Women Can't Wear Pants Long black color to avoid mosquito fever

Thai health authorities asked the young women in that country not to wear white elephant made of thin pants (leggings) black color in order to avoid dengue fever from mosquito bites. According to the local Health Ministry, the dark color on the pants which are popular among women in Thailand is very attractive to mosquitoes spreading dengue fever.

“The way people dress these days is very worrying, especially young children,” says Deputy Ministry of Public Health, Pansiri Kulanartsiri, in his statement on Sunday, August 8, 2010. He warned about the threat of the spread of dengue fever and warned that dengue-carrying mosquitoes attracted to a dark color clothes.

“I recommend that people no longer wear black leggings or other dark colored clothing to avoid attracting the attention of mosquitoes,” said Pansiri. Calling the leggings as a fashion phenomenon Korea, Pansiri adding that mosquitoes can bite through the skin with thin clothing. “Wear thick clothes like jeans, especially in times like the current rainy season,” said Pansiri.In the first seven months of this year, Thailand recorded 43 deaths and more than 45 thousand cases of dengue fever. The number increased by around 40 per cent from 31 929 cases and 30 cases of death in the same period last year.

Cases of dengue fever usually occurs during the rainy season which lasts from June until September in Thailand. Of the 43 deaths, 26 of them aged 10 to 24 years. This makes Thailand’s Health Ministry has warned the public about the dangers of pants worn leggings that many adolescents and young women lately.Dengue fever is an endemic disease in South Asia to East Asia, especially during the rainy season. Water is not flowing and clean urban environment that is not a fertile ground for mosquitoes to spread disease dengue fever

The number of young people infected with HIV in Africa is falling in 16 of the 25 countries hardest hit by the virus

LONDON, The number of young people infected with HIV in Africa is falling in 16 of the 25 countries hardest hit by the virus, according to a new report by a U.N. agency.The number of young people infected with HIV dropped by at least 25 percent in a dozen countries, the U.N. AIDS report said. In Kenya, the infection rate among people aged 15 to 24 fell from about 14 percent in 2000 to 5.4 percent in urban areas.The drop in HIV rates coincided with a change in sexual behavior, like having fewer sexual partners or increased condom used, UNAIDS said. But the agency could not say the drop was because of recent U.N. policies, which have mainly focused on buying AIDS drugs rather than preventing infections.Some experts said new focus on prevention was too little, too late.

“Thanks to the U.N.’s strategic blunder, many more people are now infected than would have otherwise been the case had they focused on prevention much earlier,” said Philip Stevens, a health policy expert at International Policy Network.The UNAIDS data were based on population surveys and mathematical modeling, and come with a significant margin of error.

“Young people have shown that they can be change agents in the (AIDS) prevention revolution,” UNAIDS wrote in its report.The research provides further evidence the AIDS outbreak peaked more than a decade ago and that the disease is on the decline. In a report last year, the agency said the number of people infected with HIV had remained unchanged – at about 33 million – for the last two years.

UNAIDS also called for more money to combat the epidemic. In 2008, the world spent more than $15 billion on AIDS, with about half of that coming from the United States. In its report, UNAIDS said that “what’s been good for the AIDS response has been good for global health in general.”But a study published last month found there was little correlation between U.S. money spent on AIDS and improvements in other health areas across Africa.UNAIDS called for countries to invest more in their own HIV programs. It noted South Africa and Nigeria, two of Africa’s wealthiest countries, receive the most money from international donors.

Stevens said that while some recent AIDS investments – like putting more people on drugs – have clearly saved lives, it has also distorted health spending. Despite only causing 4 percent of deaths, AIDS gets about 20 cents of every public health dollar.”The same amount of money that we spend on AIDS could save many, many more lives more cheaply by vaccinating children or distributing cheap treatments for diarrhea,” he said.”Aid agencies have a responsibility to ensure they save the most lives possible with the amount of money they have available,” he said. “Spending the lion’s share on HIV clearly does not do that.”(AP)

White House strategy for fighting AIDS domestically will focus on preventing the spread of the virus

A new White House strategy for fighting AIDS domestically will focus on preventing the spread of the virus, perhaps with the broader use of drugs and testing but also with a campaign to reduce stigma.Obama administration officials will release the strategy on Tuesday and said it would focus on prevention, care and reducing disparities.”The plan will serve as a roadmap for policymakers, partners in prevention, and the public on steps the United States must take to lower HIV incidence, get people living with HIV into care, and reduce HIV-related health disparities,” the White House said in a statement on Monday.AIDS advocates predicted the program would not have funding to buy drugs or tests. Obama’s initiative to fight childhood obesity, released in May, included 70 recommendations but no funding.More than 1.1 million people in the United States are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with 56,000 new infections over the past decade.

