Indian children suffering from HIV posing for the camera
According to a joint report issued by the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, and UNICEF, said that India, the world’s second most population nation after China, had made progress in scaling up access over the years, but added that given its robust generic drug industry it could have done better.

“India has done well in scaling up access to the ARV therapy over the last seven years,” says a senior WHO official, suggesting there is still a huge gap to address.

The universal gap between those needing urgent ARV treatment for HIV/AIDS the world over and those unable to have any access to it has climbed to over 15 million people and there is an urgent need for funds to the tune of USD$10 billion, says Rifat Atun, a senior official of the Global Fund which is the main provider of assistance to countries afflicted with HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.

India now ranks third in “scaling up access”, after South Africa and Kenya during the last five years.

However, it needs to cross some distance for ensuring universal access for all its HIV/AIDS sufferers.

The HIV/AIDS worldwide logo
Around 3,200,074 have received ARV therapy in India at the end of last year as compared to 2,034,581 patients during the previous year. However, between 1.1 and 1.4 million HIV/AIDS patients have no access for ARV therapy in India.

Given the number of health professionals and the state of the art generic drug industry in India, the performance on the HIV/AIDS front could be far better in comparison with other low-income countries in Southern Africa, say analysts.

India must consider issuing compulsory licenses for ensuring free access to second and third-line treatment for HIV/AIDS patients whose number is steadily climbing. Compulsory licensing enables a national government to revoke a license issued to a patent holder and thereby, allow other parties to produce and sell a patented product for non-commercial purposes.

Several industrialized nations resorted to compulsory licensing to enable their national health departments to procure medicines at low prices so as to provide free of cost in government hospitals.

India is yet to issue a compulsory license despite its rising HIV/AIDS patients who now need second and third-line treatment.

In 2006, Thailand issued compulsory license for the production of patented drugs for its HIV-infected population. Later, Brazil also issued compulsory license for the production of patent-drugs produced by an American pharmaceutical company despite enormous pressure from the US.

“Ultimately, the decision to issue a compulsory license depends on the national government,” says Mari Angela Simao, a senior UNAIDS official.

The Church is still very silent on this issue when it is expected to be at the forefront of the problem.

It is time that all the Churches should shun politics and differences and join hands inter-denominationally and come out with innovative strategies and ideas to maximize the awareness among all classes of people. Church should also think of building hospices for the HIV/AIDS infected, apart from schools, dispensaries that are usually started as a social wing. These should be constructed where people can have access and take maximum benefit out of such facilities.

Trevain Raj Kumar
Trevain Raj Kumar a Christian who founded Neolife Mission to cater to the needs of these HIV/AIDS infected/affected people and also runs a Terry’s Kids Home for these victims in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh state. His ministry is run in conjunction with He Intends Victory (www.heintendsvictory.com) which is based in Irvine, California, and is one of the early pioneers of Christians working in the HIV/AIDS field.

Trevain is an Indian by origin and was working in the IT field, when God called him into full time ministry in 2002. He set aside his secular job and in faithfulness towards God’s call he started Neolife Mission.

Many children received help and support through Neo Life Mission and they could make this happen with their self support.

In learning more about this work, I was amazed and touched by the way God is using and working through Trevain’s Neolife Mission. Here is one of those who got blessed by the service of Neo Life Mission.

Sarita today with her Bible
Sarita, an HIV infected lady came to Trevain for counseling and she revealed that her husband had left her after finding out that she had been with HIV. She told him that she “did not want to die” and leave her young children behind. She had severe tuberculosis at the time and the lymph glands on her neck were swollen and one or two had even burst, emitting a foul smell. She was in a hopeless condition with her CD4 count at only 97. [CD4 cells are a type of white blood cell that fights infection. Another name for them is T-helper cells. CD4 cells are made in the spleen, lymph nodes, and thymus gland, which are part of the lymph or infection-fighting system. CD4 cells move throughout your body, helping to identify and destroy germs such as bacteria and viruses. Keeping your CD4 count high can reduce complications of HIV disease and extend your life.)

Trevain told her about Jesus Christ and asked her to accept Him as her own personal savior. Later he encouraged her to follow Christ and taught her how to pray and to put her trust in the Lord. She there and then made her decision to follow Jesus and within three months, she started to gain strength and her TB report showed no traces of the disease.

In fact, she began to put on weight and when she went to the doctor for her CD4 again, and the doctor asked her whether she was taking any special medicine as her health was improving. She said that her only “special medicine was Jesus Christ”. A year after her first test, she went again to test her CD4 count and the doctors were again spellbound since her count raised to an amazing 847.

Sarita was very happy and started attending a local church near her home.

Trevan baptizes Sarita
She then came back to Neolife Mission and requested Trevain to baptize her and he was delighted to do so. Now she is a true believer, her son is studying and is being well supported by Neolife. She recently got a house keeping job in one of India’s prestigious IT centers, Infosys, and is earning a handsome salary.

Sarita’s is just one of many lives that have been transformed and blessed by this caring ministry. You too can join to bring in change.

For more details on Neo Life Mission’s work please visit: www.neolifemission.org

Or if you want to know more about this project or help Neolife Mission please send an e-mail to: trevain@gmail.com

Note: ANS founder, Dan Wooding, has written a moving book called “He Intends Victory” about people living with HIV/AIDS and how Jesus touched them. To get a free copy, go to: http://heintendsvictory.org/products-page

Estimates claim that more than one-half of all South African individuals aged 15 years in 2006 will not survive to 60 years of age. Hence, creating awareness about dangerous and risky sexual behaviors in youngsters may help reduce the number of HIV patients. In order to test the ability of a school-based prevention program in such an environment, experts triggered a cluster-randomized, controlled study. The analysis included 18 primary schools in Eastern Cape Providence, South Africa and two six-session behavior-change interventions based on extensive investigations.

