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Text File | 1994-12-02 | 12KB | 213 lines

                     AIDS Daily Summary
                      December 2, 1994

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National AIDS
Clearinghouse makes available the following information as a public
service only. Providing this information does not constitute endorsement
by the CDC, the CDC Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction
of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC
Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information.
Copyright 1994, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


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"Paris Meeting Backs U.N. Program to Combat AIDS"
"AIDS Effort Shifts to Treat Society's Economic Health"
"Amid Darkness and Protest, Citizens Mark World AIDS Day"
"Asia Razzles and Dazzles on World AIDS Day"
"AIDS-Related Product Enters Mass Media"
"AIDS Group Drops Plan to Boycott World Conference"
"AIDS Demonstrators and Pro-Lifers Clash in Madrid"
"AIDS Protesters Block Paris Champs-Elysees"
"Bureaucracy in India Hobbles AIDS Fight"
"Needle-Exchange Program Results Showing Trend Toward Treatment"
"Cutbacks at AmFAR"
"CDC Links Rifabutin Use to Uveitis in Some Patients"
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"Paris Meeting Backs U.N. Program to Combat AIDS"
New York Times (12/02/94) P. A12;  Riding, Alan
     At the Paris AIDS summit, representatives from 42 nations
acknowledged that worldwide efforts to curb the spread of AIDS
have been ineffective, and promised to increase their political
support for a new United Nations program that focuses on
prevention and combating AIDS-related discrimination.  The
international leaders also pledged to work more closely in the
future with those who have AIDS and HIV.  Secretary of Health and
Human Services Donna E. Shalala said the international meeting
had placed AIDS "higher on the world agenda.  "We're talking
about a whole new partnership with non-governmental organizations
and with people with AIDS," she explained.  Conference attendees
also denounced measures that discriminate against those who have
AIDS or are at risk.  The action plan revealed at the meeting
contained an acknowledgment of the vulnerability of women to AIDS
and a need to improve prevention efforts.  Conference discussions
also underscored the need for governments to assume the
responsibility of combating AIDS.  U.N. Secretary General Boutros
Boutros-Ghali remarked that prevention efforts have been
unsuccessful largely because of the disparities between global
and national strategies.  Outside the conference hall, groups
such as Act Up staged protests, and expressed skepticism about
the meeting's effect on the AIDS crisis.  Related Story:
Washington Times (12/02) P. A19

"AIDS Effort Shifts to Treat Society's Economic Health"
Christian Science Monitor (12/02/94) P. 2;  Moffett, George
     While the focus on coping with AIDS has in the last decade
emphasized the health of individuals, the next decade will shift
that focus to include the economic well-being of families and
societies--who are jeopardized by the continuing AIDS pandemic.
"The economic implications of AIDS have been underappreciated,
but now it's accepted that AIDS is having effects beyond the
health sector," says Paurvi Bhatt, a senior program officer at
the international relief agency CARE.  "That's forcing
development agencies to go beyond prevention to deal with the
economic disruptions AIDS is causing to families."  In a recent
report, the World Bank agrees that the disease can have a direct
effect on economic development by forcing self-sufficient
families into poverty.  The problem is amplified in Asia and
sub-Saharan Africa.  Development agencies are, therefore, seeking
new ways to help the families of AIDS patients.

"Amid Darkness and Protest, Citizens Mark World AIDS Day"
New York Times (12/02/94) P. B3
     Yesterday, a number of demonstrations and other public activities
were staged to mark World AIDS Day.  An Act Up demonstration in
New York City resulted in 19 arrests for disorderly conduct.  The
city's Metropolitan Museum of Art draped several exhibitions in
black, observing a Day Without Art.  At City Hall, a coalition of
groups combating AIDS convened to read out a list of people who
had died of the disease.

"Asia Razzles and Dazzles on World AIDS Day"
Reuters (12/01/94)
     On Thursday, World AIDS Day, events were held across Asia in an
effort to boost awareness of the disease.  In Bombay, India, a
parade was held to mark the day, while students in Phnom Penh,
Cambodia, gathered in a stadium to acknowledge ignorance about
AIDS and other sexually-transmitted diseases.  Although the World
Health Organization reports between 3,000 and 5,000 cases of AIDS
in Cambodia, the country itself has reported none.  In Thailand
yesterday, a group of AIDS patients and their supporters asked
for sympathy and tolerance in a 60-hour radio call-in program.
An AIDS exhibit opened in Malaysia, where Health Minister Lee Kim
Sai urged people to discuss the disease openly and support those
who have contracted it.  Five of China's major daily newspapers
published a special World AIDS Day knowledge quiz, and a variety
of other AIDS-related media offerings indicated the country's
growing concern about the disease.  In the Philippines, however,
where the population is largely Catholic, anti-AIDS efforts are
still running into religious objections.