While only about 5 percent of patients infect someone else, this is enough to keep levels of the virus stable in the United States, the CDC says. The fatal and incurable virus is spread during sex, in blood and breast milk and by contaminated needles.The U.S. government has a program to fight AIDS globally — PEPFAR or President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief — but there has not been a similar coherent domestic strategy.

While the administration of former president George W. Bush was praised for coming up with PEPFAR, it was widely criticized for promoting abstinence-only education in place of more comprehensive programs stressing condom use. AIDS groups said they hoped the Obama plan would do more to promote such education.

“The National HIV/AIDS Strategy is a comprehensive plan focused on: 1) reducing the number of people who become infected with HIV, 2) increasing access to care and optimizing health outcomes for people living with HIV, and 3) reducing HIV-related health disparities,” the White House said.Experts have disagreed on how best to do this but recent studies have supported theories that treating HIV patients with drugs can not only keep them healthier, but help reduce the likelihood that they will infect someone else.

Some AIDS activist groups began criticizing the policy even before it was released, saying it did not come close to doing what they had hoped.”This strategy is a day late and a dollar short: 15 months in the making and the White House learned what people in the field have known for years,” said Michael Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “There is no funding, no ‘how to,’ no real leadership.”

The CDC estimates that 79 percent of Americans with HIV know it and experts say people who know they are infected can take steps to avoid infecting others. The CDC recommends testing everyone for HIV, with an option to refuse the test, instead of forcing people to ask to be tested.The new U.S. strategy likely will include recommendations to broaden testing.

The AIDS virus infects 33 million people globally and has killed 25 million since the pandemic began in the 1980s.In Africa, most new AIDS patients are women infected by men during sex. In the United States HIV disproportionately affects men who have sex with men, blacks and Hispanics. (Reuters)

Mexico now is safe from the outbreak of H1N1 influenza

Mexico is now safe from the outbreak of H1N1 influenza, often called the flu Pig. Nevertheless, despite the alert status had been revoked about two weeks ago, the State government was determined not to Sombrero negligent in anticipating the re-emergence of the H1N1 outbreak, which last year killed many residents.Thus said the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Foreign Minister) of Mexico, Patricia Espinosa. “Enabling alert in Mexico to take specific measures to prevent H1N1 recently revoked by the Health Ministry two weeks ago,” Espinosa said in a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa in Jakarta, Thursday, July 8, 2010.

“However, we continue to make efforts to prepare the health sector because (H1N1) can occur anytime,” added Espinosa.He continued, the mortality rate due to the H1N1 virus was not as high as previously feared. The Mexican government also set up institutions to deal with better people who contracted the virus.According to Espinosa, compared with previous years, cases of pneumonia or respiratory problems in Mexico, which is one of the symptoms of swine flu, the numbers have declined. “This means that the awareness of citizens to immediately went to the doctor are rising,” said Espinosa.According to the Associated Press news agency, swine flu could spread in over 200 countries with 17 800 claimed the lives of sufferers. In Mexico, where the first cases of H1N1 outbreaks, the disease infected 72 546 people and killing 1289 people.

Mexico is now safe from the outbreak of H1N1 influenza, often called the flu Pig. Nevertheless, despite the alert status had been revoked about two weeks ago, the State government was determined not to Sombrero negligent in anticipating the re-emergence of the H1N1 outbreak, which last year killed many residents.Thus said the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Foreign Minister) of Mexico, Patricia Espinosa. “Enabling alert in Mexico to take specific measures to prevent H1N1 recently revoked by the Health Ministry two weeks ago,” Espinosa said in a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa in Jakarta, Thursday, July 8, 2010.

“However, we continue to make efforts to prepare the health sector because (H1N1) can occur anytime,” added Espinosa.He continued, the mortality rate due to the H1N1 virus was not as high as previously feared. The Mexican government also set up institutions to deal with better people who contracted the virus.

According to Espinosa, compared with previous years, cases of pneumonia or respiratory problems in Mexico, which is one of the symptoms of swine flu, the numbers have declined. “This means that the awareness of citizens to immediately went to the doctor are rising,” said Espinosa.According to the Associated Press news agency, swine flu could spread in over 200 countries with 17 800 claimed the lives of sufferers. In Mexico, where the first cases of H1N1 outbreaks, the disease infected 72 546 people and killing 1289 people.

