MUNICH – Delegates at the International AIDS conference leapt to their feet in delight after results from one of the most promising HIV prevention trial in the history of the epidemic – a twice-yearly injection of lenacapavir that prevented 100% of new HIV infections – were presented on Wednesday. Principal investigator Professor Linda-Gail Bekker from […] Continue reading ->
MUNICH – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reaffirmed his government’s commitment to the global campaign against AIDS, including the Global Fund, at the opening of the international AIDS Conference – and appealed to other global powers to do the same. The Ukraine war is draining Germany’s resources, and on the far right, the substantial and growing […] Continue reading ->
MUNICH – While new HIV infections in 2023 plummeted globally to the level that they were in the late 1980s, they have surged by 20% in Eastern Europe and Central Asia since 2010, according to UNAIDS. There were 140,000 new HIV infections across Eastern Europe and Central Asia in 2023, with 93% of new cases […] Continue reading ->
Variant type 2 poliovirus (VDPV) has been isolated from six environmental (sewage) samples in the Gaza Strip – collected from two different collection sites in the southern city of Khan Younis as well as Deir al Balah, further north, WHO confirmed Friday. The variant poliovirus strains detected in all six wastewater samples, collected in late […] Continue reading ->
WHO’s Regional Director for Europe reflects on why we haven’t been able to end AIDS despite having the tools to do so – as Germany hosts the 25th International AIDS conference. Twenty-four years ago, Maria Godlevkskaya was in a coma in a hospital in Russia, her immune system having failed without treatment for her HIV. […] Continue reading ->
On the eve of the International AIDS conference in Munich, scientists report that another person has been cured of AIDS via a stem cell transplant and impressive success in HIV prevention via trials of long-action injectable pre-exposure medication – yet funding cuts threaten global HIV goals. UNAIDS economist Erik Lamontagne said that HIV could cost […] Continue reading ->
By 2035, nearly three quarters of the 40 million people living with HIV worldwide will be living with one or more chronic disease, also referred to as noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). While there are encouraging examples of integrated HIV and NCD healthcare delivery, this is yet to become the norm in low- and middle-income countries. As stakeholders […] Continue reading ->
Côte d’Ivoire became the first country to roll out the new R21/Matrix-M vaccine with the first child vaccinated in Abidjan on Monday. The vaccine, co-developed by the University of Oxford and Serum Institute of India (SII), was granted prequalification status by the World Health Organization (WHO) in December last year. This follows the approval of […] Continue reading ->
Dengue virus cases have reached an all-time high since January in the US territory of Puerto Rico, with 1,729 people infected so far – a more than 300% increase compared to last year. The uptick in the mosquito-borne disease, which causes mild to severe illness, follows a trend across the Caribbean region. The total number of […] Continue reading ->
As the fourth human case of H5N1 avian flu in a US farmworker in Colorado was confirmed Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), so far, only farm workers, and not consumers, have reported avian flu infections. This is likely due, at least in part, to the successful inactivation of the […] Continue reading ->