According to The Southern African (a Toronto-based diasporic news source), aviation workers in Botswana are in an uproar about new regulations requiring regular screening for HIV—and the potential for dismissal of people who test positive. The director of the nation’s civil aviation authority, Olefile Moakofi, claimed “there are certain medical conditions that if people are […] More »

A “detection device is needed to monitor the movements and sexual activities of people with HIV/AIDS.” So says a new regulation currently under debate in the Indonesian province of Papua, according to today’s Jakarta Post. The device they are considering? An implanted microchip. A member of the working group currently considering Article 35 of new […] More »

Ottawa pols care more about working on their seasonal tans than getting AIDS drugs to the global poor, according to the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. Jean Chretien’s outgoing humanitarian gesture, the “Pledge to Africa” (now called the Access to Medicines Regime), has amounted to nothing. The law passed three years ago with the alleged aim […] More »

Police crackdowns on drug use lead to increases in HIV transmission. This assertion is supported by “Do Not Cross,” a just-released report from the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. To avoid HIV, hepatitis, abcesses and other health problems, ideally an injection drug user should use a new, clean needle each time. But when people are afraid […] More »

When Big Pharma doesn’t get its way, it takes its toys and goes home. When the “toys” in question are life-saving medications, the results can be grim. People with HIV in Thailand are finding this out first hand. Most medications are protected by 20-year patents that allow a drugmaker the exclusive right to produce them […] More »

Researcher Cory Alan Johnson The history of AIDS in Africa is a story intertwined with the ongoing legacy of colonialism, poverty, racial discrimination and other systemic ills. Including homophobia, according to the International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC). People often point to the African situation as “proof” that “AIDS isn’t a gay disease,” […] More »