Drug Combinations Reduce HIV Transmission Risk

Chicago  In a study that supports the widely used drugs to help control the AIDS pandemic, researchers said on Wednesday that HIV patients who take the drug combination has a much smaller chance to infect their partners. Using a combination of drugs to reduce the possibility of transmission of 92 percent, the researchers report in the journal Lancet. They said the findings meant a combination of drugs known as highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, may be useful as a means of prevention and treatment. “These results … until now strong evidence that HAART can reduce HIV transmission risk,” said Dr. Connie Celum, a professor of medicine and global health University of Washington, who worked on this study.

The team analyzed 3400 pairs from seven African countries. In each pair, one positive among immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, which causes AIDS. The team tested the couple because they are easier to trace. All couples were given counseling about HIV prevention methods, and some were given HIV drugs.

During the study, 349 HIV-infected people began taking the drug combination. Of the 103 partners of patients taking the drug, only one was infected with the virus. “Data observation strongly supports the hypothesis that antiretroviral therapy substantially reduces the risk of HIV infection and transmission,” Dr. Deborah Donnell from the Institute of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases at the Fred Hutchinson of Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Donnell said, the drugs cut the concentration of HIV in the blood to extremely low levels, which can make people not easy to transmit. In people who take the drug, the virus was suppressed to very low levels in almost 70 percent of cases. A randomized trial is now underway to see whether the effect
immortal.

“While awaiting those results, our research indicates that antiretroviral therapy may have significant public health benefits as well as clinical benefits for individuals who were treated,” Donnell said in a statement. He said the findings offer strong arguments to begin early treatment for HIV. But although at a slower partner handled, drugs provide benefit.

AIDS virus infects 33 million people globally and has killed 25 million since the pandemic began in the 1980s. There is no cure and a vaccine but the drugs keep patients ‘healthy’. Without treatment, the viral damage to the immune system, leaving patients vulnerable to infections and cancer.

More than 20 drugs now on the market and can be combined in various ways to control the virus, although it usually mutates and ultimately the patient must switch to different ways to keep under control. Manufacturers of drugs that includes GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Gilead, Bristol-Myers and Abbott Laboratories, according to Reuters.

Hundreds of people from NGOs and HIV/AIDS care groups in Yogyakarta (java,indonesia )

Hundreds of people from NGOs and HIV/AIDS care groups in Yogyakarta, Tuesday, demonstrated against discrimination toward HIV/AIDS positive people. They judge the society is still biased for this matter.According to the demonstrators HIV/AIDS is just like any other disease and those who suffer from it shouldn’t be isolated. This disease can infect anyone, including good house-wives and their children. Discrimination doesn’t solve the problem, instead it would oppress the HIV/AIDS positive people.

“Why is there discrimination? Because people are ingrained with a stereotype that the disease is caused by pervert behaviors done by ‘bad’ people,” said Istikomah from the Yogyakarta Institution for Female Rights, one of the NGOs involved in the act.

In Surabaya, the Deputy Governor of East Java, Saifulla Yusuf said that most people with AIDS in East Java were infected by shared needles used by drug abusers. Many of the victims are in the productive age group.During his visit to AIDS patients at the Dr. Soetomo Public Hospital in Surabaya, Saifulla Yusuf states that fighting drug abuse is the priority. “The provincial government provides Rp. 10 billion to prevent transmission by needles.”

The East Java provincial government has recorded that 42 percent of HIV/AIDS infected people are in the productive age group, which is from 20 to 29 years old. This impairs their productivity.Aside from that, some people still shun HIV/AIDS positive people. The result is that someone with AIDS is unlikely to work. “They are capable, but hindered by their stigma,” said the deputy governor.

The East Java provincial government also encourages hospitals in the city and regency to care for HIV/AIDS patients. This is to bring together the patients and medical centers. “Currently the life span of a victim can be prolonged with proper medications. AIDS isn’t the direct cause of death, instead it’s another disease that comes because the victim’s immunity has weakened.”

Open Social Access

Approximately 100 HIV/AIDS care activists in Malang, East Java, demand that HIV/AIDS positive people be redeemed of their negative stigma and be given equal social access.”Many people with HIV/AIDS have died because they didn’t have social access or were isolated and discriminated in everything. Though their physical conditions were maintained by medications, but if their mental conditions were oppressed by all the isolation and discrimination, then the medications are futile,” said the head of Malang Transvestite Association, Merlyn Shopjan, during the AIDS Day commemoration in front of the Malang City Hall.

The AIDS Day commemoration is also done in other cities such as Solo, Tegal, Banyumas, Bandung, and Jakarta.

