An open letter seeking signatures from scientists and clinicians worldwide highlights directives, directions, policies, and proposed funding cuts from the Trump administration with impacts on evidence-based efforts to control and reverse the HIV pandemic. The letter, circulated by Health GAP (Global Access Project), points to the administration’s reinstatement and expansion of the “Mexico City Policy,” […]
Getting revaccinated later in life with the same vaccine given to infants to prevent tuberculosis may provide additional protection after the original vaccine loses efficacy, researchers at the 5th Global Forum on TB Vaccines in New Delhi, India, revealed. The Bacillus Calmette–Guérin, or BCG, vaccine is partially effective against preventing TB infection in children for […]
Tracing contacts of people confirmed to be sick with tuberculosis and making preventive treatment available to those at risk for the disease, could halve current numbers of TB cases among children in resource limited settings, according to researchers reporting a study of patients across a Kenya rural province. Both of those steps are recommended by […]
A study following outcomes of 28 patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis in three countries with high burdens of the disease found what the researchers cite as strong evidence that a combination of the two newest TB drugs could be part of a safe and effective treatment regimen. The drugs, bedaquiline — which was approved by the […]
The CDC is about to fall off a funding cliff – A couple of years after fast-moving and devastating outbreaks of Ebola and Zika overlapped, and even as the potential for both of those viruses to wreak havoc on families, communities, economies and on global stability continue in the absence of strong health response capacities, […]
“U.S. efforts to control the HIV/AIDS epidemic are a direct reflection of U.S. leadership abroad and the goodwill, compassion, and generosity of the American people.” President’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2019 The U.S. State Department and USAID would get $25.8 billion — a cut of $9 billion, or 26 percent from the level enacted […]
“Given the expansive nature of the new policy, the Department will undertake a thorough and comprehensive review of the effectiveness and impact of the policy’s application over the next six months, which could include identifying implementation issues, and any other new information affecting implementation going forward. Newly covered programs, including PEPFAR, the President’s Malaria Initiative, […]
Retaining people with HIV in care and treatment for the virus, as well as successful efforts to re-engage patients who have been in care but no longer are would go the furthest toward cutting the numbers of new infections in the United States in half within the next decade, a modeling study reported in Open […]
A Taiwan program of comprehensive support and care centered on the needs of patients being treated for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis — at a cost of from $25,000 to $30,000 per patient, per year over the costs of medicines — substantially improved cure rates and drastically reduced rates of patients whose outcomes were unknown, according to a […]
In spite of guidelines and goals, treatment access remains delayed and unequal Data from nearly a million patients starting treatment for HIV across the world over the last decade shows 55 percent of them accessed antiretroviral treatment only after their immune cell — or CD4 — counts had dropped below 200, leaving them extremely vulnerable […]
HIV
While plan will target 48 “hot spots” with services, and people at high risks with PrEP, will it change policies that fuel HIV? More details are […]
Tuberculosis
With the release of a “pre-final text” of updated guidelines for treatment of multidrug- and rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis, the World Health Organization made official substantial changes to […]
Research & Development
A trial to test the safety of, and immune response prompted by, the latest candidate for a vaccine to protect against Zika virus infection has begun […]
Policy
Drawing on previously published findings and on-the-ground interviews, a report from Planned Parenthood details damage to global health gains, including in closed programs, weakened civil society, […]