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The Pop Reporter®

Volume 4, Number 20
17 May 2004

"The Pop Reporter" (R) Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs INFO Project When you click on any link below, your Internet browser will access a Web site not connected to "The Pop Reporter." Information accessed through these links and contained in this issue of "The Pop Reporter" does not necessarily state or reflect the views of the INFO Project, Johns Hopkins University, or the US Agency for International Development. All links were verified at the date of mailing. Your computer and/or network configuration regarding Java script, cookies, and other security issues may not allow you to view certain Web sites. Consult your computer technician if you are having problems.

FAMILY PLANNING/REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH RESEARCH

What Really Works? An Exploratory Study of Condom Negotiation Strategies (research abstract)
This study examined the use of forms of condom negotiations by developing an exploratory scale that distinguished strategies on how verbal and direct they were (ie, verbal-direct, verbal-indirect, nonverbal-direct, nonverbal-indirect). The study compared the use of negotiation strategies among Asian and White American students at a northern California university. Results indicated that although direct strategies (verbal and nonverbal) were more frequently used, condom users also employed indirect strategies (verbal and non-verbal) to negotiate condom use. Women used nonverbal-indirect strategies more than men.

Screening Family Planning Needs: An Operations Research Project in Guatemala (research article)
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This operations research project tested a strategy to modify certain practices that prevent health workers from proactively screening clients' needs and meeting them. The strategy was based on a job-aid designed to guide health workers in screening clients´ reproductive intentions and family planning needs, help them to offer contraceptive methods if the woman expressed interest, and facilitate the provision of the method chosen at the time of the visit. Study results showed a two to five-fold increase in providers’ screening of clients´ reproductive intentions. The proportion of clients who received information about contraceptives increased from 8% at the baseline to 42% immediately postintervention, and 36% at the follow-up survey. The intervention also proved successful in improving the role service providers play in offering women a chance to ask questions and assisting women in making a selection.

Russia: Postabortion Family Planning Counseling and Services Lead to Increased Contraceptive Use (research summary)
Related report: Postabortion Family Planning Operations Research Study in Perm, Russia
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The introduction of postabortion family planning service delivery, involving training in counseling skills and job aids for providers, led to increased use of modern contraceptive methods at 12 months postabortion. Provision of family planning counseling at a postabortion follow-up visit appears to be an important factor in reducing repeat abortions.

When Does Religion Influence Fertility? (research abstract)
This article reviews theoretical and empirical work on religious affiliation as a determinant of demographic behavior, with special attention to a number of cases in which religion has been identified as an important determinant of fertility patterns. The article concludes that religion plays an influential role when three conditions are satisfied: first, the religion articulates behavioral norms with a bearing on fertility behavior; second, the religion holds the means to communicate these values and promote compliance; and, third, religion forms a central component of the social identity of its followers.

Peru: Leadership Facilitates Sustainability of Postabortion Care Services (research summary)
Related report: Sustainability of Postabortion Care in Peru
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At a major Peruvian teaching hospital, improvements in postabortion care were sustained for 3 years with institutional funding after they were introduced during an experimental intervention. Strong commitment by hospital and MOH leadership, combined with adequate infrastructure and skilled staff, contributed to the institutionalization of the postabortion services.

A Longitudinal Study on Different Models of Postabortion Care in Tanzania (research abstract)
This study tested three different follow-up methods in 1,357 women who attended Temeke Municipal Hospital, Dar es Salaam.

Preclinical Evaluation of Magainin-A as a Contraceptive Antimicrobial Agent (research abstract)
In this controlled laboratory study in monkeys, animals were treated intravaginally with 1 mg of magainin-A before attempted conception, as well as daily for 14 days to assess local and systemic toxicity. Complete sperm immobilization was observed within 20 seconds after the exposure to magainin-A in vitro, and intravaginal administration of 1 mg of magainin-A blocked conception. The researchers conclude that magainin-A can be used as an effective and safe intravaginal contraceptive compound with additional protection against sexually transmitted infection–causing pathogens.

FAMILY PLANNING/REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH NEWS

Happiness Shop Brings Condoms, Confusion to Tehran (feature article)
This feature article relates the story of the only condom shop in the entire city of Tehran, Iran: The Happiness Shop.

Chilean Fired for Condom Hand-out (news article)
The public affairs chief of Chile's HIV/AIDS unit has been sacked by the center-left government after condoms were given away in a state newspaper. Chile's health minister said the condom distribution and accompanying articles, with a government insignia, had not been authorized. The incident happened just days after the signing of a new law giving Chileans the right to get divorced.

