Iranian health workers have been urged not to turn away patients with HIV or Aids in a new effort to check the spread of the disease. A directive to state and private medical facilities warned that any refusal to accept such patients was against the law and would be followed up , the official news agency Irna reported.
Charity volunteer James Baker has been working with a small organisation in the Keta region of Ghana called Youth Against Aids. He tells BBC News Online about the fight to get Aids in the country under control. As many as 3.5% of Ghana s population is estimated to be HIV positive. Last year it was believed to be 3%
Scientists have encountered unexpected success using a vaccine of immune cells to counter an HIV-like virus in monkeys. HIV harms humans by destroying vital immune cells, leaving the body wide open to dangerous predatory infections. The idea behind the vaccine is to prime the body s own immune system to cope better wit
Mark Fowler, the EastEnders character played by Todd Carty who has been living with HIV for the last 12 years, is to be killed off. He has been away from the series for some months, but the end will come - for good - in February. He will leave Walford Square because he does not want his family to watch him die. Mar
A Big Issue seller who knew he was HIV positive and raped another man in Swansea city centre has been jailed for four years. The teenage victim had to wait three months before doctors could tell him he had not contracted the disease. Swansea Crown Court heard that Alan Clune, 23, of no fixed address, knew he was both H
Remarkable time-lapse pictures show, for the first time ever, HIV at work in a human cell. The pictures offer proof that the virus uses the cell s own machinery to be dragged inside the cell. An estimated 45 million people worldwide are living with HIV, according to the latest figures. Scientists are learning more abou
A drive has been launched to increase the number of people with HIV/Aids in the developing world who get access to potentially life-prolonging drugs. At present just one in 20 people who are infected with HIV in poor countries is able to take advantage of drugs that are widely available to people in richer nations.
Compulsory HIV checks on new doctors and nurses in the UK are to go ahead, it is reported. The move has been prompted by fears that, as tens of thousands of overseas doctors and nurses are recruited, hundreds may be carrying HIV. A consultation paper will be published in the new year detailing plans for the testing pro
Over 100 patients have been offered HIV tests after it was confirmed a healthcare worker was found to have contracted the virus. The Dorset and Somerset Health Authority said it had offered the tests to 125 patients who could have been at risk after being in contact with the worker. The hospital is refusing to reveal t
Every immigrant arriving in the UK should be screened for diseases like HIV, a former president of the British Medical Association has said. Lord Walton of Detchant said he was concerned about the number of people arriving in the country with HIV or drug-resistant tuberculosis . Speaking in the House of Lords, he s
In China , residents of a small pioneering care home for people with HIV/Aids say they have been evicted following their landlord s discovery that they carried the virus. Ironically, it happened just as the country marked World Aids Day on Sunday. Health workers say the project, in the southern city of Guangzhou, is pe
China is set to lift a long-term ban on condom adverts as part of efforts to tackle Aids, state media has reported. The policy shift was reported a day after China marked World Aids day by launching a campaign to stamp out its spiralling pandemic - its biggest-ever public acknowledgement of an issue which has long been
A rise in the number of people in the South West region of England being diagnosed with HIV, has been revealed by health workers to coincide with the start of World Aids Week. The Eddystone Trust said the number of gay men with the virus has remained relatively stable. But there has been a dramatic increase in the numb
Countries across Asia have marked World AIDS Day with events to raise public awareness of the disease amid warnings that the number of those infected with HIV is increasing. Speaking at a rally in India , Jahnabi Goswami, the first woman in Assam to declare her HIV-positive status in public - said help and emotional su
China has marked World Aids day by launching a campaign to stamp out its spiralling Aids problem. In a sign of official acceptance of an issue which has long been ignored, a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing inaugurated a project to send volunteers into the countryside to spread information about Ai
A campaign has been launched by the government to promote safe sex among young people following a rise in the number of new HIV cases in the UK. New figures, released ahead of World Aids Day on Sunday, show a 25 per cent increase in the number of British people infected with HIV over the last year. The figures suggest
The number of people newly diagnosed with HIV in the UK has risen by 25% over the last year, latest figures suggest. The news comes ahead of World Aids Day on Sunday, and as the government launches a fresh attempt to promote safe sex. The figures suggest about 41,000 people in the UK now have HIV and more people have b
Police in India say seven members of the same family have committed suicide after the head of the household was diagnosed HIV-positive. Relatives said they were unable to afford to pay for the man s treatment. The seven bodies, including those of five children, were found in a reservoir in the village of Bikaner in the
A new female condom is being launched in Europe in the run up to World Aids Day. The US-based manufacturer of V-Amour claims it provides the same protection as all condoms but is easier to use and cheaper. Female condoms made from thin, soft, lubricated plastic have been available around the world for some years. T
Some 12 million children in Africa have been orphaned by Aids - and that number is rising, according to the Save the Children Fund (SCF). As the UN holds its conference on Aids orphans in Africa, BBC News Online looks at the plight of a Ugandan child helped by the SCF. Teddy lives in a village in southern Uganda. Her p
Almost 3,000 people in the Irish Republic and 342 in Northern Ireland have been infected by HIV, a conference in County Down is to be told. According to Department of Health figures, just over a third of those infected in Northern Ireland have developed AIDS. Seventy-seven sufferers have died.
An Aids epidemic in Malawi has contributed to the country s worst famine in living memory. More than one in seven of the 12 million people living in Malawi have HIV. The disease has wreaked havoc in towns and cities across the country. It has also had a devastating impact on many farming communities. Increasingly,
More women are now infected with HIV/Aids than men and well above 40 million people are now living with the disease, latest figures reveal. More people are also dying from the disease than ever before, with 3.1m Aids-related deaths last year, the global update from UNAids reveals. The report, published ahead of World A
More women than men have been infected with HIV, according to the latest figures. UNAids officials say the statistics reveal the changing face of the disease. Globally, women now account for just over 50% of those infected with HIV. However, the figure hides huge variations across the world. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 58%
Public ignorance is fuelling the spread of HIV across India , according to the United Nations. An estimated 1% of India s one billion population has HIV. However, experts believe the true figure may be substantially higher. There are also fears that the number of new cases could rise rapidly in the years ahead unless p
A new iron curtain has emerged across Europe in recent years. This divide between East and West has been triggered by Aids rather than opposing political philosophies. Latest figures from UNAids show a continent fighting a common enemy but with very different results. In the West, there are currently 570,000 people liv
An estimated 34,000 people are living with HIV in the UK. However, one in three of these people are not aware they have the disease. Over 4,400 people were diagnosed with HIV last year - most of these caught the disease as a result of heterosexual sex. Official figures to be published later this week are expected to sh
The farmer s wife, Hu Zeying, is 66-years-old. She wears a faded blue cotton jacket and her face is streaked with tears. I met her in her one-storey brick house in Anhui province in eastern China . Her eldest son died of an Aids-related infection three months ago. Now her second son, Baifang, lies racked with fever, ba
HIV prevention efforts in the US may have averted as many as 1.5 million infections, say experts. Dr David Holtgrave, from Emory University s Center for Aids research, said that without the investment in HIV prevention the number people infected would now number the population size of a moderate or large US city. He
A doctor accused of telling an HIV positive patient he should carry on working as a prostitute has escaped being struck off. Dr David Tomlinson, who had worked at a sexual health clinic in London, had also been accused of carrying out inappropriate examinations on other patients. However, a General Medical Council disc
A giant condom is causing uproar in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The eight-foot high contraceptive was put on display in the lobby of the state assembly as part of a campaign to raise public awareness. Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu wants to mobilise opinion against HIV-Aids. But some members of the
Health authorities in southern China are reported to be launching a new trial project to supply sterile needles to intravenous drug users to help curb the spread of HIV/Aids. The scheme, in Guangdong province, bordering Hong Kong , is said to be the first scheme of its kind in China, even though Chinese ex
HIV and Aids in India received high-profile coverage during the recent visit by software tycoon, Bill Gates. But in the southern city of Madras - one of the worst affected cities in India - work has started on the ground to target the city s 75,000 or so street-dwelling children. In a bleak area of northern Madras,
Almost two in every three people taking pills to combat HIV infection has forgotten to take important doses of medication, a survey has found. Researchers say this is because the drug regimen for HIV is far too complex and burdensome. However, failure to stick to a prescribed regimen can render people more susceptible
