U.K. Pledges $30M To Vietnam HIV/AIDS Efforts

The U.K.’s Department for International Development announced Friday that it will administer $30 million through 2012 to help Vietnam reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS, Thanh Nien reports. The funds – which “will be pooled with $33 million from the World Bank to form one joint program” – “will scale up ‘harm-reduction activities’ among vulnerable and high-risk groups” and “support implementation of the National Strategy on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control through improved policy making, capacity building and monitoring activities at national and provincial levels,” the newspaper writes (Thanh Nien, 6/9).

Bill Gates To Meet With WHO

Bill Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is visiting the WHO on Tuesday to “discuss the agency’s work on polio, AIDS and the swine flu outbreak,” the AP/Washington Post reports. The “working meeting” will include WHO Director-General Margaret Chan and other senior officials (AP/Washington Post, 6/9).

UNFPA Concerned About Progress On Women’s Health In Philippines

UNFPA said it is concerned about the slow progress in women’s health interventions in the Philippines, which could prevent the country from meeting the U.N. Millennium Development Goal target of reducing the maternal death rate, Business Mirror reports. Over the last decade, the Philippines has reduced the maternal death rate by 22 percent, according to UNFPA (Estopace, Business Mirror, 6/8).

Health Minister Of Zambia Appeals For Striking Health Workers To Return To Work

Kapembwa Simbao, Zambia’s health minister, on Saturday called on striking unionized nurses to return to work while the government continued to negotiate with union leaders, the Times of Zambia/allAfrica.com reports. His statements came just before a meeting of the Cabinet committee of ministers to review the country’s progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS (Times of Zambia/allAfrica.com, 6/6). 

HIV Prevalence Rate in Ghana Declines

Ghana’s national HIV prevalence rate declined from 1.9 percent in 2007 to 1.7 percent in 2008, Nii Akwei Addo, programme manager of the National AIDS Control Programme, said recently, Public Agenda/allAfrica.com reports. “The highest prevalence level was recorded among the 25 to 29 year group,” while the lowest prevalence level was among those between the ages of 15 and 19 years old, according to Public Agenda/allAfrica.com (Public Agenda/allAfrica.com, 6/5).