Experts allege, “In conclusion, sexual transmission of HIV is a major risk faced by adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa, and interventions are needed urgently to reduce their risk. This study provides the first evidence that a theory-based, contextually appropriate intervention can reduce sexual risk behaviors, particularly unprotected vaginal intercourse, vaginal intercourse and multiple partners, among young South African adolescents in the earliest stages of their sexual lives. Future research with more sexually experienced adolescents will have to explore whether such interventions can have an effect on condom use and STDs, including HIV.”

John B. Jemmott III, Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and colleagues randomly assigned nine schools to participate in the HIV/STD intervention. This intervention aimed to teach students ways of avoiding HIV and other STDs. It created awareness about abstinence and condom use, and increase the skills and self-confidence required for choosing less risky behaviors. The intervention focused on behaviors associated with other disorders, like heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

1,057 children with an average age of 12.4 years were questioned about sexual behaviors before and three, six and 12 months after the intervention. Having conducted three follow-ups, investigators noted a smaller percentage of students in the HIV/STD risk reduction group than the health promotion group. Unprotected vaginal intercourse was reported by 2.2 percent from the HIV/STD risk reduction group and 4.2 percent from the health promotion group. Vaginal intercourse was registered by 4.8 percent of HIV/STD risk reduction group and 7.2 percent of health promotion group. 1.8 percent of HIV/STD risk reduction group and 3.2 percent of health promotion group had multiple sexual partners.

The study is published in the October issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

CDC: 20% of Gay Men Are HIV-Positive, but Nearly Half Don’t Know It
Really? How did the CDC even study “gay men,” since we’re a population that’s not all in one place and is hard to define (we still don’t have a good estimate of how many America Americans identify as gay because of the slipperiness around identity and the fact that not everyone will tell a pollster their sexuality). If one were to look at the study, which is linked at the bottom of the Time piece so one assumes the writer and editors had access to it, it doesn’t make that claim at all.

I won’t fault Time’s Meredith Melnick for that incorrect headline; she probably didn’t write it. And whoever did was probably more interested in shocking than in describing the truth. Melnick gets a little closer in her lede, but she still is several ball parks away:

Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that 1 in 5 sexually active gay and bisexual men in America are HIV-positive but that 44% of them don’t know it.
Interesting, since an earlier study this year in the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases estimated that 11.8% of MSM were seropositive and the CDC estimated in 2006 that 79% of those who were poz knew it. That’s a pretty big change in numbers over a short amount of time.

But that’s just her first paragraph, where at least she now tells us that the study wasn’t just of gay men, but of MSM, which includes bisexual men and men who don’t identify as either gay or bi but who have sex with men (whether that makes them gay or bi is entirely up to you, but having sex with a man doesn’t automatically make someone gay). But that wasn’t the only problem.

Time’s Melnick says something different in the second paragraph, without acknowledging at all that her first two paragraphs contradict one another:

More than 8,000 self-identifying gay and bisexual men (or, as the researchers call them, MSM, for men who have sex with men) were tested by CDC workers in the 21 American cities with the highest infection rates. The gay population in Baltimore had the highest rates of HIV infection, at 38%, while Atlanta scored lowest, at 6%.
(A small quibble: 1% of those who participated in the study identified as “straight.”)

In her first paragraph, the CDC released data about HIV infection rates among “sexually active gay and bisexual men in America” (emph. mine). In her second paragraph, the CDC released data about HIV infection rates among “MSM… in the 21 American cities with the highest infection rates.” That changes things a bit. Contrary to popular belief, men who have sex with men don’t live exclusively in 21 urban areas in the United States.

So the title, the first paragraph, and the second paragraph all make different, contradictory statements about the study, with no acknowledgement or explanation from Time. Which is correct? A casual reader wouldn’t know, and it’s unlikely anyone at Time understands. Many people would probably just read the title, which is the worst of the three, and move on unaware that they’ve been misled. We’re paid to write shocking stories, not report the facts! Melnick and her editors at Time protest.

Anyway, for those who’d like to know, the second paragraph is the one that gets closest, and it’s the one least likely to be read. And it’s still not good enough.

Here’s part of the note that was attached to the study on the CDC’s site, which is actually important to understanding the study (Melnick doesn’t mention any of this information in her shocking Time piece since it takes a lot of shock out of the story):

The findings in this report are subject to at least four limitations. First, because the survey was administered by an interviewer, positive HIV status might have been underreported during the interview, given the sensitive nature of the topic, thereby inflating estimates of MSM unaware of their infections. Second, 135 MSM who reported being HIV-positive but who had a negative or indeterminate HIV test result were excluded from analysis because of the possibility that they had false-negative NHBS test results; however, including these men as HIV-positive would have yielded a similar overall HIV prevalence (20% compared with 19%). Third, comparisons of the NHBS-MSM datasets collected during 2004–2005 and 2008 should be made cautiously, because this analysis did not control for demographic differences in the samples, which might have influenced the percentages reported. Finally, these findings are limited to men who frequented MSM-identified venues (most of which were bars [45%] and dance clubs [22%]) during the survey period in 21 MSAs with high AIDS prevalence; the results are not representative of all MSM. A lower HIV prevalence (11.8%) has been reported among MSM in the general U.S. population (8).
The CDC acknowledge four limitations to this study, two of which are major limitations that I’ll discuss.

In the third limitation, they acknowledge that demographics weren’t controlled for. Consider the income of the people tested — over 30% reported incomes under $20K a year. The Census Bureau only estimated 20% of US household income being below this line in 2009, which isn’t a direct comparison since gay households’ incomes are less and we’re more likely to have a single income for a single person than straight people. On the other hand, they investigated urban areas which have higher costs of living and incomes.

Either way, I can’t find comparable data focusing only on the same 21 urban areas and providing information about individual income, and apparently the CDC didn’t either since they didn’t control for demographics. Since socioeconomic status is one of the major factors that defines HIV infection rates, data that doesn’t reflect a representative sample of America’s economic reality can’t be used to make sweeping statements about “gay and bisexual men in America.”