A deal to open up poor countries access to cheap drugs looks within reach in Australia , boosting the fight against Aids and a range of other killer diseases. Trade ministers have given themselves till 31 December to find a compromise deal allowing developing countries to make generic copies of patented drugs and expor
South Africa s mining giant AngloGold has begun providing anti-retroviral drugs to HIV-positive employees - the first such business in the country to do so. The treatment is being supplied initially to those considered most at risk of developing full-blown Aids. AngloGold estimates that up to 30% of its 40,000 workforc
An Indian activist who has worked with prostitutes and others at risk of contracting Aids has been received the highest award of a leading international human rights body. Meena Seshu, who has been honoured by Human Rights Watch, has worked with sex workers in the Indian state of Maharashtra, helping them to spread awa
Dominic Casciani, BBC News Online community affairs reporter
The UK s leading HIV and Aids charity is beginning a campaign against homophobia among black communities - saying enough is enough. I told my brother and he didn t talk to me for four months. Now he keeps asking about my girlfriend. Well I tell him about relationships - but there s no girlfriend and he knows that. It s
Bill Gates, the head of the US computer giant Microsoft, has arrived in India on a four-day visit. He has announced that his charity, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is making a $100m grant to tackle the issue of Aids in India. The announcement, however, has been overshadowed by a row caused by a US report which
The southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh is to launch an year-long awareness campaign on Aids from next month. Officials say the state has nearly 400,000 HIV positive people. The Chief Minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, said there could be a big social and economic crisis in the state if the Aids problem was not taken s
A rapid new test for HIV, the virus which causes Aids, has been approved by the American Government s Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ). The test, devised by OraSure Technologies, can deliver results in about 20 minutes. The company says quicker diagnosis could reduce the spread of the disease and help people get tr
More people in Africa may have been infected with HIV while undergoing medical treatment than previously thought, say scientists. US researchers examined the pattern of HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa. It has been estimated that sexual transmission is responsible for more than 90% of HIV infections in Africa. H
The Nelson Mandela Children s Fund and The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund are launching a joint offensive to combat Aids in South Africa . At a dinner in London, the former South African president said they would try to improve care and support for more than 660,000 youngsters orphaned by country s aids crisis
Land-locked Laos is surrounded by some of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world. China , Thailand , Burma , Cambodia and Vietnam have all felt th
New technologies enable all kinds of social change, but old technologies do too. Usually it is not the technology that is important, but what people do with it that makes the difference. A perfect example of this is Radio Oxyjeune, that broadcasts to a poor suburb of Senegal s capital Dakar. The community radio station
Rupert Wingfield-Hayes , BBC correspondent, Beijing
China has announced an ambitious plan to improve the health of its vast rural population. More than 90% of children in rural China will be inoculated against common diseases by 2010. The plan also promises that 95% of counties will have anti- tuberculosis programmes and three-quarters of rural townships will prov
More than half of Britons have had a one night stand, according to a survey of sexual attitudes and behaviour. And 60% of those questioned for a poll believe prostitution should be legalised. But almost a quarter of respondents to the survey of more than 1,000 Britons said gay sex should be made illegal. One in three S
The South African Government has given its initial approval to a draft bill that would introduce mandatory HIV testing for rape suspects. South Africa has the highest number of people with HIV or Aids in the world, with one in nine people carrying the virus. Rape is also rife in the country, where one girl in four face
A United Nations report on gender issues in Vietnam says violence against women is widespread. It quotes one study as reporting that 80% of Vietnamese women have experienced some form of violence. The study found that almost all men and most women believed it was acceptable for a man to abuse his wife. The head of
Scientists believe they may be able to overcome a natural body defence which is hindering gene therapy for cystic fibrosis. Thousands in the UK are battling the lung disease, which, without transplantation, can prove fatal before the age of 30. Gene therapy is one of the big hopes for future treatments, as a mutation i
The number of people diagnosed with the HIV virus in north-east England has risen by 66% compared to 1999. This compares to a national average increase of 40%. In the region there were 68 new cases recorded in the first three months of 2002, compared to 166 instances in the whole of 2001. Dr Ed Ong, consultant in infec
Swaziland s parliament has refused to approve the purchase of a $50m luxury plane for King Mswati III, according to the Times of Swaziland. MPs voted against the government request by 25 to 16 after four hours of intense debate. Parliamentarian Marwick Khumalo, the king s cousin, said that 140,000 Swazis were currently
The lead singer of rock group Garbage has been named as patron of an HIV charity. Shirley Manson said she was delighted to be identified with Waverley Care, the largest HIV charity in Scotland. The 36-year-old star paid tribute to staff at the charity, which is based in her home city of Edinburgh. The singer revealed t
The generosity of BBC News Online readers has enabled an HIV-positive orphan in Zambia to begin treatment. Suwilanji Nachiwezya, 14, was born with the disease which has since claimed the lives of her parents. Her story was told in our weekly Real Time series in August by an English couple who have taken her under their
South Africa is in the grip of an unprecedented increase in the most despicable crime - baby rape. Allan Little reports for BBC Two s Correspondent on the devastating phenomenon and talks to the individuals involved in a case that shook the world. Some surveys suggest that up to a third of South Africans believe in a
The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has called on China to step up Aids prevention measures or face an explosive epidemic. Addressing students in the eastern city of Hangzhou, Mr Annan urged the authorities to take immediate action. China is facing a decisive moment, he said. There is no time to los
Two members of the team behind the Muppets are embarking on a mission to save Afghan children from landmines by creating an elaborate stage-show to take there. Michael Frith - one of Jim Henson s right-hand men on The Muppets and Fraggle Rock - has designed eight new characters with his wife, puppeteer Kathryn Mullen.
Australian scientists have provoked controversy by suggesting lemon juice could act as a cheap and effective birth control and help stop the spread of the deadly Aids virus. Reproductive scientist Roger Short, from the University of Melbourne, said laboratory tests have shown that lemon juice killed sperm and HIV, whic
In an emotionally charged film from South Africa , correspondent Allan Little and director Cliff Bestall examine a disturbing new phenomenon - baby rape. With 30% of South Africans believing that having sex with a virgin is a cure for AIDS - an unacceptably large number of children are at risk. South Africa has one
A unique centre for people affected by HIV and AIDS is facing closure unless money can be raised to save it. Tyddyn Bach in Penmaenmawr in Conwy, north Wales, offers accommodation to adults and children living with the illness. It is the only centre of its kind in the UK but the lease on the building is coming to an en
Investors with a social conscience are to get help from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, which is planning to launch an index of ethical stocks . The index will be modelled on London s FTSE4Good index launched last year. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has set out criteria that firms wishing to join the index mus
Girls under 16 who attend sexual disease clinics are three times more likely to have a sexually transmitted infection than other women, research indicates. Doctors analysed data from patients aged 16 and under who attended a genitourinary medicine clinic in London during the months of March and October 1998. The averag
The Angolan President, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, has said security and stability in southern Africa are the priorities for the Southern African Development Community, SADC. Mr dos Santos was speaking at the opening of the organisation s annual summit in the Angolan capital, Luanda. He also said the SADC had to work very
Pharmaceutical companies are investigating ways of repackaging medicines for Aids patients after a scandal in which cut-price drugs destined for Africa were illegally exported to Europe by criminal gangs. At least $15m worth of drugs for HIV positive patients - destined for sale at a big discount in west Africa - have
Postmen are being tested for HIV and hepatitis after hypodermic needles were found dumped in post boxes. At least four drivers in Nottingham have been pricked by used syringes while collecting letters in the past 12 months. Consignia confirmed advice has been issued to staff in the city and warning signs have been plac
Elizabeth Blunt, BBC correspondent at the United Nations
The United Nations special representative for humanitarian issues in Southern Africa, James Morris, has said that the crisis there is accelerating much faster than had been anticipated. Mr Morris, who has just returned from a visit to the six worst affected countries in the region, is expected to meet UN Secretary Gene
Scientists have identified why some HIV patients are immune from developing full-blown Aids. It has been known for some time that around 2% of HIV patients were protected in some way. But now, American and Chinese researchers have identified a group of proteins in the body which naturally block HIV developing into Aids
Police in Uganda have arrested 15 people after anti-Aids drugs donated by the US were stolen and then put on sale. The police said those arrested were health workers and businessmen. Nearly 300,000 tablets designed to treat Aids were donated to Uganda in February and distributed to health centres around the country.