"AIDS-Related Product Enters Mass Media"
Wall Street Journal (12/02/94) P. B5;  Goldman, Kevin
     Mass media advertisements for the nutritional supplement Advera,
a treatment for AIDS-related progressive weight loss from the
Ross Products Division of Advera Laboratories, are stirring up
controversy.  The advertisements were created by Interpublic
Group's LCF&L agency and are believed to be the first
AIDS-related product promotions not to be relegated exclusively
to gay and lesbian publications.  John Stansell, medical director
of San Francisco General Hospital's AIDS program, complained,
"The implication in the ads is that Advera, which is a very good
product, will help every patient with AIDS or who is HIV
positive."  However, Keith Lewis, the president of the Morgan
Agency, which provided the models for the advertisements, said
that each of the models was HIV positive and used the product.

"AIDS Group Drops Plan to Boycott World Conference"
Reuters (12/01/94)
     After their demands for increased funding were met by the
government of British Columbia, a coalition of Canadian AIDS
groups on Thursday said it would abandon plans to boycott the
international AIDS conference to be held in Vancouver in 1996.
The coalition announced in April its intention to boycott the
event, which is expected to attract 15,000 participants.

"AIDS Demonstrators and Pro-Lifers Clash in Madrid"
Reuters (12/01/94)
     Dozens of demonstrators commemorating World AIDS Day yesterday,
many of them wearing symbolic red ribbons, clashed with members
of an anti-abortion lobby in Madrid.  A handful of the pro-life
protesters were hoisting a banner reading "Promiscuity causes
AIDS," and the AIDS protesters proceeded to douse them with red
paint squirted from syringes.  In Spain--which has the
fastest-growing AIDS rate in Europe--nearly two-thirds of AIDS
patients are thought to have been infected through contaminated
needles used to inject drugs.  Health ministry statistics
indicate that more than 27,000 people have AIDS, and 125,000 more
are infected with HIV.

"AIDS Protesters Block Paris Champs-Elysees"
Reuters (12/01/94)
     Members of the group Act Up staged a public display on Thursday
in protest of an international AIDS conference being held in
Paris, France.  Some 70 demonstrators lay on the ground across
the Champs-Elysees, in front of the Arc de Triomphe, and held
banners that criticized global inaction in the AIDS prevention
arena.  The demonstration, which lasted for 30 minutes, caused
traffic jams in the capital city.  Christophe Martet, Act Up's
president, remarked, "This summit will be full of worthy promises
but these are no longer enough."

"Bureaucracy in India Hobbles AIDS Fight"
Toronto Globe and Mail (12/01/94) P. A16;  Stackhouse, John
     India's governmental efforts to combat the spread of AIDS are
impeded by a massive domestic bureaucracy.  In the first three
years of operation, the country's National AIDS Control Program
has spent less than 50 percent of the funding provided by foreign
agencies.  "There are all kinds of problems," explained Lev
Khodakevich, a senior AIDS adviser with the World Health
Organization in New Delhi.  "There are 32 states and union
territories, each responsible for health.  It has been like
dealing with 32 different countries."  Other public-health
experts, meanwhile, say India's program is failing because it
separated AIDS from other health issues at the outset.  The
Voluntary Health Association of India says this focus qualifies
the effort as a mere "panic reaction."  The World Bank estimates
that 2 million of the 17 million people infected with the AIDS
virus live in India, and 11 million live in Africa.  However,
Asia and Africa receive less than 15 percent of all
AIDS-prevention funding.

"Needle-Exchange Program Results Showing Trend Toward Treatment"
Boston Globe (12/01/94) P. 35;  Kong, Dolores
     An assessment of Massachusetts' needle-exchange pilot program
indicates that 13 percent of the 1,200 participants have begun
taking treatment for their drug addictions.  The program aims to
help reduce the spread of the HIV at a time when infection in the
state has climbed from 12 percent of intravenous drug users in
1986 to 40 percent today.  "I believe it's going to prove there's
a reduction in the virus and it certainly proves it gets people
into treatment," says Gary Sandison, AIDS adviser to Boston's
Mayor Menino.  AIDS activists have criticized Massachusetts for
its delay in implementing needle-exchange programs and its slow
progress in developing prevention efforts aimed at minorities.
The 13-percent success rate of the state's experimental
needle-exchange effort marks an improvement over the early
results reported by similar efforts in other cities.

"Cutbacks at AmFAR"
Advocate (11/29/94) No. 669, P. 16
     The American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) announced on
Oct. 21 that it was eliminating 11 jobs due to a decline in
donations.  No AIDS programs, however, will be cut.  "Sadly, AIDS
is no longer seen as a public-health emergency, and that has
impacted our ability to raise funds," said AmFAR president Dr.
Mervyn Silverman.

"CDC Links Rifabutin Use to Uveitis in Some Patients"
AIDS Alert (11/94) Vol. 9, No. 11, P. 159
     The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the
use of rifabutin for prophylaxis for Mycobacterium avium complex
(MAC) has caused uveitis in some patients.  Uveitis is an
inflammatory eye condition characterized by pain, redness, and
temporary or permanent loss of vision.  The condition has
occurred in participants of studies for treatment and prophylaxis
of MAC using doses of 300-900 mg of rifabutin per day in
conjunction with other drugs, such as clarithromycin and
fluconazole.  The CDC says that while uveitis was rare in
patients who only used rifabutin, the higher doses administered
in combination with other drugs may create a higher risk.