2001

Libya delays Aids case verdicts: BBC News - Sunday, 23 December, 2001; Verdicts in the trial of six Bulgarian accused of deliberately infecting nearly 400 Libyan children with the HIV virus have been delayed until February. It was the second time that verdicts have been postponed in the case, which started in February. The six Bulgarians - five nurses and a doctor - could face the death p
Verdict awaited in Libya HIV trial: BBC NEWS - Saturday, 22 December, 2001; A verdict is expected today from a Libyan court trying six Bulgarian medical personnel and a Palestinian doctor accused of deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV, the virus that can lead to Aids. All the defendants - as well as nine Libyans facing similar charges - have pleaded not guilty. The pros
Bulgaria presses Libya on HIV case: BBC NEWS - Wednesday, 19 December, 2001; Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy is due in Libya on Wednesday to discuss the trial of six Bulgarians who have been accused of deliberately infecting nearly 400 children with the HIV virus. Mr Passy is expected to meet his Libyan counterpart Abdel Rahmane Chalgham ahead of a court ruling due on Saturday. The
HIV 'develops resistance to drugs': BBC News - Tuesday, 18 December, 2001; BBC's science correspondent Richard Black; HIV, the virus which causes AIDS, is fast becoming resistant to the drugs used to treat it, according to research presented at a major medical conference in Chicago on Tuesday. Scientists have discovered that more than three-quarters of HIV-positive people in the United States carry versions of the virus which are resi
SA ordered to provide Aids drugs: BBC News - Friday, 14 December, 2001; South Africa s High Court has ordered the government to make a key Aids drug available to pregnant women to help prevent the transmission of the virus to their babies. In a landmark ruling, the court said the government had to provide the drug nevirapine to all women giving birth in public hospitals, and institute a co
Clinton urges action against Aids: BBC News - Thursday, 13 December, 2001; Former US president Bill Clinton has called on governments, business and individuals to do more to fight Aids. Delivering the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Lecture on Aids, Mr Clinton warned that estimates of 100m Aids cases by 2005 will become a reality unless more is done to tackle the disease. Speaking in London
African men under fire over Aids: BBC News - Wednesday, 12 December, 2001; Fiona Werge; African women delegates at an international conference on Aids have strongly criticised African men, saying their attitude towards sex is putting their lives at risks and helping to spread HIV throughout the continent. Women at the conference in Burkino Faso blamed the male-dominated culture in African countries for in
Nigeria tries cheaper Aids drugs: BBC News - Monday, 10 December, 2001; Dan Isaacs in Lagos; A highly publicised new anti-Aids programme in Nigeria has got off to a poor start because hospitals due to begin distributing cheap imported generic drugs have not yet received their supplies. Over the coming months, 10,000 patients are due to be treated with anti-retroviral drugs imported from
Iran announces jump in HIV figures: BBC News - Sunday, 9 December, 2001; Eurasia Analyst Sadeq Saba; A senior Iranian health official has warned that the number of Aids cases in the country has risen dramatically. The Deputy Health Minister, Dr Ali Akbar Sayyari, said Iran was now facing a major epidemic. The number of people contracting HIV, the virus which causes Aids, has been steadily rising in the past five years
Aids warning for Bangladesh army: BBC News - Thursday, 6 December, 2001; Waliur Rahman in Dhaka; The Chief of Bangladesh Army, General Harun-ur-Rashid, has asked senior commanders to take precautionary measures for avoiding Aids infection among troops. General Rashid particularly mentioned soldiers going abroad on UN missions and also returning home from assignments overseas. He made this highly unusual call i
SA alliance gives ANC Cape Town: BBC News - Wednesday, 5 December, 2001; A power-sharing agreement between the African National Congress and South Africa s former party of apartheid has become a reality. Former Cape town mayor Peter Marais of the New National Party (NNP) was sworn in as premier of the key Western Cape Province. He immediately announced a new provincial coalition cabinet, di
Profile: Troubled King Mswati: BBC News - Tuesday, 4 December, 2001; Bhekie Matsebula in Mbabane; King Mswati 111 has not had much peace of mind since he was first married and nor has he had any peace on the political front. The latest upset centres around the death of four of his close associates in the past week, amid rumours that they were bewitched. The 33-year old King who has been on the throne since the deat
IVF clinics 'shun' HIV patients: BBC News - Sunday, 2 December, 2001; Infertility clinics are biased against patients infected with HIV, a survey has found. All 75 clinics in Britain which provide assisted conception were asked about their policies for treating HIV patients. Out of 57 which responded, nearly three-quarters had a policy in place but most (61%) had not seen an HIV-infected
Drugs boost for World Aids Day: BBC News - Saturday, 1 December, 2001; This year s World Aids Day has been ushered in with an announcement by the international drugs company Glaxo Smith Kline that it is cutting the price of two key anti-AIDS drugs for sale in South Africa . Another drugs company has agreed plans to lower the cost of treatment in China , wh
Parents 'not talking' of Aids risk: BBC News - Saturday, 1 December, 2001; Parents in Scotland are neglecting to talk to their children about the danger of Aids, according to the Health Education Board for Scotland (HEBS). The organisation says that schools are doing a better job of informing young people about the disease - but parents could do more. It is using World Aids Day to remind fami
India's Aids campaigns in problems: BBC News - Saturday, 1 December, 2001; Alastair Lawson in Delhi; Aids campaigners in India say that as many as 23 people a minute are being infected with the HIV virus. They say that the battle against Aids in the country is still being inhibited by a lack of unity among the various charities and non-governmental organisations that have been set up to fight the spread of Aids.
Minister in Aids defence call: BBC News - Saturday, 1 December, 2001; Welsh Health Minister Jane Hutt has called for a renewed effort to fight the HIV virus as people around the globe mark World Aids Day. She made the call at a special service at St Luke s Church in Cardiff on Saturday as thousands remembered those who have died from the disease. Around 100 teenagers from Wales also gath
Condom shortage helps spread Aids: BBC News - Saturday, 1 December, 2001; Helen Sewell; The rapidly increasing number of people infected with the virus that leads to Aids is being fuelled by a severe shortage of condoms around the world, according to international medical experts. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and Aids estimates that around eight billion condoms are produced each year. But it
Nigeria announces Aids programme: BBC News - Saturday, 1 December, 2001; Nigeria s government has announced that it is to begin distributing free generic drugs to AIDS sufferers. The long-awaited program, which starts on 10 December, aims to treat 10,000 adults and 5,000 children in its first year. But it will only cover a fraction of the 3.5 million Nigerians thought to have the disease.
Pregnant women urged to take HIV tests: BBC News - Saturday, 1 December, 2001; Mothers with HIV can almost completely eradicate the chance of passing the infection on to their unborn babies by taking tests early in pregnancy, according to a medical expert. Dr Chris Valentine from Renfrewshire and Inverclyde NHS Trust said that advancements in treatment had significantly reduced the risk of transm
WHO optimistic on Aids battle: BBC News - Saturday, 1 December, 2001; The World Health Organisation has said the world is now ready to stop the HIV/Aids epidemic in its tracks, just as experts warn that a severe shortage of condoms worldwide is fuelling a rapid increase in infection. In a statement to mark World Aids Day, WHO head Gro Harlem Brundtland said the fight against Aids would b
Argentina's young Aids victims: BBC News - Friday, 30 November, 2001; Lourdes Heredia in Buenos Aires; Thirteen-year-old Dario has lived in Buenos Aires Muniz hospital in Buenos Aires for the last three months. He has Aids. He contracted the virus at birth, as did 95% of the children infected with the HIV virus in Argentina . Dario s is one of the 18,000 cases of the disease registered in Argentina, although the real nu
Medicinal plant 'fights' Aids: BBC News - Friday, 30 November, 2001; Carolyn Dempster in Johannesburg; A South African indigenous medicinal plant may hold the key to the treatment of millions of poor people living with HIV and Aids, helping them relieve the symptoms of Aids. For the first time in South Africa s medical history, the plant, Sutherlandia Frutescens, sub-species Microphylla, is to undergo clinical trials to
Aids races through Eastern Europe: BBC News - Wednesday, 28 November, 2001; The Aids epidemic is spreading rapidly across Eastern Europe, with the countries of the former Soviet Union suffering the world s fastest growing infection rates. The annual report by UNAids and the World Health Organisation says the region had an estimated 250,000 new infections this year, and the number of people wit
Africa devastated by Aids: BBC News - Wednesday, November 28, 2001; Aids is the biggest threat to Africa s development, according to the United Nations. The reason is the large numbers of people in key roles who are dying: teachers; farmers; health-workers; civil servants and young professionals. HIV/Aids in Africa 2001 Sub-Saharan Africa is by far the region worst affected by HIV and
China's Aids victims 'exceed one million': BBC News - Wednesday, November 28, 2001; The rapid rise of people living with Aids and HIV in China is so extreme that numbers could now exceed one million, according to a report released on Wednesday. Increasing evidence has emerged of serious epidemics in several regions of China, according to the report by UNAids and the World Health Organisation. In t
HIV creeps up in 'complacent' UK: BBC News - Wednesday, 28 November, 2001; Despite years of heavily-funded HIV prevention campaigns, the rate of new infections is on the increase in the UK. The UNAids report on the global Aids epidemic highlights complacency as one of the factors which has fuelled the spread of the illness. Their statistics for western Europe show that, this year, there are 5
Forty million living with HIV: BBC News - Wednesday, 28 November, 2001; Globally, there are now 40 million adults and children with either HIV or Aids, according to the latest figures. The epidemic shows no signs of abating - with the world on course for five million new cases in 2001. The epicentre of the catastrophe remains sub-Saharan Africa, where more than 28 million people are though
Patients may not be told of HIV workers: BBC News - Wednesday, 28 November, 2001; Patients will no longer automatically be told when a healthcare worker is found to be infected with HIV. The Department of Health issued new guidance for England on Wednesday which says that from now on the risk of HIV transmission to patients will be assessed on a case by case basis. Whether or not a patient is inform
'My fight against discrimination': BBC News - Wednesday, 28 November, 2001; When Mark Hedley s partner, Colin, became seriously ill three-and-a-half years ago, neither of them suspected he had HIV. But six months later Colin was dead and Mark had tested positive for the disease. At the time of his diagnosis, Mark was 34 and a successful shop manager for a supermarket chain. He had been at the
Report to highlight global Aids toll: BBC News - Wednesday, 28 November, 2001; Figures released on Wednesday are expected to show another rise in the number of people infected with the virus which causes Aids. A report from UNAids and the World Health Organisation is likely to show that a declaration of war on the disease by the UN in June has yet to have any impact on the number of new infection
Junior doctors' 'HIV ignorance': BBC News - Thursday, 22 November, 2001; Two out of three doctors may be at extra risk of catching HIV from patients because they do not know about drugs which could protect them. HIV scares are far from rare in busy hospitals - often needlestick injuries with needles used on HIV-positive patients. After being exposed to HIV, post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP)
Fat drug 'could block HIV': BBC News - Tuesday, 20 November, 2001; HIV patients who take cholesterol-lowering drugs may be able to slow the advance of the virus, say researchers. If proven, it would prove another remarkable breakthrough for drugs which are estimated to save many thousands of heart disease patients every year. This suggestion follows more discoveries about the way that
HIV health worker `in privacy fight': BBC News - Sunday, 18 November, 2001; An HIV-infected NHS specialist has begun legal proceedings to stop his former patients being told he has the potentially fatal disease, it has been reported. The health worker, who cannot be identified - even by his branch of medicine, has started a High Court bid to prevent the NHS from notifying thousands of people a
China demands cheaper Aids drugs: BBC News - Friday, 16 November, 2001; Helen Sewell, BBC science reporter; Two pharmaceutical companies in China have applied to start producing cheap, generic versions of the drugs which combat HIV, the virus that leads to Aids. The drugs are currently made by some of the world s largest pharmaceutical organisations, which hold the international patents for the medicines. The Chinese Gov
HIV case 'a lesson for sufferers': BBC News - Friday, 16 November, 2001; A woman whose ex-boyfriend was convicted of knowingly infecting her with HIV said his jail term should serve as a warning to those with the disease. Anne Craig, contracted HIV from Stephen Kelly, 33, who was jailed for five years for infecting her in what was a landmark judgement. Ms Craig, 34, said Kelly had set out w
Closed door mars China Aids meeting: First Aids conference: "Point of no return": BBC News - Monday, November 13, 2001; China has opened its first national conference on Aids and HIV amid accusations of official discrimination against people with Aids. A group of seven people with Aids who travelled from Dongguan village in the central province of Henan to the capital, Beijing, told the BBC they had been excluded from the conference.