Business bosses gathered at the Commonwealth business forum in London have been urged to take a leadership role in tackling Africa s Aids/HIV crisis. But Dr Julia Cleves, a senior policy advisor at UNAIDS , told BBC News Online that many firms still do not regard Aids as their problem. And she admitted that outsour
An Aids sufferer from Manchester has delivered a petition to Downing Street campaigning for him and others to have the right to die. Steven Barksby, 51, joined Diane Pretty s husband Brian in handing in the document, signed by around 50,000 campaigners. Mr Barksby, a former legal accountant who is now unemployed, said
HIV and Aids are spreading faster in eastern Europe than anywhere else in the world, posing a major threat to young people s health, experts warn. A report by Unicef says radical action is needed to stop the spread of the disease in Central and Eastern Europe and Russia and the former Soviet Republics, now the Commonwe
The South African version of the children s educational programme Sesame Street has introduced an HIV positive character. The programme, aimed at very young children, wants to show that those living with HIV are no different to others and should be treated as such. About one in nine South Africans have the virus, with
HIV-positive workers at finance giant Old Mutual are to be offered life-prolonging anti-Aids drugs, in a sign of growing corporate willingness to tackle the impact of the disease. Old Mutual, South Africa s biggest insurance firm, said it would expand its medical aid programme to offer the drugs to the 600 members of i
By Jonathan Amos, BBC News Online science staff in Leicester
An attempt is being made to use a harmless version of HIV to help prevent the rejection of transplanted hearts. The virus, which causes Aids, is dangerous precisely because it has the great ability to integrate its own genetic material into that of ordinary non-dividing cells. Researchers at Cambridge University, UK, a
One in four new HIV infections in the UK may be resistant to current drug treatments, say experts. The annual conference of the Public Health Laboratory Service heard that the growing problem of resistance made measures to prevent initial HIV infection ever more important. Dr Deenan Pillay, of the PHLS Antiviral Suscep
One in 50 gay men attending a sexual health clinic has contracted HIV in the previous year, according to researchers. Experts from the Public Health Laboratory Service used a new test to identify the rate of new infections. Last year saw a record number of new HIV diagnoses. But experts did not know how many were new i
This interview was shown on BBC World on August 28th 2002 Tim Sebastian (Int): It s only when you come here to the township of Soweto that South Africa s terrifying Aids statistics take on a human face. My guest today is an Aids activist and an newspaper columnist and he writes about what he knows. He himself is HIV po
The Chinese Government has admitted for the first time that there may be a million people in China infected with HIV. It is a significant increase on the previous estimates but still falls far short of those made by independent organisations like the United Nations. Slowly, reluctantly, China is owning up to the magnit
Doctors have warned patients with HIV they could be re-infected with a different strain of the disease if they practise unsafe sex. It follows the case of a 38-year-old man who was infected with a second strain of the virus - two years after he had been originally diagnosed as HIV positive. The case was reported in thi
Health experts have warned the first ever youth conference on HIV and Aids in the Pacific that the rate of infection in the region is rising quickly. Officials from the United Nations children s fund - which organised the meeting in Fiji - said the spread was largely due to unprotected heterosexual intercourse.
Grethe Ostern, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
I saw a clear and tragic pattern when I travelled around the south of Zambia , where the lack of rain has caused a near complete crop failure. Here, the food crisis is seriously overstretching extended families capacity to absorb the needs of orphans, and they are often left with little support. A sad example is th
A leading charity in Thailand has admitted that a drug it has been distributing to patients suffering from HIV, the virus that leads to Aids, does not work. It had been giving the drug, called V-1 Immunitor, free of charge to thousands of patients, after its developers claimed it brought dramatic improvements in the he
A young couple are to spend a week in bed in the window of a London art gallery to reinforce the importance of safe sexual practice in the fight against sexually transmitted disease. The project called No Inhibitions, by artist Liam Yeates, requires estate agent Max Whatley, 24 and nanny Meg Zakreta, 22, to sprawl on a
China s most prominent Aids campaigner has disappeared and may be in custody. Wan Yanhai is an outspoken advocate for China s Aids sufferers and a critic of the government s slow response to the spread of HIV. In July, authorities banned the activist group he helped found, the Aids Action Project, but Mr Wan continued
Russia is declining. Not slowly the way nations do sometimes over hundreds of years, but fast. Demographic experts say the country is losing one million people a year and that the nosedive is accelerating. By some calculations, within 50 years its population will have shrunk by almost half to around 80 million. T
A leading Aids campaigner has revealed why he is risking his own life to help win treatment for everyone with the virus. Journalist Lucky Mazibuko, who is HIV-positive, said he was not taking the medication he needed, because he wanted to highlight the plight of millions of fellow sufferers in South Africa
The Bulgarian authorities say Libya has decided six Bulgarian medical workers accused of deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV will be tried in a criminal court. The Bulgarian Foreign Minister, Solomon Passy, welcomed the decision, saying it was evidence that Libya had depoliticised the trial and
Nelson Mandela has spoken for the first time about how Aids has affected his family, causing the death of three close relatives. The former South African president told the country s Sunday Times newspaper that a 22-year-old niece and two sons of a nephew had died of the disease. What I want to stress is the devastatin
Russia is declining. Not slowly the way nations do sometimes over hundreds of years, but fast. Demographic experts say the country is losing one million people a year and that the nosedive is accelerating. By some calculations, within 50 years its population will have shrunk by almost half to around 80 million. T
An inquiry is underway into how a four-year-old girl came to be beaten to death for crying while in the care of her mentally-ill father. An Old Bailey judge sent Elvis Smith to a psychiatric unit indefinitely on Thursday after he admitting killing his daughter Nicole. The court heard that Nicole, who had been placed in
HIV/Aids is on the agenda at the world development summit not least because sustainable growth is not possible without healthy people. Here, an English couple in Zambia , Ian Godfrey and Julie Baldwin, tell of thinking globally, acting locally by helping an ailing orphan. Last year we met a 13-year-old girl named Suwil
Malawi has been hit by its worst-ever cholera epidemic, killing more than 1,000 people so far this year. The Ministry of Health says that people are more vulnerable than usual due to malnutrition and food shortages. Hundreds of people died of hunger earlier this year and food aid is urgently needed for an estimated t
Despite the cost, an expert says African states have no option but to try to provide anti-HIV drugs for infected patients. Speaking on the World Service programme Health Matters , Professor Charles Gilks, a senior adviser to the World Health Organisation (WHO), insisted that using drugs was the only way forward. The
A Chinese pharmaceutical company says it hopes to make available a Chinese-made version of the anti-Aids drug AZT as early as next month. The company, North East Pharmaceutical Group, says the product is likely to cost about a tenth of the price of imported drugs. But doctors say even that is likely to be too expen
Plans by the British Government to introduce compulsory HIV tests for all new health staff working in the country have been strongly opposed by the Nursing and Midwifery Council ( NMC) and organisations working with HIV infected people. The Nursing Council says the move has provoked a great deal of surprise and anger w
Paving the way for an ambitious launch across Africa, the six-part pilot of the United Nation s soap opera, Heart and Soul, recently reached its dramatic conclusion in Kenya . Made with the backing of 24 UN agencies, the weekly TV drama s dual purpose was to entertain and inform. But critics have said that the prog
Almost five million South Africans have HIV/Aids Foreign investors are putting pressure on South African firms to report on the impact of HIV/Aids in the country, according to a consultancy firm. South Africa has 4.7 million people living with HIV/Aids, the highest number in the world. Aids is the single biggest factor
Alastair Leithead, BBC correspondent in Johannesburg
The prevalence of Aids in southern Africa is complicating the task of helping the millions of people facing famine. In the past people have tried to cope with hunger through the strong and traditional African family unit - a structure now under increasing pressure from the Aids pandemic. In Swaziland
HIV care has been revolutionised by the use of anti-retroviral drugs, which has allowed people to live for many years with the virus. But after the positive news about the benefits of the drugs, there are now concerns about possible side-effects. And, although antiretrovirals are widely available in developing countrie
Jimmy has found a life after Aids Last year Jimmy s life was in tatters, his father had died from Aids and his mother could not afford to look after him. So Jimmy and his younger sibling were left to fend for themselves alone in a Ugandan town. One of 12 million Aids orphans throughout Africa, he admits he thought his
Business groups and campaigners have welcomed mining giant Anglo American s plans to provide free HIV-Aids treatment to southern African staff, but warned that it could only be a partial solution to the epidemic. Anglo American, one of South Africa s biggest employers, announced on Tuesday that it would make anti-retro
An orphanage in Kenya is making many of the HIV positive babies in their care revert to being HIV negative. Working at their New Life Home for HIV positive and abandoned babies in Nairobi, British Missionaries, Clive and Mary Beckenham, told BBC World Service, how nutrition and love have helped to restore the children
Mining giant Anglo American is to make treatment available to all HIV-positive employees, in one of the first corporate attempts to tackle South Africa s Aids epidemic. The firm announced that anti-retroviral therapy (ART) would be provided where clinically necessary at company expense, and said it would consult with t
Western governments must drill home the message that HIV kills and that a cure remains a long way off, experts have warned. A study by analysts in London predicts that the number of new cases of HIV in the UK will jump by 40% by 2005. They believe poor public awareness will be to blame for many of these new infections.
