past media summaries

November 16–30, 2007

PUSH JOURNAL MEDIA SUMMARY

HIV & AIDS

UN Downsizes Global AIDS Rates: On November 19 and 20, several major media outlets reported that a new report from UNAIDS has lowered previous estimates for the number of HIV-infected persons worldwide, citing better data collection methods. The report revealed that the number of people living with HIV this year is 33.2 million, down from 39.5 million last year. Newer, more sophisticated surveys were used to get more accurate numbers that revealed that the spread of the disease has slowed down. "For the first time, we are seeing a decline in global AIDS deaths," said Dr. Kevin De Cock, director of WHO's AIDS department. Read: Associated Press, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, NPR, The Times (London)

New Figures Spark Debate: On November 21, The New York Times reported that the United Nations had denied suggestions it may have inflated earlier AIDS numbers to raise funds. On November 26, ABC News reported that the new numbers could slow progress and prevention efforts. Dr. Robert Schooley, head of the division of infectious diseases at the University of California at San Diego, said, "HIV is a major killer in its own right, and it would be a mistake to declare the epidemic over when most who need therapy are not getting it and when there is no effective vaccine." Read: The New York Times, ABC News

AIDS Cases Doubled in European Union: On November 23, the BBC News reported that HIV/AIDS cases in the European Union are on the rise, almost doubling since 1999: from 28.8 million to 57.5 million in 2006. Estonia had the highest number, followed by Portugal and the UK. "Clearly, our prevention efforts are not having the desired effect. The safe sex message doesn't seem to be having the impact we would hope," said European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control spokesperson Ben Duncan. Read: BBC News

HIV Cases High in United Kingdom: On November 23, the Guardian Limited reported that the United Kingdom has the highest rate of HIV infections in the European Union, more than double that of other EU countries. The highest increase occurred among the black African community and gay men. Last year in the UK, there were 376,508 diagnoses of new sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV. Prof. Pete Borriello, director of the government Health Protection Agency's centre for infections, said, "We need to reinforce the safe-sex message for gay men, young adults and the broader community. The best way to protect yourself from contracting an STI, including HIV, is by practicing safer sex by using a condom with all new and casual partners." Read: Guardian Limited

AIDS Slows In China: On November 29, the Associated Press and Reuters reported that the AIDS virus appears to have slowed down in China, infecting an estimated 50,000 people in 2007, compared with 70,000 in 2005. Intravenous drug use has given way to sexual relations as the main source of transmission. ''China's HIV epidemic remains one of low prevalence overall but with pockets of high infection among specific sub-populations,'' Health Minister Chen Zhu said. Read: Associated Press, Reuters

Taboo Condom Ads Released In Rome: On November 22, Reuters and The Times (London) reported that a new series of TV commercials released in Italy to promote AIDS awareness uses the word “condom” for the first time. Until now, safe sex ads in the heavily Catholic nation contained images of condoms but never used the word. Italy has an estimated 4 million new cases of HIV each year and the Health Ministry has long clashed on condom issues with the Vatican, which condemns condom use. Francesca Archibugi, director of the new ads, described them as "a triumph against taboo". Read: Reuters, The Times

Pope Speaks on Behalf Of AIDS Patients: On November 28, Reuters and The Canadian Press reported that Pope Benedict called for increased efforts to stop the spread of AIDS and condemned the stigma attached to the disease, calling for kind treatment for people infected with AIDS. According to the latest UN figures, 33 million people are infected and 2.1 million people died of AIDS in 2007. The Vatican condemns using condoms, saying they will promote promiscuity, and advocates fidelity in marriage as the best way to curb HIV infection. Read: Reuters, The Canadian Press

New Study Reports Misconceptions About AIDS: On November 15, Time Magazine reported on a new global survey by MAC AIDS Fund about people’s perceptions that found the public believes the AIDS epidemic is less severe than it is. In India, for instance, where AIDS rates are rising, more than half thought it was a curable disease and 59 percent thought the majority of AIDS patients were receiving treatment. In fact only 1 in 5 of those in need of antiretroviral therapy received it in 2006. The study also documented stigma against people with AIDS, as nearly half of respondents reported feeling uncomfortable around someone with AIDS. Dr. Geeta Rao Gupta, president of the International Center for Research on Women, said "This survey highlights the extent to which stigma continues to be a significant barrier to people being able to talk about the epidemic, to accept risk, and to access services.” Read: Time Magazine

SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND RIGHTS

Doctors Playing Judges: On November 26, CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees reported that an increasing number of pharmacists are refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control pills on moral grounds. Eight states also have laws giving doctors the legal right to refuse to provide a treatment if it conflicts with their religious beliefs. However, CNN’s Randi Kaye reported, “These eight states already require E[mergency] R[oom] doctors to provide emergency contraception to sexual assault victims. And Pennsylvania may soon join them. Loyalty to a higher power or loyalty to medicine – can doctors really have both?” Read: CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Nicaraguan Abortion Ban Kills: On November 27, The Washington Times reported that Nicaragua’s blanket abortion ban has claimed another life. The ban went into affect last year and prohibits any form of abortion regardless of mother’s life endangerment, rape or incest. Olga Reyes, 22, a law student, died in October, two weeks after her wedding day, after suffering from an ectopic pregnancy, because doctors feared repercussions from the law if they treated her. Reyes is the latest of 84 pregnancy-related deaths reported by the Nicaraguan Health Ministry from January to October 2007. Read: The Washington Times