South Africa, the country with the highest number of people infected with AIDS worldwide

The president of South Africa, the country with the highest number of people infected with AIDS worldwide, pledged today his country will treat all HIV-positive babies and will increase overall testing and treatment for the disease for everyone. President Jacob Zuma outlined the country’s new approach to fighting the epidemic in a speech he delivered to mark World AIDS Day.Zuma pledged to treat all HIV-positive children under the age of 1, and vowed early treatment for patients suffering from both HIV and tuberculosis. He also promised earlier treatment for pregnant women who are HIV-positive.
Zuma’s speech was seen as a turning point for South Africa. The previous administration under President Thabo Mbeki was widely ridiculed after Mbeki questioned a link between HIV and AIDS. His health minister promoted beet and garlic treatments and distrusted modern drugs created to keep AIDS patients alive.

One Harvard study estimated that more than 300,000 died as a result of these measures.Zuma compared today’s fight against AIDS to South Africa’s struggle against apartheid.”At another moment in our history, in another context, the liberation movement observed that the time comes in the life of any nation when there remain only two choices: submit or fight… Let us declare now, as we declared then, that we shall not submit.”

Zuma set a goal of getting AIDS drugs for 80 percent of those who need them by 2011.The U.S. announced it will give South African $120 million in funding over the next two years. U.S. Ambassador Donald Gips said the aid “is in direct response to the government of South Africa’s request.”South Africa has a population of about 50 million and has an estimated 5.7 million infected with HIV. UNAIDS estimates that 14.1 million children in sub-Saharan Africa lost one or both parents to AIDS last year.

17-year-old Thozama and her teenage brother Thozamele were orphaned when their mother died of AIDS three years ago.They now take on the role of parents in caring for their two younger sisters who are still in elementary school. They live together without power or running water.When asked what she misses about her mother, Thozama said, “Everything. Smiling, talking, taking care of us. Everything.”

World AIDS Day, December 1.

As HIV/AIDS cases continue to increase in Indonesia, the government on Monday renewed efforts to fight the infectious disease as part of the activities carried out to observe World AIDS Day, December 1.  The  Health Ministry, the National AIDS Commission (KPA), the Family Planning Coordinating Agency (BKKBN) and a number of condom producing companies signed an agreement to fight HIV/AIDS.Official records mentioned that there are now 298,000 HIV/AIDS sufferers in Indonesia, but the real figures may be much higher than  official figures, which is often described as the tip of the iceberg. Even though the number of new cases in the country continues to increase, the government is optimistic it could be offset with a serious effort and close cooperation with various agencies and the people as a whole.

Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Agung Laksono said he was optimistic the government would be able to minimize HIV/AIDS infection by 1.2 million people in 2015.  “Before 2015, with the government efforts we hope we can minimize the HIV/AIDS infection by up to 1.2 million people, he said when launching a National Condom Week (PKN) here on Monday.He said that among the efforts carried out by the government to prevent the spread of the contagious disease was to engage in sustainable partnership cooperation through a national movement for creating  healthy people, away from the  HIV/AIDS threat.The efforts also included promotional and preventive measures through the PKN activities where people were informed about how to use condoms as a means of minimizing the spread of HIV. The government also launched curative approaches through conducting medicinal treatment and research on advanced HIV/AIDS cases in Indonesia.

Agung Laksono called for regional governments’ commitment to supporting the steps taken by the central government to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country. Secretary of the National AIDS Commission (KPA) Secretary Nafsiah Mboi said KPA in cooperation with its branches in provinces and districts supported the government’s efforts to prevent the spread of the disease which has shown signs of increasing.”We support the government efforts to fight AIDS in an effort to achieve the sixth aim of the Millennium Development Goals, namely increasing the people’s health standard through reduction of HIV/AIDS infection cases,” she said.  The government admitted that cases of new contraction continued  to increase.  “About 298,000 people in Indonesia are now suffering from HIV/AIDS,” Agung Laksono said,     Agung, who is also chairman of the National AIDS Commission (KPA), made the remarks when he opened the National Condom Week at the University of Indonesia.

Based on data at the Ministry of Health, up to September 2009, a total of 18,422 AIDS carriers were recorded in Indonesia. At present almost all provinces in Indonesia have  AIDS cases. AIDS cases are to be found in more than half of the number of districts in the country. About 49.57 percent of AIDS cases involved people in the 20-29 years age group, 29.84 percent in the 30-39 years age group and 8.71 percent occurred in the 40-49 years age group. The average HIV/AIDS incidence in Indonesia is  8.15 carriers in every 100,000 people.