Oral Contraceptives Increase Colon Cancer Risk (news article)
Related research abstract: Contraceptive Methods and Induced Abortions and Their Association with the Risk of Colon Cancer in Shanghai, China
Oral contraceptives increase colon cancer risk; tubal ligation and abortion decrease the risk, according to a new study of 267,400 female textile workers in Shanghai.

Jamaica: New Condom Machines at Caymanas Track (news article)
Reduced condom sales have pushed the Ministry of Health to find more innovative ways of encouraging greater use of condoms with the installation of condom machines at a number of locations. The national AIDS Committee unveiled two new condom machines installed at Caymanas Track to make condoms more accessible to the hundreds of patrons who visit the facility each week. The installation of the machines are part of a pilot project being conducted by the AIDS committee to boost condom sales, especially among men.

Surplus Males: The Dangers of Asia's Preference for Sons (editorial)
This commentary addresses the looming dangers inherent in Asian countries where the overwhelming preference is for sons.

South Africa: 'Men Exploit Us - Now It's Our Turn' (feature article)
This feature article relates how increasing numbers of young women are having sex for cellphones, expensive clothes, restaurant meals, and other gifts - and risk getting HIV in the process.

FAMILY PLANNING/REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH LAW AND POLICY

Bush Makes AIDS Office Chief Permanent (news article)
President Bush on Wednesday named his acting AIDS adviser, Carol J. Thompson, as permanent head of the Office of National AIDS Policy. Bush's first two AIDS advisers, Scott Evertz and Joseph O'Neill, were both male doctors. Thompson, a woman, is not a physician.

Malawi Rolls Out Free AIDS Drugs (news article)
Malawi has announced that it will provide free anti-retrovirals drugs to thousands of Aids sufferers. Health Minister Yusuf Mwawa said he hoped to reach an extra 30,000 people over the next year under the $196 million 5-year program. Some 14% of Malawi's 11 million people have the AIDS virus. Critics have accused the government of electioneering because they have announced the program just a week before the May 18 polls to choose a new president.

Public Financing and Delivery of HIV/AIDS Care: Securing the Legacy of Ryan White (report)
Related press release: Federal Government Should Expand Its Role in Providing Treatment for Low-Income Americans With HIV/AIDS
This report examines the current standard of care in the United States for HIV patients and assesses the extent the system currently used for financing and delivering care allows individuals with HIV to actually receive it. The book recommends expanded federal funding for the treatment of individuals with HIV, administered at the state level. This program would provide timely access and consistent benefits with a strong focus on comprehensive and continuous care and access to antiretroviral therapy. It could help improve the quality of life of HIV/AIDS patients, as well as reduce the number of deaths among those infected.

Nigeria: Rights Activist Seeks to End Discrimination against Those with AIDS (news article)
One of Nigeria's leading human rights activists has decided to take a public stand against the discrimination suffered by more than one million of his countrymen and women who are living with AIDS.

HIV/AIDS RESEARCH

The World Health Report 2004 - Changing History (report)
Related news article: Aids-hit Nations 'Face Collapse'
Related news article: India Faces AIDS Tidal Wave, Health Officials Warn
Related news article: WHO: More AIDS Clinics Needed
Related press release: Unprecedented Opportunity to Fight HIV/AIDS and Change the Course of History
Related news article: UN: World Not Ready for Full Impact of AIDS
Related news article: HIV Treatment Programs Can Boost Prevention, Improve Overall Health Systems
This year's report, Changing History, calls for a comprehensive HIV/AIDS strategy that links prevention, treatment, care, and long-term support. The report concludes that coordinated efforts now to control one of the worst global epidemics could change the course of history.

Sexual Partner Reductions Explain Human Immunodeficiency Virus Declines in Uganda: Comparative Analyses of HIV and Behavioural Data in Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia (research abstract)
Researchers performed a comparative analysis of population level HIV surveillance and behavioral data in Uganda and countries with similar epidemic dynamics to identify distinctive elements of the Ugandan success against the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The lack of comparable HIV declines in comparison countries with similar rates of abstinence and condom use, but with multiple sexual partnership rates similar to Uganda in 1989, suggests that partner reduction is paramount in interrupting sexual HIV dynamics. The authors note that Ugandans were more likely to acknowledge people with AIDS and communicate about HIV through personal networks. Their modelling suggests an 80% reduction in incidence among youth early in the 1990s, suggesting a preceding behavioral process during the late 1980s, which reduced HIV risk. They conclude that the distinctive element explaining declines in HIV prevalence in Uganda is sexual partner reduction.

