KAISER DAILY HIV/AIDS REPORT
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*** WEBCASTS: South African AIDS Conference ***
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________________________________________



Monday, August 4, 2003

GLOBAL CHALLENGES
========================================
1. First National South African AIDS Conference Opens Amid Anger Over
Government Decisions on Providing HIV Drugs

2. China Turning Attention From Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome To AIDS


POLITICS AND POLICY
========================================
3. Rep. Price Introduces Bill That Would Compensate Individuals Who
Contracted HIV Through Blood Transfusions

4. HHS Announces 61 Ryan White CARE Act Grants Totaling $45.7 Million


ACROSS THE NATION
========================================
5. Number of New HIV Cases Increasing Among North Carolina College Students

6. Media Examine African-American Men on 'Down Low'


IN THE COURTS
========================================
7. Judge Sentences Two San Francisco Men in Case Involving Harassing Phone
Calls Over AIDS, Syphilis Campaigns


MEDIA & SOCIETY
========================================
8. HIV/AIDS Will Be Top Priority, New WHO Chief Says in Washington Times
Interview

****************************************

GLOBAL CHALLENGES


1. First National South African AIDS Conference Opens Amid Anger Over
Government Decisions on Providing HIV Drugs

Access this story and related links online:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=19171

The first-ever South African AIDS Conference 2003 opened yesterday in
Durban, South Africa, amid "mounting ... anger" from HIV/AIDS advocates
over the government's "tepid" response to the epidemic and its lack of
action to provide antiretroviral drugs to people living with HIV/AIDS in
the country, Reuters reports (Quinn, Reuters, 8/3). As Health Minister
Manto Tshabalala-Msimang opened the meeting, which is being attended by
about 2,500 delegates, demonstrators held signs that said, "Save Our Youth,
Save Our Future," Reuters/Boston Herald reports. Some protestors "heckled"
Tshabalala-Msimang, who some advocates blame for delaying the government's
delivery of antiretrovirals (Reuters/Boston Herald, 8/3). Government
officials have said that the drugs are "unproven and potentially toxic," a
position that is "widely challenged" by AIDS researchers and advocates,
according to Reuters (Reuters, 8/3). Tshabalala-Msimang said that South
Africa would establish the country's HIV/AIDS strategies "without influence
from foreign agendas.'' She also said that "[s]ome say that providing
antiretrovirals is as simple as administering aspirin. Far from the truth."
She added, "The provision of antiretroviral drugs in the public health
sector is a subject which must be considered soberly, and the government is
doing so.'' However, critics of the government, which has refused to allow
public sector hospitals to use antiretroviral drugs, say that it has moved
too slowly on HIV/AIDS. South African President Thabo Mbeki's
administration argues that "priority must go to fighting the widespread
black poverty that remains nine years after the end of white rule,"
according to Reuters/Boston Herald (Reuters/Boston Herald, 8/3).

Possible Legal Action


Some members of the South African HIV/AIDS advocacy group Treatment Action
Campaign stood silently during Tshabalala-Msimang's speech, holding signs
that said, "Two pills a day saves lives," Agence-France Presse reports.
TAC yesterday announced that it plans to file a lawsuit against the
government for not implementing a national AIDS treatment plan (Graham,
Agence-France Presse, 8/3). The suit would be the second filed by TAC
challenging the government's AIDS policies, Agence-France Presse reports.
TAC spokesperson Siphokazi Mthathi said, "We want to believe the government
is committed and has the best interest of our people at heart, but we are
not seeing that, we are not getting it, so we are preparing to make sure we
get that kind of leadership" (Agence-France Presse, 8/3). AIDS advocates
say that 600 people die of AIDS-related causes each day in South Africa,
which has the highest number of AIDS cases in the world, with about 4.7
million HIV-positive people. Economists say that the AIDS epidemic poses a
"significant threat" to the future of the nation, with average life
expectancy estimated to be only 45 years by 2005, according to
Reuters/Boston Herald (Reuters/Boston Herald, 8/3).

