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Experts Say as AIDS Epidemic Changes, So Should Prevention Efforts

March 6th, 2010 at 09:26am Under Health report

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Tuesday was World AIDS Day, and the latest report on the epidemic provided some reason to celebrate.

Experts say new H.I.V. infections have fallen by seventeen percent since two thousand one. Estimates for sub-Saharan Africa are down by about fifteen percent. In East Asia new infections with the virus that causes AIDS have decreased almost twenty-five percent.

In Eastern Europe, the epidemic has leveled off. But new infections appear to be rising again in some countries.

The report came last week from the UNAIDS program and the World Health Organization.

Students from the American University of Beirut light candles to bring attention to AIDS in Lebanon on World AIDS Day

It says H.I.V.-related deaths appear to have reached their highest point in two thousand four. Since the peak, deaths have fallen by around ten percent as more people have received treatment.

Experts credit the good news in the report at least in part to prevention programs, not just the natural progress of the epidemic. Yet the report points out that while the AIDS epidemic is changing, prevention programs are not.

Karen Stanecki at UNAIDS says few programs, for example, are designed for people in secure relationships. Or people over twenty-five. Or the newly single.

AIDS is the leading cause of death in women age fifteen to forty-four. Those are the main years for having children.

The W.H.O. is now advising infected women to begin antiretroviral drugs at fourteen weeks of pregnancy, instead of twenty-eight. Women are also advised to continue treatment through the recommended end of breastfeeding, when the baby is one year old. This reduces the risk of infecting the child.

Treatments and population growth mean more people than ever are living with H.I.V. The latest estimates say almost thirty-three and a half million have the virus. There were two million AIDS-related deaths last year, and two million seven hundred thousand new infections.

About two-thirds of the people with H.I.V. are in sub-Saharan Africa. Hardest hit is South Africa. On Tuesday, President Jacob Zuma announced an expansion of testing and treatment. By next April, he says, all H.I.V.-infected children less than one year old will receive treatment.

AIDS research continues. On Monday the United States said it will hold the two thousand twelve International AIDS Conference. The event has not taken place here since nineteen ninety because of restrictions against visitors with H.I.V. The travel ban will end January fourth.

And that’s the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. I’m Steve Ember.

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Screening for Breast, Cervical Cancer: The New Advice

February 26th, 2010 at 09:16am Under Health report

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Sometimes new health advice conflicts with old advice. Yet new guidelines last week for breast cancer testing in the United States created a storm of debate. The advice came from experts who are appointed by the government to develop guidelines for preventive services, like mammograms.

Congresswoman Sue Myrick of North Carolina is joined by other lawmakers as she discusses new guidelines for mammograms on November 18

The experts advised most women to get fewer mammograms. They said the risk of needless treatment outweighs the good from more tests. The new advice is to get tested every two years, instead of yearly, and to start at age fifty instead of forty.

The task force must not consider medical costs. But critics accused the Obama administration of trying to limit mammograms to save money.

The administration pointed out that the current members of the group were appointed during the last administration. And officials said the study had begun long before the latest debate on health reform.

The House of Representatives passed health care legislation earlier this month. And the Senate agreed Saturday to begin full debate on its own bill.

The secretary of health and human services said the new advice would not affect government policies. Kathleen Sebelius advised women to “keep doing what you have been doing.”

Some say they worry that health plans might pay for fewer mammograms now. But every state except Utah requires insurance companies to pay for testing women in their forties.

There appeared to be less reaction later in the week when a different group released new guidelines for cervical cancer testing. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said the timing was just by chance.

The new guidelines say women age twenty-one to twenty-nine only need to get a Pap test every two years instead of yearly. Girls are advised to begin testing within three years of when they first have sex, or in any case no later than twenty-one.

A Pap test looks for abnormal cervical cells that could become cancer. Doctors may remove suspicious growths. But the experts say that in most cases in young women, these growths would go away by themselves. Removing them can lead to problems such as scarring and the need for Cesarean births later.

Cervical cancer is highly curable if it is found early. Pap tests have saved countless lives. Today most of the deaths are in countries with poor health care.

And that’s the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. For more health news, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Barbara Klein.

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