The ECDC said it was unclear how much Greece's debt crisis has contributed to HIV outbreak.
Rates of other health problems such as depression and suicide have been rising in Greece, which is also battling the re-emergence of mosquito-borne diseases such West Nile Virus and malaria.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
This news article is brought to you by GLOBAL WEATHER NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said infections with the AIDS-causing virus among drug users and other high-risk groups were rising fast, and that a failure to act would mean far higher costs in future.
ECDC director Marc Sprenger will meet Greek officials this week to say that free needles, syringes and opioid substitution projects must be stepped up, and testing and treatment for the human immunodeficiency virus made available to all.
'Immediate concerted action is needed in order to curb and eventually stop the current outbreak,' he told Reuters as the ECDC published a report on Greece's HIV problem.
Since 2009, recession in Greece has reduced economic output by a fifth and sent unemployment to a record high.
The healthcare system is under extreme pressure, making it harder for the poor, unemployed or homeless to get treatment.
While Greece has only 7.4 HIV infections per 100,000 people, compared to 10 per 100,000 in Britain or 27.3 in Estonia, rates have soared since 2011 in high-risk groups such as drug users.
From 2007 to 2010, there were only 10 to 15 cases a year of HIV infection in injecting drug users.
But during 2011, there were 256 such cases - or 27 percent of the total. Another 314 were reported between January and August 2012, most of them in the capital.
Combination drugs can give patients with HIV near-normal life expectancy, but the drugs must be taken for life, and cost 10,000 to 22,000 euros ($13,000 to $28,500) a year. Sprenger said Greece's costs were at risk of running out of control.
'If a scale-up (in prevention and testing) is not achieved, it's likely that HIV transmission among people who inject drugs in Athens will continue and even accelerate - and could eventually spread,' he said.
'The cost of prevention ... will be significantly less than the provision of treatment to those who become infected.'
The ECDC said it was unclear how much Greece's debt crisis has contributed to HIV outbreak.
Rates of other health problems such as depression and suicide have been rising in Greece, which is also battling the re-emergence of mosquito-borne diseases such West Nile Virus and malaria.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
This news article is brought to you by GLOBAL WEATHER NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
J&J says it won't enforce AIDS drug patent in Africa
LONDON (Reuters) - Generic manufacturers are to be given a free rein to make cheap copies of Johnson & Johnson's HIV/AIDS drug Prezista for sale in Africa and other poor countries.
U.S. healthcare group J&J said on Thursday it would not enforce patents, provided generic firms made high-quality versions of the drug - known generically as darunavir - for sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed Countries.
Prezista is a relatively new drug used when patients develop resistance to older antiretrovirals. The need for it was expected to grow rapidly as more patients in Africa stop responding to existing therapies.
Pharmaceuticals head Paul Stoffels said he expected Indian drugmakers, in particular, to take advantage of the patent move, adding that competition among different companies should drive prices down further.
J&J has an existing deal with South African group Aspen Pharmacare, which makes Prezista at a discounted price of $2.22 per day for Africa - a fraction of the western market price.
Its decision to act unilaterally on Prezista patents will, however, disappoint those calling for J&J to share intellectual property rights in the new Medicines Patent Pool, which aims to streamline generic production by pooling patents.
'We have chosen to go direct ... we think that is the best way,' Stoffels said in an interview.
'We want to reserve the right to reinforce patents if people are not providing the right quality of product, for example by bringing products to market that under-dose.'
International drugmakers are under growing pressure to make medicines more affordable in poor countries, after being attacked for not doing enough in the past.
J&J ranked second in a new analysis of how companies are performing in providing access to medicines - an improvement of seven places from two years earlier, following its purchase of Crucell, which makes vaccines for the developing world.
(Editing by Dan Lalor)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
U.S. healthcare group J&J said on Thursday it would not enforce patents, provided generic firms made high-quality versions of the drug - known generically as darunavir - for sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed Countries.
Prezista is a relatively new drug used when patients develop resistance to older antiretrovirals. The need for it was expected to grow rapidly as more patients in Africa stop responding to existing therapies.
Pharmaceuticals head Paul Stoffels said he expected Indian drugmakers, in particular, to take advantage of the patent move, adding that competition among different companies should drive prices down further.
J&J has an existing deal with South African group Aspen Pharmacare, which makes Prezista at a discounted price of $2.22 per day for Africa - a fraction of the western market price.
Its decision to act unilaterally on Prezista patents will, however, disappoint those calling for J&J to share intellectual property rights in the new Medicines Patent Pool, which aims to streamline generic production by pooling patents.
'We have chosen to go direct ... we think that is the best way,' Stoffels said in an interview.
'We want to reserve the right to reinforce patents if people are not providing the right quality of product, for example by bringing products to market that under-dose.'
International drugmakers are under growing pressure to make medicines more affordable in poor countries, after being attacked for not doing enough in the past.
J&J ranked second in a new analysis of how companies are performing in providing access to medicines - an improvement of seven places from two years earlier, following its purchase of Crucell, which makes vaccines for the developing world.