Treatment, Prevention


South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma said, "HIV and AIDS are regarded
as a national priority," adding that government officials are "only trying
to understand the causal factors beyond the virus" (Associated Press, 8/3).
He added that the "challenge lies in powerful and continuous action to
prevent new infections and to provide care and support for the many who are
infected or affected" (Xinhua News Agency, 8/3). UNAIDS Executive Director
Peter Piot, addressing the conference through a videotaped speech, said,
"Throughout the world the debate is not whether to offer antiretroviral
treatment, but how to do it. For heaven's sake, let's not wait until we
have the perfect solution'' (Reuters/Boston Herald, 8/3). Speaking in
Durban, U.N. Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis said that
HIV/AIDS treatment currently is the "highest priority," Xinhua News Agency
reports (Xinhua News Agency, 8/3). He added that his "emphasis on
treatment is not meant, in the slightest, to diminish the need for
prevention." Lewis said, "I well recognize that the two work,
irreplaceably and inseparably, hand in hand" (Lewis speech text, 8/3).

Nevirapine


Mbeki, who did not attend the conference on Sunday, on Friday said that he
supports the decision by the country's Medicines Control Council to
prohibit the use of nevirapine to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission
unless drug maker Boehringer Ingelheim provides data proving that the drug
is safe, Reuters reports (Reuters, 8/1). Last year, the South African
government approved nevirapine for universal distribution to state
hospitals in an attempt to reduce the nation's mother-to-child HIV
transmission rate. The announcement followed a Pretoria High Court ruling
in December 2001 that said the government must provide nevirapine to
HIV-positive pregnant women through the public health system. The
government appealed the decision, citing concerns over the drug's safety
and efficacy, but the Constitutional Court in July 2002 denied the appeal,
saying that the government's restriction of the drug's distribution to 18
pilot sites "fell short of its constitutional obligation to offer the best
treatment available." MCC officials last week rejected a 1999 Ugandan
study that showed the drug's efficacy in preventing vertical HIV
transmission, and MCC Chief Precious Matsoso gave the company 90 days to
offer additional safety and efficacy information. If the drug maker fails
to provide alternate data, the government will revoke nevirapine's
temporary approval (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 8/1). In a weekly online
letter to the African National Congress ruling party, Mbeki said, "This
announcement illustrated the challenge we face, to ensure that even on this
vexed question ... (we refuse) to allow the never-ending search for
scientific truth to be suffocated by self-serving beliefs." He added that
the country must have "the courage to stand up for what we think and feel
is correct" (Reuters, 8/1).

Other Voices


The South African Paediatric Association on Friday "added its voice" to the
debate over the nevirapine announcement, saying that the "efficacy and
safety of nevirapine usage ... has been adequately established beyond
reasonable doubt." The group added in a statement, "We believe that
failure to continue to administer nevirapine at this time would constitute
a dereliction of the ethical duties of individual health care professionals
as well as an unconstitutional abdication of responsibilities of our health
authorities." The group called for the MCC to "immediately repeal their
decision that is out-of-step with the extensive reviews and statements of
authoritative bodies," including the NIH, FDA and the World Health
Organization (SAPA/AllAfrica.com, 8/3). Conference Chair Dr. Jerry
Coovadia said, "The AIDS epidemic has been bedeviled by unscientific,
irrational, unreasonable and downright perverse attitudes," adding, "I
really am left breathless by the decision of the MCC to question the
validity of the scientific results around nevirapine" (Reuters, 8/3). In
addition, TAC said in a statement that if the "MCC has information to the
contrary, it must make this available because of the public interest in
this issue." Meanwhile, TAC said that it will seek legal opinions from its
lawyers on how to proceed on the issue (SAPA/AllAfrica.com, 8/3). The
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation on Friday launched a petition,
which will be presented tomorrow at the conference and then sent to the
MCC, calling for the continued use of nevirapine to reduce mother-to-child
HIV transmission, the South African Press Association reports. The
petition says, "We urge you to continue to expand the availability of this
lifesaving intervention" (South African Press Association, 8/3). In
addition, James McIntyre, head of the Chris Hani Baragwanath Perinatal HIV
Unit, is expected to present data at the conference showing that 100,000
South African women have received the drug over past two years. The
conference has added a special plenary session on Wednesday to discuss the
issue, SAPA reports. The session, titled "Nevirapine for the Prevention of
Mother to Child Transmission: Is it safe? Does it work?," will include a
panel discussion featuring McIntyre and Kathy Wilford of EGPAF (South
African Press Association, 8/3).

