Hiv Aids

US aid cuts pause HIV vaccine research in S Africa, to have global impact

Just a week had remained before scientists in South Africa were to begin clinical trials of an HIV vaccine, and hopes were high for another step toward limiting one of history's deadliest pandemics. Then the email arrived. Stop all work, it said. The United States under the Trump administration was withdrawing all its funding. The news devastated the researchers, who live and work in a region where more people live with HIV than anywhere else in the world. Their research project, called BRILLIANT, was meant to be the latest to draw on the region's genetic diversity and deep expertise in the hope of benefiting people everywhere. But the $46 million from the US for the project was disappearing, part of the dismantling of foreign aid by the world's biggest donor earlier this year as President Donald Trump announced a focus on priorities at home. South Africa hit hard by aid cuts South Africa has been hit especially hard because of Trump's baseless claims about the targeting of the ..

USFDA approves first HIV prevention shot needing only two doses a year

Lenacapavir, the world's first twice-yearly HIV prevention shot, gets US FDA nod-offering a discreet, long-acting solution and near-complete protection to boost global HIV prevention efforts

Study finds men more likely to fall sick, die from 3 common health issues

Men in many countries are more likely to fall sick and die from hypertension, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS as compared to women, according to a new study. However, compared to women, men were found to be less likely to seek medical care and adhere to treatment for these common health conditions due to norms related to masculinity and healthcare financing. Men were also more likely to smoke, while women were more likely to be obese and engage in unsafe sex, the study, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, found. The research highlights sex-based differences at each step of the "health pathway", which includes being exposed to a risk factor -- such as smoking -- developing a condition, diagnosis, treatment and death, study authors said. "Most of these differences are not explained by sex (biology) alone, but by socially-constructed gender -- highlighting the importance of taking a gender justice approach to reducing health inequities. A gender analysis can help to shape systems of health

HIV spike stuns Uttarakhand hospital with 477 cases in just 15 months

According to reports, the majority of patients are men and few infected children likely contracted the virus from mothers

Decades of AIDS vax research imperiled by Trump's withdrawal of US funding

The US cut HIV vaccine funding, forcing IAVI to halt work and lay off staff, while the South African Medical Research Council will receive only $9 mn of its planned $45 mn for multi-country trials

Decades of AIDS vax research imperiled by Trump's withdrawal of US funding

The US cut HIV vaccine funding, forcing IAVI to halt work and lay off staff, while the South African Medical Research Council will receive only $9 mn of its planned $45 mn for multi-country trials

SC to hear plea over shortage of drugs for treating HIV patients on Monday

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea concerning alleged shortage of anti-retroviral therapy drugs for treating HIV patients in the country. As per the cause list of February 24 uploaded on the apex court website, a bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan is slated to hear the petition filed in 2022 by NGO 'Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS' and others. The Centre had in July last year apprised the apex court that the government was ensuring availability of free, life-long anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs for all people living with HIV through anti-retroviral therapy centres under the National AIDS Control Programme. It had said as on date, there was adequate stock of all ARV drugs nationally under the programme. The counsel appearing for the petitioners had said in view of the developments which had taken place since the filing of the petition, presently there was no shortage of ART drugs. However, the counsel had flagged certain difficulties in .

SC to hear plea over shortage of drugs for treating HIV patients on Monday

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea concerning alleged shortage of anti-retroviral therapy drugs for treating HIV patients in the country. As per the cause list of February 24 uploaded on the apex court website, a bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan is slated to hear the petition filed in 2022 by NGO 'Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS' and others. The Centre had in July last year apprised the apex court that the government was ensuring availability of free, life-long anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs for all people living with HIV through anti-retroviral therapy centres under the National AIDS Control Programme. It had said as on date, there was adequate stock of all ARV drugs nationally under the programme. The counsel appearing for the petitioners had said in view of the developments which had taken place since the filing of the petition, presently there was no shortage of ART drugs. However, the counsel had flagged certain difficulties in .

