23 December 2015 VOLUME 16 ISSUE 52

A new HPV vaccination programme for men who have sex with men will be introduced in Wales, Health and Social Services Minister Mark Drakeford announced today... The new programme will be targeted at men aged 16 to 45 who... attend specialist sexual health clinics. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has also recommended the vaccine is offered to other people who are considered at risk, including MSM over 45, sex workers and HIV-positive men and women.

Violence against gay Nigerians has increased significantly, according to the country’s National Human Rights Commission... But victims often do not report attacks for fear of being outed. Even men infected with HIV are often reluctant to seek treatment at hospitals, fearing that the authorities will be called, said Stella Iwuagwu, executive director of the Center for the Right to Health, an HIV patient and rights group based in Lagos.

HIV infection is the leading risk factor for stroke in young African adults, a new study by the University of Liverpool's Institute of Infection and Global Health has found. The incidence of stroke is on the increase across most of sub-Saharan Africa. In countries like Malawi, a substantial proportion of stroke patients are young adults, and have a low prevalence of established risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and smoking.

The majority of men in Zimbabwe, raised in a society that panders to the dictates of patriarchal notions of male superiority, view involvement in maternal health as "sissy". Women and gender rights activist, Madeleine Kaseke said pregnancy and childbirth are often regarded as foreign territory by men... Nemamwa Clinic, close to Great Zimbabwe monuments in Masvingo, has demonstrated the positive impact male involvement can have on maternal health, as this has significantly complemented the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV.

Louisiana is near the top of the list in the nation when it comes to a staggering statistic: the number of new cases of HIV/AIDS. Christus St. Patrick Hospital infectious disease physician, Dr. Timothy Haman, told KPLC the state is consistently reporting new cases, with two major cities consistently ranking second and third nationwide with new infections. "We do have a lot of new cases in the state," said Dr. Haman. "Unfortunately, Baton Rouge and New Orleans are two of the biggest drivers for that."

Repeated exposure to semen may lead some sex workers to become naturally resistant to HIV infection. Publishing in Mucosal Immunology, researchers analyzed a group of HIV-negative female sex workers in San Juan, Puerto Rico, who had been in the trade for at least three years, and compared them with a group of women in the area who reported having low exposure to semen... The researchers identified three means by which they believe the group of sex workers has evaded HIV.

Uganda is suffering a shortage of imported drugs to treat HIV victims due to a weak currency and insufficient foreign exchange... Some activists said they were concerned the government was spending too much on measures designed to help them win presidential and parliamentary elections in February rather than on medicines. Officials denied the charge.

The Kaiser Family Foundation has launched a new interactive map and dashboard that offers the latest national and state-specific data on women’s health in the United States.... Clicking on a state takes users to state-specific data on women’s health, including insurance and Medicaid coverage, poverty, mental health, HIV, cancer, pregnancy, abortions and use of preventive services. Many indicators provide health care information for women of different racial and ethnic groups.

The latest report by Funders Concerned About AIDS [FCAA]... [reveals] that global private funding for HIV totaled US$ 618 million, an 8 percent increase from 2013,... driven by significant increases from the... Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Gilead Sciences. This... is reflective of the ongoing overall concentration of HIV/AIDS philanthropic funding...: the top 20 funders accounted for 81 percent of all funding in 2014. Overall, funding has been holding relatively steady around the $600-650 million mark for the past eight years.

Don C. Des Jarlais,... Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center, and colleagues,...conducted a mail and telephone survey of syringe service programs (SSPs) in the US in 2013....[They wrote]: "The modest number of rural and suburban SSPs participating in this survey raise concerns that many rural and suburban areas might not have access to SSPs....Providing all populations of PWID...with access to sterile injection equipment as well as comprehensive treatment and prevention services...could help prevent worsening of these epidemics."

New evidence indicates a high degree of geographic overlap between the highest-prevalence neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)... and malaria and HIV, exhibiting a high degree of co-infection... Together these results... present new opportunities to design innovative public health interventions and strategies for these 'big three' diseases. This analysis describes the current findings... and what research is still needed.

Microbicides were conceptualized as a product that could give women increased agency over HIV prevention. However, gender-related norms and inequalities that place women and girls at risk of acquiring HIV are also likely to affect their ability to use microbicides. Understanding how gendered norms and inequalities may pose obstacles to women’s microbicide use is important to inform product design, microbicide trial implementation and eventually microbicide and other antiretroviral-based prevention programmes.

South Africa’s civil registration system has achieved a high level of completeness in the recording of mortality. However, the fraction of deaths recorded by health centres is low and information from patient records is insufficient by itself to evaluate levels and predictors of ART patient mortality. Previously documented improvements in ART mortality over time may be biased if based only on data from patient records.

The recent World Report by Ann Danaiya Usher (Nov 7, p 1809) shows some misunderstanding about the fundamental aspects of the Global Financing Facility (GFF) for every woman and every child... As GFF partners, we would like to clarify how the GFF is acting to help low-income and middle-income countries to achieve sustainable financing for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health.

BMS-986001 had similar efficacy to that of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and was associated with a smaller decrease in bone mineral density; however, greater resistance and gains in both peripheral and central fat accumulation were recorded for the investigational drug. Bristol-Myers Squibb has discontinued its involvement in the development of BMS-986001, and future decisions on development will be made by Oncolys BioPharma.

In Europe, sub-Saharan migrants are a key population for HIV infection... Hardships were frequent: more than 40 percent had lived a year or longer without a residence permit, and more than 20 percent without stable housing. Most of the migrants had non-stable and concurrent partnerships, more frequent among those who acquired HIV in France compared to reference group... Women, especially during the period without stable housing, appear especially vulnerable.