TAC conference


TAC on Sunday concluded its own conference by voting to renew civil
disobedience to force the government to provide antiretroviral drugs to all
HIV-positive people, according to Reuters. "We will be marching, that is
for sure," TAC spokesperson Desmond Mpofu said (Reuters, 8/3). The
conference also called for its chair Zackie Achmat to begin antiretroviral
therapy (SAPA/AllAfrica.com, 8/3). Achmat, who was diagnosed with HIV in
1990, five years ago said he would not take antiretroviral medications
until the South African government makes the medications available to all
HIV-positive South Africans (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 5/15). However,
Achmat today told about 1,500 demonstrators outside the conference venue
that he has decided to suspend his protest and take medications to treat
his HIV infection. "We do not want Manto and Thabo to get their way. Manto
and Thabo want me to die and I am not going to hang in there and let them
kill me," Achmat said to the cheering crowd. He added, "We say, Manto,
come with us to our homes and our graveyards, and see what is happening to
our people" (Agence France-Presse, 8/4).


* BBC News today reported on the start of the conference. The segment
includes comments from Coovadia and South African AIDS advocate Sihle Mlaba
(Biles, BBC News, 8/4). The full segment is available online in
RealPlayer.

* WAMU's "Kojo Nnamdi Show" today will include an update on Africa in the
second hour of the program. Guests on the show include Africa Action
Executive Director Salih Booker and Stephen Morrison, director of the
Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and
director of the CSIS Task Force on HIV/AIDS (Nnamdi, "Kojo Nnamdi Show,"
WAMU, 8/4). The full segment will be available online in RealPlayer after
the broadcast, which ends at 2 p.m. ET.

* Webcasts of selected sessions of the conference are available online
through kaisernetwork.org's HealthCast.

2. China Turning Attention From Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome To AIDS

Access this story and related links online:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=19172

The Chinese government is beginning to show signs that it is turning its
attention to fighting HIV/AIDS now that the last 12 patients with severe
acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, have been declared free of the virus,
the Wall Street Journal reports. Approximately one million Chinese are
HIV-positive, and officials have predicted that the number of HIV-positive
individuals could reach 10 million by 2010. Although China lacks a
national program to treat and prevent HIV/AIDS, the health ministry
recently requested a doubling of its annual AIDS budget, which is currently
$12.5 million. The Journal says that "[t]o some extent, China is already
moving ahead on AIDS," describing the following programs and initiatives:

* A pilot program in 50 counties in seven central Chinese provinces that
provides 4,000 HIV/AIDS patients with free domestically produced
antiretroviral drugs;

* An HIV/AIDS training program for 100 doctors who care for patients at the
provincial and county level. The government aims to eventually train 360
provincial-level and 200 county-level doctors to treat HIV-positive
individuals; and

* HIV/AIDS education and HIV testing programs for people at high risk for
contracting HIV.

The Chinese government has also applied to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria for a $98 million grant to begin new HIV/AIDS
programs and expand existing ones. Luc Van Leemput of Doctors Without
Borders said that HIV/AIDS programs in China will benefit from a "positive
snowball effect" from China's experience with SARS. However, if factors
that helped spread SARS -- denial of the infection, lack of access to
affordable health care and a social stigma surrounding the disease --
persist with China's approach to HIV/AIDS, the Chinese government could
miss its "window of opportunity" to combat the growing epidemic, the
Journal reports (Chang, Wall Street Journal, 8/4).

Violence, Harassment Could Tarnish Progress on AIDS


According to the Long Island Newsday, recent incidents of violence and
harassment aimed at HIV-positive people in China "appear to defy the hope
that arose during the country's SARS crisis, as several political leaders
and opinion makers called for across-the-board change in how the nation
deals with health issues, particularly HIV" (Garrett, Long Island Newsday,
4/3). In one incident, hundreds of police officers on June 22 raided the
Chinese village of Xiongqiao in the rural province of Henan, moving through
homes, physically abusing residents and arresting 13 people in what
villagers said was a response to recent protests calling for better access
to medical care, including HIV/AIDS treatment (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS
Report, 7/8). "Many people thought things would get better after SARS,"
Chinese AIDS advocate Wan Yanhai said in an interview with Newsday last
week. He added, "But it hasn't happened" (Long Island Newsday, 8/3). Wan,
who first exposed information about the unsafe blood selling practices in
Henan that led to many rural Chinese becoming HIV-positive, was detained by
government officials in August 2002 and was not released until September
2002 (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/13/02). Last week, a coalition of
leading AIDS researchers and advocates sent a letter to Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao, stating, "The harassment of people with HIV/AIDS and their
advocates diminishes China's ability to halt it AIDS epidemic, which ...
threatens to rival the epidemics in Africa and India in the near future."
While a "well-funded" campaign to identify the source of SARS continues in
China, HIV research "occupies low prestige," and some laboratories
originally dedicated to HIV research have switched to SARS research,
according to Newsday. "I don't think our government will treat AIDS as it
did SARS," Wan said, adding, "SARS attacked the capital city and affected
political stability. AIDS is chronic, though severe" (Long Island Newsday,
8/3).