Development of an Opinion Leader-Led HIV Prevention Intervention Among Alcohol Users in Chennai, India (research abstract)
This paper presents the experience of the authors in their development of an opinion leader-led HIV prevention intervention among alcohol users in Chennai, India. The authors found that HIV prevention messages in this population need to dispel misperceptions about HIV transmission, provide strategies and skills to adopt and sustain condom use, and target the role of alcohol in sexual behavior. They outline specific lessons learned in intervention development in this population.

The Level of Effort in the National Response to HIV/AIDS: The AIDS Program Effort Index (API) 2003 Round (report)
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This report presents the results of the 2003 round of the AIDS Program Effort Index (API). The API was developed by UNAIDS, USAID, and the Policy Project to measure program effort in the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It is designed to provide a current profile of national effort and a measure of change over time. The API was first applied to 40 countries in 2000, and a revised index was applied in 54 countries in early 2003.

HIV/AIDS NEWS

U.S. Prepares Plan for Safe AIDS Drugs to the Poor (news article)
The United States is proposing a fast-track system to provide safe, effective AIDS drugs to poor countries under President Bush's $15 billion AIDS relief plan, US health regulators said on Sunday.

China to Treat 100,000 HIV/AIDS Patients by 2005 (news article)
China aims to provide treatment to 100,000 HIV/AIDS patients by the end of 2005 as part of a global initiative on treating the killer disease.

Zimbabwe: Calls for Decentralisation of ARV Programmes (news article)
A government decision to distribute anti-AIDS drugs at two of Zimbabwe's largest urban hospitals has been criticised because the majority of people in need of antiretroviral drugs live in rural areas.

Hunger, AIDS Devastate Africa, Experts Say (news article)
Hunger and AIDS have trapped millions of Africans in a spiral of sickness and death, experts told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week.

Cote d'Ivoire: AIDS Activists Angry at Slow Disbursement from Global Fund (news article)
AIDS activists are angry that 6 months after Cote d'Ivoire received a US$91 million grant to fight the disease, not a penny of the money has been spent on actual projects to fight the spread of the HIV virus or help those living with AIDS.

India: Polling Booths Used for AIDS Awareness in Kolkata (news article)
A voluntary organization used the general elections as an opportunity to rally support for AIDS: volunteers swarmed polling booths across the city to distribute condoms and educate people on the myths and facts of the deadly disease.

Latent Drug-resistant HIV Harbored for Years (news article)
Despite a successful response to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), drug resistant strains of HIV are still found in blood cells of patients who have previously shown drug resistance, according to Belgian researchers.

Russia: A Serious HIV Education Problem (feature article)
This article stresses the serious education problem in Russia that is contributing to its national AIDS epidemic.

African Health Ministers Launch Appeal for Low-cost AIDS Drugs (news article)
Some 14 government officials representing 13 African nations launched a fresh appeal to the world's rich countries to help fund and reduce costs for antiretroviral drugs in their fight against HIV/AIDS. The May 13 appeal, called the "Protocol of Rome," said: "The therapy that allows people to coexist with the virus and to live well, too, is available, but only for the rich world. The right to live, however, cannot depend on geography."

Ukraine Fights Rising HIV/AIDS Infection Rate (feature article)
Still caught in the transition from a former Soviet country to a modern society, the Ukraine has become one of Europe's epicentres of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, with numbers of affected people increasing daily.

Burma Confronts Taboo, Educates Villagers about HIV Prevention (feature article)
This feature article relates how education efforts are reaching villagers about the lethal disease that is sweeping their country of 42 million people.

Zimbabawe: 51% of Zim Prisoners HIV-positive (news article)
At least 51% of inmates currently held in Zimbabwe's 41 prisons are infected with HIV/AIDS, with limited strategies to fight its spread, a study released last week revealed.

MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH RESEARCH

Breast Feeding in a Saudi Arabian Community. Profile of Parents and Influencing Factors. (research article)
This study, conducted in Al Kharj Health Centre, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, found that partial breast feeding is the dominant mode of feeding in the community, although the influencing factors and behavioral factors are similar in breast feeding and partial breast feeding groups. The authors note that the most significant factors affecting the outcome of breast feeding are modifiable by health education.

