with HIV and Aids by 2010
unless ‘substantial measures are taken to prevent an epidemic’.
This latest forecast of China’s Aids time bomb coincides with
the removal of a ban of adverts for condoms.Catholic Church
confesses sins
150 Roman Catholic relief agencies across the world have backed
an extraordinary apology admitting to the Church’s collusion
in the persecution of people with HIV and Aids. “The virus
tapped into dark fears and secrecy that surrounds sex, making it
easy to falsely tag HIV as a physical manifestation of sin,”
said CAFOD’s Ann Smith.
Deal on cheap HIV drugs fails
Talks at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to allow access to cheap
HIV drugs in developing countries have broken down without agreement.
An interim deal in 2001 in Qatar to relax rules on international
patent rights should have allowed poor countries to import cheap
generic versions of the drugs, but discussions broke down at the
WTO Geneva meeting in November.
Global Fund issues first cheques
After over a year of delays the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and
Malaria issued its first $500 million in December. The head of the
Fund, Richard Feacham, said that without an immediate infusion of
cash, the outlook is bleak. He called on wealthy countries to increase
donations. On 8 January the United Nations envoy for HIV/Aids, Stephen
Lewis, urged donors to contribute more to the Fund before war in
Iraq eclipsed every other priority. “If the USA and other
members of the G7 don’t augment their contributions to the
global Fund in the immediate future, we will be in desperate trouble,”
he told a news conference. The fund has so far received pledges
of $2.5 billion, but not all the money has come in.
‘Slow puncture’ rape in SA prisons
South African prison gangs are using HIV infection as punishment,
in a horrific ritual known as “slow puncture.” Gideon
Morris, director of the Inspectorate of Prisons, told Reuters: “They
give him a ‘slow puncture’, meaning he will die over
a period of time.”
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