(Editing by Dan Lalor)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
J&J says won't enforce AIDS drug patent in Africa
LONDON (Reuters) - Generic manufacturers are to be given a free rein to make cheap copies of Johnson & Johnson's HIV/AIDS drug Prezista for sale in Africa and other poor countries.
U.S. healthcare group J&J said on Thursday it would not enforce patents, provided generic firms made high-quality versions of the drug - known generically as darunavir - for sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed Countries.
Prezista is a relatively new drug used when patients develop resistance to older antiretrovirals. The need for it was expected to grow rapidly as more patients in Africa stop responding to existing therapies.
Pharmaceuticals head Paul Stoffels said he expected Indian drugmakers, in particular, to take advantage of the patent move, adding that competition among different companies should drive prices down further.
J&J has an existing deal with South African group Aspen Pharmacare, which makes Prezista at a discounted price of $2.22 per day for Africa - a fraction of the western market price.
Its decision to act unilaterally on Prezista patents will, however, disappoint those calling for J&J to share intellectual property rights in the new Medicines Patent Pool, which aims to streamline generic production by pooling patents.
'We have chosen to go direct ... we think that is the best way,' Stoffels said in an interview.
'We want to reserve the right to reinforce patents if people are not providing the right quality of product, for example by bringing products to market that under-dose.'
International drugmakers are under growing pressure to make medicines more affordable in poor countries, after being attacked for not doing enough in the past.
J&J ranked second in a new analysis of how companies are performing in providing access to medicines - an improvement of seven places from two years earlier, following its purchase of Crucell, which makes vaccines for the developing world.
(Editing by Dan Lalor)
This news article is brought to you by DATING AND RELATIONSHIP ADVICE - where latest news are our top priority.
U.S. healthcare group J&J said on Thursday it would not enforce patents, provided generic firms made high-quality versions of the drug - known generically as darunavir - for sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed Countries.
Prezista is a relatively new drug used when patients develop resistance to older antiretrovirals. The need for it was expected to grow rapidly as more patients in Africa stop responding to existing therapies.
Pharmaceuticals head Paul Stoffels said he expected Indian drugmakers, in particular, to take advantage of the patent move, adding that competition among different companies should drive prices down further.
J&J has an existing deal with South African group Aspen Pharmacare, which makes Prezista at a discounted price of $2.22 per day for Africa - a fraction of the western market price.
Its decision to act unilaterally on Prezista patents will, however, disappoint those calling for J&J to share intellectual property rights in the new Medicines Patent Pool, which aims to streamline generic production by pooling patents.
'We have chosen to go direct ... we think that is the best way,' Stoffels said in an interview.
'We want to reserve the right to reinforce patents if people are not providing the right quality of product, for example by bringing products to market that under-dose.'
International drugmakers are under growing pressure to make medicines more affordable in poor countries, after being attacked for not doing enough in the past.
J&J ranked second in a new analysis of how companies are performing in providing access to medicines - an improvement of seven places from two years earlier, following its purchase of Crucell, which makes vaccines for the developing world.
(Editing by Dan Lalor)
This news article is brought to you by DATING AND RELATIONSHIP ADVICE - where latest news are our top priority.
South Africa awards $667 million HIV drugs supply contract
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa on Thursday awarded a $667 million contract to supply life-prolonging HIV medicine to 12 international and domestic firms, to deal with its biggest health problem.
Companies that include Aspen Pharmacare, Abbott Laboratories and Adcock Ingram would share the contract, the health department said.
The 5.9 billion rand ($667 million) contract, effective from April next year, aims to increase the number of people on treatment by nearly 50 percent, to 2.5 million next year.
South Africa has nearly 6 million people infected with HIV -- one of the heaviest caseloads in the world. It also has one of largest treatment programs.
But drug makers are unlikely to rake in big profits from the government award, analysts have said, given the stiff competition in the bidding.
The health department said it saved 2.2 billion rand on the new contract, which it initially expected it would cost 8.1 billion rand.
Aspen Pharmacare, the country's biggest generic drugs maker, was awarded 20 percent of the contract while its closest domestic rival, Adcock Ingram was given 14 percent, the health department said.
Other contracts winners included Chicago-based Abbott Laboratories with 8.1 percent, and domestic firm Cipla Medpro with 9 percent.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; editing by David Dolan)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
Companies that include Aspen Pharmacare, Abbott Laboratories and Adcock Ingram would share the contract, the health department said.
The 5.9 billion rand ($667 million) contract, effective from April next year, aims to increase the number of people on treatment by nearly 50 percent, to 2.5 million next year.
South Africa has nearly 6 million people infected with HIV -- one of the heaviest caseloads in the world. It also has one of largest treatment programs.
But drug makers are unlikely to rake in big profits from the government award, analysts have said, given the stiff competition in the bidding.
The health department said it saved 2.2 billion rand on the new contract, which it initially expected it would cost 8.1 billion rand.
Aspen Pharmacare, the country's biggest generic drugs maker, was awarded 20 percent of the contract while its closest domestic rival, Adcock Ingram was given 14 percent, the health department said.
Other contracts winners included Chicago-based Abbott Laboratories with 8.1 percent, and domestic firm Cipla Medpro with 9 percent.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; editing by David Dolan)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
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