Diploma in HIV and Family Education

'HIV patients leaving treatment mid-way'

Vadodara: Concerned over increasing number of HIV patients leaving ART therapy mid-way, SSG Hospital's Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre (ICTC) has launched an initiative to educate the patients on ways to sustain the heavy dose of medicines administered.



While the inability to sustain the side-effects of the medicine is a major reason among the patients, doctors believe that the travel to the only ART center in the region at SSG Hospital is also a challenge for many patients.

TeachAIDS (Free, Research-Based Tutorials)

TeachAIDS
Free, Research-Based, Culturally-Tailored, HIV/AIDS Tutorials

Founded at the Stanford University School of Education, TeachAIDS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works to address and overcome the social and cultural challenges related to HIV/AIDS prevention education. TeachAIDS utilizes a rigorous research-based process to develop medically accurate, culturally tailored HIV/AIDS educational animations. In partnership with national and international organizations, and incorporating the voices of global cultural icons, TeachAIDS disseminates free animated curricula to educators around the world. TeachAIDS materials have been tested with tremendous success in numerous developing regions and are currently used in more than 25 countries, including South Africa, China, Canada, Botswana, India, and the United State

HIV has killed 25m and infected 60m so far: UN report

Almost 60 million people have been infected by HIV and 25 million killed by causes related to the virus since the epidemic started, according to new data published by UNAIDS.

While prevention programmes have helped to cut the infection rate by 17% over past eight years,the total number of people living with HIV continued to rise in 2008. By the end of 2008, a total of 33.4 million people or 20 percent more people were living with the epidemic compared to in 2000, The UN figures say.

"The continuing rise in the population of people living with HIV reflects the combined effects of continued high rates of new HIV infections and the beneficial impact of anti-retroviral therapy." said UNAIDS in its report.

Sub-Saharan African remains the most affected region, as it is home to 67% of those living with the human immunodeficiency virus. In south and South-east Asia, 3.8 million people are living with the Infection, added UNAIDS.

Gates' gift: $80m to fight AIDS

Kounteya Singh/ TNN

NEW DELHI: India`s fight against HIV just got an $80 millions push. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) on Thursday increased its funding commitment to Avahan -- its initiative to reduce the spread of HIV in India --to $338 million or Rs 1,652crore.

Prior to the announcement, the foundation had committed $258 million to the programme .

The announcement by Microsoft founder and one of the world's richest men Bill Gates, who is in India, comes at a time when the foundation has been facing allegation that it failed to make a lasting impact in India`s HIV fight.

It has also faced criticism for deciding to "shut down" Avahan and hand over the programme to government national AIDS Control Organization (NACO),which does not want to bear the burden.

However, officials of the foundation told TOI." BMGF does not believe in continuous funding". Avahan's whole purpose was to equip India in its fight against HIV. We were to build the programme, help scale it up, make it sustainable and give it to its natural holders like members of the community or the government. The foundation lunched Avahan in 2003 to help fight HIV in India for a decade.

The foundation said it was inaccurate to suggest that Avahan was about to wind down. Gates told TOI, "In fact,we have already awarded grants that extend into 2014.It's not that the foundation is leaving India. The amount we spend in India on health and development will actually go up but will focus on other things like nutrition, maternal and child health and vaccines."