SAfrica says HIV epidemic easing
Thu, 02 Aug 2007 17:38:25 GMT
By CELEAN JACOBSON, Associated Press Writer
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - The HIV infection rate is dropping among young, pregnant women in South Africa but it is on the rise for the country's older women, according to a government study released Thursday.
The 2006 survey showed the rate of infection for the virus that causes AIDS fell among pregnant women under 20 from 15.9 percent in 2005 to 13.7 percent last year, and from 30.6 percent to 28 percent in women aged 20-24.
In the hardest hit 25-29 year-old group, it fell from 39.5 percent to 38.7 percent.
However, the prevalence among women older than 40 increased from 19.8 percent to 21.3 percent in the same time period. And the overall infection rate among pregnant women in the worst-hit province of KwaZulu-Natal was unchanged, at 39.1 percent.
South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who has long been criticized for voicing doubts about the safety and effectiveness of AIDS drugs, said the results showed "a statistically significant decrease" in the overall prevalence of HIV-infected pregnant women from 30.2 percent in 2005 to 29.1 percent last year.
"In the last three years, we have been noticing a stabilizing of HIV prevalence in the country. This year we have seen a turning point," she told reporters. "We are quite excited to see this downward trend."
About 33,000 pregnant women took part in the survey — more than double the previous year.
Independent health experts welcomed the drop, but said the statistics may show nothing more than that the epidemic was holding steady, as has been the case for years.
South Africa has an estimated 5.4 million people living with HIV, the second highest after India, which has a much bigger population. Last year, an estimated 950 South Africans died each day from AIDS-related diseases and a further 1,400 were infected each day, according to the Medical Research Council.
David Bourne, epidemiologist at the University of Cape Town, agreed with the minister that the decline was "good news" and that the epidemic was "turning." However, he said the decline in the overall rate of infection to 29.1 percent was not statistically significant, as it fell within the margin of error of the study.
Bourne said the minister was still "in denial" that antiretroviral drugs were working.
"She is using the statistics not scientifically but in a way which suits her agenda. It is not prevention which has caused the change but treatment," he said.
Regardless, the health minister was upbeat.
"It may be a small percentage, but that for us is significant enough because it means those messages around which we have been working for many years are beginning to sink in," she said. "We are beginning to see behavioral changes and that's why we see this decrease."
Tshabalala-Msimang has been the target of international criticism for espousing the use of beetroot, garlic, lemon and the African potato in the fight against AIDS, earning her the nickname "Dr. Beetroot."
Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka was appointed last year to lead efforts in revamping South Africa's AIDS strategy, effectively sidelining Tshabalala-Msimang, who had been ill but recently resumed her duties.
Bourne said — ironically — the success of the rollout of AIDS drugs made it more difficult to interpret the prevalence statistics. As less people died, prevalence figures may not decline as rapidly as expected and might even rise, he said.
"The older prevalence figures that have been used for the last 15 years are no longer an appropriate way of measuring the epidemic. What we want to know is the new cases," he added.
The government survey gave no information on the number of new infections.
Tshabalala-Msimang said rates had plateaued in recent years and the government, intent on seeing AIDS cases drop, had intensified prevention programs among young people. She said more than 288,000 people were currently on antiretroviral treatment provided by the government.
Aids activist welcomed the decline but questioned whether the government's anti-AIDS campaign was a success.
"The thing that is critical is a decline in the incidence rate of new infections," said Nathan Geffen of the Treatment Action Campaign, which has repeatedly criticized the government for lack of political leadership on AIDS.
The South African government has made reducing the number of new HIV infections one of its main targets, and aims to extend treatment to 80 percent of those with AIDS by 2011.
Senate near vote on kids health bill
Thu, 02 Aug 2007 07:14:14 GMT
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - A bipartisan measure to add 3 million lower-income children to a popular health insurance program headed for a final Senate vote after a much broader and more expensive version passed the House over stiff Republican opposition.
Both measures face a veto-threat from President Bush, who says they would cost too much and expand the decade-old program beyond its original mission, inappropriately moving toward government-run health care.
Senate Democrats were eager to pass a $35 billion expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, perhaps as early as Thursday, before leaving town this week for a monthlong summer recess. The program expires Sept. 30.
A coalition of Senate Republicans and Democrats were supporting the expansion, and the measure appeared to be headed for passage by a resounding margin. That left GOP leaders trying to garner enough opposition to sustain Bush's veto.
The more ambitious House legislation, a $50 billion SCHIP expansion paid for in part by slashing government payments to Medicare HMOs, attracted only five Republican votes, while 10 Democrats crossed party lines to oppose it.
The decade-old SCHIP program is designed to subsidize the cost of insurance for children whose families earn too much to participate in Medicaid, but not enough to afford private health insurance. Through federal waivers, however, the program has expanded in many states to include middle-income children and adults, prompting Republicans to argue that it has morphed into a backdoor way to extend government-provided health care to an ever-increasing population of Americans.
Both versions of the bill would be financed in part by a hefty increase in taxes on tobacco products.
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FDA suspends plans to close field labs
Wed, 01 Aug 2007 20:13:13 GMT
By ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration's commissioner has suspended plans to close more than half the agency's field laboratories.
Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach is awaiting recommendations from a presidential panel about how to better guarantee the safety of imported food and other products.
He said Wednesday he wanted to make sure the FDA was "doing the right thing and doing it in the right way" before proceeding.
President Bush established the Import Safety Working Group on July 18 and asked for recommendations in 60 days.
"Once we have the benefit of that information, we can come back again to the more fundamental question of how do we create a field operation that is adapted to and equipped to manage the converging challenges and converging complexities of our ability to ensure the quality of the products that FDA regulates," von Eschenbach said.
The panel's creation came on the heels of a spate of recalls of imported food and consumer products, many of them Chinese and regulated by the FDA.
Against that backdrop, the FDA has said it wants to consolidate its lab network to modernize its food safety efforts. Lawmakers, some lab employees and the union that represents much of the FDA work force believe that idea would make matters worse.
In a letter sent von Eschenbach on Tuesday, Democratic Reps. John Dingell and Bart Stupak of Michigan asked if the purpose of the lab closures was to privatize the testing of imported foods. They cited a pilot program to assess doing just that.
Von Eschenbach denied that the closures were part of an outsourcing plan. Later, however, he said the agency would consider certifying or credentialing private labs to do some testing work. He further suggested the FDA could collaborate more with Customs and Border Protection and the states in policing imports.
Von Eschenbach said Congress' failure to agree on FDA legislation before the summer recess would not lead to layoffs at the agency as long as the measure made it to Bush before late September.
