In The News

China Seeks Low-Cost Drugs for AIDS Patients

Jason Leow June 30, 2004
HIV-AIDS in China has now infected almost a million people, according to official statistics. With at least 80,000 suffering from full-blown AIDS, the Chinese government is trying to find cheaper ways to treat them. Patented drugs from global pharmaceutical companies can cost up to 40,000 yuan a year – many times the average annual income in China. Under the rules of the World Trade...

Fake Medicine Lurks on Consumer Shelves

Rambabu Garikipati June 29, 2004
If you get sick in South Korea, make sure the medication you buy is the real thing. In a recent raid on 123 pharmacies in Seoul, police seized millions of won in counterfeit pharmaceuticals. Local authorities and global drug companies say that fake drugs are easily available in Korea, but questions remain as to whether most are locally produced or smuggled in from China. Although customs...

U.S. Is Accused of Trying to Isolate U.N. Agency

Christopher Marquis June 21, 2004
In advance of a July 15 deadline on funding for international health programs, it appears that US President George W. Bush will continue to withhold monies from the United Nations agency responsible for population control issues. The UN Population Fund has been a target of US conservative religious groups for its supposed support of coerced abortions in China. The Bush administration cut...

U.S. Speeding Up Approval Steps for AIDS Drugs

Lawrence K. Altman May 17, 2004
In its efforts to distribute cheap and easy-to-use drugs,the global fight against AIDS has encountered serious roadblocks in the past. Local governments and pharmaceutical companies have often fought against generic AIDS drug distribution. Now, the US – which has been accused of slowing the process more than any other country – is willing to give in a bit to quell global criticism. At the...

Death Sentence for Medics in Libyan HIV Case

Simon Jeffery May 6, 2004
Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were sentenced to death after being found guilty of intentionally infecting 400 Libyan children while working in a hospital in the late 1990s. The scandalous accusation that aid workers would purposefully harm those they are supposed to help has shocked the world. Libyans originally accused the medics of running experiments on children to...

HIV Case Airs Secrets of Porn Industry

Alan Clendenning April 29, 2004
Boasting uninhibited women, lush tropical backdrops, and cheap production costs, Brazil has become a prime destination for adult film outsourcing. But Brazil also has the second highest incidence of HIV and AIDS in the western hemisphere. Last month, the porn industry's increasingly global risks surfaced when an American porn actor contracted HIV after shooting unprotected sex scenes with...

SARS Threatens Reappearance in China

Helen Pearson April 23, 2004
The World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed that a nurse in Beijing has tested positive for the SARS coronavirus in initial tests. Five of the 171 people with whom she had contact prior to showing symptoms have developed fevers, a strong indicator of SARS infection. In order to prevent another international epidemic, researchers must now examine the present strains to determine its mode of...