40% of boys 'never heard of HIV': BBC News - Friday, 9 November, 2001; Two in five boys have never heard of Aids or HIV, says a survey which paints an unhealthy picture of schoolyard health. Young People in 2000 was compiled by the Schools Health Education Unit by quizzing more than 42,000 young people aged between 10 and 15. In addition to the 40% of boys who had never heard of HIV or Ai
HIV bites back at key drug: BBC News - Tuesday, 6 November, 2001; A newly-discovered class of HIV appears to be far more able to mutate into forms which drugs are less likely to beat. The finding - detailed in a leading US medical journal on Tuesday - makes worrying reading for doctors who use drug therapy to keep the virus under control. Modern antiretrovirals can be remarkably succ
Asean aims to cut Aids treatment costs: BBC News - Monday, 5 November, 2001; Richard Black, BBC science correspondent; Leaders of the Asean group of countries have announced a joint initiative to combat Aids, including seeking access to cheaper treatment. Asean Secretary-General Rodolfo Severino said the group would look into buying drugs in bulk and negotiating collectively with pharmaceutical companies to lower their prices. Over 1.5
HIV positive man kills family: BBC News - Monday, 5 November, 2001; An HIV positive patient in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has been detained after he killed five family members and then attempted suicide. Police say the man committed the murders after medical tests confirmed that he was carrying the HIV virus. The man has been admitted to hospital.
Zambia to outlaw spreading of Aids: BBC News - Friday, 2 November, 2001; Zambia s government intends to pass a law criminalising the intentional spreading of HIV/Aids, carrying sentences of up to 20 years. The government is planning to introduce a bill in parliament to enact the new piece of legislation, one of the first of its kind anywhere in Africa. Information Minister Vernon Mwaanga to
South Africans welcome Aids budget: BBC News - Wednesday, 31 October, 2001; Barnaby Phillips in Johannesburg; Aids activists in South Africa have welcomed the government s decision to increase spending to fight the disease. On Tuesday the government said spending on fighting HIV and Aids would increase four-fold over the next three years. Activists have consistently accused the South African government of not doing enough to f
HIV drug combats resistance: BBC News - Wednesday, 31 October, 2001; A new class of drug may help meet the growing need for medicines to combat the growing problem of resistant strains of HIV. Trials currently taking place of two drugs in a class known as fusion inhibitors have produced very promising results. Existing anti-HIV drugs work inside the cell and target viral enzymes which e
Mozambique seeks money to fight Aids: BBC News - Thursday, 25 October, 2001; Officials in Mozambique say the country needs at least $600m in foreign aid for each of the next two years if the government s various development programmes are to succeed. A government spokesman Pedro Couto said the growth of HIV and Aids posed the greatest threat to the country s development and therefore deserved m
America's anthrax patent dilemma: BBC News - Tuesday, 23 October, 2001; Emma Clark, BBC News Online; The US government s battle to combat bioterrorism has presented it with an embarrassing predicament. Should the pro-trade Bush administration override a patent held by German pharmaceutical company Bayer on an anthrax drug? By waiving the Bayer patent, the US would be able to approach other companies to manufacture gre
HIV vaccine trials 'in three years': BBC News - Monday, 22 October, 2001; An expert in HIV vaccine development has said he hopes there will be a working vaccine available for widespread trials in around three years. But Dr Seth Berkeley, president of the International Aids Vaccines Initiative (IAVA) said creating the infrastructure to produce and deliver the vaccine to the public could take
Safe sex in Kenya taxis: BBC News - Monday, 22 October, 2001; Noel Mwakugu in Mombasa; Kenya s minibus taxis are fast, colourful and often dangerous. Decorated with pictures of music idols and sports stars, the so-called matatus also carry less than encouraging slogans. Day-Time Lover , reads one, while another welcomes passengers to The Ticket to Hell . But a new sticker campaign is using matatus to car
Report confirms SA Aids devastation: BBC News - Tuesday, 16 October, 2001; A controversial report has finally been released by South Africa s leading medical research body, detailing the shattering impact of the Aids HIV virus. The report, a copy of which was leaked to the South African media more than a week ago, is warning that between five and seven million South Africans could die from Ai
Malawian woman jailed for raping boy: BBC News - Wednesday, 10 October, 2001; A court in Malawi has sentenced a 60-year-old woman, who is HIV positive, to seven years in jail for raping an 11-year-old boy in August. The boy only revealed to his parents that the woman, Emmie Nkumbira, had forced him to have sex with her after he developed sores and pain in his genitals. The Malawian court hea
South Africa to copy Aids drugs: BBC News - Monday, 8 October, 2001; Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline is to allow three of its anti-Aids drugs to be copied and manufactured by a South African drugs company. Aspen Pharmacare has been given the patents to generically produce anti-retroviral drugs for supply to the government health service and to non-profit making anti-Aids charitie
Cheap drugs drive for poor countries: BBC News - Monday, 8 October, 2001; International Development Secretary Clare Short will meet pharmaceutical company bosses on Monday to discuss ways to make drugs more accessible to developing countries. The meeting comes as research commissioned by the charity Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) shows that 79% of Britons think the government should make s
Cultural taboos increase women's HIV risk: BBC News - Monday, 8 October, 2001; Rural and island women are especially vulnerable to infection from HIV and find it harder to gain access to proper treatment, an international conference on Aids in Asia and the Pacific has heard. An estimated 16.4 million women are infected with Aids or HIV worldwide and their situation is made worse by cultural taboo
Aids 'leading killer' in South Africa: BBC News - Friday, 5 October, 2001; South Africa s Aids epidemic has reached shattering dimensions and accounted for one in four deaths last year, say researchers. A Medical Research Council report, suppressed by the government but leaked to the Johannesburg-based Mail and Guardian newspaper, says Aids has now become the leading cause of death in the cou
Asia warned of Aids epidemic: BBC News - Friday, 5 October, 2001; Larry Jagan in Bangkok; Asia is on the verge of an Aids epidemic, which will eclipse that in Africa, United Nations experts warn. The UN in it latest report on the extent of the disease in Asia says the spread of the disease amongst what it calls vulnerable groups - drug users and sex workers - is alarming. The study has been released ahead o
Aids wake-up call for Asia: BBC News - Thursday, 4 October, 2001; Julian Siddle, BBC science reporter; The United Nations Aids programme, UNAIDS , says there is potential for a rapid spread of the disease across Asia. In a report, it says statistics showing rates of infection of less than 1% are misleading. It warns that as the incidence of HIV, the virus that can lead to Aids, in high-risk groups increases, the classic
Tanzanian soldiers test anti-Aids drug: BBC News - Tuesday, 2 October, 2001; A potential Aids drug developed by a subsidiary of the South African state oil company, CEF, is being tested in military clinics in Tanzania . The drug, which is derived from coal, is being given to about 350 soldiers who have tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. It is designed to strengthen the hum
Thailand launches $1 health scheme: BBC News - Monday, 1 October, 2001; Simon Ingram, BBC Bangkok correspondent; Hospitals across Thailand are expecting a busy day as a scheme offering cheap universal health care begins operation. The scheme fulfils one of the campaign pledges made by the Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was elected to office in January. The project - aimed at the poor, and those not receiving private heal
Glad to be gay in SA: BBC News - Saturday, 29 September, 2001; About 2,000 gay men and lesbians have taken to the streets of Johannesburg for South Africa s 12th annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade. This year s parade celebrated a notable victory for gay rights, as well as mourning all those who have died of Aids. It came just after a court decision to allow gay couples to adopt c
Japan blood scandal official convicted: BBC News - Friday, 28 September, 2001; A court in Japan has found a former top official in the health ministry guilty of negligence over a scandal concerning blood tainted by HIV, the virus that causes Aids. The Tokyo District court handed down a one-year suspended sentence to the man, Akihito Matsumura, after it ruled he was responsible for the death of a
Gay blood donor comments furore: BBC News - Tuesday, 25 September, 2001; A claim that homosexual blood donors could pass on the HIV virus has provoked uproar in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Lagan Valley DUP representative Edwin Poots attacked the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission because it said the ban on homosexuals giving blood could be discriminatory. Mr Poots said: It is
Burma faces Aids explosion: BBC News - Tuesday, 25 September, 2001; Larry Jagan, BBC South East Asia regional analyst; Burma is facing an Aids epidemic that will soon eclipse the worst situation in Africa, according to medical experts in Thailand . United Nations statistics are at least two years out of date and could be understating true infection rates by at least half. Aids specialist Dr Chris Beyrer, a US researcher at the Jo
Kenyans reject safe sex despite Aids: BBC News - Monday, 24 September, 2001; Ishbel Matheson in Nairobi; A new survey on HIV/Aids in Kenya has revealed that many Kenyans have not changed their sexual behaviour, despite the fact that the disease is killing up to 600 people a day in the country. In an independent poll commissioned by Kenya s leading media organisations over 55% said they thought condoms encouraged immoralit
Verdict due in Libyan HIV trial: BBC News - Saturday, 22 September, 2001; A Libyan court is due to announce its verdicts in the trial of six Bulgarian health workers and a Palestinian doctor, charged with deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the virus that causes aids. Libyan prosecutors are demanding the death penalty for the workers, who are accused of injecting 393 chil
Health ministry attacks Mbeki's Aids stance: BBC News - Friday, 21 September, 2001; Barnaby Phillips in Johannesburg; A leaked internal document written by South Africa s Ministry of Health warns that the government s policies on coping with Aids are unacceptable from a human rights perspective. The document, believed to have been written by senior officials in the Ministry, warns that the spread of Aids will become increasingly polit
Swazi King sex ban: BBC News - Monday, 17 September, 2001; The Swazi monarch, King Mswati III, has revived a traditional law on chastity and has banned sex for young girls to preserve virginity and halt the spread of HIV/Aids. According to an announcement made by the leader of the country s young women at the end of the King s 33rd birthday party, for five years maidens will b
China orders Aids compensation: BBC News - Tuesday, 11 September, 2001; A state-run Chinese hospital has been ordered to pay more than a-million dollars in compensation to the family of a woman who died after contracting HIV/Aids from contaminated blood during a transfusion. Correspondents say the court ruling could result in claims arising from many thousands of similar cases throughout
Sex and drugs threat to Malaysia's youth: BBC News - Monday, 10 September, 2001; A lifestyle of casual sex and drug addiction is exposing young people in Malaysia to a potential explosion in rates of HIV infection a senior health ministry official warned on Monday. Health Ministry Secretary-General Datuk Alias Ali said emotionally immature young people should be protected because Malaysia s future
