Father Joe arrived in Bangkok in the 1970’s. Fifty years, 15 schools and 30,000 students later, he credits the community with saving him
“This other priest is always drunk, so you go take his place.”
With that simple instruction, Joseph H Maeir, a Catholic priest from the United States, found himself in Thailand, ending up in the slums of Bangkok in the 1970s.
Continue reading...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...Case against Shilpa Shetty over incident at Aids awareness event had languished in legal system
The Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty has been formally cleared of obscenity charges dating from when the Hollywood actor Richard Gere publicly kissed her at an Aids awareness event 15 years ago.
The incident triggered a controversy at the time, with radical Hindu groups burning effigies of both celebrities to protest against the perceived insult to Indian values.
Continue reading...Factory closures due to fashion industry order cancellations have pushed many former employees into often dangerous work
When Hla, 19, tried to go back to work seven months ago after having a baby, there were no jobs. Hundreds of garment factories in Myanmar had closed after western fashion brands cancelled orders due to the pandemic, leaving thousands of women jobless.
As lockdown gripped Yangon, her marriage broke down, her husband left, and her father had to sell his trishaw – no longer able to take passengers in the city. Her parents and baby were hungry. Five months ago, she became a sex worker.
Continue reading...News of Kaletra being tested as a possible treatment for the disease sparks panic buying
A drug used to treat people with HIV, the virus that causes Aids, is being trialled in patients in China as a possible therapy against the coronavirus.
News that HIV drugs are being deployed in hospitals, however, has led to panic buying on the black market by people who fear they are ill or are going to get sick. They have been obtaining the drug, Kaletra, from generics companies in India and even from people with HIV in China willing to sell or donate their own stocks.
Continue reading...Investigation finds children were being treated for ailments that can be cured with pills
More than 700 children in Pakistan were infected with HIV, the virus that can cause Aids, through unsafe injections to treat them for conditions such as diarrhoea and through contaminated blood donations, according to an investigation.
Until single-use, safe needles are introduced worldwide, which the World Health Organization says must happen by the end of 2020, experts say oral medicines should be the first choice wherever possible. They call for urgent action to improve infection control, the running of blood banks and the regulation of clinics in Pakistan.
Continue reading...Investigation finds children were being treated for ailments that can be cured with pills
More than 700 children in Pakistan were infected with HIV, the virus that can cause Aids, through unsafe injections to treat them for conditions such as diarrhoea and through contaminated blood donations, according to an investigation.
Until single-use, safe needles are introduced worldwide, which the World Health Organization says must happen by the end of 2020, experts say oral medicines should be the first choice wherever possible. They call for urgent action to improve infection control, the running of blood banks and the regulation of clinics in Pakistan.
Continue reading...Effort aims to reduce the stigma experienced by those living with the virus
The world’s first HIV positive sperm bank has been launched in an effort to reduce the stigma experienced by those living with the virus.
Sperm Positive has begun with three male donors from across New Zealand who are living with HIV but have an undetectable viral load, meaning the amount of the virus in a person’s blood is so low that it cannot be detected by standard methods.
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