Category Archives: Aids and HIV

Revealed: key files shredded as UK government panic grew over infected blood deaths lawsuit

Posted on by

Lost documents prevented victims from finding out the truth, official inquiry told

Disastrous failures that caused the contaminated blood scandal were denied by ministers for decades after officials destroyed, lost and blocked access to key documents, memos submitted to the official inquiry reveal.

Several batches of files involving the work of a blood safety advisory committee were shredded as the government faced the threat of legal action, documents show. Patients who were given contaminated blood when they were children have also told the infected blood inquiry how their hospital medical files were destroyed or initially withheld.

Continue reading...

Three women diagnosed with HIV after getting ‘vampire facials’ in New Mexico

Posted on by

CDC says incidents at unlicensed medical spa are first documented cases of virus transmitted by a cosmetic procedure using needles

Three women who were diagnosed with HIV after getting “vampire facial” procedures at an unlicensed New Mexico medical spa are believed to be the first documented cases of people contracting the virus through a cosmetic procedure using needles, federal health officials said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its Morbidity and Mortality Report last week that an investigation into the clinic from 2018 through 2023 showed it apparently reused disposable equipment intended for one-time use.

Continue reading...

Infected blood scandal: victims’ families hope report will finally apportion blame

Posted on by

UK government’s apologies so far have had a distinct lack of candour about what it is apologising for

Surviving victims and relatives of those who died as a result of receiving infected blood and blood products from the NHS in the 1970s and 80s will gather in a few weeks at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster.

After six years of taking evidence, Sir Brian Langstaff’s public inquiry will finally unveil its report there on 20 May.

Continue reading...

UK swapped to fatal US blood products to save money, minutes suggest

Posted on by

Exclusive: contaminated blood campaigners say internal 1976 Immuno AG document proves British government negligence

The British government was willing to risk infecting NHS patients to get “lower-priced” blood products, according to a document that campaigners claim proves state and corporate guilt in one of the country’s worst ever scandals.

A public inquiry into the deaths of an estimated 2,900 people infected with conditions such as HIV and hepatitis will publish its final report in May, four decades after the NHS started prescribing blood and blood products – including from drug users, prisoners and sex workers – sourced from the US.

Continue reading...

HIV vaccine trial in Africa halted after disappointing initial results

Posted on by

African-led trial ended a year early as researchers conclude there is ‘little or no chance’ new combination vaccines cut HIV risk

The first trial in Africa of two combination vaccines to prevent HIV has been halted after researchers concluded it was not working.

The vaccines (part of the PrEPVacc study) were being tested on 1,500 people aged between 18 and 40 in Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa.

Continue reading...

Countries that criminalise gay sex are impeding fight against Aids, UN warns

Posted on by

Anti-LGBTQ+ laws lead to stigmatism and deny access to lifesaving drugs and services

Anti-homosexuality laws stop people from accessing lifesaving health services and seriously impede progress on eliminating HIV, a senior UN official has said.

Sixty-seven countries have laws that criminalise gay sex, and nearly half are in Africa, the continent most affected by HIV. In those countries, prevalence rates are about five times higher among gay men than in countries where same-sex relations are not criminalised, according to figures from UNAids.

Continue reading...

South Africa ‘can’t afford’ to pay for new anti-HIV drug, despite cut-price offer

Posted on by

The jab, given every two months, has been offered on a non-profit basis, but it can’t compete with a cheap daily HIV-prevention pill

The South African health department says the reduced cost of a new anti-HIV injection is still three times more than it can afford to pay.

The UK-based drug company ViiV Healthcare has lowered the price from 729 rand per shot (£32) to between 540 and 570 rand (£23.66-£24.97).

Continue reading...

More people living longer with HIV/Aids in China, figures show

Posted on by

Reported cases have risen more than 7,000% in the last 20 years on the back of better treatment and testing, though mortality rate has gone up

The prevalence of HIV/Aids in China has surged in the past 20 years, as improved treatment means people are living longer with the disease, according to official data.

Figures published in October by China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that between 2002 and 2021, the prevalence rate of reported HIV/Aids cases rose from 1.09 per 100,000 people to 79.62, an increase of more than 7,000%. Improved treatment as well as better access to testing have contributed to the soaring prevalence rates, even as the mortality rate for HIV/Aids also increased for much of that period.

Continue reading...

Memorial honors trailblazing senator Dianne Feinstein: ‘She was a lioness’

Posted on by

Kamala Harris and mayor London Breed make remarks in a private service as mourners pay their respects at San Francisco’s city hall

At a memorial for Dianne Feinstein on Thursday, Joe Biden praised the late senator as a dear friend and a woman of deep integrity who fought to protect what was important to the US: freedom, civil liberties, security and the constitution.

“She was always tough, prepared, rigorous, compassionate. She always served the people of California and our nation for the right reasons,” Biden said in recorded video remarks played at the memorial outside San Francisco city hall.

Continue reading...

Ugandan president signs anti-LGBTQ+ law with death penalty for same-sex acts

Posted on by

Global outcry over Museveni’s assent to draconian new anti-gay law, condemned as a ‘permission slip for hate and dehumanisation’


Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, has signed into law the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ+ bill, which allows the death penalty for homosexual acts. The move immediately drew widespread international outrage as well as condemnation from many Ugandans.

Early on Monday, the speaker of the Ugandan parliament, Anita Annet Among, released a statement on social media confirming Museveni had assented to the law first passed by MPs in March. It imposes the death penalty or life imprisonment for certain same-sex acts, up to 20 years in prison for “recruitment, promotion and funding” of same-sex “activities”, and anyone convicted of “attempted aggravated homosexuality” faces a 14-year sentence.