HIV drugs misused: BBC News - Monday, 10 September, 2001; Many HIV-positive patients are failing to take their medication in the way it was prescribed, scientists have found. Failure to follow instructions increases the risk that treatment will fail. It also raises the possibility that the virus will become resistant to the drugs. Researchers from the Academic Medical Center
Stars sing for Aids victims: BBC News - Thursday, 6 September, 2001; Top names in pop from across the globe are meeting up at a studio in New York to record a song for Africa s Aids sufferers. It will be the first time so many top stars have joined together for charity since Band Aid in the 1980s. Britney Spears, U2 s Bono and Destiny s Child are among the artists who will record a cove
'Friendly virus' may fight HIV: BBC News - Thursday, 6 September, 2001; HIV-positive patients who also have a less-common form of the hepatitis virus appear to fare better than those who do not. Scientists cannot tell what is causing the unexpected effect, but believe it is possible that the hepatitis may be hindering the spread of HIV. The discovery may prove to be another way doctors can
Aids vaccine 'in sight': BBC News - Thursday, 6 September, 2001; Scientists at an international conference in Philadelphia say they believe a vaccine against the HIV is now feasible. The conference - organised by the Foundation for Aids Vaccine Research and Development - brings together more than 1,000 delegates and is aimed at speeding research into an effective vaccine. Most of th
Racism 'helping spread of Aids': BBC News - Wednesday, 5 September, 2001; The head of the United Nations Aids programme has told the world racism conference in South Africa that racial prejudice is helping the spread of the disease around the world. Dr Peter Piot told delegates gathered in Durban if the Aids epidemic had centred on Europe, rather than Africa, and had affected predominantly w
Nigeria Aids treatment delayed: BBC News - Friday, 31 August, 2001; Health officials in Nigeria say a major pilot programme to treat Aids and HIV sufferers with cheaper generic versions of expensive anti-retroviral drugs will not begin tomorrow as planned. The officials say the government has yet to announce how the drugs will be distributed and health technicians to monitor the pilot
Aids toll rises in Thailand: BBC News - Friday, 31 August, 2001; A senior health official in Thailand says Aids has become the main cause of death in the country, overtaking accidents, heart disease and cancer. The Deputy Public Health Minister Surapong Suebwong-lee did not give any figures, but said the full extent of the Aids epidemic had been under-reported because relatives of v
Nigeria gets credit deal with World Bank: BBC News - Friday, 24 August, 2001; The World Bank has agreed credit worth $300m to help Nigeria speed up its privatisation programme and efforts to fight HIV and Aids. The agreement was signed in the capital Abuja by the visiting vice-president of the International Finance Corporation, Peter Woicke and the Nigerian finance minister, Adamu Ciroma. Co
China comes clean on Aids: BBC News - Thursday, 23 August, 2001; Duncan Hewitt in Shanghai; Chinese health officials have estimated that 30,000-50,000 people could have been infected with HIV, the virus that leads to Aids, through blood transfusions. China s Deputy Health Minister, Yin Dakui, said most of these people were blood donors, many of whom had sold blood to illegal collectors. It is the most detaile
Fears of 'second wave' of HIV: BBC News - Thursday, 23 August, 2001; Scotland could be facing a second wave of HIV infection, according to one of the country s most senior health experts. The director of public health at the Health Education Board for Scotland has warned that action must be taken now to raise awareness about the dangers of unprotected sex. Jamie Inglis said that if ther
Mediating against pain: BBC News - Friday, 17 August, 2001; An American stress reduction specialist is setting out to share his techniques for helping hospital patients with cancer, HIV and psoriasis deal with pain and discomfort. Jon Kabat-Zinn has devised a programme in the United States , based on a technique he calls mindfulness . He is embarking on a teaching tour of Europ
Steps line up for aids benefit: BBC News - Monday, 13 August, 2001; Teen popsters Steps have joined the list of acts confirmed to play a massive AIDS charity concert at the Millennium Stadium this autumn. Event partners BBC Wales announced A1, Damage and Sinead O Connor will also join the line-up for the ShowTime @ The Stadium spectacular in Cardiff on 20 October. The brainchild of for
Region seeks cheap Aids drugs: BBC News - Sunday, 12 August, 2001; Mike Lanchin in Central America; Six Central American nations have announced their intention to negotiate lower prices for Aids drugs from major multinational pharmaceutical companies in a bid to permit greater access to life-saving medicines. The decision was adopted at a meeting of health ministers from Costa Rica ,
Aids scandals around the world: BBC News - Thursday, 9 August, 2001; China is the latest country to admit that Aids is cutting a swathe through its population, but Aids-related scandals have dogged many other countries since the 1980s and 1990s. One of the most high-profile cases was that of France s tainted blood scandal, which saw a former health minister convicted for failing adequ
China admits Aids crisis: BBC News - Thursday, 9 August, 2001; The Chinese Government has made a tacit admission that it faces a serious Aids crisis in central China . For nearly a year, Aids activists, along with local and foreign media, have been telling the government about the extent of the Aids problem in Henan province, where perhaps hundreds of thousands of people have been
UN chiefs appeal for Burma aid: BBC News - Tuesday, 7 August, 2001; The heads of the United Nations agencies operating in Burma say the country must receive a huge increase in aid payments if it is to avoid a humanitarian crisis. The officials say sanctions imposed against Burma s military leaders mean that the country s poor and needy are receiving only a fraction of the aid given to
Health chief calls for legal brothels: BBC News - Monday, 6 August, 2001; The top public health official in northwest England wants brothels legalised and inspected to stem the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Since 1995 there has been a sharp rise in the number of cases of gonorrhoea and syphilis in Greater Manchester and on Merseyside. Many of these are showing signs of becoming re
Aids demo by Ethiopian orphans: BBC News - Monday, 6 August, 2001; Children orphaned by Aids were among hundreds of demonstrators who took to the streets of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, today to demand more government spending on the epidemic sweeping Africa. The organisers called on the government to follow the example of South Africa and Kenya
Obasanjo: 'Give soldiers condoms': BBC News - Sunday, 5 August, 2001; President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria has urged the country s military commanders to provide their troops with free condoms to curb the spread of Aids. You must not allow Aids to ravage our armed forces, the Reuters news agency quoted him saying at a meeting of high-ranking officers in the south-western city of Ibadan
Web makes lab tests easy: BBC News - Saturday, 4 August, 2001; Interpreting the complex jargon and figures of laboratory tests has been made simpler by a new website. Very often patients will be left confused by the shorthand used by doctors to tell laboratories what they are testing for. On some occasions patients will not even know why they are being sent for the tests in questi
Gene warning over HIV drug: BBC News - Friday, 3 August, 2001; West Africans may have a genetic makeup which could prevent some anti-HIV drugs working properly, say scientists. Commonly-used drugs such as protease inhibitors could be affected, the research team - from Stuttgart in Germany - say in a letter to the Lancet medical journal. The discovery comes as the debate cont
Capital vice girls on the move: BBC News - Friday, 3 August, 2001; Edinburgh s red light district is to be moved in a bid to keep prostitutes away from residential and business areas. Lothian and Borders Police said that it will be asking vice girls to leave the traditional tolerance zone in Coburg Street, Leith, for a nearby industrial estate in Salamander Street. A force spokesman s
Timeline: Thailand: BBC News - Friday, 3 August, 2001; A chronology of key events: 1782 - Beginning of the Chakri dynasty under King Rama I, which rules to this present day. The country is known as Siam. New capital of Bangkok founded. 1868-1910 - Reign of King Chulalongkorn. Employment of Western advisers to modernise Siam s administration and commerce. Railway network de
Haemophiliac HIV tragedy 'needless': BBC News - Friday, 3 August, 2001; A former health secretary says that thousands of haemophiliacs who contracted HIV from blood products could have been protected. Lord Owen, Secretary of State for Health in 1975, claimed the Department of Health failed to spend money allocated to stop the import of blood and blood products from abroad. Instead, the imp
China steps up Aids campaign: BBC News - Friday, 3 August, 2001; The Chinese Government says it plans to keep the annual rate of growth in the number of cases of HIV infection, Aids and sexually transmitted diseases STD to below 10%. A deputy director of the Ministry of Health department of disease control, Chen Xianyi, said the annual growth rates in these cases has remained above
World numbers 'may peak by 2100': BBC News - Wednesday, 1 August, 2001; Alex Kirby, BBC News Online's environment correspondent; Researchers say the world s population could stop growing sooner than expected. They suggest it could peak within the next 70 years, and then decline. By the end of the century, they believe, the number of people alive could be 8.4 billion - about one billion fewer than the United Nations has predicted. But there will
Country profile: South Africa: BBC News - Wednesday, 1 August, 2001; Diversity is a key feature of South Africa , where 11 languages are recognised as official, where community leaders include rabbis and chieftains, rugby players and returned exiles, where traditional healers ply their trade around the corner from stockbrokers and where housing ranges from mud huts to palatial homes wit
Church rejects plea on condoms: BBC News - Monday, 30 July, 2001; Health workers hoped the church would relax its ban Roman Catholic bishops in southern Africa have condemned the use of condoms to fight Aids. In a statement at the end of their week-long conference in Pretoria, the bishops argued that the battle against HIV/Aids should be fought on moral grounds and said condoms helpe
Call for Iranian anti-Aids campaign: BBC News - Sunday, 29 July, 2001; Iranian health officials say tackling Aids should be given priority among the government s policies. In an interview with the Iranian news agency IRNA, a senior official in the health department of the central Iranian city of Isfahan, Masood Zandiyeh, said a high-profile anti-Aids campaign was needed to fight what he d
Fearsome reputation of the Italian police: BBC News - Friday, 27 July, 2001; The controversial operation by Italian police against the headquarters of the anti-globalisation protester at the G8 summit in Genoa was a joint operation between the state police and the military police, the carabinieri. The carabinieri, the military police, in particular have a fearsome reputation. Football supporter
'You are HIV positive': BBC News - Friday, 27 July, 2001; `John was diagnosed HIV positive on 10 July this year, at a west London hospital. On the day the UK government unveils its strategy to combat a rise in sexually transmitted diseases, he tells his story here. The nurse was kind, caring and professional, but there was no way to soften the blow. Your results have come bac
Country profile: Brazil: BBC News - Friday, 27 July, 2001; Brazil is South America s biggest and most influential country and takes up almost half the continent. It is one of the world s economic giants and is revered for its football prowess, coffee production and lively music such as samba and bossa nova. It includes much of the world s biggest rain forest around the Amazo
Country profile: Thailand: BBC News - Friday, 27 July, 2001; Thailand is a country of mountains, tropical rainforests and flat plains. For many years agriculture was the main employer. But a thriving economy in the 1980s and early 1990s - with average annual growth of almost 9% - led to increasing numbers of Thais finding work in the expanding industrial and services sectors.