The highest number of cases occurred in five provinces, namely Papua 17.9 percent of the national figure, Bali 5.3 percent, Jakarta 3.8 percent, Riau Islands 3.4 percent and West Kalimantan 2.2 percent of the overall number in the country.This fact means there is a serious threat to the existence of the present younger generation in the country. Therefore, the government and the non-governmental organizations, higher educational institutions and the people as a whole should cooperate actively in launching a national movement for making people healthy and knowledgeable for preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

According to 2008 estimates by UNAIDS, the HIV epidemic in Indonesia is among the fastest growing in Asia. The epidemic is concentrated primarily among injection drug users (IDUs) and their sexual partners, people engaged in commercial sex and their clients, and men who have sex with men.The signing of the agreement is among the efforts being made to fight the spread of the disease. After all,  it was done during the launching of a National Condom Week (PKN) organized in connection with World AIDS Day on December 1. On the occasion, Agung Laksono said that the Ministry of Health put an estimate that figure of HIV/AIDS cases in Indonesia up to this year had reached 289,000 carriers.

“This estimate will continue to increase because it is predicted that about 5 people are infected with the virus every one minute,” he said. He said that in order to overcome the problem the government had launched preventive and curative approaches. “Socialization and campaign are carried out through the PKN with the high-risk groups such as those who often make sexual contact as the main targets,” he said.In the meantime,  the Indonesian HIV Carriers Network (JHOTI) said HIV/AIDS carriers in Indonesia are still facing discrimination.  “The problems they face is individual discrimination as well as discriminatory policies,” Chairman of JHOTI for East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Maxi Mitan said. He said that the voices of the infected people had not yet been maximally heard in formulating efforts to control the disease so that HIV/AIDS cases continued to expand in the country.  Even, carriers still faced problems with obtaining access to health services, a fact that their rights were still ignored.

The voices of the infected persons could only be heard if they were united. Only with a united voice could sufferers strengthen their bargaining position against policy makers, Mitan said.This idea has given birth to the JHOTI body. “The establishment of this body was declared in the first congress of HIV/AIDS carriers in Jakarta on July 8, 2008,” Mitan said.

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Mobile apps help people track H1N1, prevent flu

Rumors of a disease outbreak a century ago probably would have left the general populace feeling frightened, wondering whether their town would be the next to be hit.Now the well but worried can download a flu-tracking application and find out where in their state an H1N1 outbreak has occurred and learn the best ways to avoid it. They also can learn when vaccines will be available nearby and get news on how some of the afflicted are doing.

Outbreaks Near Me, a new, free application developed by non-profit HealthMap, is among a slew of flu-themed applications available on the iTunes App Store for iPhone and iPod Touch owners.A couple of dozen other flu-related apps have been created recently, including HMSMobile Swine Flu Center, by Harvard Medical School, which offers medical advice with animations. Others include flu games and jokes such as Swine Scan, which supposedly scans your body to detect infection.Outbreaks Near Me works like a GPS. It finds your location and tells you where H1N1 and other infectious outbreaks are occurring nearby with a display of pushpins on a map. Click on a pushpin and you can read news reports as well as personal accounts submitted by users. It also lets you set up an alert system, so if H1N1 arrives in your area, you’ll get a heads-up.

“Our app is all about giving people real-time alerts. We didn’t develop this to increase fear. It’s about helping people arm themselves,” says John Brownstein, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, who developed the app with colleagues at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab.H1N1, popularly known as swine flu, has infected an estimated 22 million Americans this year from April to October, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has reported that the outbreak is linked to almost 4,000 deaths, including 540 children.

Since Outbreaks Near Me launched Sept. 1, about 100,000 people have downloaded it, Brownstein says. Though the app also reports recent E. coli, malaria and other outbreaks, H1N1 has by far been the most-searched disease, he says.Brownstein says the app has received more than 2,000 submissions. “People take photos of themselves in bed sick, or e-mail in to say their school is closed, or that there’s a vaccine shortage in their area,” he says.Outbreaks Near Me co-developer Clark Freifeld, a graduate student in media art and sciences at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says developers are analyzing submissions now and say the information appears to correlate with CDC data. It suggests the iPhone may be a sensitive tool for monitoring early outbreak trends, Freifeld says.

For big-picture influenza news, most people probably get information the traditional way, from CDC reports, says influenza expert William Schaffner, chair of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville. Apps may be best when you want more focused information, he says. “Like what is happening in grandma’s town, where you’re going for Thanksgiving.”The CDC does not comment on products such as apps, spokeswoman Karen Hunter says. Hunter says the agency is in the prototype stage of several new flu apps for iPhone and the Google Android, and they’re already using mobile text messaging (to sign up, text HEALTH to 87000) and a mobile website (http://m.cdc.gov) to distribute flu updates to tens of thousands of subscribers.