Reuters Examines Upcoming HIV Prevention Trial In Africa

Reuters examines plans for an upcoming HIV prevention trial of women living in Africa. The study, conducted by the U.S-funded Microbicide Trials Network, will help “determine whether some of the antiretroviral (ARV) medicines used to treat HIV can also be used to prevent the disease when given as a vaginal microbicide gel or as an oral tablet taken once daily” as well as which preventative measures women prefer. Mike Chirenje, protocol co-chair of the study told Reuters, “We think [this study is] very unique because nobody has really tested the difference between an oral route of prevention compared to a vaginal route of prevention” (Roelf, 7/22).

Chimpanzees Can Get Ill From HIV-Like Virus, Study Finds 

A Nature study published on Thursday overturns a “decade-old consensus that chimpanzees cannot fall ill as a result of infection with a virus similar to HIV,” Nature News reports. “The results suggest that it will not be possible to find the key to HIV immunity in the chimpanzee genome, as scientists had hoped,” writes Nature News, adding that it does set “the stage for researchers to gain insight into how HIV and SIV cause disease in their hosts by studying the responses of different primates to the viruses” (Hayden, 7/22).

IRIN Examines Aid, Climate Partnerships

IRIN examines new partnerships between aid agencies and meteorological services that aim to prevent and respond to disasters in West Africa. Maarten van Aalst, associate director of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent regional climate centre in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, said, “The question is not why meteorological services and humanitarian organizations are talking to each other today, but why they have not been talking for one-and-a-half centuries.” The article includes examples of collaboration and analyzes the barriers to partnership (7/22).

Malawi’s Daily Times Examines Obstetric Fistula

The Daily Times examines obstetric fistula in Malawi. The article includes details about women who have dealt with the childbirth complication, which is treatable. It also describes a local education program that aims to teach women about fistulas and improve maternal health (Kasawala, 7/22).