South African NGOs worry Trump's aid freeze will disrupt HIV treatment

At a rural village in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province, unemployed 19-year-old Nozuko Majola is trying to figure out if she has enough money for the one-hour ride to collect her much-needed HIV medication, usually delivered to her home that can't be easily reached due to rough, untarred roads. Majola is one of millions of patients in South Africa affected by US President Donald Trump's global foreign aid freeze, raising worries about HIV patients defaulting on treatment, infection rates going up and eventually a rise in deaths. In 2024, think tank Human Sciences Research Council released figures showing that Majola's province recorded the second-highest HIV prevalence in the country, at 16 per cent, with at least 1,300 young people estimated to contract the disease every week. KwaZulu-Natal also had the highest number of people living with HIV in South Africa in 2022, about 19,80,000. The country counts more than 7.5 million people infected with the virus that causes AIDS -- mo

South African NGOs worry Trump's aid freeze will disrupt HIV treatment

At a rural village in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province, unemployed 19-year-old Nozuko Majola is trying to figure out if she has enough money for the one-hour ride to collect her much-needed HIV medication, usually delivered to her home that can't be easily reached due to rough, untarred roads. Majola is one of millions of patients in South Africa affected by US President Donald Trump's global foreign aid freeze, raising worries about HIV patients defaulting on treatment, infection rates going up and eventually a rise in deaths. In 2024, think tank Human Sciences Research Council released figures showing that Majola's province recorded the second-highest HIV prevalence in the country, at 16 per cent, with at least 1,300 young people estimated to contract the disease every week. KwaZulu-Natal also had the highest number of people living with HIV in South Africa in 2022, about 19,80,000. The country counts more than 7.5 million people infected with the virus that causes AIDS -- mo

HIV infections likely to surge 6-fold if US support ends: UNAIDS chief

The head of the UN AIDS agency said on Monday the number of new HIV infections could jump more than six times by 2029 if American support of the biggest AIDS programme is dropped, warning that millions of people could die and more resistant strains of the disease could emerge. In an interview with The Associated Press, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said HIV infections have been falling in recent years, with just 1.3 million new cases recorded in 2023, a 60 per cent decline since the virus peaked in 1995. But since President Donald Trump's announcement the US would freeze all foreign assistance for 90 days, Byanyima said officials estimate that by 2029, there could be 8.7 million people newly infected with HIV, 6.3 million AIDS-related deaths and an additional 3.4 million children made orphans. We will see a surge in this disease, Byanyima said, speaking from Uganda. This will cost lives if the American government doesn't change its mind and maintain its leadership, she .

HIV infections likely to surge 6-fold if US support ends: UNAIDS chief

The head of the UN AIDS agency said on Monday the number of new HIV infections could jump more than six times by 2029 if American support of the biggest AIDS programme is dropped, warning that millions of people could die and more resistant strains of the disease could emerge. In an interview with The Associated Press, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said HIV infections have been falling in recent years, with just 1.3 million new cases recorded in 2023, a 60 per cent decline since the virus peaked in 1995. But since President Donald Trump's announcement the US would freeze all foreign assistance for 90 days, Byanyima said officials estimate that by 2029, there could be 8.7 million people newly infected with HIV, 6.3 million AIDS-related deaths and an additional 3.4 million children made orphans. We will see a surge in this disease, Byanyima said, speaking from Uganda. This will cost lives if the American government doesn't change its mind and maintain its leadership, she .

Key CDC data on HIV and LGBTQ health resources no longer accessible online

Some scientists and members of the public had in recent days raced to download, save and archive various datasets, worrying that they would be removed

Lupin receives USFDA approval to market its generic HIV medications

Drug firm Lupin on Friday said it has received approval from the US health regulator to market a generic HIV medication in the US market. The company has received tentative approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) under the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for Abacavir, Dolutegravir and Lamivudine tablets, the Mumbai-base drug maker said in a statement. The company's product is a generic equivalent of ViiV Healthcare Company's Triumeq PD tablets for oral suspension, it added. This product would be manufactured at the drug firm's Nagpur facility and will be supplied to low-and middle-income countries, it said. The fixed-dose combination of Abacavir 60 mg/Dolutegravir 5 mg/Lamivudine 30 mg tablets for oral suspension is a once-daily single-pill regimen, indicated for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in pediatric patients aged at least 3 months and weighing at least 6 kg. "The tentative approval from the USFDA for our Abacavir, Dolutegravir and

Twice-yearly shot could help end AIDS; will it reach those who need it?