Fourteen million people - half of them children - face starvation in Southern Africa. But freelance health worker Anne Lloyd who has just come back after a three-week fact finding mission to the region for Oxfam, warns that poor sanitation and disease will account for many of the deaths. She said cholera, malaria, diar
Robert Mugerwa is one of 850,000 children in Uganda who have lost parents to Aids. My father died three years back. My mother died in the same year, says the 17-year-old orphan. Robert, who lives in Kataale-Sseguku, a small village 6km south of the Ugandan capital Kampala, is now surrogate father to seven children.
Public education has been Uganda s secret weapon against Aids, according to the country s president. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni said officials had managed to halt the spread of the disease by simply telling people that they will die if they contract HIV. Official figures published in July show 5% of the Ugandan population
South African space tourist, Mark Shuttleworth, has defended his decision to spend £14 ($20m) on a trip into space, at a time when his country is facing economic hardship. The multi-millionaire entrepreneur made history in April when he became the second tourist, after American businessman Dennis Tito, to travel into s
A sociologist in Niger has announced publicly that he is HIV positive in order to break the wall of silence which he says surrounds the Aids pandemic. Salifou Ibrahim told national television that he was not surprised to learn that he had the disease because he had not been sexually responsible . The middle-aged ac
An asylum seeker who cannot breastfeed because she is HIV positive has won a significant victory in her fight for the legal right to free milk for her child. The Home Office had refused to provide milk tokens for the women who has a four-month-old baby girl. But the High Court ruled the Home Secretary had ignored the r
Doctors in the Ukraine are hoping a multi-million pound package will help to halt the rapid spread of HIV across the country. The global Aids fund and the World Bank have pledged a total of $99m to help the Ukrainian government to fight the disease. A report by UNAids, published in July, found that HIV is spreading fas
Barnaby Phillips, BBC southern Africa correspondent
Former South African President Nelson Mandela has said he will meet his successor, Thabo Mbeki, to try to save the life of a prominent Aids campaigner. Zackie Achmat is refusing to take anti-retroviral drugs in protest at the government s policies towards treating HIV, the virus which causes Aids. President Mbeki has c
Patients with a good level of education find it easier to follow complex medical instructions, a study suggests. Researchers in the United States examined the health of patients with diabetes and HIV as both diseases require taking regular medicines, following instructions for tests and keeping appointments. They f
Suicide bombers may not just cause carnage when they blow themselves up - they may also spread disease from beyond the grave. Israeli doctors have analysed bits of bone embedded in a bomb survivor, and found that they tested positive for the liver infection hepatitis B . The team believe this is the f
Fears that hundreds of HIV-positive nurses may have come to work in the UK may prompt compulsory testing of all new health staff, it is reported. There is concern about the growing numbers of health workers who have been infected with the virus. It is suspected that as many as 700 infected nursing staff came to work in
Broadcaster Angela Rippon has returned from a British Red Cross mission to Zimbabwe and warned of impending disaster caused by famine and Aids. She said she was moved to tears by the appalling scenes of poverty and disease. Two successive poor harvests have left many facing starvation. And a quarter of the populati
The number of cases of infectious syphilis in Scotland has shown a steep rise. The sexually transmitted disease once caused widespread epidemics and is still a major cause of illness and death around the world. It was almost eradicated from Britain 20 years ago, but now public health specialists are calling for new pub
American s PBS TV network has confirmed it has no plans to introduce an HIV-positive Muppet to its new episodes of Sesame Street. Republican politicians in the US Congress were outraged over the possible introduction of the character, who will appear in the South African version of the show. However Pat Mitchell, presi
African first ladies are mobilising to combat HIV-Aids on the continent, where more than 28 million people are affected by the epidemic. The wives of 18 African presidents are meeting in Switzerland to discuss ways of convincing their husbands and their governments to do more to fight the pandemic. But some ordinar
As southern Africa grapples with a looming famine, British Red Cross worker Catherine Mahoney, who has just visited Zimbabwe , describes a harrowing situation resulting from the combination of drought and Aids. In the clinical sense, starvation has not set in yet in Zimbabwe. But the signs are there: look into people s
Most of South Africa s army is either too unfit or too old to be operationally deployed, according to a parliamentary report. Only 3,000 out of 76,000 soldiers could be deployed and only four tanks could be used in action, according to a briefing by the defence department. The chairperson of the parliamentary portfolio
Plans to create a Muppet character with HIV in the South Africa edition of children s programme Sesame Street would not be welcome in the United States , Republican party politicians have said. Five congressmen have written to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which broadcasts the series, to say they do not believ
Humans possess a gene which acts as a defence against infection by HIV, scientists have found. They hope the discovery could lead to new treatments for HIV and Aids - badly needed as current medications become increasingly impotent. Scientists found that the HIV virus would interfere with the normal operation of the ge
It is 10 o clock on a hot and humid morning on an industrial site halfway between Bangkok and the Thai beach resort of Pattaya. A middle-aged woman is helped from a car. She is probably 40 but looks nearer 70. Her skin appears shrink-wrapped across her face, her eyes are glazed and her feet unsteady. She is one of the
HIV-infected immune cells could be specifically targeted by a drug originally tested as a cancer treatment. Although tests are at an early stage, scientists are hopeful that this could destroy only the cells harbouring HIV, leaving the rest of the immune system unharmed. Doctors are hoping to launch limited clinical tr
Doctors may be able to stave off HIV by giving patients growth hormone, researchers have found. A team from the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology at the University of California San Francisco said the hormone could stimulate the production of immune cells and help the body fight the infection. The specific
Genevieve Clark, Terrence Higgins Trust, in Barcelona
While 14,000 delegates grappled with the global Aids epidemic at the conference in Barcelona, HIV claimed 48,000 lives around the world. But those five days in Barcelona were filled with innovation, passion and a collective will to halt and one day end the Aids epidemic. Announcements early in the week of advances in t
The former President of South Africa , Nelson Mandela, will call for an end to the stigma of HIV at the closing ceremony of the International Aids Conference in Barcelona today. He will be joined by former US President Bill Clinton, who in a speech on Thursday made clear his view that infection with the Aids virus shou
Most patients could get much more benefit from their HIV-suppressing drugs if they were spotted and treated earlier, say doctors. In developed countries, most people with HIV are given a powerful cocktail of antiretroviral drugs. The aim of these are to inhibit the replication of the HIV viruses and their damaging effe
The South African version of the popular children s TV series Sesame Street will soon get its first HIV-positive muppet. The cheerful female character, who as yet has no name or form, will join the Takalani Sesame show for its third season on 30 September, Reuters news agency reported. Joel Schneider, a senior adviser
Bill Clinton has called on the US government to provide better funding programmes to tackle HIV and Aids. The former president said the US was not paying its fair share to the global fund to fight Aids, TB and Malaria. However, he warned that no government could afford to write out a blank cheque. Mr Clinton, who is th
Researchers in Chile say there is a growing problem of people buying and selling Aids drugs on the black market. They say people are trading their own medicines to buy food, while others are buying drugs of dubious quality. The researchers say the problem poses a major public health risk. The results of their study
The number of children orphaned by Aids will almost double to 25m by the end of the decade, experts predict. A report compiled by aid agencies, presented to the International Aids Conference in Barcelona, said extended families often fail to cope, and many children are forced to live on the street. It says even if acti
Campaigners are calling for developed countries debt repayments to be cut to free up more money to fight Aids. A report from Oxfam, presented to the International AIDS Conference in Barcelona said the level of repayments the countries are expected to hamper their efforts to contain the disease. Thirteen million people
