17 March 2017 VOLUME 18 ISSUE 11

The National Institutes of Health would absorb an enormous $5.8 billion cut under President Trump’s first budget proposal — equal to about 19 percent of its current $30.3 billion discretionary budget. The plan “includes a major reorganization” of NIH’s 27 institutes and centers and would eliminate the Fogarty International Center, a $69.1 million program dedicated to building partnerships between health research institutions in the United States and abroad.

In a letter to the president Tuesday, the co-chairs of the Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus urged Trump to continue decades of effort to make battling the epidemic a public health priority at the federal level....The bipartisan letter also urges Trump to maintain the Office of National AIDS Policy [ONAP]...and Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS....In January, the Advocate reported that the [ONAP] page on the White House website had been shut down. Following its URL currently leads to a blank website with no information.

Kelly Austin, Lehigh University assistant professor of sociology, finds in the first research paper to consider the role of unemployment in predicting the female HIV rate, that unemployment among young women significantly impacts the proportion of female HIV cases among those aged 15-24 in developing, especially Sub-Saharan African, countries. Results of the study, "Trading Sex for Security: Unemployment and the Unequal HIV Burden Among Young Women in Developing Nations," were published last week in International Sociology.

Scientists have developed a way to use MRI scans to help identify when HIV is persisting in the brain despite effective drug treatment. The study, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and funded by Wellcome, shows that patients can have HIV in the brain even when the disease is kept under control by treatment.

Susan Wood, PhD,...a former assistant commissioner for women's health...at the FDA at the same time as Gottlieb,...had two main questions--how would he withstand industry pressure and...political pressure? As for access to reproductive products, including contraception or abortion medication, "Will he stand up to political pressure, not just on behalf of the FDA, [but] on behalf of people in the United States who depend on the FDA making decisions based on science and good medicine?”

I was alarmed to read the article titled Playing with fire (City Press, March 5, 2017). It makes the claim that “reckless sexual behaviour among gay teens and men” is being fuelled by the increasing use of PrEP. This claim rests on a conceptual misunderstanding and some factual errors.

With two months to go before election of a new WHO director-general, the outcome remains far from clear. The process has worked well until now, whittling six candidates to three....Each candidate has drawbacks, and none has so far significantly differentiated themselves on fundamental but sensitive issues. These include relations between Geneva HQ and regional organisations within WHO, and how to prioritise in an agency facing tough budgetary pressures, criticisms of inefficiency and mission creep.

A shoulder to cry on, someone to hang out with, a friend to talk to about money and health or with whom to grab a bite: All of these things make up a life and a community of support. But could they also play a role in HIV status? That was the question Wenjing Zheng, a biostatistics PhD student at UC Berkeley, sought to answer when she started looking at relationships between people in three Kenyan villages. And the verdict? There is some relationship.

It is deeply concerning that newly elected President Donald J Trump has, through an executive order, reinstated a Reagan-era prohibition on disbursement of federal funding to non-governmental organisations and agencies that provide, promote, or make referrals to abortion services, or give information about abortions....South Africa is an example of a country that stands to be adversely affected. The country bears the world's largest burden of HIV and is a major recipient of US federal funding.

BMC Infectious Diseases & BMC International Health & Human Rights are pleased to announce launch of a new collection on human rights infringements and social and structural drivers of sexually transmitted infections. Edited by Stefan Baral, Benjamin Mason Meier and Joseph Tucker, the collection will include original research articles characterizing human rights infringements as structural determinants of infectious diseases, including sexually transmitted infections.

The board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria last week [reopened] the search for a new Executive Director and...announced the appointment of Marijke Wijnroks as Interim Executive Director to serve from June 1 “until a new Executive Director selected by the Board is able to begin”. Wijnroks is currently Global Fund's Chief of Staff and a former HIV/AIDS ambassador for the Netherlands.

Adolescents...made sense of sex by acquiring information about sexual intercourse, reproduction and pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and relationships....Whether sex was wanted, coerced, or violent, adolescents experienced worry about sexually transmitted infections or premarital pregnancy.

Although retaining Francis Collins as NIH director signals some continuity for biological and biomedical research, it is uncertain how federal funding will fare under the new administration, and fears abound that ideology might drive changes in regulation and policy....To safeguard the future of research the scientist citizen must advocate using our most reliable weapons: critical thinking, rational debate and evidence-based approaches. Science should not be influenced by politics, but scientists must be political animals.