Waiting Too Long: Low Use of Maternal Health Services in Kalabo, Zambia (research abstract)
This study determined the level of use of maternal health services and identified and assessed factors that influence women's choices on where to deliver in Kalabo District, Zambia. Although 96% of respondents (n=332 women) would prefer to deliver in a clinic, only 54% actually did, because of long distances, lack of transport, user fees, lack of adequate health education given during antenatal clinic attendances, poorly staffed and ill-equipped institutions with poorly skilled personnel. The authors note that unmarried women, women with higher education and women with formal employment, who are able to pay the user fees and live near a clinic are more likely to deliver in a clinic.

Infant Feeding Practices in Western Tanzania and Uganda: Implications for Infant Feeding Recommendations for HIV-infected Mothers (research abstract)
Researchers assessed the feeding practices in peripheral areas of Tanzania (n=237 mothers) and Uganda. The average reported duration of breastfeeding was 24 months in Tanzania but 18 months in Uganda. A total of 19% and 48% of the study participants, respectively, started to breastfeed their infants exclusively at the age of 4 months in Tanzania and Uganda. According to the interviewees, exclusive breastfeeding was rarely practiced in Tanzania. The authors conclude that their findings underline the necessity to promote exclusive breastfeeding if infant feeding recommendations are to be realized and emphasize the need to assess the local situation in order to ensure that locally appropriate information and recommendations are given to the target groups.

Empowering Communities to Respond to HIV/AIDS: Ndola Demonstration Project on Maternal and Child Health: Operations Research Final Report (report)
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This paper presents the results of a pre-post intervention study of the Ndola Demonstration Project in Zambia, whose goal was to pilot the introduction of infant feeding counselling and voluntary counselling and testing at antenatal care sites as interventions to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

Antenatal Care in Developing Countries: Promises, Achievements and Missed Opportunities: An Analysis of Trends, Levels and Differentials, 1990-2001 (report)
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Produced by the WHO, this report analyzes patterns and trends in antenatal care use, using data drawn from household surveys carried out in developing countries from 1990 to 2001. Key findings include: use of antenatal care in developing countries rose by one-fifth during the 1990s; the smallest increases were in sub-Saharan Africa, although there was a high frequency of antenatal visits in this region, and the largest increase was in Asia, although this region started from the lowest base. Key determinants of antenatal care use were household wealth, place of residence, and level of education, with a significant difference found between women who had received no education and those with primary education.

Maternal Perceptions of Acute Respiratory Infections in Children Under 5 in Rural South Africa (research abstract)
This study assessed maternal ability to recognize respiratory distress and to identify local beliefs and practices around respiratory infections in rural KwaZulu/Natal, South Africa.

MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH NEWS

Being Born Still Too Dangerous in Brazil (news article)
Recent Brazilian statistics show that 74.5 women die in every 100,000 live births. For every 1,000 live births, 18 infants die before their first month. Brazil's Health Ministry has promised to decrease the current indexes of maternal and neonatal mortality by 75% by 2015.

Uganda: Mortality Rate Alarms MPs (news article)
Members of parliament on the social services committee have expressed concern over the indicators for infant and maternal mortality rates, which have remained high for a long time. Infant mortality stands at 88 per 1,000 while maternal mortality is at 506 per 100,000 in Uganda.

Eating Fish During Pregnancy May Up Fetal Growth (news article)
Women who regularly eat fish during the late stages of pregnancy appear to be less likely to have a low-birth weight infant, according to new study findings.

UK: Number of Babies Born Out of Wedlock Rises to 41% (news article)
A record number of babies in England and Wales are now born outside marriage, figures revealed yesterday. More than 41% of babies were born to single mothers and women in cohabiting relationships in 2003, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Babyfood Companies 'Breaking Breastfeeding Code' (news article)
Efforts to increase breastfeeding rates are being hampered by widespread baby food marketing malpractice, a health campaign group warns.

Study Shows Men Keen to be Involved in Child Birth and Early Parenting (news article)
Contrary to most people's opinions, most men are keen to be involved in the birth and early parenting of their child, and midwives can play an important role in supporting that, a PhD study at Southern Cross University, Australia has found.

Kenya: Family Joy That Did Not Last (feature article)
"The day she gave birth to her seventh born child is the last she lived." This feature article recounts the harrowing details of one family's struggle with the death of their mother as a result of complications of childbirth.