From an obscure reference in a specialist medical journal to a world-wide health crisis, Aids - Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome - has transformed the way we live. In the 21 years since it first appeared, official figures say that 24 million people have died around the world. Another 40 million are currently infecte
Details of a vaccine against Aids, which could be available within five years, are to be revealed on Monday at the International Aids Conference in Barcelona. Scientists will also unveil a drug which could help people suffering from the disease at the conference. The American company VaxGen says the vaccine c
People living with Aids in developed countries should receive some good news later this year, when a new type of anti-retroviral drugs is expected to come onto the market - the first since 1995. They re called fusion inhibitors. Unlike existing drugs which stop the virus reproducing, fusion inhibitors stop it getting i
Caribbean countries say six leading pharmaceutical companies have agreed to supply them with anti-Aids drugs at huge discounts. Companies involved Guyana s Health Minister, Leslie Ramsammy described the deal as a major victory for us as a region, the Associated Press news agency reports. However, Aids campaigners warn
Experts are hoping this week s world Aids conference will kick start efforts to stop 68m people dying from the disease by 2020. Thousands of doctors, scientists, patients, politicians and charity workers are expected to attend the XIV International Aids Conference in Barcelona, which starts on Sunday. Top of the agenda
Genevieve Clark, of the HIV charity The Terrence Higgins Trust, gives a personal view of the challenges facing the UNAIDS conference in Barcelona. Earlier this week, UNAIDS released grim global statistics on the staggering numbers of people facing life and death with HIV and AIDS. It is against this backdrop that 1
Genevieve Clark, of the HIV charity The Terrence Higgins Trust, gives a personal view of the challenges facing the UNAIDS conference in Barcelona. Earlier this week, UNAIDS released grim global statistics on the staggering numbers of people facing life and death with HIV and AIDS. It is against this backdrop that 1
South Africa s constitutional court has ordered the government to provide a key anti-Aids drug at all public hospitals. The drug helps prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV-Aids. The ruling is a major defeat for the government, which appealed in May against a similar decision by a lower court. Meanwhile, a study
There will be 45 million new HIV infections worldwide in the next eight years unless billions more is spent on prevention, say experts. On the eve of a major Aids conference in Barcelona, the Global HIV Prevention Working Group says that the tragedy of sub-Saharan Africa could be repeated elsewhere unless lessons are l
Eastern Europe and the former Soviet states now have the sharpest increase in HIV infections in the world. In Ukraine , 1% of the population has already contracted the virus, and the worst predictions are that the figure could double within a decade. In places like Odessa, a vibrant commercial city nestled by the Black
Former US President Bill Clinton is making a return to MTV screens a decade after he played the saxophone on it during his presidential campaign. Mr Clinton is taking part in an MTV special discussing the global Aids epidemic. Mr Clinton will appear on Staying Alive: A Global Forum on HIV/Aids as part of a panel taking
Claims about successful tests of a controversial treatment for HIV have ignited a storm of protest from other researchers. The journal HIV Clinical Trials decided to print two papers about the drug V-1 immunitor, developed in Thailand . This is made from the blood of HIV-1 infected patients, and while it is only approv
You have recently met the partner of your dreams and are now making the ultimate commitment to each other and are getting married. You are embarking on a long term sexual relationship and you want to start a family - clearly you sexual history matters. But would you take an HIV test and can you force your partner to ta
South Africa s main accounting body is urging companies to disclose the impact of Aids on their balance sheets. South Africa is thought to have the highest number of people with Aids in the world, and an estimated 20% of the workforce is infected with HIV. Businesses in South Africa are being urged to set an example to
The UNAIDS advisor in India , David Miller, says India has the second highest number of people with HIV and AIDS in the world. Nearly four million people in India are infected. Only South Africa has more cases, with five million people carrying the disease.
Rupert Whittaker was diagnosed with HIV 20 years ago It is 20 years since Aids first emerged in the UK. The Terrence Higgins Trust was the first charity to be set up in response to the epidemic. It was named after one of the first British men to die from the disease. His partner 39-year-old Rupert Whittaker tells the B
Rupert Whittaker was diagnosed with HIV 20 years ago It is 20 years since Aids first emerged in the UK. The Terrence Higgins Trust was the first charity to be set up in response to the epidemic. It was named after one of the first British men to die from the disease. His partner 39-year-old Rupert Whittaker tells the B
It is 20 years since Aids first emerged in the UK. The Terrence Higgins Trust was the first charity to be set up in response to the epidemic. It was named after one of the first British men to die from the disease. His partner 39-year-old Rupert Whittaker tells the BBC about his experiences over the past two decades an
A major report by the international body charged with trying to fight the spread of Aids suggests 68m people will die from the disease over the next 20 years. Dr Peter Piot, executive director of UNAids, tells BBC News Online why urgent action is needed if millions of lives are to be saved. ----------------------------
An estimated 68 million people will die from Aids in the developing world over the next 18 years, a major report suggests. The UNAids report also warns that the Aids epidemic is still in its early stages and is spreading rapidly throughout Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe. It dismisses suggestions that ne
Young people between the ages of 15 and 24 account for half of all new cases of HIV around the world, according to Unicef. A report, to be published later on Tuesday, shows that nearly 6,000 young people become infected with HIV each day throughout the world. The charity will warn that governments must pay more attenti
Health experts in Russia have warned the country could be facing an HIV epidemic on a scale seen in some parts of Africa. Up to one in 20 Russian adults could be infected with the HIV virus that leads to Aids within the next five years; experts say this could have a drastic effect on the population, economy and social
Health officials in Indonesia are warning there could soon be an Aids epidemic on the scale of some African countries if there is not immediate action to curb the rapid rise in the number of people being infected with HIV, the virus that can lead to Aids. Until recently Indonesia appeared to have escaped the disease, b
A campaign to eradicate polio in Nigeria is being hampered by Muslim clerics who say they fear for the safety of the children who will be vaccinated. An immunisation programme was launched last month by the United Nations in the northern city of Kano in an attempt to wipe out the disease. But some Islamic preachers
Singer turned activist Bob Geldof has said he fears it is unlikely that world leaders meeting in Kananaskis, Canada , will deliver the aid and reform package Africa needs. We re already anticipating that we re not going to get that much out of Canada, he told BBC News on Thursday. I m sick of them all, to be hones
China is heading for an Aids epidemic of catastrophic proportions unless it takes drastic action, the United Nations has warned. A report by the UN Programme on Aids (UNAids) estimates that by the end of last year up to 1.5m people in China were infected with HIV, the virus that causes Aids. That is up from 500,0
A report by the United Nations has accused the authorities in China of doing far too little to respond to the threat of Aids. The study, from the UN Programme on Aids, warns that the country is on the verge of an epidemic of what it calls catastrophic proportions. It estimates that, by the end of last year, up to one-a
Every part of African society from teachers to soldiers is under attack from Aids. In some countries over 30% of the adult population is infected, according to Dr Peter Piot Executive Director of the UNAIDS organisation. He says that more than 28 million Africans are HIV positive and the epidemic is creating instabilit
Every time I land in Tobago , I feel an enormous sense of relief. For starters, my usual brisk walk slows down to a stroll, and that European stress frown seems to disappear when I hear the waves in the distance and then catch a glimpse of the beach. It s the kind of island that you can cover from head to toe in a
High numbers of people in Africa and other developing countries do not realise that HIV/Aids can kill. Even in countries with high infection rates a large majority of men and women believe they are not at risk of contracting Aids, the UN Population Division says in a report released on Sunday night. Dramatic changes in
The Spanish Government has denied claims it is preventing people with HIV from attending the world Aids conference in Barcelona in July. The organisers of the bi-annual event have received complaints from several countries where Spanish embassies have allegedly blocked visa applications by those wanting to attend.
