A one-off distribution of condoms by a state newspaper has upset and embarrassed the government of Chile and cost the public affairs chief of the country’s HIV/Aids unit his job. The Health Minister of Chile, Pedro Garcia said: “The ministry has a chain of authority that must be respected.” While the government encouraged use of condoms, it did not tolerate its distribution via the mass media, he added.
Canada’s pledge of £41 million to the WHO has come in the nick of time. Without the new funds, WHO would not have been able to move forward with its 3X5 initiative. Canadian PM Paul Martin said: “The funds will be used to train doctors and nurses and help countries develop treatment plans and strategies.”
Of new HIV cases diagnosed in Ireland, more than half are among people born in sub-Saharan Africa, the Irish Times reports. This puts those working with HIV positive people in a difficult position, said Ann Nolan, director of the Dublin Aids Alliance. Unsuccessful HIV positive asylum seekers face deportation to countries where no treatment is available, she said. Of 3,216 people diagnosed with HIV in Ireland, 731 have progressed to Aids and up to the end of 2002 there were 369 Aids-related deaths.
The death of Ronald Reagan has gone largely unmourned by America’s gay community, which still harbours bitter memories of the former president’s indifference to the emerging Aids epidemic in the 1980s. The acronym Aids was first used in 1982 when more than 1,500 Americans were diagnosed with the disease. Activists have reminded the press that Reagan never mentioned the word in public until 1987, by which time some 60,000 cases had been diagnosed, half of whom had died.
According to his White House physician, Reagan thought of Aids as though "it was measles and would go away," AFP reported
“The acid test is: if a little bird had whispered in her ear as she was about to have unprotected sex with Feston Konzani: ‘Would you be doing this if you knew he was HIV infected’? would she reply: ‘No I wouldn’t’, or would she reply: ‘It doesn’t matter, I’ll be all right?’”
Judge Peter Fox QC, summing up at the trial of Konzani in Middlesbrough last month.
“I could go out to half a dozen places to buy heroin right now if I wanted to, yet I would struggle to buy a bit of cannabis.”
An Edinburgh ex-heroin addict, from the Scotsman.
“Good sex education works...Teachers must be given the support they need to tackle this dreadful information gap, and to deliver coordinated and appropriate sex education in schools.”
Paul Ward, deputy chief executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust.
“Historically, HIV services were set up to cater for white gay men. But around five years ago, we began to see an increase in the number of heterosexual people from African communities being diagnosed - and this trend is particularly marked in East London boroughs.”
Professor Jonathan Elford, of London’s City and Queen Mary’s University.
“People who have been living with HIV for two decades are tired of being advised on safer sex and disclosure by nurses, some of who weren’t
even born when we
were diagnosed.”
Rupert Whittaker, partner of Terrence Higgins from 20 years ago, speaking at a THT conference which called for more
attention to be given
to the long-term diagnosed.