23% of the people studied were “Black, non-hispanic”; 12.4% of America is. 25% of the people in the study were “Hispanic”; about 15% of America identifies as such. Again, perhaps that’s representative of these 21 urban areas, but we don’t know that and it means that the data isn’t representative of “gay and bisexual men in America.”

34% of those studied had “no” health insurance, while the un-insurance rate in the US is estimated at 15.4%. This relates specifically to the stories (like the one at Time) that stress how few “gay and bisexual men in America” know they’re HIV-positive. If the study focused heavily on the uninsured, then it’s more likely to show that people don’t know they have a certain virus. This stuff isn’t complicated.

The fourth caveat that the CDC lays out is also important: they found their subjects at bars and dance clubs that are “MSM-identified venues.” They’re missing a lot of people that way since lots of urban MSM (like me) don’t frequent gay bars and clubs. They cruise online or in parks. They’re in relationships or don’t cruise at all. They live far away from any gay bars. They don’t like gay bars for a variety of reasons. Maybe they just didn’t go to that one bar on the night they were recruiting people for this study. Maybe they didn’t want to take part in this study (only 43% of people who were “approached” agreed to participate, making the study self-selecting and not even controlled for basic demographics). Etc.

Of course, none of those caveats made it into the Washington Post story on these data, which ran with this headline and lede:

Study puts HIV rate among gay men at 1 in 5
One in five gay men in the United States has HIV, and almost half of those who carry the virus are unaware that they are infected, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study.

The Post’s Darryl Fears goes on to call this study “the most comprehensive such research by the CDC,” without mentioning any of the caveats the CDC laid out.

Even more frustrating is that the CDC specifically says “comparisons of the NHBS-MSM datasets collected during 2004 — 2005 and 2008 should be made cautiously,” but Fears spends three paragraphs making lazy comparisons between those two exact studies. “[T]he percentage of minorities who tested positive changed dramatically in the three years since the previous study,” Fears tells us, not telling us what the CDC know, that the samples in the two studies are different and neither controlled for demographics so comparisons between the two are likely to be inaccurate.

Not that any of that matters. The important thing is that we are all properly shocked into buying newspapers.

Online PR News – 27-September-2010 – Screening test for most common curable STD now available at home from America’s leading sexual health resource

getSTDtested.com is the first online STD clinic to provide an at-home screening option for Trichomoniasis, available for purchase on its website. With a history of innovation in the field of sexual health, getSTDtested.com continues its mission to set the standard for STD awareness and testing with the announcement of this exclusive at-home test offering for Trichomoniasis and builds on its existing at-home test offerings for Chlamydia and gonorrhea.
Consumers purchase getSTDtested.com’s at-home screening test and it is delivered to the home. Consumers follow simple instructions to provide a sample (urine sample is preferred for men; vaginal swab is preferred for women) that is then mailed to a lab for processing. Results are delivered securely to consumers, and those with positive results can get doctor-ordered antibiotic prescriptions at the same website.
This offering significantly expands STD testing options. The home screening kit already offered at getSTDtested.com offers the only confidential, at-home screening for Chlamydia and gonorrhea. Adding Trichomoniasis testing enhances the offering, and our expert-recommended testing guidelines recommend significantly increased age-appropriate testing for Trichomoniasis. Whereas Chlamydia and gonorrhea testing is recommended for those under age 30, Trichomoniasis testing is recommended up to age 45.
According to a recent study published in the April 2010 Obstetrics & Gynecology (see abstract), women overwhelmingly preferred to screen for STDs at home. Although many adults are not aware of being at risk for Trichomoniasis, it is actually the most common curable STD in the United States. In fact, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that there are over 7,400,000 infections of Trichomoniasis each year. Most individuals infected with Trichomonas Vaginalis, the single-celled protozoan parasite that causes Trichomoniasis, never experience symptoms and are therefore unaware of infection – making this STD a very real and prevalent health concern for any sexually active adult. Women who are pregnant and infected with Trichomoniasis may have complications with their pregnancy, including premature birth or low birth weight. Furthermore, Trichomoniasis can cause genital inflammation that increases a woman’s likelihood of contracting HIV, and can increase her chances of transmitting HIV infection to a sexual partner.
Testing for Trichomoniasis, and other sexually transmitted diseases and infections, has never been easier. Long recognized as America’s leading online sexual health and testing resource, getSTDtested.com provides the most convenient ways for sexually active adults to be tested for STDs. Their robust online offering provides the ability to purchase tests online, get tested at one of over 4,000 medical facilities across the country without having to schedule an appointment, or choose from several at-home test packages which include tests for Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, and now Trichomoniasis. You can even gauge your sexual health and further understand which STDs you should be tested for by using their online personalized STD test recommendation tool, or by speaking to an STD expert at no charge.
For those who test positive for Trichomoniasis infection, getSTDtested.com makes real help available to them. Included in the price of any test is a free phone consultation with an on-call physician who will help interpret test results and, in many cases, can even prescribe treatment for an additional charge – all without ever having to leave the comfort of your own home. As with Chlamydia and gonorrhea, most people with Trichomoniasis are cured with a single course of antibiotics. It is important that sex partners also be treated, since infection can recur.

About getSTDtested.com: As more consumers turn to the internet for health information, getSTDtested.com is setting the standard for online STD awareness and testing, helping to destigmatize, prevent, and control sexually transmitted infections. The online clinic makes it easy for individuals at risk for STDs to get confidential diagnostic testing as well as professional and peer-to-peer referrals in the Forum, have access to a test recommendation tool developed by academic and medical experts, and have peace of mind that the site is founded on evidence based medical advice from a renowned Medical Advisory Board. For more information about testing for Trichomoniasis, see Trichomoniasis Test . or STD Testing Options.

The services offered include diabetes education and screening, blood pressure tests, pregnancy testing, HIV and tuberculosis testing, adult immunizations and health education. The staff also assists in finding a medical home that provides ongoing health care services for anyone who lacks medical insurance and does not have a health care provider.