A South African company s offer of free Aids treatment has resulted in just one of its estimated 3,800 HIV-positive employees coming forward, new research has discovered. The chemical and mining company Sasol had offered to pay for anti-retroviral drug treatments, which boost sufferers immune systems but which are too
South Africa s financial industry is on the verge of crisis, as it struggles to cope with the growing incidence of Aids and related diseases among its clients. According to a report from the Banking Council, the industry will have to come up with ways to improve life cover for mortgage holders, as ever more homeowners
President Bush has pledged $500m to help fight the spread of Aids in Africa. The global devastation of HIV-Aids staggers the imagination and shocks the conscience, he said at the White House. He also called for other countries to help fight Aids in Africa where the disease is the continent s number one killer. The
People are being encouraged to take Aids tests after a rise in the number of recorded HIV infections in the East Midlands. Figures released by the Mansfield area primary healthcare trust show a small but significant increase in infections over the first half of this year. Local health workers are advising people who ma
The World Health Organisation has warned that the HIV virus, which can lead to AIDS, could spread rapidly throughout Afghanistan due to high levels of intravenous drug use and unsafe blood transfusions. A WHO spokeswoman, Loretta Hieber Girardet, in the Afghan capital, Kabul, said that refugees were especially vulnerab
South Africa has announced that the number of people becoming infected with HIV in the country is slowing down. Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said the authorities were confident that infection rates were now stabilising and she believed South Africa had seen the worst of the crisis. Health Ministry fig
The epidemic of HIV and Aids need not bring about a doomsday scenario for the South African economy, Treasury Minister Trevor Manuel has said. We are dealing with the great unknown and what s important is that we maintain a real perspective on issues, Mr Manuel told the Africa Economic Summit 2002, a gathering of busin
Prosecutors in Libya have renewed the case against seven medical workers on charges of deliberately infecting children with HIV, the virus that can lead to Aids. The two doctors - a Bulgarian and a Palestinian - and five Bulgarian nurses have been held in detention since February 1999. In February, they were cleare
A major conference on tackling Aids in Africa has opened in Cape Town in the hope of securing funds for the research and development of an Aids vaccine for Africans. Doctors, scientists, aid agencies, donor governments and pharmaceutical companies are meeting in the South African city in an attempt to raise $233 millio
With his voice sometimes cracking with emotion, Irish rock star Bono joined US Treasury Secretary Paul O Neill on a visit to a South African hospital for mothers infected with HIV. The Irish star came face to face with Africa s Aids tragedy at the 2,888-bed Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, which is said to be
Sir Elton John has said the UK Government should be ashamed of its record on Aids spending. The singer appealed to Prime Minister Tony Blair to put more money into fighting the diease. He said he had voted Labour, but was now angered by the way the National Health Service was being treated. They should be thoroughly as
As many as two out of three women living in some parts of the world have suffered domestic violence. Preliminary results from a study carried out by the World Health Organisation found that almost half the women living in Peru had been physically assaulted by their partners. This figure increased to 61% outside the
Fourteen inmates of a high-security penal colony in Russia s Volga region have made Russian legal history by suing media organisations that published details of their medical records during a mass breakout earlier this year. The 14 hit the headlines in January when they escaped from the Novo Ulyanovsk camp by digging a
An NHS helpline - set up after hundreds of patients were warned they may have come into contact with a medical worker carrying the HIV virus - has received 264 calls. More than 500 letters, sent out by the Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust to patients identified as potentially at risk , contained details of t
A health care member of staff who worked at the largest hospital in the Scottish Highlands has been diagnosed as carrying the HIV virus. Officials in Inverness have contacted 116 women who were treated by the worker. The person worked in the gynaecology and obstetrics unit at the city s Raigmore hospital for a year beg
Papua New Guinea is on the verge of an Aids epidemic that could wipe out 40% of the adult population within 20 years, according to an Australian report. The report by the Australian Government s aid agency AusAid says as many as 15,000 people out of the 4.6m population are HIV positive. Aids-related diseases are th
Staff at a major African hospital are using play therapy to help mothers and their children to cope with HIV. Occupational therapists at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa , discovered that many children with HIV had developmental problems. While some of these difficulties could be attributed to the dise
Doctors in South Africa are piloting a cost-effective programme to reduce HIV transmission between mothers with the disease and their children. They are carrying out trials in Soweto, a township in Johannesburg, using a combination of relatively cheap medication and education. Under the scheme, mothers are given a
Doctors are continuing to assess the health of a three-year-old girl with HIV whose father refused to allow her hospital treatment for her condition. Yesterday the girl and her father arrived back in London after three years on the run in Australia . They went there to avoid a court order forcing them to hand over thei
As the three-year-old HIV-positive girl brought back from Australia receives tests in hospital, BBC News Online looks at the kind of treatment she may receive. Treating a child with HIV is very similar to treating an adult with the condition. Their care will depend on how advanced their infection is - how much HIV viru
The explosion of the number of people carrying the Aids virus in China s population poses a serious risk to the Asian giant s economic growth, according to the renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs. Mr Sachs, a Harvard professor and adviser to United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan, told the Asian Development Bank s 35
A new World Bank report warns that Aids is killing teachers in some countries faster than they can be trained. At the same time, in all but the most affected countries, student populations continue to grow, increasing the demand for teachers. The disease is adding millions of dollars to the cost of expanding education
A three-year-old HIV-positive girl brought back to the UK after two years on the run with her father has been made a ward of court. The father landed at Heathrow with his daughter at 0715 BST on Wednesday, ending his seven-month battle in Australia to retain custody of his child and prevent her from receiving medical t
Teenagers are sitting on an Aids timebomb as they become complacent about health warnings, according to new research. Health analysts found that today s teenagers think of Aids as something that will not affect them. Cases are soaring by 50% and expected to hit 34,000 in the UK by 2005. Analysts Datamonitors found that
The South African Government has appealed against a court order instructing it to immediately provide a drug for HIV-positive pregnant women. The anti-retroviral drug, nevirapine , is said to cut HIV transmission from mothers to their babies by half. The government has vowed to fight the Constitutional Court ruling
Experts are suggesting tuberculosis patients should be routinely tested for HIV. A team from the Public Health Laboratory Service raised the idea because the number of patients with both conditions doubled during the 1990s. Although the numbers affected are still small, the PHLS team say routine testing should be consi
A Sydney court has allowed a Briton to return home with his three-year-old daughter - two years after he fled to prevent her having an HIV test. The Australian authorities had applied for custody of the child - who has the virus - so that she could start receiving powerful drugs . However, a court decided that the best
India has launched its first legislative forum on HIV-AIDS, as part of an initiative aimed at breaking the silence that surrounds the disease because of the social stigma attached to it. The forum has been set up, in the southern state of Karnataka, with the support of the United Nations. Elected representatives