Country profile: Cambodia: BBC News - Friday, 27 July, 2001; The fate of Cambodia shocked the world when the radical communist Khmer Rouge under their leader Pol Pot seized power in 1975 after years of guerrilla warfare. The Khmer Rouge immediately abolished money and private property, and ordered city dwellers into the countryside to cultivate the fields. An estimated 1.7 m
Fight steps up on sexual diseases: BBC News - Friday, 27 July, 2001; Plans to test much more widely for sexually transmitted infections have been unveiled by the government. The long-awaited National Strategy for Sexual Health will also include a major multi-media public education campaign. Its launch on Friday coincided with the publication of figures showing a big rise in cases of key
Catholic clergy reconsider condoms: BBC News - Thursday, 26 July, 2001; Grant Ferrett; A meeting of Roman Catholic bishops from southern Africa is considering whether the Church should abandon its opposition to condoms in order to prevent the spread of Aids. South Africa alone has an estimated four million people living with HIV, the virus which causes the disease. One of those taking part, Bishop Ke
Country profile: Botswana: BBC News - Thursday, 26 July, 2001; Botswana is Africa s longest continuous multiparty democracy. It is among the continent s most stable countries, relatively free of corruption and has an outstanding human rights record. Botswana is also among the world s biggest diamond producers and protects some of the continent s largest areas of wilderness.
Country profile: Swaziland: BBC News - Thursday, 26 July, 2001; King Mswati III, on the throne since 1986, is upholding the tradition of his father, King Sobhuza II, who reigned for almost 61 years and is believed to have had more than 60 wives. Sobhuza scrapped the constitution in 1973 and banned political parties. King Mswati has shown no enthusiasm for sharing power. Pressure ov
Drug giant's profits soar: BBC News - Tuesday, 24 July, 2001; GlaxoSmithKline , the world s second-biggest pharmaceutical firm, has reported a 15% rise in profits. It made pre-tax profit for the second quarter of �1.7bn. The result beat analysts forecasts, with the firm s shares rising by nearly 1%, to 1,978p. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) attributed the result to the successful launch
SA's 'Dr Death' gives evidence: BBC News - Monday, 23 July, 2001; The head of South Africa s chemical and biological weapons programme during the apartheid era, Dr Wouter Basson, said at his trial that he was given unlimited power by the authorities to further his work. Taking the stand for the first time in a court in Pretoria, Dr Basson said the then government had allowed him to e
College fined over deadly virus: BBC News - Monday, 23 July, 2001; One of Britain s leading research institutions has been fined �25,000 after exposing staff to a deadly virus. Imperial College was also ordered to pay more than �21,000 costs at London s Blackfriars Crown Court. Workers at the institution were dangerously exposed to infection from a hybrid virus for which there was no
Rich nations promise health cash aid: BBC News - Sunday, 22 July, 2001; Leaders of the world s richest countries are set to create a $1bn global health fund to fight TB, malaria and Aids in developing countries. Although world trade, the economy and reform of the financial institutes are top of the agenda at the G8 summit in Genoa, the world leaders, including South Africa s Thabo Mbeki an
World's biggest health threats: BBC News - Friday, 20 July, 2001; Leaders of the world s richest countries have promised a $1bn global health fund to fight TB, malaria and Aids in developing countries. BBC News Online looks at the health risks the diseases pose to the people in the poorer nations and how the cash from the G8 conference in Genoa can be used. Each year millions die fro
Plea to church on condoms: BBC News - Tuesday, 17 July, 2001; Corinne Podger, Religion reporter; A leading Catholic newspaper in South Africa has called on the church to relax its blanket ban on condoms to help in the battle against Aids. The editor of the Southern Cross Journal, Gunther Simmermacher wrote that condoms have an important role to play in preventing the transmission of HIV. He said the Catholic n
HIV linked to social exclusion: BBC News - Monday, 16 July, 2001; The socially excluded are at the highest risk from HIV in the UK, a report has suggested. Groups such as asylum seekers, black Africans and gay men face many more problems than members of mainstream society which are likely to put them at risk from the disease, said the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT). There is a vicious
SA husband loses HIV case: BBC News - Monday, 16 July, 2001; A South African woman has been awarded more than $100,000 in damages from her husband for infecting her with the HIV virus. In a landmark judgement, a High Court judge awarded the unnamed women $116,400 for pain, suffering mental anguish, and medical expenses , the Sunday Times reported. The ruling is the first in whic
Hi-tech poverty battle: BBC News - Tuesday, 10 July, 2001; Information and communication technology can contribute greatly to reducing world poverty, but more international funding is needed to bring hi-tech benefits to all, according to the United Nations. In its annual report, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) says inadequate public funding, market distortions, and unfair
Annan slams 'misguided' African leaders: BBC News - Monday, 9 July, 2001; United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has made a vigorous appeal to African leaders to set aside their conflicts and bring unity to the continent. Speaking at the last ever Organisation of African Unity summit in the Zambian capital Lusaka, he said the wars in Africa were in great measure the result of misguided
Sir Elton ball raises �1m: BBC News - Friday, 6 July, 2001; A charity ball hosted by the flamboyant performer Sir Elton John has raised �1m ($1.4m) for his Aids charity. The musician, who threw the White Tie and Tiara Ball at his Windsor mansion, said he was bowled over by the generosity of his showbusiness friends. Among those on the guest list were Titanic actress Kate Winsle
vCJD test 'could hit blood donations': BBC News - Friday, 6 July, 2001; There are fears that the number of blood donors in the UK could drop by as much as half when a test for the human form of mad cow disease is introduced. Scientists in Switzerland believe they have made an important breakthrough in the search for a blood test for variant creutzfeld jakob disease (vCJD). BBC2 s Newsn
How many of us are going to contract variant CJD: BBC News - July 5, 2001; SUSAN WATTS: The British authorities are rushing blood samples to scientists in Geneva. They could help show how many of us will die from new variant CJD. The blood s from a patient thought to be dying from the disease. The samples are coming here to Serono, because scientists worldwide believe that a breakthrough made
New hope for TB sufferers: BBC News - Thursday, 5 July, 2001; Andrew Craig; Patients who have drug-resistant tuberculosis are to be given access to cheap drugs, in a deal reached between the World Health Organisation and several pharmaceutical companies. Tuberculosis is becoming an increasing threat across the world. In rich countries, where it had become very rare in the past few decades, it
Oral sex HIV warning: BBC News - Wednesday, 4 July, 2001; The risk of contracting HIV from oral sex may be greater than previously thought. It has long been known that the virus can be transmitted through oral sex - but the risk was thought to be minimal. However, research in the UK and US among gay men now suggests that oral sex may be responsible for up to 8% of HIV infecti
Teens in sex disease threat: BBC News - Tuesday, 3 July, 2001; Teenagers in parts of Wales are five times as likely to contract the sexually-transmitted infection chlamydia than those in London, according to a BBC Wales investigation. Tuesday s Week In Week Out programme examines how widespread ignorance and a reluctance to use condoms is putting thousands of young people in Wales
Kenya ponders HIV hanging call: BBC News - Monday, 2 July, 2001; A recent call by President Daniel arap Moi for those who knowingly infect others with HIV to be hanged is prompting a huge debate in Kenya . Several groups including religious figures have cautioned against capital punishment, but others including the Federation of Women Lawyers (Kenya) have come out in favour of Presi
Tanzania 'needs $1bn to fight Aids': BBC News - Sunday, 1 July, 2001; Tanzania s President Benjamin Mkapa says his country needs $1bn a year to fight Aids. In an end of the month address, Mr Mkapa said his government would make anti-retroviral drugs available to all those infected with HIV. Tanzania has an estimated three million Aids sufferers. The president also urged pharmaceutical co
Aids: A turning point?: BBC News - Friday, 29 June, 2001; BBC News Health Correspondent Karen Allen was in New York to hear the UN s declaration on Aids - and has mixed emotions about it. So much hope had been pinned on these historic talks at the UN - yet three days of behind the scenes squabbling produced a global battle plan so cautious in its language that it s difficult
UN declares war on Aids: BBC News - Thursday, 28 June, 2001; Greg Barrow in New York; The General Assembly of the United Nations has adopted a landmark declaration of commitment to fight the global Aids epidemic. UN member states made the move at the end of a three-day special session of the General Assembly - the first time this international body had met to discuss a health issue. The declaration call
UN's Aids battle plan: Mr Annan played down disagreements: BBC News - Wednesday, 27 June, 2001; Greg Barrow; The United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, has said that the world now has a clear battle plan for the war against Aids. Like Aids itself, these differences need to be confronted head-on, not swept under the carpet. He was speaking on the final day of a UN General Assembly special session on Aids, devoted to dis
'Live Aid II' set for October: Madonna has been approached to headline the event: BBC News - Wednesday, 27 June, 2001; A huge musical event to raise money for Aids sufferers is being planned for October. Madonna, Robbie Williams, George Michael and S Club 7 have all been approached to play at the concert at Cardiff s Millennium Stadium - although none have yet been confirmed. The event is being organised by BBC Wales in conjunction wit
UN Aids row resolved: Aids is "tearing society apart" say African leaders: BBC News - Wednesday, 27 June, 2001; Weeks of wrangling over the language adopted in a UN proposal to fight Aids ended late on Tuesday when Western nations agreed to drop references offensive to Muslim states. A special session of the United Nations is due to conclude on Wednesday by adopting a declaration of commitment to the fight against the disease, w
Businesses told to 'help stop Aids': BBC News - Tuesday, 26 June, 2001; Greg Barrow at the United Nations; Mr Ahern: This is an unprecedented emergency Business leaders have been urged to play a greater role in efforts to stop the spread of HIV and Aids. The move has come during the second day of a special session of the United Nations in New York which aims to set out a strategy for dealing with the global Aids epidemic.
Leaders speak out over Aids: The conference is highlighting the growing Aids crisis: BBC News - Tuesday, 26 June, 2001; Delegates from across the world are attending the second day of a landmark conference in New York on Aids. More than 50 million people have now been infected with the HIV virus, according to the latest UN and World Health Organisation figures. Despite concerted prevention efforts in developing countries, the increase i
Iran clamps down on drugs: There are about 1.2 million serious addicts in Iran: BBC News - Tuesday, 26 June, 2001; Jim Muir in Tehran; As Iran marks the International Day Against Drug Abuse, it has been announced that 3,000 addicts and dealers have been arrested in the capital, Tehran, over the past three days. Iran straddles a major drug smuggling route from Afghanistan to the West. But there is growing concern over increasing drug use in Iranian
Africa calls for help fighting Aids: Over 20 million people have died of Aids so far: BBC News - Tuesday, 26 June, 2001; African leaders have made emotional pleas for help with Aids at a special UN meeting on the epidemic, which is entering its second day in New York. Nigeria s president, Olusegun Obasanjo, warned that the future of Africa, where the disease is most prevalent, was bleak , and entire populations were facing extinction.
