WORLD AIDS DAY INFO BITES

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On World Aids Day we present a selection of news bites from around the world on the state of the epidemic.

  • Fewer than half of South Africa’s 15-year olds will live long enough to collect a pension, according to an actuarial report on the Aids pandemic released on Thursday. South Africa’s 15-year-olds have a 56% chance of dying before turning 60. Irin

  • German sex educators plan to launch a spray-on condom tailor-made for all sizes. Krause’s team is developing a type of spray can into which the man inserts his penis first. At the push of a button it is then coated in a rubber condom. Reuters

  • Former United States President Bill Clinton announced an agreement on Thursday to cut prices of HIV/Aids treatments for children, making the life-saving drugs far more accessible worldwide.Two Indian pharmaceutical companies have agreed to supply antiretroviral (ARV) formulations for HIV-positive children at prices as low as 16 US cents a day, or $60 annually. Irin

  • More than a million jobs are being lost every year from the spread of HIV/Aids, research has revealed, the bulk of them in sub-Saharan Africa. The virus has had a crippling effect on the workforce of many countries, the International Labour Organization said in a report done for World Aids Day. BBC News

  • Calls for a repeal of India’s ban on homosexuality have increased after a UNAIDS representative claimed the prohibition is contributing to an increase of HIV. Presently there is a 10 year prison term for homosexual activity, while in the meantime India has the largest number of people living with HIV/AIDS currently at 5.7 million, according to the state’s National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).
  • Iraq has traditionally had one of the lowest incidences of HIV/AIDS in the Middle East. This started to slowly change after the US-led invasion in 2003 brought hundreds of foreigners into the country, opening the doors for the spread of the virus, health workers say. Irin

  • The Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress for the third year in a row have received a failing grade from an LGBT civil rights organization in the government’s response to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. The 2006 report card gives the government and F for prevention, a D for care and treatment, F for research, C for its global response and an F for ending AIDS related discrimination. 365Gay

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