POLITICS AND POLICY


3. Rep. Price Introduces Bill That Would Compensate Individuals Who
Contracted HIV Through Blood Transfusions

Access this story and related links online:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=19173

Rep. David Price (D-N.C.) has introduced legislation (HR 2837) that would
compensate people who contracted HIV from contaminated blood transfusions
and other medical procedures, the Raleigh News & Observer reports. Price
introduced the legislation -- known as the Steve Grissom Relief Fund Act
after a North Carolina man who contracted HIV while undergoing treatment
for leukemia -- shortly before the House adjourned for its August recess
(Wagner, Raleigh News & Observer, 8/1). The measure would establish a fund
that would provide money to patients who received HIV-tainted transfusions
or transplants and were infected by the products or procedures. In 1998,
former President Clinton signed legislation (HR 1023) that provided
financial assistance to hemophiliacs who contracted HIV through blood
transfusions. That law created the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund, which
awarded $100,000 to individuals with blood-clotting disorders who
contracted HIV from contaminated blood products between 1982 and 1987.
Certain spouses and children who contracted HIV from these individuals were
also eligible to receive payments. However, the Ricky Ray Fund only applied
to hemophiliacs and did not extend financial assistance to non-hemophiliacs
who contracted HIV through blood transfusions or organ transplants (Kaiser
Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 4/24/02). "Americans who have contracted AIDS
through HIV-contaminated products deserve the same consideration regardless
of whether they are hemophiliacs," Price said, adding, "We owe it to people
like Steve Grissom and their survivors to try and compensate for this
terrible tragedy." Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) introduced a similar bill
last year, but it failed to pass. Edwards said on Thursday that he had
reintroduced the bill in the Senate, according to the News & Observer
(Raleigh News & Observer, 8/1).

4. HHS Announces 61 Ryan White CARE Act Grants Totaling $45.7 Million

Access this story and related links online:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=19174

HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson on Thursday announced 61 Ryan White CARE Act
grants totaling $45.7 million to help states, territories and communities
provide primary care and outpatient services to HIV-positive individuals,
according to an HHS release. The grants, which are administered by the
Health Resources and Services Administration, include:

* 24 grants totaling $22.6 million under the Ryan White CARE Act Title IV
Comprehensive Family Services Program to provide comprehensive HIV/AIDS
care for women, infants, children, youth and their affected families;

* 17 matching grants totaling $21.4 million under the Title II Supplemental
AIDS Drug Assistance Program for 14 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam
and Puerto Rico to provide antiretroviral therapy for people living with
HIV/AIDS;

* 14 grants totaling $1.4 million under the Title III Capacity Building
Program to help organizations bolster current health care delivery systems
and expand "high-quality" HIV primary health care services; and

* Six one-year grants totaling $299,058 under the Title III Planning
Program to help organizations prepare to provide comprehensive HIV primary
health care services.

Thompson said, "President Bush and I are determined to provide the
necessary resources to fight HIV/AIDS at home and abroad. These funds
provide critical support to the organizations caring for, or planning to
care for, some of our most vulnerable populations afflicted with AIDS."
HRSA Administrator Elizabeth Duke said, "Today's awards cover a range of
activities within America's health care safety net for people living with
HIV/AIDS, from planning for services to providing comprehensive care and
medications." She added, "These activities continue to strengthen the
safety net and make it a model of cost-effective, high-quality primary
health care" (HHS release, 7/31).