US drops Brazil Aids drugs case: Demand for cheaper Aids drugs has sparked protests: BBC News - Monday, 25 June, 2001; The United States has dropped its complaint against Brazil for allowing the production of generic Aids-treatment drugs within the South American country. The Bush administration made the announcement as a three-day special United Nations session on HIV/Aids was getting underway in New York. Thousands of patients ar
Annan demands Aids action: Over 20 million people have died of Aids so far: BBC News - Monday, 25 June, 2001; UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called for concerted global action to stop what he called the unprecedented crisis of HIV/Aids. Speaking at a special three-day session of the UN General Assembly, he said: Aids can no longer do its deadly work in the dark. The world has started to wake up. This is the first time the
Teaching truck drivers about Aids: BBC News - Monday, 25 June, 2001; Nita Bhalla; Life on the road for the United Nations World Food Programme s (UNWFP) truck drivers is not easy. They travel thousands of miles each day from Port Djibouti to Ethiopia , carrying much-needed grain to feed those in areas where drought has become a persistent nightmare. Their job is certainly worthwhile, but researc
New Aids fears in Thailand: The profile of Aids victims in Thailand is changing: BBC News - Monday, 25 June, 2001; Jonathan Head in Bangkok; Aids campaigners in Thailand fear the disease is now spreading among new sectors of Thai society, and that the government s resolve to combat the problem may be slipping. Thailand has the largest number of people with HIV, which causes Aids, in East Asia. The first case was recorded in 1984, and today about 700,000 peo
How to spend Aids fund: It is the first time the UN has hosted such a meeting: BBC News - Monday, 25 June, 2001; As United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan opens the UN s special session on HIV/Aids, BBC News Online reviews the debate on how the money should be spent. Kofi Annan has urged countries and private organisations to contribute to the global Aids and health fund he launched last year. The money raised is intended to
Warning over Aids complacency: HIV can never be fully eradicated from the body: BBC News - Monday, 25 June, 2001; The number of HIV infections is on the rise in the US because some younger people falsely believe it is curable by modern drugs. Aids experts from around the world are gathering in New York to discuss how the disease can be tackled. Their main focus will be the spread of the virus in developing countries, where death r
Kenya accused over Aids orphans: There are 13 million Aids orphans across Africa: BBC News - Monday, 25 June, 2001; The Kenyan Government is accused by a human rights group of abandoning millions of children orphaned by the Aids epidemic, and exposing them to widespread abuse. A report by New York-based Human Rights Watch says that many Kenyan youngsters are forced out of school to become breadwinners when family members fall ill or
Burkina Faso receives Aids help: BBC News - Saturday, 23 June, 2001; International donors have promised to give $85m to Burkina Faso to help fund a five-year programme to fight Aids. The programme is designed to develop public education, increase monitoring of Aids and improve care for those infected by Aids. The United Nations Development Programme Representative in Burkina Faso, Chris
A vaccine against cat Aids has given hope for a human vaccine: BBC News - Friday, 22 June, 2001; Scientists have found a vaccine to prevent the spread of the feline form of HIV in cats and believe it shows a human vaccine is possible. They also hope that within the next five years they will have a sponge, gel or pessary that can be used to help stop the spread of the disease. A conference in Edinburgh, the Sixth E
India to regulate Aids drugs adverts: The UN has launched Aids education programmes in South Asia: BBC News - Friday, 22 June, 2001; Rajyasri Rao in Delhi; India s health ministry is moving to regulate advertisements for anti-Aids drugs following complaints about a TV commercial. The advert, put out by a leading pharmaceutical company, is currently running on some private TV channels. Critics say it seems to offer the hope of a magical cure. Three and a half million India
Sex degrees of separation: BBC News - Wednesday, 20 June, 2001; It is a small world when it comes to lovers, according to a Swedish survey of human sexual behaviour. On account of the relatively few people who get to know an unusually large number of sex partners, many people are more intimately linked than they may care to imagine. And it is these sexually hyper-active individuals
Using peers to tackle Aids: A peer educator group in KwaZulu-Natal: BBC News - Wednesday, 20 June, 2001; Y Care International's Helen Kirkland; Njabulo (not his real name) is just one of the people I met who offers hope for the future of young South Africans, in a country where ignorance about HIV/Aids among the young is rife. His family is desperately poor, and, by 14, drugs and car-jackings were both a way out and a way of life. He was on the point of quitti
WTO to tackle high medicine costs: Access to drugs is becoming a key development issue: BBC News - Wednesday, 20 June, 2001; Economics correspondent Andrew Walker; The World Trade Organisation is due to meet at its Geneva headquarters to discuss the growing controversy over the cost of medicines in the developing world. Many developing countries hope that this meeting might eventually lead to changes in WTO rules that would make it easier for them to get hold of cheap medicines.
Gates gives $100m to combat Aids: BBC News - Tuesday, 19 June, 2001; Billionaire businessman Bill Gates is to donate $100m to an international heath fund to fight Aids. The money will be paid over an unspecified number of years to support a new campaign against the disease launched by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in April. Bill Gates At the time, Mr Annan said between $7b
Italian Aids victims to get damages: The state was slow to start checks on donated blood: BBC News - Tuesday, 19 June, 2001; A Rome court has ordered Italy s Health Ministry to pay damages to 351 people who contracted the HIV virus and hepatitis through blood transfusions. The court said that the ministry was too slow to introduce measures to prevent the virus being spread by donated blood, and did not establish proper checks on plasma. Abou
World Bank Aids warning: BBC News - Friday, 15 June, 2001; The President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, has warned that African countries need billions of dollars of assistance to combat Aids and poverty. In a speech in New York, Mr Wolfensohn said the world needed to wake up to the effects of HIV and Aids, and he called on wealthy nations to convert half-a-billion dolla
Safe sex campaigns 'may backfire': HIV awareness campaigns may fail to change behaviour: BBC News - Thursday, 14 June, 2001; Campaigns to encourage gay men to practise safe sex may backfire. Researchers found that it is wrong to assume that every strategy aiming at encouraging less risky sexual behaviour among gay men is necessarily beneficial. Instead, they warn that each initiative should be evaluated individually. Researchers at a London
Pakistani popstar heads Aids fight: Salman Ahmad is the face of the UN poster campaign: BBC News - Wednesday, 13 June, 2001; The United Nations has picked one of the most famous faces in Pakistani pop music to act as a spokesman in the fight against HIV and Aids. Salman Ahmad and his group Junoon are household names in their home country, with a legion of teenage fans. The move to appoint such a popular personality aims to bring mass attenti
Canada reverses immigrant Aids policy: All prospective immigrants will be screened for HIV/Aids: BBC News - Wednesday, 13 June, 2001; The government in Canada says it will not automatically exclude prospective immigrants who test positive for HIV - the virus that is believed to cause Aids. The move reverses earlier suggestions that all applicants who tested positive would be turned away. That proposal - made last year as part of a significant overhau
Aids training centre for Kampala: The impact on Africa of Aids is devastating: BBC News - Monday, 11 June, 2001; The Science Unit's Andrew Craig; African and American Aids experts have announced that they will open a treatment and training centre in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, that will aim to be a beacon for the continent s fight against Aids. The clinic will offer treatment to local Aids patients, and also train medical staff from across Africa and is due to
Thais queue for HIV 'cure': The drug has not been independently tested: BBC News - Saturday, 9 June, 2001; Gina Wilkinson in Bangkok; More than 4,000 HIV-positive people gathered in the Thai capital, Bangkok, on Saturday to obtain free samples of a controversial pill which its makers claim can cure Aids. Many of them gravely ill, they flocked to a stadium where samples of the controversial VI Immunitor tablet were being handed out. The purported mira
Africa Media Watch: BBC News - Friday, 8 June, 2001; Aids and its terrible consequences for Africa loomed large in a week that saw emotional tributes following the death of young Aids activist Nkosi Johnson, and the twentieth anniversary of the first reported cases of the disease. So many Nkosis There cannot be a South African who has not been touched by the little Nkosi
'Progress' on Aids in Africa: BBC News - Friday, 8 June, 2001; The United Nations chief Aids expert has praised the openness with which many African leaders now talk about Aids. UN Aids executive director Peter Piot, talking to a gathering of African presidents in South Africa , said this was a sign that the continent was at the turning point in the fight against the epidemic.
DuPont sells drugs unit for $7.8bn: Bristol-Myers obtains a pipeline of experimental drugs: BBC News - Friday, 8 June, 2001; US drug giant Bristol-Myers Squibb has agreed to buy DuPont s pharmaceuticals unit for $7.8bn. The move is designed to boost profits at Bristol-Myers following the expiry of patents on three of its key medicines. The all cash sale is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory approval. Br
HIV rising rapidly in Kazakhstan: BBC News - Thursday, 7 June, 2001; The chief doctor of an Aids prevention centre in western Kazakhstan has said there has been a large increase in the number of people infected by HIV, the virus which can lead to Aids. Dr Marat Boranbayev said HIV was spreading in the region at an alarming rate, Interfax-Kazakstan news agency reported. This year, 60
Free drugs for HIV-ravaged countries: Drugs will be distributed free in under-developed countries: BBC News - Wednesday, 6 June, 2001; A drug to treat people with HIV and Aids is to be made available free of charge in 50 of the world s poorest countries. The pharmaceutical firm Pfizer confirmed on Wednesday that it would make the drug, Diflucan, available to countries identified by the United Nations as being hardest hit by the virus. There are ab
Thai Aids 'cure' disputed: The drug is being handed out in Bangkok: BBC News - Tuesday, 5 June, 2001; A treatment touted as a miracle cure for Aids by a Bangkok pharmacist has been attacked by official agencies tackling the disease. Local people infected with HIV, or who have developed full-blown Aids, have been flocking to see Vichai Jirotthi-tikal, to get supplies of his drug V-1 Immunitor . However, the drug has nev
Aids: 'The worst yet to come': Thousands of funerals are held everyday in Africa due to Aids: BBC News - Monday, 4 June, 2001; HIV/Aids has had a devastating impact on millions of lives worldwide over the past 20 years. BBC News Online s Mangai Balasegaram explains why the virus is likely to tighten its grip still further: Few people took note when, on 5 June 1981, a US Government bulletin noted a strange disease ravaging a number of gay men i
Aids: 20 years on: High profile campaigns have failed to stem HIV cases: BBC News - Monday, 4 June, 2001; BBC News Online's Martin Hutchinson; Tuesday marks the 20th anniversary of the day when health officials in the US first publicly recognised Aids as a potential public health problem. The anniversary has already been marked with vigils and marches in the US. Aids kills millions worldwide each year and in some countries is the leading cause of premature de
US Aids activists mark anniversary: Victims' names were read out at a vigil in Washington: BBC News - Sunday, 3 June, 2001; Health groups in the United States have launched the first national Aids awareness drive for more than a decade to mark the 20th anniversary of the discovery of the disease. Aids is a holocaust, kills millions, will end up killing billions, and you have to be afraid Aids activist Francis Parrish Thousands of people hav
Zimbabwe reels from Aids: 'Aids is robbing the nation of skilled young people': BBC News - Sunday, 3 June, 2001; Zimbabwe will have zero percent population growth next year, mainly because of the Aids pandemic, the government anticipates. Health Minister Timothy Stamps said there were 100,000 Aids-related deaths in the country last year alone. Aids was robbing the nation of skilled and productive young people, he told state tel
Zimbabwe reels from Aids: BBC - Sunday, 3 June, 2001; Zimbabwe will have zero percent population growth next year, mainly because of the Aids pandemic, the government anticipates. Health Minister Timothy Stamps said there were 100,000 Aids-related deaths in the country last year alone. Aids was robbing the nation of skilled and productive young people, he told state tel
UK HIV cases 'at all-time high': BBC - Friday, 1 June, 2001; The number of newly diagnosed HIV cases in the UK has reached an all-time high, according to figures published on Friday. The Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) figures show there were 3,435 new cases in 2000. It represents a 14% increase on the previous year s figures. The PHLS also said about 10,000 people in th
South African Aids boy dies: BBC - Friday, 1 June, 2001; The 12-year-old boy whose plight dramatised the Aids epidemic in South Africa has died in his sleep at 0540 local time (0340 GMT). Nkosi Johnson, who collapsed with Aids-related brain damage in December, had been praised by Nelson Mandela as an icon in the struggle against HIV/Aids. A Johnson family spokesman said
HIV leaps among young gay Americans: BBC - Thursday, 31 May, 2001; Young gay and bisexual men in the United States , especially those who are black, are becoming infected with HIV at rates similar to those seen when the Aids epidemic peaked in the mid-1980s, according to a new study. The report s staggering figures reveal that one-third of all black gay and bisexual male Americans und
China bars Aids activist visiting US: BBC - Thursday, 31 May, 2001; The authorities in China have blocked a doctor who exposed a tragic Aids scandal from travelling to the United States to receive a humanitarian award. Dr Gao Yaojie has fought for the hundreds of thousands of peasants in Henan province who contracted HIV, the virus that causes Aids, when they sold their blood in a lucr
Bad blood spreads Aids in China: Death notices in Wenlou, where 65% of those tested have HIV: BBC - Wednesday, 30 May, 2001; Adam Brookes in Beijing; A scandal of stunning proportions is slowly unfolding in central China over the huge number of people infected with HIV, the virus that causes Aids, through the sale of their blood. The situation is particularly serious in the central Chinese province of Henan, where HIV is tearing through one rural community. In t
Thompson heads for Africa: BBC - Wednesday, 30 May, 2001; Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson is to put her career on hold to help raise awareness of HIV and Aids in Africa. The British star is reportedly taking a year out with her partner and young daughter. She has teamed up with the charity Action Aid to highlight the plight of the HIV and Aids in the third world. Thom
US pledges Uganda $50m Aids cash: BBC - Monday, 28 May, 2001; US Secretary of State Colin Powell - now at the end of his first tour of Africa - has announced that Washington will give $50m to Uganda to fight Aids and help the victims of the disease. Speaking to government officials and Aids victims in Kampala, Mr Powell said there was no challenge more serious than the war agains
Powell condemns President Mugabe: BBC - Friday, 25 May, 2001; The American Secretary of State, Colin Powell has launched a stinging attack on President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe , accusing him of clinging to power. Speaking in Johannesburg on a four-nation tour of Africa, Mr Powell condemned Mr Mugabe for the turmoil in Zimbabwe and called on him to hold democratic elections.