No appointment is needed. Some services are free, including HIV rapid testing with results in 20 minutes. Other services offered at other locations are on a sliding fee scale based on income. Licensed volunteer physicians from the Senior Friendship Centers provide basic medical care when the mobile medical unit is at the Salvation Army in Sarasota. A registered nurse is available at all sites.

The following is a schedule of dates and locations for the mobile unit:

SARASOTA

Thursdays, Oct. 7, 14, 21 and 28, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

Salvation Army
1400 10th St.

Mondays, Oct. 4 and 18, 9:30 a.m.-noon

Selby Goodwill Jobs Center

1781 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way

Mondays, Oct. 4 and 18, 1-3 p.m.

Newtown Estates Park

2800 Newtown Blvd.

Monday, Oct. 11, 9:30 a.m.-noon

Orange Avenue Housing Authority property

1912 N. Orange Ave.

Mondays, Oct. 11 and 25, 1-3 p.m.

Arizona Multi-Services Center

3900 N. Washington Blvd.

Monday, Oct. 25, 9:30 a.m.-noon

McCown Tower

1300 Blvd. of the Arts

LAUREL

Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2-5 p.m.

U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food distribution program

Sandra Sims Terry Community Center

509 Collins Road

NOKOMIS

Wednesday, Oct. 20, 9:30 a.m.-noon

The Community Pharmacy of Sarasota County

225 Tamiami Trail S.

VENICE

Tuesday, Oct. 5, 9:30 a.m.-noon

Goodwill Center – The Rialto

650 S. Tamiami Trail

Tuesday, Oct. 5, 1-3 p.m.

Habitat for Humanity ReStore

1400 Ogden Road

ENGLEWOOD

Tuesdays, Oct. 12 and 26, 9:30 a.m.-noon

Englewood Goodwill Center

410 Indiana Ave.

Tuesdays, Oct. 12 and 26, 1-3 p.m.

Englewood Helping Hands

700 E. Dearborn St.

NORTH PORT

Friday, Oct. 1; 9:30 a.m.-noon

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food distribution program

St. Nathaniel’s Episcopal Church

4200 S. Biscayne Drive

Wednesday, Oct. 13, 9:30 a.m.-noon

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

Walmart Supercenter

17000 Tamiami Trail

Wednesday, Oct. 13, 1-3 p.m.

Grande Court Apartments at North Port

5203 Greenwood Ave.

For more information, contact the Sarasota County Call Center at 941-861-5000, or visit www.sarasotahealth.org to view the calendar or to submit a special event request. Anyone without computer access can visit a health kiosk at any of the eight Sarasota County libraries or at any Senior Friendship Center.

Now, though she swallows 60 pills a day to stay healthy, she needs no reminders. Cardell long ago memorized her medication schedule and all of its empty-stomach or full-stomach requirements.

But the stigma surrounding the infection she got from an HIV-infected boyfriend in 1991 still haunts her.

Though once an ambitious executive chef, she will never cook professionally again.

“People are afraid of eating that food, though that’s not how HIV spreads,” said Cardell, 46.

The Boulder County AIDS Project, which this year marks its 25th anniversary, faces the same challenge as it serves HIV-positive men, women and children living in Boulder, Broomfield, Clear Creek and Gilpin counties.

It offers free and confidential HIV testing, case management, medical care access, financial assistance, food bank resources, support groups and more.

Yet BCAP wants the Longmont branch, which this month relocated to 515 Kimbark St., to maintain a low profile.

“We have people who haven’t even told their sister, who they live with, because the stigma is so strong,” said Dan Hanley, BCAP’s development director. “Some of that stigma comes from homophobia. … But we’re in Longmont because there is a need.”

Cardell, a heterosexual woman who married in 1993 just before she was diagnosed, first volunteered at BCAP in 1994 after moving from Madison to Boulder. She remembers volunteers lighting a candle by the front desk in the Boulder home office whenever a client died.

Stigma caused some families to submit nothing more than the first initial of the late client’s name and the date of death to post by the flame.

“And this is at an AIDS organization,” Cardell said.

Volunteers from BCAP’s earliest years nevertheless appreciate progress between now and when the AIDS crisis first hit in the early 1980s.

For instance, burning the bed sheets crossed Neil Fishman’s mind after a buddy in California stricken with AIDS visited a mutual friend in Boulder.

“We didn’t know anything. We thought you might get it from toilet seats or door knobs. Scientists had not yet even isolated the virus then,” Fishman, 54, said.

HIV, the virus that causes the deadly AIDS, passes from an infected person to another person through blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breast milk.

Fishman, a Boulder scientist who served from 1987 to 1990 as BCAP’s third president, recalled how two volunteers launched what is now known as BCAP in 1985. They incorporated the nonprofit organization as the Boulder County Health Network to avoid using the AIDS acronym in the return address on mailings.

Though that euphemistic name eventually changed, BCAP managed to attract more clients and volunteers outside the gay community.

Bonnie Crumpacker, a wife and mother of four, volunteered in 1987 as Fishman’s vice president after she heard then-Colorado Rep. David Skaggs fielding complaints from gay men in Boulder. They reported housing and medical care discrimination related to their homosexual or bisexual orientation.

“(Supporting BCAP) was an act of bravery. A lot of people hate gay people,” the Boulder resident said. “But at some point, people began to realize it could be their child, certainly. … I knew young men whose parents just couldn’t adjust. I found that hard, and then they would come around for the funeral.”

Before the 1996 debut of protease inhibitors — powerful drug cocktails to slow the spread of HIV — AIDS (the infection’s end-stage immune system crash) ranked as the leading cause of death among those between ages 25 and 44 in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

Crumpacker, 83, remembers the peculiarity of visiting so many sick young men — one of whom died in her presence — during her BCAP tenure.

Today, AIDS is the sixth highest cause of death for that age category.