MEN'S HEALTH RESEARCH

Causes of Male Excess Mortality: Insights from Cloistered Populations (research abstract)
The aim of this study was to determine which biological factors contribute to the existence and the widening of mortality differences between the sexes. A mortality analysis for the years 1890 to 1995 was performed comparing mortality data on more than 11,000 Catholic nuns and monks in Bavarian communities living in very nearly identical behavioral and environmental conditions with life table data for the general German population. The author concludes that under the special environmental conditions of nuns and monks, biological factors appear to confer a maximum survival advantage for women of no more than one year in remaining life expectancy at young adult ages.

Superior Outcomes of Microsurgical Vasectomy Reversal in Men with the Same Female Partners (research abstract)
This study finds that outcomes of vasectomy reversal in men with the same female partners are better than for men with new partners. The authors speculate that these superior results are previous proven fecundity as a couple, shorter time interval since vasectomy, and emotional dedication.

POPULATION RESEARCH

Conflicting Preferences: A Reason Fertility Tends to Be Too High or Too Low (research abstract)
The author of this paper argues that fertility extremes (the discrepancies between desired and actual fertility) may be explained by partners' holding different preferences. He states that individual preferences expected to lead to replacement-level reproduction may in combination generate substantially higher or lower fertility. Given that personal practices or social norms may systematically favor high or low preferences in the event of disagreement, chance alone will ensure that desired and actual fertility do not coincide.

Fertility and Distorted Sex Ratios in a Rural Chinese County: Culture, State, and Policy (research abstract)
This article explores how gender bias in population policies interacts with local culture to reinforce distortions in sex ratios among infants and young children in rural China. It argues that population policies introduce new sources of inequality into local culture while, conversely, gender inequalities embedded in local culture influence formal population policy and practice.

Long-Term Population Decline in Europe: The Relative Importance of Tempo Effects and Generational Length (research abstract)
This paper compares the relative importance of tempo effects and generational length analytically and with data for the 15-country European Union. It also considers whether an increase in the mean age of childbearing will decrease the quantum of fertility. The results show that for the coming 200 years the effect of tempo changes clearly dominates, with the effect of a shorter mean length of generation only becoming visible thereafter. Even small tempo-quantum interactions can overwhelm the generation-length effect.

POPULATION NEWS

UK: Birth Rise 'Highest for 20 Years' (news article)
England and Wales has seen the highest annual rise in births for two decades, official figures show. The number of babies born last year rose by more than 4% to 621,469 - the highest annual birth rate since 1999 and the biggest rise since 1979. The Office for National Statistics figures show more unmarried women are having babies than ever before.

Singapore Set to Relax Rules to Boost Population (news article)
Singapore will relax rules to grant more foreign-born children citizenship, hoping to reverse an alarming slide in its birth rate to record lows and boost a rapidly ageing population. Babies born abroad to Singaporean women married to foreigners will have the right to citizenship under a constitutional amendment passed in April that took effect May 15.

The Birth Rate Trend in Slovakia Turned into Positive (news article)
For the first time in 23 years, the number of newborn children in Slovakia has not decreased. In 2003, 51,713 children were born, which is 872 more than in 2002.

Australia Offering to Pay New Parents (news article)
Facing a falling birth rate, the Australian government has a simple message: Go forth and multiply. And they're prepared to pay new parents who take up the call. "Come on, come on, your nation needs you," Prime Minister John Howard said Wednesday, when asked about a one-off 3,000 Australian dollar (US$2,100) payment for all new mothers announced by Treasurer Peter Costello in the annual budget.

WOMEN'S HEALTH RESEARCH

Socio-cultural Influences on Chinese Women's Attendance for Cervical Screening (research abstract)
This paper outlines an investigation of the cultural and social factors contributing to Chinese women's attendance for cervical screening.

Politics and Female Sterilization in Northeast Brazil (research abstract)
The authors of this paper present evidence that the popularity of female sterilization in the northeast of Brazil is the result of the use of sterilization as an electoral good by politicians and physicians in local contexts (where politicians regularly provide goods and services to the poor in exchange for votes).

WOMEN'S HEALTH NEWS

Traffickers Prey on Tibetan Girls, Women (news article)
Chinese police and local authorities in Tibet near the Nepal border are colluding with local Tibetan and Chinese entrepreneurs in recruiting Tibetan girls and women to work as escorts, barmaids, and prostitutes, Radio Free Asia's Tibetan service reports. Most of the young women are lured with promises of a quick passage out of Tibet to India or Nepal, but many are sent home after they become pregnant or acquire communicable diseases.

Pakistan: Sisters Raped in Pak to Avenge Family Honour (news article)
Human Rights groups have taken up the matter wherein two young women were raped in a Pakistani village according to a tribal code of honor.