Glaxo: Cheap Aids drugs not enough: Many Aids sufferers can't afford Glaxo's drugs: BBC - Friday, 25 May, 2001; Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline will soon be offering cheaper Aids drugs to HIV positive people in Kenya . It is reducing the price of the cocktail of drugs needed by about 80% to $2 a day. The company admits that this price is still well above what most Kenyans can afford and it will benefit at most 20,000 HIV
Powell addresses SA Aids issue: BBC - Friday, 25 May, 2001; Colin Powell says he feels an emotional connection with Africa The American Secretary of State, Colin Powell, is due to visit an Aids centre in the township of Soweto, on the second day of his trip to South Africa . On Thursday Mr Powell held talks with South Africa s President Thabo Mbeki, after which he declared that
Powell urges DR Congo reconciliation: BBC - Sunday, 27 May, 2001; US Secretary of State Colin Powell has called on the Ugandan president to comply with peace accords in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Speaking after talks in Kampala, Mr Powell said he and President Yoweri Museveni had discussed the importance of the accords in ending the fighting, and the withdrawal of foreign forc
Minister refuses blood payout calls: Haemophiliacs caught hepatitis C through infected blood products: BBC - Wednesday, 23 May, 2001; Health Minister Susan Deacon has refused to commit the Scottish Executive to paying out compensation to haemophiliacs who contracted hepatitis C through contaminated blood products. The minister received a grilling from members of the Scottish Parliament s Health and Community Care Committee. MSPs on the committee
Powell trip to focus on Aids: BBC - Tuesday, 22 May, 2001; Richard Lister in Washington; United States Secretary of State Colin Powell is embarking on his first official visit to Africa, where he will focus on regional conflicts and the threat from Aids. Mr Powell, the first African-American Secretary of State, will begin his tour in Mali on Wednesday morning, after an overnight flight from Washingto
Virus research 'breached safety rules': Researchers failed to take proper precautions, the court heard: BBC - Tuesday, 22 May, 2001; One of London s top research units has admitted that it broke health and safety legislation while combining two dangerous viruses. Imperial College had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing at London s Marylebone Magistrates Court to two charges relating to laboratory work involving a combination of the Hepatitis C and
Blood stocks hit by exotic holidays: 10,000 units of blood a day are needed in England and north Wales: BBC - Tuesday, 22 May, 2001; Tourists heading off to exotic destinations are being urged to give blood before they go to maintain blood stocks. Strict rules to prevent donated blood being contaminated with disease mean that travellers returning from various tropical countries are banned from giving blood for a year. Blood service bosses concede th
Talks open on global Aids targets: HIV drugs should be made more widely available: BBC - Tuesday, 22 May, 2001; UN delegates from more than 100 countries have begun debating a plan calling for tough new targets to combat Aids world-wide. The aim is to halt and to start to reverse the global Aids epidemic by 2015. The proposals include spending up to �6.5bn a year by 2005 on fighting the condition in developing countries. It
Southern Africa leadership 'failing': BBC - Wednesday, 16 May, 2001; South Africa and Zimbabwe have come under fire from an influential international think-tank for failing to provide effective leadership in the region in the past year. The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe s domestic and regional excesses have e
Lib Dem manifesto: At-a-glance: BBC - Tuesday, 15 May, 2001; The key points of the 2001 Liberal Democrat election manifesto. Health 27,500 nurses and midwives and 4,600 doctors to be recruited by 2005 10,000 more hospital beds to be created by the same time Nurses annual pay to rise by an average �1,000 - those on lower salaries will get more Free NHS dental and eye checks to be
Bianca Jagger heads Aids campaign: BBC - Monday, 14 May, 2001; Jagger: We can t abandon those innocent children Bianca Jagger, ex-wife of Rolling Stone Mick, is fronting a campaign to help those suffering from Aids in Africa, telling of a catastrophe of apocalyptic dimensions . Nicaraguan-born Jagger, 55, recently visited Zambia , where she met children suffering from the disease.
Condom row in South Africa: Complaints about small condoms have little substance: BBC - Monday, 14 May, 2001; There have been complaints in South Africa over condoms being imported from India and China , in particular over their size. A national survey of prostitutes has revealed that South African men had problems using the standard-size condoms, complaining they were too sma
Country profile: Botswana: BBC - Monday, 14 May, 2001; Botswana is Africa s longest continuous multiparty democracy. It is among the continent s most stable countries, relatively free of corruption and has an outstanding human rights record. Botswana is also among the world s biggest diamond producers and protects some of the continent s largest areas of wilderness.
Africa 'has 12 million Aids orphans': BBC - Monday, 14 May, 2001; The charity Christian Aid has called on the UK Government to double the amount of money it gives to help fight Aids in Africa. In a report, the charity says the scale of the crisis in Africa - where millions of children have been orphaned by the disease - should encourage ministers to increase spending. It says the gov
Libyan HIV trial adjourned - again: BBC - Sunday, 13 May, 2001; The hearing was suspended until 2 June to satisfy lawyers demands for more questioning of the defendants and to allow doctors to examine some of the accused, said Judge Ibrahim Lajnaf. The defendants, all of them nurses or doctors, were arrested more than two years ago. They deny the charges, but could face the death
Saying farewell to Africa: Africa has some of the world's most amazing scenery: BBC - Saturday, 12 May, 2001; Jane Standley; The familiar shape has for so long been a comfort to me. The voluptuous curve of the west, the languid bend of the southern tip, the arch of the east out into the ocean. It is the map of Africa on the wall above my desk. It is the shape of my memories. But this is a map which shows how much Aids has spread. The countri
Bush pledges $200m to Aids fund: BBC - Friday, 11 May, 2001; US President George W Bush has announced a $200m donation to a global fund to fight Aids and other diseases afflicting poor countries. The fund has been set up by the United Nations with the aim of raising between $7bn and $10bn - the United States is the first country to commit to it. Referring to the spread of Ai
Africa HIV fight needs new recruits: BBC - Tuesday, 8 May, 2001; A crisis in recruiting health professionals is severely hampering work to tackle the HIV pandemic in Africa, a leading charity has warned. The international development charity VSO has launched an appeal for health workers to join the fight against HIV in Africa. At present, 85% of HIV-related health placements are unf
Boy, 5, stabbed with syringe at school: BBC News - Saturday, 5 May, 2001; A five-year-old boy will have to undergo an HIV test after he was stabbed in the arm with a syringe by a classmate. An investigation by police and social services has begun into the incident in a schoolyard at Port Talbot, south Wales. The child was playing with friends when a four-year-old classmate stuck the needle i
Resistance to HIV drugs 'growing': BBC News - Thursday, 3 May, 2001; Strains of HIV which are resistant to drug therapy are becoming more common in the UK, according to research. A Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) researcher estimates that more than a quarter of those newly-infected with HIV in the year 2000 will have a resistant strain. This compares to14% of a sample of people
Prostitutes conduct HIV research: BBC News - Thursday, 3 May, 2001; The South African Medical Research Council has enlisted prostitutes in its latest research into HIV among truck drivers. They questioned their clients about their sexual habits, and also took samples of their saliva for analysis. The council said the roadside prostitutes were better able to win the confidence of the tr
Alarming HIV increase in Georgia): BBC News - Tuesday, 1 May, 2001; The medical authorities in Georgia have expressed fears that AIDS could spread quickly in the country if counter-measures are not taken now. The Health Ministry said it was starting a new campaign against HIV infection, which can lead to AIDS, after nine new HIV cases were registered in April -- a record increase for G
World Bank targets poverty, Aids: BBC News - Tuesday, 1 May 2001; David Schepp in Washington; International finance officials have wrapped up a three-day meeting in Washington pledging to fight poverty and the spread of infectious disease in the poorest countries. They vowed to set up a multi-billion dollar war chest to buy cheap drugs to combat HIV/Aids in places such as Africa where the disease has taken a se
Mali strikes cheap HIV drugs deal: BBC News - Sunday, 8 April, 2001; Health officials in Mali say they ve reached a deal for the supply of cut-rate drugs from four major Western companies to tackle HIV. The deal reduces the cost of the drugs to a tenth of their current value. But the health ministry says even these sharply reduced rates will still leave treatment beyond the reach of mos
Doctor cleared in HIV scandal: BBC On-line - Wednesday, 28 March, 2001; A court in Tokyo has cleared a former top Aids expert of professional negligence over a scandal that exposed thousands to the HIV virus through tainted blood products. I cannot accept the ruling that the doctor is innocent - it is mortifying The former vice-president of Teikyo University Hospital, Takeshi Abe, had been
South Africa HIV-Aids cases rise: BBC News - Tuesday, 20 March, 2001; The South African government says there s been a significant rise of more than half-a-million in the number of people infected with HIV. The country already has one of the highest levels in the world of the infection that normally leads to AIDS -- about one in nine people are HIV-positive. Over the next two decades, al
SA rejects HIV test kits: BBC News - Monday, 19 March, 2001; The South African Government has turned down the offer of one million free HIV testing kits. The refusal comes at a time when South African doctors complain of a shortage of testing equipment. The opposition has said that the decision reflects the government s lack of urgency when it comes to Aids, with an estimated 10
HIV case man jailed for five years: BBC News - Friday, 16 March, 2001; A man found guilty of knowingly infecting a former girlfriend with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been sentenced to five years in jail. Stephen Kelly, 33, was found guilty by majority verdict last month of reckless conduct after a landmark trial at the High Court in Glasgow. Throughout the nine-day trial, K
Ivorian medics reveal cheap drugs strategy: BBC News - Friday, 16 March, 2001; The health authorities in Ivory Coast have revealed the strategy they used to encourage international drug companies to offer them massive price cuts in AIDS drugs. The head of the anti-AIDS programme, Dr Lamine Sidibe phon told the BBC that last year Ivory Coast imported relatively cheap generic copies. He said th
HIV victim says justice done: BBC News - Friday, 16 March, 2001; A woman who was knowingly infected with HIV by her former partner has described a five-year jail term handed down to him as irrelevant . Anne Craig said all she had ever wanted was for the jury at the High Court in Glasgow to find Stephen Kelly guilty of failing to tell her he had the condition and infecting her. K