Continue reading...

Injectable HIV-prevention drug to be made in South Africa for the first time

Posted on by

Indian drug company to make cheaper generic version of CAB-LA, potentially protecting millions of people in Africa from the virus

An affordable version of a groundbreaking HIV-prevention drug will be made in South Africa for the first time, potentially giving millions of people at risk of HIV infection in Africa access to a two-monthly jab that can almost eliminate their chances of contracting the virus.

The Indian drug company Cipla confirmed that a generic version of the prophylaxis, long-acting cabotegravir (CAB-LA), would be manufactured at its plants in Benoni, near Johannesburg, or Durban.

Continue reading...

Big pharma must value African lives above profits, warns head of UNAids

Posted on by

‘Racist’ inequalities leave sub-Saharan region bearing burden of more that half world’s new HIV infections, says Winnie Byanyima

The head of UNAids, Winnie Byanyima, has attacked pharmaceutical giants for prioritising profits over saving lives, and warned that “racist” inequalities are undermining progress towards ending Aids, especially in Africa.

Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for more than half of all new infections, with women and marginalised groups facing higher new infection rates. Aids-related illnesses were the leading cause of mortality among African women, and adolescent girls and young women were three times more likely than men to get HIV.

Continue reading...

Zimbabwe becomes first African nation to approve HIV prevention drug

Posted on by

World Health Organization welcomes country’s ‘crucial step’ in backing use of long-acting injectable cabotegravir (CAB-LA)

Zimbabwe has become the first country in Africa and the third in the world to approve an HIV prevention drug recently recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Regulators in Australia and the US have already given their backing to use the long-acting injectable cabotegravir (CAB-LA), and the WHO welcomed the move by Zimbabwe.

Continue reading...

Elton John awarded medal by Joe Biden for his work to end Aids

Posted on by

Singer moved to tears as US president awards him National Humanities Medal after White House performance

Elton John was moved to tears after being awarded the National Humanities Medal for his work to end Aids by the US president following a special performance at the White House.

The singer performed on the White House lawn for the president and first lady and about 2,000 “everyday history makers” on Friday night.

Continue reading...

India’s HIV patients say shortages leaving hundreds of thousands without drugs

Posted on by

Campaigners say many people have had to stop or switch antiretroviral medication regimes – but the government denies supply crisis

Hundreds of thousands of people living with HIV in India are struggling to access treatment because of a shortage of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, according to campaigners.

Up to 500,000 people have not been able to get hold of free ARVs from government health centres and hospitals over the past five months, they say, as the country experiences stock shortages of key drugs.

Continue reading...

Leading figures urge drugs firm to lower price of ‘game-changing’ HIV prevention drug

Posted on by

Signatories including Olly Alexander, Stephen Fry and Joseph Stiglitz issue a letter asking ViiV to make cabotegravir affordable to low- and middle-income countries

Nobel laureates, business leaders, former premiers and celebrities have urged a UK pharmaceutical company to lower the price of its groundbreaking HIV prevention drug and ensure it is not kept “out of reach” of the world’s poor.

In a letter signed by dozens of high-profile figures, including Sir Richard Branson, the singer Olly Alexander, the economist Joseph Stiglitz and Helen Clark, the former prime minister of New Zealand, the pharmaceutical company ViiV Healthcare is praised for having developed the first of a new kind of HIV prevention drug.

Continue reading...

‘Africa must be self-sufficient’: John Nkengasong on learning the deadly lessons of pandemics

Posted on by

The outgoing director of Africa Centres for Disease Control has seen Ebola, Aids and now Covid – and warns complacency is dangerous

The past five years have been “like going from one fire to the next, with barely any time to catch your breath”, says John Nkengasong, the outgoing head of the body charged with responding to health emergencies in Africa.

A relentless term as the first director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) saw Nkengasong manage the response to Ebola and Lassa fever outbreaks. But nothing compared to the formidable test brought by Covid-19.

Continue reading...

Patients dying as conflict prevents supplies reaching Tigray hospitals

Posted on by

Medics unable to keep babies alive, says doctor, as Ethiopia’s civil war creates desperate shortages of drugs, oxygen, fuel and food

People in Tigray are dying due to a lack of oxygen and medicines, a doctor at the region’s largest hospital has said, as medics struggle to care for the sick amid frequent electricity blackouts and fuel shortages.

As the 16-month conflict between Tigrayan forces and Ethiopian government forces drags on, the isolated northern region of 5.5 million people continues to suffer under what the UN has called a de facto blockade.

Continue reading...

Increase funding or abandon hope of ending malaria, TB and Aids, UK warned

Posted on by

Global Fund urges UK and other donors to pledge billions to get efforts to end diseases by 2030 ‘back on track’ after catastrophic impact of Covid

Britain is being urged to pledge billions of dollars to get the fight against malaria, tuberculosis and Aids “back on track” after efforts were ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The UK has historically been one of the main donors to the Global Fund, an international financing organisation aimed at ending the three deadly epidemics by 2030. Now it is warning that, unless donors make an unprecedented total funding pledge of $18bn (£13.25bn) this year, that goal will be missed.

Continue reading...

Third person apparently cured of HIV using novel stem cell transplant

Posted on by

Patient is mixed-race woman treated in New York using umbilical cord blood, in technique raising chances of finding suitable donors

Scientists appear to have cured a third person, and the first woman, of HIV using a novel stem cell transplant method, American researchers in Denver, Colorado, said on Tuesday.

The patient, a woman of mixed race, was treated using a new method that involved umbilical cord blood, which is more readily available than the adult stem cells which are often used in bone marrow transplants, according to the New York Times.

Continue reading...