The majority of new annual HIV cases in the U.S. still stem from men who have sex with men. But heterosexual contact accounts for 31 percent of annual new infections, according to the CDC.

That statistic and her personal experience pushed Cardell to serve beyond her volunteer roles over the years as BCAP’s bookkeeper, board member and client chauffeur.

“I went to BCAP and said, ‘You guys need a woman to tell your story.’ And they said, ‘Well, we had one, and she died. So it looks like it’s you,’” she said.

Now, Cardell speaks publicly on behalf of BCAP to prevent disease transmission, encourage early treatment and break stereotypes.

“(Adults) want to hear that you slept with a million people or used injection drugs. They want you to be so different that they don’t have to worry about it,” she said. “But kids say, ‘Now I know that you’re just like everyone else. You just have to try harder to live.’”

FIOCRUZ (www.fiocruz.br) is a world-renowned public health organization affiliated with the Brazilian Ministry of Health and is the Ministry’s leading supplier for therapeutics, vaccines and diagnostic tests dedicated to public health. FIOCRUZ has entered collaborations with some of the world’s leading biotechnology companies in fulfillment of its mission.

This is the second DPP(R) test developed by Chembio to receive regulatory approval in Brazil in the last three months. In June, the Company reported approval of its DPP(R) oral fluid HIV 1/2 screening test by ANVISA. This is however the first DPP(R) multiplex test employing Chembio’s patented Dual Path Platform to received regulatory approval. One of the unique features of DPP(R) is its enabling of multiple parameter tests to be developed. The confirmatory test uniquely detects five different strains of HIV in a single point-of-care device.

During 2008 Chembio signed four agreements with FIOCRUZ relating to products based on the Company’s DPP(R) technology, including this HIV confirmatory test. Previous to that, in 2004, Chembio and FIOCRUZ entered a successful collaboration pertaining to Chembio’s HIV 1/2 STAT-PAK(R). Under the DPP(R) HIV 1/2 Confirmatory rapid test agreement with FIOCRUZ, a technology transfer to FIOCRUZ for this product is contracted for, which is anticipated to occur in stages over a three-year period. During that period the agreement provides for minimum sales by Chembio to FIOCRUZ for this product and related components of approximately $4.7 million. Thereafter, it is anticipated that the technology transfer process will be completed. The agreement for the previously approved oral fluid HIV test, combined with this agreement pertaining to the HIV confirmatory test, represent combined potential aggregate sales of at least $13.5 million based on the minimum sales required under these agreements in order to complete the technology transfer.

Lawrence Siebert, Chembio’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “This product approval is an important milestone relating to our DPP(R) technology, as it very clearly demonstrates the capabilities of our platform, replacing time-consuming, laboratory-dependent tests with products that can provide critical information at the point of care.”

About Chembio Diagnostics Chembio Diagnostics, Inc. develops, manufactures, licenses and markets proprietary rapid diagnostic tests in the growing $7 billion point-of-care testing market. Chembio’s two FDA PMA-approved, CLIA-waived, rapid HIV tests are marketed in the U.S. by Alere North America, Inc. (formerly Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc.). Chembio markets its HIV STAT-PAK(R) line of rapid HIV tests internationally to government and donor-funded programs directly and through distributors. Chembio has developed a patented point-of-care test platform technology, the Dual Path Platform (DPP(R)) technology, which has significant advantages over lateral-flow technologies. This technology is providing Chembio with a significant pipeline of business opportunities for the development and manufacture of new products based on DPP(R). Headquartered in Medford, NY, with approximately 100 employees, Chembio is licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and is certified for the global market under the International Standards Organization (ISO) directive 13.485. For more information, please visit: www.chembio.com.

Forward-Looking Statements Statements contained herein that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the Company and its management. Such statements are estimates only, as the Company has not completed the preparation of its financial statements for those periods, nor has its auditor completed a review or audit of those results. Actual revenue may differ materially from those anticipated in this press release. Such statements reflect management’s current views, are based on certain assumptions and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results, events, or performance may differ materially from the above forward-looking statements due to a number of important factors, and will be dependent upon a variety of factors, including, but not limited to Chembio’s ability to obtain additional financing, to obtain regulatory approvals in a timely manner and the demand for Chembio’s products. Chembio undertakes no obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof or to reflect any change in Chembio’s expectations with regard to these forward-looking statements or the occurrence of unanticipated events. Factors that may impact Chembio’s success are more fully disclosed in Chembio’s most recent public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“Over a quarter of the people in New York City are already identified when they have advanced to AIDS. That means for the time from the time they are infected until they are identified when they have AIDS it has already been eight to 10 years most of the time. They have been often unknowingly infecting other people. By identifying it earlier it benefits not only the individual, but it benefits the whole society and helps stop the epidemic,” said Dr. Monica Sweeney of the New York City Health Department.

The law not only requires providers to routinely test patients ages 13 to 64, but to link those positively identified to care if they accept it. Organizations like GMHC have already been working to handle an increase in new cases.

“We really want to identify those unaware of their status and get them linked to care and to do that you want to streamline the process as much as possible,” said GMHC HIV Prevention Director Lynnette Ford

The concept of more streamlined testing is not new to the city. The health department along with the public hospital system have also already been engaged in pilot programs to do more routine testing, particularly in high-risk areas. The “Project Brief” program at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx helps doctors reach out to a larger number of patients. They use a computer-based model to educate about testing, assist with counseling and link them to care if needed.

By routinely testing most of the patients who come into the hospital at Jacobi Medical Center, over the past five years, they’ve already identified more than 200 patients with HIV who otherwise wouldn’t have known their status.

“We’ve had a tremendous amount of success at linking patients into long term care for their disease. Our linkage rates are in the low to mid 90s which is excellent when you look at the national data,” said Dr. Ethan Cowan of Jacobi Medical Center.

Health officials say they expect infection rates to remain the same at about 1.3 percent of the general population. The main difference is more of those New Yorkers will know their status and get the care they need.

