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HIV Prevention Efforts In Five African Countries Not Reaching At-Risk Groups, Report Says
National HIV prevention strategies in at least five African countries are not reaching the groups most at risk of infection, according to a report from UNAIDS and the World Bank conducted in conjunction with the national HIV/AIDS authorities of Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland and Uganda, IRIN/PlusNews reports. The study was conducted between 2007 and 2008 to determine how and where most HIV cases were occurring in each country. It also aimed to examine whether prevention programs and spending aligned with those findings. According to the report, most prevention initiatives are not based on evidence of the behaviors that spread HIV in the five surveyed countries. For example, most new infections in Lesotho occur because of concurrent sexual partnerships, both before and after marriage. However, the country does not have any prevention strategies aimed at concurrent partnerships, or couples who are married or in long-term relationships. In addition, the report found that in Mozambique, an estimated 19% of new HIV infections were spread through commercial sex work, 3% from injection drug use and 5% among men who have sex with men. According to the report, few programs in the country target sex workers, while none are tailored to IDUs or MSM. According to the report, spending on HIV prevention often is low in the surveyed countries. Lesotho spends 13% of its national HIV/AIDS budget on prevention, while Uganda spends 34%. Director of the World Bank"s Global HIV/AIDS Unit Debrework Zewdie said that the economic downturn makes it important to maximize the impact of HIV prevention investments. "These syntheses use the growing amounts of data and information available to better understand each country"s epidemic and response and identify how prevention might be more effective," she said. The report includes recommendations on how the surveyed countries can better implement evidence-based prevention efforts. It said that Lesotho should revise its prevention messages to address multiple concurrent partnerships and integrate the subject into future initiatives. In addition, Mozambique should focus condom promotion on groups such as sex workers, the report said. According to IRIN/PlusNews, the five-country program aims to enhance capacity to ensure that the countries can conduct similar studies in the future (IRIN/PlusNews, 5/27).

Officials Hope Health Reform Reaches Rural America
Rural Americans are hopeful that health reform includes funding for clinics and health care services in their communities, where the cost of care is often high, CNN reports.
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IQ Explains Some Of The Difference In Heart Disease Between People Of High And Low Socio-economic Status
A unique study looking at the difference in cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke) and life expectancy between people of high and low socio-economic status has found that a person"s IQ may have a role to play.
Sexual Health

Cole Foundation Injects $2.5 Million To Bolster Leukemia Research

Canada has received new support to recruit some of its best minds in pediatric leukemia research, thanks to the Cole Foundation. The family foundation has generously pledged $2.5 million to support up-and-coming, Montreal-based researchers at the Universitçİ de Montrçİal, McGill University and the Universitçİ du Quçİbec"s Institut national de la recherche scientifique - Institut Armand-Frappier. The Cole Foundation investment will include: * Two Cole Foundation Mid-Career Grants totalling $620,000, allotted over four years, to permit the Universitçİ de Montrçİal and McGill University to hire one scientist each. * Three Cole Foundation Transition Awards, for a total of $225,000, to allow the Institut Armand-Frappier, the Universitçİ de Montrçİal and McGill University and their affiliated medical research institutes to hire a postdoctoral researcher each for tenure-track or associate professor positions. * Some $572,000 to create a pediatric leukemia cell bank based at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center. In addition, the Cole Foundation will contribute $637,000 to allow the Quebec Leukemia Cell Bank to expand its operation and preserve adolescent leukemia cells that will be widely available to researchers. Building on prior investments This new support builds on the Cole Foundation"s Fellowship Programme, which was created to encourage young researchers in search of a cure for pediatric leukemia and related diseases. This year, the Cole Foundation is injecting another $425,000 to propel the work of another 13 Cole Fellows. Since 2007, the Cole Foundation has generously funded some 31 post-doctoral and graduate research fellowships at the three institutions. "The faculties of medicine at the Universitçİ de Montrçİal and McGill University, along with the Institut Armand-Frappier, produce scientists who are at the forefront of the international battle against pediatric leukemia," said Barry Cole, president of the Cole Foundation. "These new investments, coupled with our ongoing Cole Fellowships, will serve as important tools to empower tomorrow"s scientists - right here in Montreal - so they may find new ways to conquer pediatric leukemia and related diseases." 2009 Cole Fellows Of the 13 new recipients announced for 2009, 10 will work at Universitçİ de Montrçİal-affiliated institutions such as the Institute for Research in Immunology Cancer (IRIC), Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center and Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital. At McGill, three Cole Fellows will work from the affiliated McGill University Health Centre and Lady Davis Research Centre of the Jewish General Hospital. The newly announced 2009 Cole Fellows are: * Marie-Claude Bourgeois-Daigneault, PhD program, UdeM * Marie Cargnello, PhD program, UdeM * ç‰tienne Caron, PhD program, UdeM * Cindy Degerny, post-PhD program, McGill * Neda Delgoshaie, PhD program, UdeM * Cyrus Khandanpour, post-PhD program, UdeM * John Mills, PhD program, McGill * Ali Mokdad, post-PhD program, UdeM * Elena Shirokova, post-PhD program, UdeM * Marie-Claude Sincennes, PhD program, UdeM * Urmila Tawar, post-PhD program, McGill * Cçİdric Tremblay, post-PhD program, UdeM * Brian Wilhelm, post-PhD program, UdeM Sylvain-Jacques Desjardins University of Montreal


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