Extremists Target Iraqi Gynecologists: On November 13, IRIN reported that Islamic extremists have been targeting Iraqi gynecologists, accusing them of invading the privacy of women. Heath care in Iraq continues to fail and the Iraqi Medical Association has estimated at least 75 percent of doctors, pharmacists and nurses have left their jobs at universities, clinics and hospitals. Of these, at least 55 percent have fled abroad. “Because of the extremists’ religious views, doctors are scared to continue with their work and the number of women gynecologists is very low and cannot meet the demand,” said Mayada Zuhair, spokeswoman for the Women’ Rights Association. Read: IRIN

Egg Power in the West: On November 18, 19 and 23 several media outlets reported that new ballot measures proposed in Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi and Montana would provide a fertilized human egg with full constitutional rights and protections under the law. The measure needs 76,000 signatures to make it to the Colorado ballot. Success would ignite a full-fledged debate on abortion just in time for the Democratic National Convention in Denver next October. Opponents claim the measure would swamp the courts with lawsuits charging  possible harm to a fetus, as the idea’s limits are not clearly stated in the measure: ''Like the pill, like [intrauterine devices], like injectables, like the patch – and I think that is a very dangerous proposition,'' said Toni Panetta, of Pro-Choice Colorado. ''We feel like when Coloradans learn they will be effectively banning birth control, they will oppose this effort.” Read: The New York Times, The Australian , The Los Angeles Times

Brazil Hands Out Emergency Contraception: On November 20, the Christian Science Monitor reported that in an unprecedented effort to stem unwanted pregnancy and abortions, Brazil’s health ministry is handing out emergency contraception at metro stops, training teachers to educate about sex, and offering free vasectomies. "It's all about sexual rights and reproduction," said Dr. Adson França, an official involved in implementing the programs. "What we want to do is give access to the poorest citizens and let them choose what course of action to take. We want to give them options." Read: Christian Science Monitor

POPULATION

Global Warming Creating Development Traps: On November 28, the Associated Press and the International Herald Tribune reported on a U.N. Development Program finding that as global warming and natural disasters increase, the world’s poorest people are increasingly trapped in permanent poverty. The report suggested $86 billion a year until 2015 to help developing nations deal with natural disasters. "These impacts ... go unnoticed in financial markets and in the measurement of world gross domestic product (GDP)," the report said. "But increased exposure to drought, to more intense storms, to floods and environmental stress is holding back the efforts of the world's poor to build a better life for themselves and their children." Read: Associated Press, International Herald Tribune

EDITORIALS and COLUMNS:

On November 28, the San Francisco Chronicle ran an op ed by David Heller saying that as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) comes up for reauthorization, Congress needs to consider the plan’s effectiveness among women. PEPFAR requires a third of all prevention spending to go for abstinence-only sex education, but many women in the developing world are either married or do not have the freedom to chose when they have sex or to use protection, or both. Heller asked the public to support the Protection Against Transmission of HIV for Women and Youth (PATHWAY) Act, which would end the abstinence allocation requirement. Read: San Francisco Chronicle

On November 29, the Baltimore Sun published an op-ed by Dr. Michael J. Klag, dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, about policy changes needed in PEPFAR. “First, it is not creating a public health or clinical care infrastructure. If the program ends, its staff will pack up and go home,“ said Klag “Second, PEPFAR is not spending taxpayer dollars wisely, Third, it does not support research.” Read: Baltimore Sun

On November 28, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, published an op-ed in The New Times (Kigali) calling on the world to keep its promises to curb the AIDS pandemic. Donors, health care providers, young people, government leaders and women’s rights activists need to work together to create effective, accessible prevention and treatment plans, she said. “Now is the time to strengthen prevention efforts and reduce the impact of Aids. HIV prevention remains the first line of defense and must be accelerated alongside treatment. Together, we must take action towards universal access to prevention, treatment and care.” Read: The New Times (Kigali)

On November 18, The New York Times published an editorial condemning the recent skyrocketing cost of birth control pills for college women. For nearly 20 years, colleges and university health centers could offer subsidized birth control pills at up to a 90 percent discount that didn’t cost taxpayers a thing. Recently, Congress narrowed the definition of those who qualify for the subsidies and excluded university health clinics. The pills that at one time cost students $10 now cost around $50. The Times said: “College students and low-income women should not be priced out of family planning.” Read: The New York Times

On November 20, the Philadelphia Inquirer ran an op-ed by Sharon L. Camp of the Guttmacher Institute begging Congress to abstain from authorizing $28 million more in funding for ineffective abstinence-only sex education programs. Camp cited the evidence: a report by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy; an eight-year, congressionally mandated evaluation by Mathematica Policy Research; and recent research by the Guttmacher Institute. All were released this year and all found abstinence-only sex education to be ineffective at preventing unwanted pregnancy and abortion. “In short, one would be hard-pressed to find another issue where the thrust of our policies goes so strongly against the evidence - not to mention against the interests of a generation of American youth.” Read: Philadelphia Inquirer

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The above summary is produced by the Communications Consortium Media Center, 401 Ninth Street, NW, Suite 450, Washington, DC 20004, 202.326.8700. Redistribution is encouraged with credit to CCMC.

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past media summaries