“Through home-based counselling and testing, you are able to get children and parents who might not go to health facilities for these services,” said Samson Ndege, one of the authors of the study and HCT project coordinator with the USAID-supported Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH), which cares for more than 100,000 HIV-positive adults and children in the region. “HCT provides an opportunity to… link children and parents to treatment.”

The study, published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, looked at the uptake of HIV testing and HIV prevalence among children given HCT and aged between 18 months and 13 years, whose mothers were either dead, HIV-infected or of unknown HIV status.

Ndege noted that it took some convincing to get parents to allow their children to be tested. “One reason many parents did not want their children tested was fear of disclosing their HIV status, but through counselling, many parents now know the children can access treatment and therefore there is an increase of those willing to have children tested,” he said.

Diagnosis and treatment of HIV-positive children remains very low in much of sub-Saharan Africa; the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that without treatment, about half of HIV-infected children will die before their second birthday.

Limitations

Kenya’s 2008 national HIV testing guidelines single out diagnosis of children as a benefit of HCT.

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Love, Positively Of the 2,289 children offered HCT in the Kenyan study, 57 percent participated and of these nearly 5 percent were found to be HIV-positive.

“In every place where we carried out the research… there are AMPATH clinics where the HIV-positive children and their parents are referred to for treatment,” Ndege said. “Community health workers are employed to make follow up visits and ensure that those enrolled in treatment do not default.”

Some limitations of the study included the fact that it was restricted to “high-risk” children, it did not test children younger than 18 months – who would have required more complex tests than the rapid one administered in the home – and the limited geographical and cultural scope of the study, which means the results cannot be generalized.

The authors concluded that while HCT did provide an opportunity to diagnose HIV among high-risk children, further investigation was needed to identify and overcome barriers to testing uptake.

Just a few years ago, Duran wandered the streets outside Gay City a skeletal form of his current self. Homeless, sick and estranged from his family, he would look away from passers-by, including some of his current colleagues — all the while completely loaded on crystal meth.

“In my brief moments of clarity I knew my life was supposed to be better than this,” Duran said. “Growing up I had so many dreams … but I completely lost myself.”

Meth use among gay men has been a pervasive problem for decades, particularly in the western United States. Here in King County, about 10 percent of gay and bisexual men used crystal meth in a given year, according to data from Public Health — Seattle & King County. These rates are twice as high in men under the age of 30.

And gay men who use meth are among the highest risk for contracting HIV, according to local studies, perhaps because of the drug’s libido-boosting effect or the lack of inhibitions and invincibility people feel when using.

Local organizations have been reaching out to meth users in the gay community, hoping to pave their path to recovery by offering counseling, support groups and other resources.

“While meth affects everyone because its so highly addictive, it’s a particular problem for those in the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning) community,” said Arnold Martin, who works for project NEON, a program for gay and bisexual men struggling with meth use.

“The shame of being gay and an outcast, the low self-esteem … the drug allows you to not feel, to not care; it knocks down the barrier around self-esteem.”

Party drugs

By the time Duran was 5, he knew he was different from other boys in his hometown of Puyallup.

In high school, he threw himself into religion and saw a therapist who specialized in reversing homosexuality. He had strained relationships at home.

His senior year he came out about his homosexuality. After graduation he moved in with an older man in Seattle who introduced him to the standard party drugs — ecstasy, ketamine and GHB — and then methamphetamine, or crystal meth.

“From the first time I took meth I was hooked,” Duran said. “It was about escaping from who I was, and meth was the perfect drug to wash it all away.”

Like many stimulants, meth increases the release of dopamine, a brain chemical associated with pleasure and euphoria. But where stimulants like cocaine pass through the body within an hour or two, meth persists, causing a slow and steady rush that can last 12 hours or more.

But the euphoria offered by meth is deceptive — the toxicity of the drug damages and changes brain chemistry, sometimes permanently.

In the short term, all that dopamine causes heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature to soar. In the long term, high levels of dopamine destroy parts of the brain, sending users into bouts of violence, dementia, psychosis and paranoia while damaging memory and emotional capacity.

The drug eliminates the need to sleep, exacerbating mental dysfunction, and suppresses appetite, leading to rapid weight loss. Disinterest in self-care can lead to a host of physical problems, including dental damage.

“Even in patients who have been clean for years and years, we see neurological damage and permanent changes to the brain,” said Chet Robachinski, psychiatric director at Bailey Boushay House, a Seattle facility dedicated to caring for people living with AIDS. “It’s one of the horrible side effects of crystal.”

On Duran’s 21st birthday, after a night of drinking, he sought out crystal meth. He also picked up a stranger. That night, they had sex without a condom.

A few weeks later Duran fell horribly ill with classic signs of a primary HIV infection. His entire body ached, and he came down with a staph infection.

“Every time I test a meth user I feel afraid for them in the pit of my stomach,” said Joshua O’Neal, who conducts HIV-testing research at the STD Clinic/ Public Health-Seattle & King County at Harborview.

Three-quarters of all the men who test positive for HIV at the STD clinic have used meth, he said, adding, “When you feel invincible, you don’t care about using a condom.”

After Duran tested positive, he began using meth more frequently. By the time he was 23, Duran was using 20 times every day. He migrated between odd jobs, apartments and partners until he ended up on the street. In addition to unsafe sex, he wasn’t caring for himself and had frequent outbreaks of staph and MRSA.

He also had acquired syphilis, but because he didn’t seek out medical care the infection spread to his brain, causing unbearable bouts of disorientation.

When he finally went to the doctor, he was seen by a petite older woman who resembled his grandmother. She asked if he was using meth.

“She told me if I kept using I would die within six months either from an overdose or the HIV,” he said. “Up until that point I was afraid of living, but suddenly I was afraid of dying.”

The reasons that gay men use meth are diverse.

Some say the drug empowered them or allowed them to temporarily ignore the stigma of being gay. One former meth addict said he began using in the 1980s, as a means to cope with watching his friends passing away from AIDS.