It's been called the closest the world has ever come to a vaccine against the AIDS virus. The twice-yearly shot was 100% effective in preventing HIV infections in a study of women, and results published Wednesday show it worked nearly as well in men. Drugmaker Gilead said it will allow cheap, generic versions to be sold in 120 poor countries with high HIV rates mostly in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. But it has excluded nearly all of Latin America, where rates are far lower but increasing, sparking concern the world is missing a critical opportunity to stop the disease. This is so far superior to any other prevention method we have, that it's unprecedented, said Winnie Byanyima, executive director of UNAIDS. She credited Gilead for developing the drug, but said the world's ability to stop AIDS hinges on its use in at-risk countries. In a report issued to mark World AIDS Day on Sunday, UNAIDS said that the number of AIDS death last year an estimated 630,000 was at its

Twice-yearly shot could help end AIDS; will it reach those who need it?

It's been called the closest the world has ever come to a vaccine against the AIDS virus. The twice-yearly shot was 100% effective in preventing HIV infections in a study of women, and results published Wednesday show it worked nearly as well in men. Drugmaker Gilead said it will allow cheap, generic versions to be sold in 120 poor countries with high HIV rates mostly in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. But it has excluded nearly all of Latin America, where rates are far lower but increasing, sparking concern the world is missing a critical opportunity to stop the disease. This is so far superior to any other prevention method we have, that it's unprecedented, said Winnie Byanyima, executive director of UNAIDS. She credited Gilead for developing the drug, but said the world's ability to stop AIDS hinges on its use in at-risk countries. In a report issued to mark World AIDS Day on Sunday, UNAIDS said that the number of AIDS death last year an estimated 630,000 was at its

AIDS-related deaths down by 79%, new HIV infections by 44% in 2023: Nadda

Deaths from AIDS in the country came down by 79 per cent while HIV infections fell by 44 per cent in 2023 and the country is committed to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of eradicating AIDS by 2030, Union Health Minister JP Nadda said on Sunday.He was speaking at a function here on the occasion of World AIDS Day. Nadda said the renewed IDS response measures of 'test and treat' and universal viral load testing will be endorsed and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Act 2017 will be implemented in toto. India has worked out a formula of "95-95-95" in view of the target of eliminating AIDS by 2030, he added. "Ninety-five percent of the patients in the country should know that they are infected with HIV, 95 percent of the patients should get treatment and the "viral load" of 95 percent of the patients should be lessened by antiretroviral therapy medicines," he explained. At present, 81 per cent of patients know they are infected with HIV, 88 per cent patients are ...

Chances of HIV high in Kerala despite low density of infections: CM Vijayan

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday said though the southern state has low density of HIV-affected persons, the odds of contracting the infection is very high there. The disease prevention activities and awareness programmes have great significance and the state government is making various interventions to keep the disease at bay, he said in a Facebook post marking the "World AIDS Day" today. The CM said the day was a reminder to ensure public participation in the rehabilitation of HIV-infected persons across the world and to contain the spread of the disease. He pointed out that as per the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, it is necessary to create a situation where there are no new cases of the disease by 2030. But, Kerala is going to achieve this target much earlier, he said adding that the LDF government is making comprehensive interventions through the campaign "Onnayi Poojayathilekk" (loosely translated as "Together to Zero") as part of this. "We ar

Chances of HIV high in Kerala despite low density of infections: CM Vijayan

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday said though the southern state has low density of HIV-affected persons, the odds of contracting the infection is very high there. The disease prevention activities and awareness programmes have great significance and the state government is making various interventions to keep the disease at bay, he said in a Facebook post marking the "World AIDS Day" today. The CM said the day was a reminder to ensure public participation in the rehabilitation of HIV-infected persons across the world and to contain the spread of the disease. He pointed out that as per the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, it is necessary to create a situation where there are no new cases of the disease by 2030. But, Kerala is going to achieve this target much earlier, he said adding that the LDF government is making comprehensive interventions through the campaign "Onnayi Poojayathilekk" (loosely translated as "Together to Zero") as part of this. "We ar

World Aids Day 2024: History, significance, important steps for prevention

Every year on December 1st, people observe World Aids Day, a day to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS that impacts millions worldwide and to show support for those afflicted with this illness