Analysis: Aids drugs and the law: BBC News - Thursday, 15 March, 2001; Elizabeth Blunt; No one - neither South African President Thabo Mbeki nor anyone else - is saying that Aids is not a national emergency. One in 10 South Africans is believed to be HIV positive. In neighbouring Botswana the rate is even higher - one in three of the adult population. The sickness and death of what should be the most ener
Mbeki rules out AIDS emergency: BBC News - Wednesday, 14 March, 2001; The South African president, Thabo Mbeki, has rejected appeals by the opposition and trade unions to declare AIDS and the HIV infection a national emergency. The measure would have allowed the purchase and production of cheaper generic versions of drugs to tackle the infection, which affects more than four-million Sout
Mbeki rejects Aids emergency measures: BBC News - Wednesday, 14 March, 2001; Greg Barrow in Johannesburg; South Africa s President, Thabo Mbeki, has rejected appeals by the opposition and trade unions to declare Aids and the HIV infection a national emergency. Such a step would allow South Africa to purchase and manufacture cheaper generic versions of anti-Aids or anti-retroviral drugs that are currently priced way beyond
Vaccine scare in Nigeria: BBC News - Tuesday, 13 March, 2001; Outbreaks of meningitis and measles in the northwest of Nigeria are reported to have killed nearly two-hundred children. The health authorities have urged families to bring children for vaccination, but say they re having problems persuading them, because of misinformation that vaccines contain the HIV virus and can le
Ivory Coast clinches Aids drugs deal: BBC News - Saturday, 10 March, 2001; Ivory Coast s Government says it has obtained massive price cuts from international pharmaceutical firms for Aids therapy drugs. Ivory Coast is the first country to benefit from a decision taken by some of the major pharmaceutical companies to slash the price of these drugs in Africa, ministers believe. The Ivorian min
HIV: African perspective: BBC News - Saturday, 10 March, 2001; The Terrence Higgins Trust Aids charity is planning a major campaign to overcome prejudice towards HIV sufferers in Britain s African communities. BBC News Online s Community Affairs reporter Cindi John spoke to one man about his experiences. I remember I thought straightaway: I m just going to run to the station and t
UK Aids campaign targets Africans: BBC News - Saturday, 10 March, 2001; An Aids charity is starting a campaign aimed at offering support to the large numbers of Africans in Britain who are HIV positive. The Terrence Higgins Trust says it wants to remove the stigma surrounding the condition in many African communities and enable those affected to get treatment earlier. The health promotion
Aids vaccine shows promise: BBC News - Thursday, 8 March, 2001; An experimental vaccine has kept animals healthy even after exposure to very high levels of an HIV-type virus. An aids vaccine would be the best long term solution to the global pandemic The results are said to be among the best seen in animal experiments, and the vaccine is now on a fast track for human clinical trial
Keeping Cameroon's primates from the pot: BBC News - Thursday, 8 March, 2001; Francis Ngwa Niba in Yaounde; A British wildlife charity in Cameroon has set up an educational programme aimed at encouraging schoolchildren to stop eating the meat of endangered species. These primates are friends and eating them is like eating a friend Biology teacher The charity - Cameroon Wildlife Aid Fund - began work at Yaounde Mvogbetsi Zoo
US firm offers cheap Aids drugs: Wednesday, 7 March, 2001; A US drugs company has said it will reduce the price of two Aids treatments for poorer countries. The company, Merck, says the move means it will make no profit on the drugs, when sold in developing countries. The move comes a month after an Indian manufacturer offered supplies of generic anti-Aids drugs at prices that
Botswana firm's Aids drug subsidy: BBC News - Wednesday, 7 March, 2001; A total of 24 million carry the virus in Africa Botswana s biggest diamond company is to start subsidising the supply of life-prolonging drugs for HIV-positive employees. The company, Debswana, said it would pay 90% of the cost of the drugs for any of its employees, or their spouses, who carry the virus that causes Aid
Diamonds and drugs in Botswana: BBC News - Wednesday, 7 March, 2001; The national diamond corporation in Botswana is to start subsidising the supply of drugs to treat those of its workers who suffer from AIDS. The company, Debswana, said it would pay ninety per cent of the cost of the drugs for any of its employees, or their spouses, who are HIV-positive. The decision follows moves
Kenya to import 'cheap' Aids drugs: BBC News - Tuesday, 6 March, 2001; Andrew Harding in Nairobi; Dr Pamela Mandela is the volunteer to test a new vaccine Kenya says it plans start importing cheap generic Aids drugs as soon as possible. Kenyan Health Minister Sam Ongeri said the appropriate legislation would be put to parliament within the next few weeks. More than 500 Kenyans die of Aids-related illnesses every da
Sex workers to combat trafficking: BBC News - Tuesday, 6 March, 2001; A meeting of several thousand sex workers from India and other countries across Asia has agreed measures to combat the trafficking of vulnerable women. The sex workers - who gathered in the Indian city of Calcutta - said they would set up a network to prevent women being targeted by trafficking gangs.
Delay for Aids drugs case: BBC News - Tuesday, 6 March, 2001; A court case brought by the world s leading drug companies against the South African government - to overturn a law allowing the import of cheap copies of their products - has been adjourned in Pretoria until 18 April. The adjournment was requested by lawyers for the drug firms following a request by a non-governmental
Court battle over Aids drugs: BBC News - Monday, 5 March, 2001; Drugs are too expensive for many sufferers A legal dispute with far-reaching consequences for Aids prevention in developing countries has begun in the South African capital, Pretoria. The act would do nothing for access to quality and affordable medicines Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association Multinational pharmaceu
Centre fined for HIV breach: BBC News - Friday, 2 March, 2001; A research centre has been fined �20,000 for exposing the public to an unacceptable risk from HIV. The Imperial College of Science, based in Kensington, south west London, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for flouting safety laws in a laboratory where scientists were growing HIV. London s Blackfr
Male contraceptive 'could fight STDs': BBC News - Thursday, 1 March, 2001; Scientists hope to develop a male pill that protects like a condom A male contraceptive pill that protects against sexually transmitted diseases could one day become a reality, say scientists in China . They believe it may be possible to develop a drug that will block sperm production and fight infections, including HI
Profile: President Yoweri Museveni: BBC News - Thursday, 1 March, 2001; Anna Borzello in Kampala; President Yoweri Museveni, faces the first real political challenge of his career in the 12 March elections. The 56-year-old has until now been the undisputed boss. His only opponents have come from the outside - branded multi-partyists , a word for those who support the cause of a return to a pluralist system of gover
Garlic tackles child infections: BBC News - Thursday, 1 March, 2001; Joanna Ross in Cape Town; South African researchers may have found a simple and effective way of tackling dangerous infections - garlic. The Child s Health Institute in Cape Town has found that garlic has antifungal and antibiotic powers. Sid Cywes, Professor of paediatrics at the Red Cross Children s Hospital, discovered the garlic s power by
New AIDS drugs plan for Africa: BBC News - Wednesday, 28 February, 2001; An American company says it is creating a fund worth two-hundred-and-fifty million dollars to buy drugs for treating AIDS and distribute them in Africa free of charge. The company, Phyto-Riker, says it has the backing of the United States Export-Import Bank and the government of Ghana .
Clinton attacks media: BBC News - Wednesday, 28 February, 2001; Former US president Bill Clinton has attacked the country s media for covering TV programmes like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in preference to worldwide political issues. Mr Clinton, speaking at a New York conference backed by media trade journal Variety, said he found 24,520 news stories about the quiz show, compare
'Nine billion people by 2050': BBC News - Wednesday, 28 February, 2001; The number of people living in the world s poorest nations will triple by the year 2050 as world population soars more than nine billion, according to the latest United Nations projections. Key predictions Population rise from 6.1bn to 9.3bn Poorest 48 countries population grows from 658m to 1.8bn Rich countries remain
Drugs firms out of the dock: BBC News - Monday, 26 February, 2001, 19:41 GMT; Jorn Madslien.; Global drug companies leapt at the chance to save face on Monday when UK chancellor Gordon Brown offered them a solution to their collective image problem. Attending an anti child-poverty conference, Mr Brown said he might offer tax breaks to encourage more research into diseases that are widespread in the developing w
'Dental scare' patients traced: BBC News - Monday, 26 February, 2001; Greater Glasgow Health Board said it has traced more than 3,600 former patients of a disgraced dentist who treated people with unsterilised equipment. William Duff, 39, was sentenced to three years in prison last week after he admitted charges of fraud and endangering patients health by using dirty equipment. Health of
HIV man guilty of infecting girlfriend: Friday, 23 February, 2001; A man has been found guilty of recklessly infecting his former girlfriend with the human immunodeficiency virus in a landmark Scottish legal case. Stephen Kelly, 33, of Provanmill, in Glasgow, had denied culpable and reckless conduct in having sex with 34-year-old Anne Craig. However, a jury of 10 men and five women at
Fears for sufferers after HIV verdict: BBC News - Friday, 23 February, 2001, 17:49 GMT; Campaigners have expressed concern that a man s conviction for recklessly infecting a former partner with HIV could create further stigma for sufferers. They said the high profile case of Stephen Kelly could also deter people who fear that they have HIV going forward for tests. Angela Webb, of the Aids counselling serv
African leaders push for Aids loans: BBC News - Friday, 23 February, 2001; Elizabeth Blunt in Dar es Salaam; The heads of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam, for the second of two regional meetings with African heads of state. One difference from the earlier meetings, in Bamako, is that more time is certain to be devoted to the issue of HIV and Aids, since the countri
HIV detection in pregnancy improved: BBC News - Friday, 23 February, 2001, 00:02 GMT; There have been significant improvements in the numbers of HIV infections detected in pregnant women. An average of two thirds of HIV positive pregnant women in England and Wales were diagnosed before they gave birth in the first half of 2000. Diagnosing their infections means doctors can try to reduce the risk of the
'Dirty needle' dentist jailed: BBC News - Thursday, 22 February, 2001; A dentist who admitted defrauding the National Health Service and using dirty needles on patients has been jailed for three years at Glasgow Sheriff Court. William Duff, 39, admitted exposing patients to blood infections, including HIV, by failing to steralise equipment at his practice in the Maryhill area of Glasgow.
'No crime' claim in HIV trial: BBC News - Thursday, 22 February, 2001; A court has been told that a Glasgow man accused of knowingly infecting his girlfriend with HIV should not be convicted because no crime has been committed. Donald Findlay, QC, said 33-year-old Stephen Kelly and his former lover Anne Craig, 34, were both victims in what he described as the most distressing of cases.