BBC News Online examines the case of the father battling conventional HIV treatment for his daughter. What are the issues involved in this complex situation? Why did he take his daughter out of the country? The 39-year-old, who can t be named, decided, with his HIV-positive partner, to leave the country with their four
A man who fled the UK with his baby daughter to avoid her having an HIV test is waiting to see whether an Australian court takes her away from him. Following an all-day court hearing in Sydney, he will discover on Friday morning if he is to lose custody of the three-year-old. He has vowed to fight on in both Australia
The number of HIV and Aids cases in India is likely to overtake even South Africa unless action is taken, says an expert. Peter Piot, executive director of UNAids, said that within a decade there could be tens of millions infected with the virus in India. However, he said that the scale of the crisis wo
The HIV virus targets those specific immune cells designed to fight it, researchers have found. The study, by US scientists, found those immune cells are two to five times more likely to be infected with HIV than others designed to attack other diseases. It confirms what researchers had until now only suspected. Th
South African gold producer Anglogold says HIV and Aids are raising production costs by up to $6 an ounce. It estimates about a quarter of its 44,000 workforce in South Africa are HIV positive. Anglogold said it had a comprehensive programme to tackle Aids which would ensure continued profitability. However it also cal
India is considering monitoring foreign tourists to see if they are infected with the HIV virus that can lead to Aids. The Indian health ministry has drawn up a plan to insist that visitors from abroad declare whether they are HIV-free on arrival. Indian Aids campaigners say as many as 23 people are being infecte
President Thabo Mbeki has delivered his strongest message yet on HIV/Aids, suggesting a change in the government s approach to the disease. In an interview with the Star newspaper, Mr Mbeki promised to take the lead in fighting Aids. He has in the past been criticised for questioning the link between the human immunode
Police officers in Scotland have won the support of the Scottish Parliament to make blood tests compulsory for suspects. The Scottish Police Federation said up to 150 officers a year faced an agonising wait to find out if they had been infected by HIV or hepatitis after being attacked while making an arrest. The federa
The mother of a two-year-old girl who was stabbed with a syringe, has spoken of her fears for her daughter. The woman - who does not want to be named - said the girl faces HIV and hepatitis B tests over the next six months before she can be given the all clear from any potential infection. Her daughter was stabbed
The cost of HIV/Aids among workers at South African mining firm Gold Fields is projected to cost the company up to $10 per ounce of gold it mines in added production costs. Without intervention, as we calculate it, Aids will cost us about $10 an ounce (in health costs), chairman and chief executive of Gold Fields Chris
Parks and playing fields in Scotland pose danger when it comes to discarded needles and drugs paraphernalia, a report says. The anti-litter organisation Keep Scotland Beautiful has published a report which says that over the last three years, 11 people have been injured by picking up used needles. They have been found
More than 200 people were stabbed by discarded needles in the UK last year, a report says. Research by the Keep Britain Tidy campaign found that more than 20,000 used needles were found littering public places. They were found in parks, public toilets, churchyards, abandoned cars and on beaches. The needles are mostly
The Chinese Government has announced a 17% jump in Aids cases, saying up to 850,000 people were infected with HIV by the end of last year. The figure is significantly higher than the previous official estimate of 600,000 announced in mid 2001. The number of people suffering from full-blown Aids could be as many as 200,
Burma and Thailand have agreed on a plan to repatriate more than 500,000 Burmese illegal immigrants currently resident in Thailand. As part of the deal, Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai told the BBC, the Burmese workers will be screened for HIV. Those testing positive will be separated from the other worke
Rape is endemic in South Africa . On this the police, politicians, sociologists and rape survivors all agree. There is a silent war going on, a war against women and children. It is a fact that a woman born in South Africa has a greater chance of being raped, than learning how to read. One in four girls faces the p
A new phase of the world s first clinical trial to test a vaccine candidate for one of the most prevalent HIV strains affecting Africa has been launched. The vaccine, which aims to harness the ability of the body s immune system to fight disease, has already begun tests in Oxford and Nairobi. On Thursday the first volu
Robert Piggot, BBC's religious affairs correspondent
The Roman Catholic bishop of Prague has called for prostitution to be made legal, warning that the sex trade is invading the country and causing a crisis in moral values. Bishop Vaclav Maly said it was no longer enough to moralise about prostitution. What gives the bishop s apparent challenge to Roman Catholic orthodox
A Thai pop group made up of Aids patients looks set to disband after most of its latest members died, the group s lead singer has said. The group performed for eight years by replacing dying members with other Aids sufferers, but no new talent has come forward, the singer told The Associated Press news agency. HIV ban
Zambia s founding father, Dr Kenneth Kaunda, has taken an Aids test in the hope others will follow his example. Like most countries in southern Africa, Zambia is battling to cope with the HIV-Aids pandemic. Latest figures estimate that 20% of the adult population is currently infected with the disease, and yet only a t
Barnaby Phillips BBC southern Africa correspondent
A South African court has upheld a ruling that the government must make more widely available a drug which reduces the risk of HIV-positive women passing on the virus to their children. This is another setback for the government, which has argued that the drug, Nevirapine, is expensive to distribute and potentially dan
Thailand has taken a major step in improving the provision of health care for its Aids victims by offering a cocktail of anti-HIV drugs in just one pill. The country said on Thursday that the treatment would be sold in government hospitals from next month. The offer of three drugs in one tablet will make them signifi
Despite its strong attachment to religious values, the Islamic Republic of Iran has thrown its weight behind an extremely enlightened campaign to combat the Aids virus, an affliction normally associated with such un-Islamic practices as intravenous drug abuse and extra-marital sex. So far, the figures are low by inte
Children living with HIV positive parents are suffering in silence, according to a Scottish study. Researchers said youngsters had significant worries about their parents and themselves. But they felt they were unable to talk to either their family or their teachers about their concerns because of stigma and fear.
Blood-sucking flies may have been to blame for the HIV epidemic being unleashed on humans, scientists suggest. Many Aids researchers believe the HIV virus jumped species from chimpanzees to humans at some point in the first half of the 20th century. They think humans were first exposed when simian immunodeficiency viru
The majority of people with haemophilia infected with hepatitis C by NHS blood products have seen their family or social life suffer, suggests a poll. Around 5,000 people with haemophilia were infected after receiving blood clotting concentrates tainted with the virus during treatment. They needed the clotting agen
Campaigners are predicting a massive increase in the number of gay men diagnosed with HIV in Edinburgh if more agree to be tested for the virus. It is estimated that about half of the gay men who have contracted the virus in the Scottish capital are unaware that they are HIV positive. Now community workers have launche
The Sunday Herald decides against putting the tartan terrorists and their toxic packages on the front page, instead opting to report on HIV and drugs. It reports that three-quarters of heterosexuals newly infected with HIV in Scotland have a more virulent strain of the virus which did not previously exist in Europe.