But others said they never touched crystal meth until they contracted HIV. The drug helped stifle feelings of hopelessness, boosted their energy and allowed them to have sex without thinking about the virus.

“Gay men use meth for the same reasons that we use any other drug; it kills the pain,” said Tony Radovich, one of the founders of Strength Over Speed, a peer-based meth-addiction-recovery support group.

When Duran left the doctor’s office he went immediately with a friend to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Through the help of local organizations, like Seattle Counseling Services, Duran began his path to recovery.

“Quitting the drugs wasn’t the hard part,” Duran said. “Feeling my emotions was the hard part.”

Along the way he reconnected with family and made new friends, some who had also gone through recovery. He got on antiretroviral drugs, and within weeks his viral load was undetectable. He now works for Gay City Health Project, a community-based HIV-prevention program.

Duran has been sober for 2 ½ years

“Being gay and growing up feeling different, drugs were a good fit for me,” Duran said. “But I believe in people’s ability to change.”

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LTFU accounted for an increasing proportion of overall programme attrition: from 9% at six months to 29% at 3 years on antiretroviral treatment.

The study was conducted by researchers from the International Epidemiologic Databases to Evaluate AIDS collaboration of South Africa (IeDEA-SA).

South Africa has the largest antiretroviral programme in the world. From 2004 when the public programme began until 2007 an estimated 370,000 people started treatment. Yet no data on programme outcomes exist at the national level. As in other resource-poor setting there is little evidence about trends over time – mortality, loss-to-follow-up and retention.

Recently revised WHO treatment guidelines as well as South African national guidelines raise the concern of how the anticipated expansion of services will be met while keeping large numbers of patients in care. The time trend reported by the IeDEA-SA researchers suggests that increasing loss to follow-up will come with further expansion.

The increased demands will require a strengthened health care system capable of dealing with chronic disease, the researchers note. In most resource-poor countries the system is set up to deal with acute care and episodic illnesses. Keeping patients in care is a measure of a programme’s success.

LTFU is not a new phenomenon. However, a better understanding of LTFU at the national as well as at the programme level is key to successfully re-directing health systems toward long-term chronic care management, they add.

The IeDEA researchers reported a declining trend in mortality rates over time. This may be a true decline, but the possibility of an association between programme expansion and an increasing inability to determine mortality correctly is likely, they note. Increasing numbers of LTFU may lead to an underestimate of mortality.

The researchers stress the urgent need for linkage to death registries and where they do not exist, their establishment in low- and middle-income countries.

However, they note it is the size and pace of scale-up in South Africa that is responsible for high rate of loss to follow-up (LTFU).

Enrolment has increased 12-fold over a five year period with a cumulative total of 44,000; 63% of whom enrolled in the last two years. The twelve month LTFU rate increased annually from 1% in 2002/2003 to 13% in 2006.

The longer the time on antiretroviral treatment, the greater the proportion of the overall programme loss was due to LTFU: from 9% at six months to 29% at 36 months on antiretroviral treatment.

Such rapid increases in numbers placed additional burdens on an already overburdened system.

Monitoring and retention of patients in care was severely handicapped; capturing and accurately reporting data was problematic. Increasing numbers of LTFU could be because of death, lost to care, administrative error or inadequate patient monitoring systems, the researchers note.

The distinction between those LTFU due to administrative error and those truly lost to care needs to be made. Those truly lost to care, the authors note, are more likely to be non-adherent and at higher risk of death. A further consequence is the development of drug resistance, which then hinders programme success.

The researchers conclude that there is a need for further research at both the programme and national levels to understand LTFU adding that “Innovative, effective strategies are needed to follow and retain patients in large HIV treatment programmes while rapidly expanding access to antiretroviral services (in low- and middle-income countries.”

At the programme level, in spite of good early outcomes, adherence levels are also declining along with an increase in poorer treatment outcomes.

In an observational cohort study, of two well-established antiretroviral programmes in South Africa, one in the community and the other in the workplace, Mison Dahab and colleagues found that poor treatment outcomes (viral load above 400 copies/ml or having stopped treatment within the first six months) were more common in the well-resourced workplace programme (40% compared to 17%).

The study was designed to identify baseline factors predictive of poor treatment outcomes. Knowledge of these factors would help providers address these issues before starting patients on antiretroviral treatment, so improving adherence and retention in care and treatment outcomes. Yet little evidence exists about which baseline factors might be predictive of poor outcomes.

The researchers found that baseline predictive factors were unique to each programme. While excessive drinking and having seen a traditional healer was associated with poorer outcomes in the community, being male and knowing someone on antiretroviral treatment showed better outcomes. Poorer outcomes in the workplace were associated with being uncertain about the benefits of ART and a traditional healer’s ability to treat HIV (aOR 7.53, 95% CI: 2.02-27.98; aOR 4.40, 95% CI: 1.41-13.75, respectively).

Barriers to remaining on treatment and in care were primarily structural in the community setting. Testing and getting into care were more likely to be self-motivated compared to the workplace setting where provider-initiated testing and counselling (PITC) was the entry point. This would suggest, according to the researchers, that where PITC is available there is a need for additional adherence support.

Additionally in the workplace a longer time between diagnosis and starting antiretroviral treatment was associated with better outcomes (2-12 weeks compared to under two weeks (aOR 0.13, 95% CI:0.03-0.56)). This highlights, they note, the challenges of providing adequate antiretroviral counselling support before starting treatment when the need to start ART is immediate.

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That’s the message city Councilman James Oddo and borough health care experts hope people take home after attending the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation’s Health & Wellness Expo on Sept. 28 in the Hilton Garden Inn, Bloomfield.

“If you look at the data it will tell you that Staten Islanders’ obesity rates and smoking rates are some of, if not the worst in the city,” said Oddo, a leading sponsor of the event.

What we are doing and failing to do puts us at risk for many health problems, such as certain types of cancers, heart disease, diabetes and other conditions causing a shortened and diminished qualify of life, say Island health experts.