Kenyan challenge to Aids drug prices: BBC News - Wednesday, 21 February, 2001; In what could become a important test of international law, an orphanage for HIV-positive children in Kenya has announced it will order Aids drugs from Cipla , an Indian drug manufacturer supplying medication at an affordable rate. The Nairobi orphanage s director, Father Angelo d Agostino, says his decision was prompt
NGOs plea for Kenyan AIDS victims: BBC News - Wednesday, 21 February, 2001; Non-governmental groups working with AIDS suffererers in Kenya have called for more transparency in price negotiations between big drugs companies and the Kenyan government. The groups say drug companies failed to keep a promise made last year to reduce prices by up to eighty-five per-cent; instead they were offering p
Poor benefit from SA budget: BBC News - Wednesday, 21 February, 2001; South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has announced increased spending on social welfare and crime fighting in the country s budget for the fiscal year 2001-2. Mr Manuel told parliament that the government would have more money in its coffers - some of it from privatisation schemes - but that this would largely
Urine potion doctor struck off: BBC News - Tuesday, 20 February, 2001; A doctor who claimed he could cure Aids, cancer and ME with alternative medicine has been struck off the medical register. Dr Michael Kirkman, 64, from Sussex, advised patients to change their diet and sold them potions made from their own blood and urine. He was not at the General Medical Council hearing, but denied s
Nigerian sues over HIV sacking: BBC News - Tuesday, 20 February, 2001; In the first case of its kind in Nigeria , a nurse has gone to court challenging her dismissal by her former employers on the ground that she tested positive for HIV, the virus which causes Aids. The nurse, Mrs Georgina Ahamefule, is claiming about $10,000 in damages from the private clinic in Lagos where she worked un
Straw unveils compensation details: BBC News - Monday, 19 February, 2001; The details of a new government package to compensate victims of crime have been unveiled. The minimum award for rape victims will be increased from �7,500 to �11,000 and people who suffer multiple injuries will receive higher sums. Compensation for many types of injury will go up by 10%, including severe burns to �33,
Inquiry call over infected blood: BBC News - Monday, 19 February, 2001; A top doctor is calling for a public inquiry into the use of imported blood to treat haemophiliacs - 70 of whom later died. Dr Peter Jones, executive member of the World Federation of Haemophilia, said that back in the early 1970s, he had to give his patients imported blood products from America which were infected wit
Supporters link arms for Aids hospice: BBC News - Sunday, 18 February, 2001, 20:08 GMT; Hundreds of people have linked arms round Scotland s only Aids hospice amid fears that it may soon close. Supporters formed a human chain round Milestone House in Edinburgh in a bid to convince health authorities that it deserves to be kept open. The hospice, which has been open since 1991, has been threatened with clo
Boyfriend revealed he had HIV: BBC News - Thursday, 15 February, 2001; A woman broke down as she told a court how her former boyfriend revealed that she may have contracted the HIV virus. Mother-of-three Anne Craig, 34, wept as she gave evidence in the case of Stephen Kelly at the High Court in Glasgow. Mr Kelly, 33, denies culpable and reckless conduct in having sex with Miss Craig while
HIV 'infection' trial begins: BBC News - Tuesday, 13 February, 2001; A man has gone on trial at the High Court in Glasgow accused of culpably and recklessly infecting a woman with HIV. Stephen Kelly, 33, is charged with having sex with Anne Craig while knowing or believing that he was infected with HIV. The offence is alleged to have happened in Kings Park, Glasgow, and at houses in Eli
Neeson auction rallies Hollywood stars: BBC News - Wednesday, 13 February, 2001; An auction, spearheaded by Irish actor Liam Neeson to raise money for the charity UNICEF, is expected to raise millions for aids sufferers in Africa. The online part of the Sothebys auction, which has attracted the attention of hundreds of celebrities, begins on 15 February. Neeson, who is a special patron of UNICEF, b
Thais battle firms over Aids drugs: Tens of thousands of Thai babies have been infected with HIV: BBC News - Monday, 12 February, 2001; Simon Ingram in Bangkok; Thailand is one country at the forefront of the battle between developing countries and the multinational pharmaceutical companies over the need for affordable medicines. The country has an urgent need to address the issue - an estimated one million people are infected with HIV, the virus that causes Aids. The Th
Drugs firms 'waging war' on poor: BBC News - Monday, 12 February, 2001; The international aid group, Oxfam, has accused the global pharmaceutical industry and western governments of waging what it calls an undeclared drugs war against the world s poorest countries. The organisation says developing countries must be allowed to make cheap copies of drugs to treat diseases such as Aids, respi
Haemophiliacs strike protest: BBC News - Monday, 12 February, 2001; A haemophiliacs are risking their lives by refusing treatment in protest at the government s refusal to fund a safer synthetic blood clotting agent. Among them is Marc Payton, from Worcestershire, who has refused for the last three weeks to take the clotting agent in use at the moment, Factor VIII, which is derived fro
Coil disease risk 'over-stated': BBC News - Sunday, 11 February, 2001; Women who use the coil may not be at as high a risk of developing serious complications from sexually transmitted infections as previously thought, say researchers. The finding could have a significant impact on contraceptive policy in developing countries. The coil, or intra-uterine device (IUD), is a common method of
Mbeki upbeat on SA future: BBC News - Friday, 9 February, 2001; South African President Thabo Mbeki used his state of the nation speech at the opening of parliament on Friday morning to highlight the achievements of the governing African National Congress in the post-apartheid era. Mr Mbeki also emphasised that more needs to be done if South Africa is to become a less racially-divi
Indian firm offers cheap Aids drugs: BBC News - Wednesday, 7 February, 2001; An Indian drugs company is planning to supply expensive anti-Aids drugs to the world s poor for less than a dollar a day. Bombay-based Cipla Ltd is offering the triple-cocktail treatment to international aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) Similar drug therapies can cost between $10,000 and $15,000 per patient pe
New US aids alarm: BBC News - Tuesday, 6 February, 2001; A new government study in the United States has shown that almost one in three young homosexual men there is infected with the HIV virus which causes Aids. The figure contrasts sharply with the incidence of HIV in other ethnic groups; among homosexual whites, the infection rate is seven per cent, and for Asian American
New HIV type found: BBC News - Monday, 5 February, 2001; A newly discovered form of HIV may already have been transmitted world-wide, experts have warned. They fear that current treatments and experimental vaccines will prove ineffective against this new form of the deadly virus. It was first detected in blood samples taken from an Aids patient in
Aids boy too ill for birthday: BBC News - Sunday, 4 February, 2001; The South African boy whose plight has dramatised the Aids epidemic in South Africa was 12 years old on Sunday - but was too ill to attend his own birthday party. Nkosi Johnson, who collapsed with Aids-related brain damage in December, spent the day in bed, unable to eat or speak. Doctors say that they can do nothing m
Brazil in US Aids drugs row: BBC News - Saturday, 3 February, 2001; Iain Haddow; A dispute between Brazil and the United States over the high cost of drugs used to treat people with HIV and Aids has taken a new twist. Brazil has threatened to copy two of the most expensive Aids drugs if the makers do not lower their prices. The US says copying the drugs violates patent rules and has complained t
Brazil, US in AIDS drug row: BBC News - Saturday, 3 February, 2001; A dispute between Brazil and the United States over the high cost of drugs used to treat people with HIV and AIDS has taken a new twist. The head of Brazil s AIDS programme, Paulo Teixeira, said the government will begin producing copies of two of the most expensive AIDS drugs later this year if the American drug compa
Banned HIV test kits sold online: Wednesday, 31 January, 2001, 00:03 GMT; Clare Bradley; A legal loophole means HIV home testing kits which are banned in the UK can be bought on the internet for just under �30. Companies which sell the tests, which work by taking a tiny sample of blood from a pin prick, claim they are more than 99% reliable. But UK doctors say they are not as good as tests carried out in a
Haemophiliacs face vCJD scare: UK plasma is no longer used to make blood products: BBC News - Tuesday, 30 January, 2001; Doctors are trying to trace NHS haemophiliacs who may have been exposed to blood plasma from a donor later found to have been infected with vCJD - the human form of mad cow disease. Counselling has been arranged for patients and their families, while efforts are made to establish whether they received the infected trea
Wonder needle cuts accident rate: BBC On-line - Monday, 29 January, 2001; The introduction of safer syringes has eradicated the risk of dentists suffering injuries from needles. The study, at London s St Bartholomew s and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, was aimed at preventing dentists and their staff stabbing themselves with infected needles when they removed them from in
Gates millions for Aids research: BBC News - Saturday, 27 January, 2001; The computer software billionaire Bill Gates has challenged global business leaders to follow his lead and donate money for research into an Aids vaccine. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos, the Microsoft chairman said he would donate $100m, through his private foundation. The donation is
Rwanda joins cheaper AIDS treatment deal: BBC On-line - Friday, 26 January, 2001, 18:40 GMT; Rwanda has become the third African country to make a deal with international companies for cheaper drugs to fight AIDS. Doctors in the capital, Kigali, said the agreement would make a huge difference to the treatment of AIDS sufferers. An estimated one-million people in Rwanda are infected with the HIV virus that ca
HIV levels highest ever: BBC On-line - Thursday, 25 January, 2001; The number of people diagnosed with HIV in the UK last year is expected to be the highest ever. New data by the Public Health Services Laboratory (PHLS) shows so far 2,868 new cases have been reported for the year 2000, but more are expected. Dr Barry Evans, Head of the PHLS Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre sai
Drug simplifies living with HIV: Combination treatments can involve 15 pills every day: BBC News - Tuesday, 16 January, 2001; A new treatment for the Aids virus - which will significantly reduce the number of pills patients have to take - becomes available on Tuesday. Trizivir is the first treatment to combine three proven and established HIV therapies - zidovudine, lamivudine and
Words of hope from child Aids victim: Nkosi has become very ill since his Durban speech: BBC On-line - Sunday, 14 January, 2001; Allan Little, in Johannesburg; Let me tell you the seven words that haunt me. They were spoken at the World Aids Conference in Durban last July, by a tiny, emaciated child of 11, who had lived with HIV since the day he was born. A child so thin and underdeveloped that he looked much younger. Seven words from a child who knew that he was bound to die
HIV nurses 'pose no risk': BBC News - Friday, 12 January, 2001; A number of hospital staff recruited in Africa for jobs in the Midlands have been found to be HIV positive, but officials say there is no risk to patients. Wolverhampton Health Authority says between five and 10 staff and students have the virus, and are either working at hospitals in the city or completing a three-yea
Blocking HIV's 'grappling hook': BBC News - Thursday, 11 January, 2001; Doctors may get a potentially potent HIV-inhibiting drug in tablet form after a breakthrough by US scientists. The researchers have found a tiny protein molecule that locks on to the virus and stops it working a harpoon-like component which pushes into the cell it wants to infect. Unless the virus can lock its membrane
The cost of death in Malawi: BBC News - Thursday, 11 January, 2001; Business is booming at the Chanache coffin workshop in Blantyre, Malawi s second city. Nedson Chanache, who runs the business, remembers that his father used to make one coffin a week. Now we are selling about 20 or 30 coffins a day - that is only in town. But we have got branches... so in total we are selling almost 5
Zambia axes safe sex ads: The advertisements showed how to use a condom: BBC On-line - Thursday, 11 January, 2001; Ishbel Matheson in Lusaka; The Zambian Government has suspended a controversial television advertisment campaign which promotes safe sex through the use of condoms. The move follows fierce criticism from churches who complained the campaign was encouraging promiscuity. The adverts were aimed at curbing high rates of HIV infection, particularly a
Zambia axes safe sex campaign: BBC On-line - Wednesday, 10 January, 2001; The Zambian government has suspended a television advertisement campaign which promotes safe sex through the use of condoms, after continued criticism from churches and government ministers. The campaign was aimed at curbing high rates of HIV infection, particularly among young people. The BBC correspondent in Lusaka s
Country profile: Swaziland: Wednesday, 10 January, 2001; Swaziland is one of the world s last remaining absolute monarchies, with the king ruling by decree over his million subjects who live mainly in rural areas and maintain traditional ways of life. The power of the throne, however, has not gone unchallenged. King Mswati III, on the throne since 1986, is upholding the tr
Aids is a main concern in South African education: BBC News - Wednesday, 10 January,