A School for India's Brides to Be (feature article)
A school for brides in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh teaches women how to be ideal wives by serving their husband and his family - but keeps sex off the curriculum.

Indigenous Education Boosts Women's Health and Education Prospects – UN (news article)
A supportive policy environment as well as political commitment is needed to ensure quality indigenous education both as a right in itself and as a means to improve the economic and health prospects of women, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has been told. Several recent studies show that one extra year beyond primary school boosts economic possibilities for women by 10%.

Indigenous Girls, Women Need Better Education, UNESCO Says (news article)
Political commitment is needed to ensure that indigenous girls and women receive high quality education, which boosts economic possibilities and health prospects, UNESCO's interim chief of the Section on Education for Peace and Human Rights Linda King said last week during the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, which runs through May 21 in New York.

Burma: Mother, Prostitute Paying for Ignorance with Their Lives (feature article)
This feature article relates the tragic lives of two women, one a mother, the other a prostitute, and how HIV/AIDS has changed them forever.

YOUTH HEALTH RESEARCH

Prevalence of Chlamydial and Gonococcal Infections Among Young Adults in the United States (research abstract)
Related news article: Study: Chlamydia in 4 Percent of Young Adults
More than 4% of young adults in the United States are infected with chlamydia, and the sexually transmitted disease is six times more common in blacks than in whites, researchers say. In a nationally representative study of 14,322 people ages 18 to 26 conducted in 2001-02, University of North Carolina researchers found that 4.7% of women and 3.6% of men had chlamydia. The overall prevalence was 4.2%.

Health Needs of Hong Kong Chinese Pregnant Adolescents (research abstract)
This paper reports a study to identify the perceived needs of Hong Kong Chinese adolescents following confirmation of an unintended pregnancy.

Gender Differences in Condom-Related Behaviors and Attitudes Among Mexican Adolescents Living on the U.S.-Mexico Border (research abstract)
This study examined gender differences in the likelihood of unprotected sex and theoretical correlates among high school students (n=370) in the border city of Tijuana. Researchers used a face-to-face interview and a self-administered survey. They found that although male students initiated sexual practices earlier than females, females were more likely to have unprotected sex. Females perceived themselves as more likely to avoid unprotected sex in the future and held more favorable attitudes about condoms.

YOUTH HEALTH NEWS

Uganda: Museveni Condemns Condom Distribution to Pupils (news article)
President Yoweri Museveni has attacked the distribution of condoms in primary school pupils, describing it as dangerous and disastrous. President Museveni was quoted as saying: "I am going to review this issue. I will open war on the condom sellers. Instead of saving life they are promoting promiscuity among young people."

Study: 6.7 Percent of S. African Children Have HIV (news article)
Nearly 7% of South African children aged between 2 and 9 are infected with HIV, a survey said Wednesday, offering grim new data for a country struggling with the world's worst AIDS epidemic. The Human Sciences Research Council said parentless children were at highest risk, with an estimated 12.7% of orphans under 18 years old infected with the AIDS virus. Executive Director of the Human Sciences Research Council presented findings of the National Household HIV Prevalence and Risk Study of South African Children at the 2nd African Conference on Social Aspects of HIV and AIDS Research in Cape Town.

SPECIAL REPORTS/PROFILES/RESOURCES

Addressing AIDS in China: An Interview with David Ho (interview)
David Ho, MD, has been at the forefront of HIV research for 20 years. He is the founding Scientific Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, as well as the Irene Diamond Professor at The Rockefeller University, both in New York City. He was named Time Magazine's Man of the Year in 1996 and awarded the Presidential Medal in 2001. In recent years he has increasingly been involved in HIV/AIDS in China and at the end of last year launched the Chinese AIDS Initiative to promote advocacy, prevention, education, and treatment of HIV/AIDS there. At the same time he began an AIDS vaccine trial in the US to test ADVAX, a DNA vaccine based on subtype C virus developed by his research team. Ho recently spoke to IAVI Report editor Simon Noble about that trial, the Chinese AIDS Initiative, and the current awareness of the burgeoning epidemic in China.

ARHA Briefing Pack on Population and Development (resource material)
This document has been produced by the Australian Reproductive Health Alliance (ARHA), in association with Family Planning Association International Development New Zealand, with the support of the UNFPA and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. It is adapted from the Marie Stopes International publication, Briefing Pack on Population and Development. Sections include "Why are Population Issues Important?" "How Policymakers Can Help" and "The Human Right to Family Planning".

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