To that end, the second annual SIEDC expo will once again provide Islanders with a chance to examine and revamp their lifestyles through access to free health screenings.

Community Health Action of Staten Island’s mobile health unit will be providing walk-in HIV testing, and hepatitis C and diabetes screenings.

“There are fewer people on Staten Island who have ever had an HIV test than any place else in the city,” said Diane Arneth, executive director of Community Health Action.

Sixty-two percent of Staten Islanders have never had an HIV test — the lowest testing rate of all the boroughs, which ranged between 33 and 48 percent.

In 2008, 42.8 percent of Staten Islanders who were initially diagnosed as HIV-positive had already developed AIDS. That same year, the citywide rate for late diagnosis was 24.6 percent.

Project Renewal will operate a mobile mammography van for women ages 40 and older who have not had a mammogram in the past year and who have previously scheduled an appointment. Women wishing to make an appointment for a mammogram on the Project Renewal van can call 800-564-6868 or 718-226-6447.

On Staten Island, about 335 women are diagnosed and 77 die from breast cancer every year, the highest mortality rate in the city, according to state Department of Health statistics. Many of those diagnosed are women between the ages of 40 and 50.

“We’ve had a 5 percent decrease from last year in patients actually making appointments for mammographies,” said Barbara O’Brien, registered nurse and administrator of the Cancer Services Program of Staten Island. The program provides free mammograms to uninsured and underinsured women at Staten Island University Hospital, Richmond University Medical Center, several other health care facilities, as well as the Project Renewal van.

Ms. O’Brien attributed the dip in the number of mammograms to the economy and a controversial recommendation last November by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that determined women between the ages of 40 and 49 could forgo annual mammograms.

The Cancer Services Program also provides free cervical and colorectal screenings. Program staff will be handing out fecal occult blood (FOBT) kits, which people can do at home and mail to a lab to check for some intestinal conditions and colorectal cancer.

“Port Richmond has the highest incidence of colon cancer and we know that’s directly related to the fact that people are not getting screened for colon cancer,” said Ms. O’Brien.

While she acknowledged that an FOBT is not the same as a colonoscopoy — the gold standard for detecting colon cancer — it can help break the ice for those who are afraid of the test.

Other screenings available include hearing exams by the Center for Hearing and Communication, glaucoma tests by the Congressional Caucus Glaucoma Foundation and peripheral artery disease and metabolic syndrome screenings by Richmond University Medical Center.

More than nine months of planning have gone into this year’s health and wellness expo, said Paula Coyle, director of programs for the SIEDC, which teamed up with Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn), Northfield Bank Foundation and the College of Staten Island.

In addition to screenings, the expo will also feature author Lisa Oz, wife of TV’s Dr. Oz, a healthy recipes cooking contest for Island fire houses presided over by firefighter/chef/author Joseph T. Bonanno Jr., a keynote address by city health commissioner Dr. Thomas A. Farley, more than a dozen health and nutrition seminars, representatives from borough health agencies, a blood drive and fitness presentations.

Source

Already, ACHAP, which is a public–private partnership initiative between Botswana governments and the Bill and Melinda gates Foundation (B&MGF) and MSD/Merck Company Foundation (MSD) have benefitted more than US $179 million since its establishment.

Rosenblatt explained that it was intended through the second phase of the programme to help sustain the effect of the portfolio of antiretroviral medicines and the funding contributed by MSD and the B& MGF, in view of the challenges presented by overall global funding shortfalls.

“The government of Botswana and we, as your partners, began this partnership with comprehensive plans focused on the greatest needs at that time, namely treatment and care for those already afflicted, and the results now attest to the power and passion of our partnership,” said the MSD CEO, trained Medical expert.

In highlighting the difference brought by ACHAP’s intervention, mention was made of the fact that as at now 90% of the population infected with HIV and AIDS who are in need of treatment were receiving it, which was estimated to be the highest coverage rate in Africa, especially that it was 5% at the time of inception of the partnership.

By delivering treatment, the partnership, according the MSD chief, has prevented tens of thousands of deaths, the number of people dying from HIV and AIDS is believed to be half of what it was back in 2002.

In acknowledgment, President Ian Khama pointed out that the amount of support given by MSD and the B&MGF was highly commendable and in many ways formed a significant component of the defining features of the achievements associated with Botswana’s successful national response strategy to HIV and AIDS.

Some of the contributions by ACHAP mentioned by Khama included the introduction of routine testing and training of counselors, services which he said could not be adequately provided by government at public health facilities.

There was a point when ACHAP met up to 40 percent of national rapid test kit requirements.
“This helped ensure the success of government’s routine HIV testing effort, significantly improving uptake of both treatment and prevention of mother to child transmission(PMTCT) services, and going a long way in helping Botswana achieve universal access targets,” the President stated.

Khama expressed appreciation for the US organizations in particular, and donor community generally for the support given to his county, adding that as a show of commitment his government has sanctioned 70 percent of expenditure on HIV and AIDS as reflected by the latest national spending.

For his part, Dr. Themba Moeti, the Managing Director of ACHAP, was happy that the second phase of the support offered by MSD and B&MG F, to his organization and the country presented an opportunity to build on the successes of the first phase, in terms of treatment.

“Now we will be focusing on raising awareness of communities on the importance of prevention and the risks of HIV even in the context of widely available and accessible HIV treatment,” said Moeti.
He added that, one effective highlighting the importance of prevention will be to commit greater resources to interventions such safe male circumcision which are known to be effective in significantly reducing HIV risk.

Notwithstanding the undoubted strides Botswana has made, including through ACHAP’s support in many areas, Uyapo Ndadi, Director, Botswana Network of Ethics and Law on HIV and AIDS(BONELA), has said, “More still has to be done in terms of closing the cracks in our intervention strategy, by addressing issues relating to sexual minorities, prisoners and migrant and refugee populations.”

Source: Sunday Standard