Scientists have discovered a new type of HIV-like virus in monkeys which they believe may provide clues about the origin of the human form. The new simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) has been found in 19 greater spot-nose monkeys in Cameroon . It has been dubbed SIVgsn by the researchers from the Research Institute fo
Patients at risk of suffering a potentially fatal reaction to a leading HIV drug could be identified by testing their genetic makeup, scientists suggest. Approxiamately 5% of those given the antiretroviral drug abacavir suffer hypersensitivity syndrome , which can kill in extreme A team of researchers from the Roya
Human trials of two potential HIV vaccines have produced promising results. Merck, the company which is developing the new vaccines, said the indications were that they can help control the virus that causes Aids by stimulating the body s immune system to attack it. It is still too early to tell whether they will also
Nearly a million people in the United States are HIV-positive and a quarter of them are unaware they have the virus, a report by the Centers for Disease Control suggests. A further 25% are not receiving any kind of treatment for the conference in Seattle. This implies that more than 400,000 Americans are not being trea
Schools should play an active role in warning children as young as five about the dangers of promiscuous unsafe sex, say doctors. The British Medical Association has published a report on the growing problem of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). It makes a raft of recommendations on how to tackle the problem, incl
South Africa s governing African National Congress, the ANC, has defended its policy on Aids, dismissing a reported rift on the issue with former President Nelson Mandela as a communication gap . The meeting agreed the position taken by government and the ANC to pilot anti-retrovirals is correct, ANC spokesman Smuts Ng
An international project has been launched to develop a microbicide to fight the HIV virus and other sexually transmitted diseases. The substance would be particularly useful in countries where women find it difficult to persuade their partners to use condoms, say scientists. A microbicide is any substance that can sub
Local health services in South Africa have said that they will start distributing the drug Nevirapine in public hospitals to HIV infected pregnant women. Three provinces are ready to go it alone in their struggle to fight the disease in defiant of the government s Aids policy. Many are now distributing a key drug t
HIV-infected immune cells could be specifically targeted by a drug originally tested as a cancer treatment. Although tests are at an early stage, scientists are hopeful that this could destroy only the cells harbouring HIV, leaving the rest of the immune system unharmed. Doctors are hoping to launch limited clinical tr
HIV tests are being offered to more than 500 patients after officials revealed a health-care worker has the virus. An injunction means neither the name of the worker, nor the hospital where they were worked can be named. The worker comes from south-east London and is no longer carrying out any medical procedure , accor
A court in Libya has said there is no evidence of a plot to undermine state security in the case of seven foreign medical workers accused of infecting children with HIV. The People s Court in Tripoli, which deals with matters of state security, has referred the case to an ordinary criminal court. The Palestinian do
A court in Libya is due to deliver its verdict on Sunday in the case of six Bulgarians and a Palestinian - all medical workers - accused of deliberately infecting some 400 Libyan children with the Aids virus. The defendants, who have pleaded not guilty, have been in custody since early 1999. If convicted, they coul
Scientists in the US say they have found evidence that children born to mothers taking some anti-HIV drugs have an increased frequency of genetic mutations. So far, combination therapies for HIV have been considered a success, but there is some concern that the potential risks for HIV positive people who have children
The head of Russia s anti-Aids programme has warned the country could face levels of infection similar to those in some African countries, unless action is taken to stop the epidemic. Vadim Pokrovsky said the government s approach to the problem was light-minded . He said more money was urgently needed to treat those i
The life expectancy of Africans has dropped by 15 years within the past two decades because of the spread of Aids, together with the effect of continuing wars and poverty. A conference on African population has been told that by 2005 a majority of Africans can expect to die before they reach the age of 48. In contrast
Switzerland , which once had the highest rates of heroin addiction and HIV in Europe, practises a radical policy of harm reduction for its drug addicts. The Platzspitz park in Zurich is an oasis of calm greenery in the heart of the city. But 10 years ago, it was better known as needle park. Hundreds of addicts came h
President Thabo Mbeki has used his annual state of the nation address to call for the moral regeneration of South Africa to combat the scourges of Aids, crime and poverty. But he has once again dashed hopes that he will change the government s heavily criticised policy on anti-retroviral drugs. Mr Mbeki said the ke
The World Bank has approved $500m for the second stage of its programme to combat Aids in Africa. This takes to $1bn the amount approved by the bank in the current financial year in interest-free loans for African Aids initiatives. The new money will fund projects more than a dozen sub-Saharan countries. The announceme
Rising drug use is accelerating the spread of Aids in Asia according to a new report by an Australian research group. The report by the Centre For Harm Reduction says that in many countries in the region, drug use is responsible for most new HIV infection. The report says governments are doing little to combat the prob
South Africa s leading body for specialist doctors has criticised delays by the country s health ministry in providing anti-Aids drugs to pregnant women. The statement by the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa says the delays are unethical. We believe it is unethical and against medical principles to withhold prevent
Central African Republic , (CAR), is learning the hard way that diamonds may affect the future of its towns in a negative way. Diamonds, which are boosting the economy of the remote town of Boda, are also threatening the prospects of the future elite and the health of its people. Wars in neighbouring countries ha
The attacks of 11 September have been viewed by some as the start of a sea change among western nations on how to deal with poverty in developing nations. But while many western business leaders and politicians now recognise there is a need to increase aid to help alleviate poverty, there remains the conundrum of how t
A gel made from seaweed and used in ice cream and toothpaste could be used to protect women against HIV, scientists suggest. The gel has already proved effective in blocking sexually-transmitted diseases in animals, including herpes and gonorrhoea. Scientists now hope it could offer a cheap way to help stop the spread
Vietnam has set itself the target of producing cheap copies of Western Aids drugs within three years. The National Committee on Aids Prevention said that Vietnam can currently afford to treat less than 1,000 patients a year with anti-Aids drugs if it pays the prices charged by foreign drug companies. More than 40
A large number of couples think starting a family is more important than getting married, research suggests. Two in five babies are born outside wedlock. This compares to one in ten children born outside marriage, 20 years ago. The change in attitude is revealed in the annual social trends survey by the Office for Nati
The number of people living with diagnosed HIV in the UK is set to rise by 47% between 2000 and 2005, latest figures suggest. The Public Health Laboratory Service has so far recorded 3,342 new cases of HIV in 2001 - up 17% on the previous year. If the trend continues the number of people living with HIV will rise from
Drug companies have offered huge discounts to Botswana , where there is a higher percentage of HIV-positive people in the population than anywhere else in the world. The companies action is prompted by wanting to establish the viability of prescribing certain medicines in an African environment. Botswana has found
Police in the Chinese capital, Beijing, say they have arrested several people over a series of syringe attacks on shoppers and commuters. Staff at a Beijing hospital said they had treated a number of people who reported that they had felt the stab of needles while shopping or travelling on crowded buses. The police say
One-third of rapes of young girls in South Africa are carried out by school teachers, according to a new report. A study carried out by the Medical Research Council of South Africa says child rape is becoming commonplace in the country, with many victims under the age of 15 years. The report s authors say the South
Aids will surpass the Black Death as the world s worst pandemic if the 40 million people living with HIV/Aids do not get life-prolonging drugs, a medical expert has warned. In terms of illness and death HIV/Aids is soon likely to surpass the Medieval killer plague, Peter Lamptey, president of the US-based Family Health
A sexual health expert has voiced concerns over what she calls a dramatic rise in a sexually transmitted disease (STD) in north east Wales. Doctor Olwen Williams is a genito-urinary physician and specialises in the promotion of sexual health. Dr Williams said she has witnessed a significant increase in the number of ca
Scientists have reported progress in the quest for an HIV vaccine by managing to control the infection in monkeys. However, their optimism is countered by a discovery that the virus can possibly mutate and side-step the treatment. They found monkeys injected with an experimental vaccine can suppress the Aids virus in t
Gail Johnson is 54 and by her own admission she should be retiring - not bringing up a one-year-old boy. Nevertheless, adopt him she will. Thabo was handed to her when he was only four days old, as his mother died of the Aids virus. That was just over a year ago - only a few days before Christmas. Gail was well known f
Britain is facing a new wave of highly infectious tropical diseases says the Chief Medical Officer for England. BBC News Online examines why diseases that were once almost unheard of in the UK are now posing a growing threat. More travel Cheap air travel has allowed many people to travel to exotic holiday destinations
Almost a fifth of students who had a part of their body pierced experienced medical complications, a study has found. A survey of US undergraduates found over half had had some sort of piercing. Seventeen per cent of those had some sort of problem, most commonly a bacterial infection, it was found. Bleeding and injury
Scientists have identified a gene which may partly explain why some patients react better than others to HIV treatment. The discovery, by scientists at University Hospital Lausanne in Switzerland , may eventually help doctors tailor treatments specifically for each patient. Patients with HIV-1 vary considerably in thei
A senior United Nations official responsible for monitoring the spread of HIV infection in Africa has urged the international community to increase funding for the fight against Aids. Stephen Lewis, the UN s special envoy for HIV and Aids in Africa, said that remarkable progress had been made in persuading the continen
Doctors in the US have come up with a new potential treatment for HIV infection. The latest technique relies on boosting the body s immune system so that it can fight the virus more effectively. So far it has only been tried in 10 people but the results appear to have long-term promise. The treatment involves taking th
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