AIDS Action Daily Update From the XIV International AIDS Conference

• Integration of Health Services Essential to HIV Care
• AIDS Activists Protest Coca-Cola
• AIDS Action Hosts Satellite Session on Domestic Agenda
• In the News
  • Rising Rates of HIV-Infected Women Aggravate Epidemic
  • HIV in Young May Soar by 2010
  • Signs of HIV Immunity Reported

Integration of Health Services Essential to HIV Care

On July 10, 2002, an international panel of physicians expressed the urgent need for improved counseling and training of various healthcare providers regarding HIV/AIDS. Due to factors such as malnutrition, HIV symptoms in adolescents and children, and co-infection of TB and hepatitis C, many doctors, who are uneducated about HIV, may be giving inadequate treatment to their patients. Liver damage caused by hepatitis C could significantly compound and/or be compounded by HIV infection. There was also a call for additional education for pediatricians and obstetricians/gynecologists who are offering palliative care to HIV-positive pregnant women.

AIDS Activists Protest Coca-Cola

In an effort to raise awareness about Coca-Cola's refusal to offer treatment to HIV-positive workers in developing countries, AIDS activists protested outside the conference center at the World Conference on AIDS in Barcelona earlier today, July 10, 2002. Coca-Cola, the largest employer in Africa, is charged with only providing healthcare coverage to a small fraction of its employees. According to the activists, even though Coca-Cola benefits from numerous exclusive distribution agreements in Africa and could lose approximately 20-30 percent of its workforce to AIDS, the company reversed a high-profile 2001 announcement that it would be providing antiretroviral medications to its employees.

AIDS Action Hosts Satellite Session on Domestic Agenda

The U.S. Domestic AIDS Agenda Twenty Years Later: A Global Conversation

This satellite session, which will be held today, July 10, 2002, will provide conference participants the opportunity to deepen their understanding, and experience the shared successes and challenges the United States has faced in addressing HIV/AIDS domestically over the first twenty-one years of the epidemic. The thought-provoking session will include three panel discussions examining the nation's response to AIDS in America through the eyes of community-based and government HIV/AIDS leaders. Panelists include leaders from AIDS Project Los Angeles, New York's Gay Men's Health Crisis, AIDS Foundation of Chicago, Los Angeles and New York Public Health Departments, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The session will be available by webcast tomorrow, July 11, 2002 by noon. To view: www.kaisernetwork.org/aids2002.

In the News

Rising Rates of HIV-Infected Women Aggravate Epidemic

United Nations officials announced on Tuesday July 9, 2002 at the 14th International AIDS Conference that the rising rates of HIV infection among African women will lead to a population imbalance. Because women are currently becoming infected at a younger age than men in Africa it is more likely that more will die sooner, leaving many more men than women, and potentially increasing HIV infection rates even further. The officials called for more access to male and female condoms and education for all those at risk of contracting the disease, as well as further research into vaginal microbicides.

Click here to read the article.

HIV in Young May Soar by 2010

A study released on July 9, 2002 at the 14th International AIDS Conference estimates that by 2010 youth infection rates may soar by 70%, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, a third of the 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS are under 25, and over half of all new infections last year were in children, adolescents and young adults.

Click here to read the article.

Signs of HIV Immunity Reported

A report released on July 9, 2002 at the 14th International AIDS conference showed the first signs of HIV immunity. The report still requires confirmation, but in first review it found signs of that certain people have immunity to HIV. Scientists hope this could lead to a vaccine and further treatment of HIV.

Click here to read the article.