ACROSS THE NATION


5. Number of New HIV Cases Increasing Among North Carolina College Students

Access this story and related links online:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=19175

The number of new HIV cases has "risen sharply" among North Carolina
college students, especially among African-American males, according to a
study by the state Department of Health and Human Services and the
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill that was presented on Wednesday at
the 2003 National HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta, the Charlotte
Observer reports (Stobbe/Suchetka, Charlotte Observer, 7/31). The study
found that in the past 18 months, at least 53 male students at North
Carolina colleges have contracted HIV, and almost all of the students are
African-American, according to the Greensboro News & Record. While
examining the results of a new test that county health departments and
private clinics began administering in November 2002 that can detect new
infections within two weeks of exposure, researchers found that two of the
five people who tested HIV-positive over a three-month period in the
Triangle area were black male college students. The researchers did not
disclose what school the students attend. The researchers then looked at
new HIV infections in Durham, Orange and Wake counties confirmed between
January 2001 and February 2003. Of the 146 men who tested HIV-positive
during that period, 25 were students at public, private or community
colleges, and 88% were African-American men who had sex with men, according
to the News & Record. Researchers then examined HIV cases in Guilford,
Forsyth, Mecklenburg and Pitt counties and discovered that 28 HIV cases
identified over a two-year period were among college students (Newsom,
Greensboro News & Record, 7/31).

State Data Reflects National Trend


According to the Observer, the number of new HIV cases identified in North
Carolina has been rising for three years, and African Americans are 14
times more likely than whites to be HIV-positive (Charlotte Observer,
7/31). Nationwide, the number of newly diagnosed men who have sex with men
rose in 2002 for the third consecutive year, rising 7.1% from 2001 to 2002,
the CDC announced last week at the conference. The new findings are
fueling fears that HIV might be making a comeback among MSM (Kaiser Daily
HIV/AIDS Report, 7/28). Many of the college students who tested
HIV-positive said that they had met sex partners at gay bars, over the
Internet or through phone dating services, according to the Observer. The
researchers did not compare the HIV incidence among college students to
people of the same age in the general population (Charlotte Observer, 7/31).

Reaction


The researchers said they were "alarmed" by the recent findings, which
represent the first time in 20 years of HIV/AIDS research in which college
campuses have been identified as "high-transmission areas," according to
the News & Record (Greensboro News & Record, 7/31). Christopher Pilcher, a
study co-author and assistant professor at the UNC-CH School of Medicine,
said, "This is a first indication that there may be a resurgence of HIV
happening in a vulnerable population, in this case young black men in the
South" (Associated Press, 7/31). Peter Leone, medical director of the HIV
prevention branch of NCDHHS, said that the recent increase in cases among
college students could be "just the tip of the iceberg." Pilcher said that
the findings present a "clear indication that more attention should be
focused on HIV prevention and education" (Greensboro News & Record, 7/31).
In response to the study, colleges are planning new HIV prevention efforts,
according to the Observer. North Carolina State University in the fall
plans to run advertisements in school newspapers reminding students that
HIV/AIDS still poses a threat. N.C. State and several other colleges will
also hand out cards informing students where they can obtain free condoms
or free HIV tests. The state last week held a training session for health
care workers at North Carolina's historically black colleges to try to
increase HIV testing on campuses in the fall, according to the Observer.
"We're really just stepping up or enhancing what we're already doing,"
Jerry Barker, director of student health services at N.C. State, said
(Charlotte Observer, 7/31).

6. Media Examine African-American Men on 'Down Low'

Access this story and related links online:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=19176

The Washington Post today examines black men on the "down low," an
expression that describes black men who have sex with men but who never
mention their male relationships to their female sex partners, friends or
family members. In the black community, the topic of homosexuality -- "and
anything else outside the heterosexual norm" -- conflicts with the
"interlocking issues of race, religion and gender," Ron Simmons, executive
director of Us Helping Us, an organization for black gay and bisexual men
in Washington, D.C., said, according to the Post. Men who have sex with
both men and women should be responsible for telling their female partners
about their behavior, Eve Mokotoff, chief of HIV/AIDS epidemiology at the
Michigan Department of Community Health, said, adding that many of the men
deny their actions, according to the Post (Vargas, Washington Post, 8/4).
According to a feature in yesterday's New York Times Magazine, "it seems
that the majority of [black men] having sex with men still lead secret
lives, products of a black culture that deems masculinity and fatherhood as
a black man's primary respoinsbility -- and homosexuality as a white man's
perversion." According to the CDC, approximately 33% of urban black MSM
are HIV-positive, and 90% are unaware of their HIV-status. Although
African Americans make up 12% of the overall U.S. population, they account
for half of new HIV cases, according to Ricardo Wallace, an outreach worker
for the AIDS Task Force of Greater Cleveland. In addition, black MSM
rarely use condoms and can act as an "infectious bridge," spreading HIV to
"unsuspecting" wives and girlfriends, according to the Times Magazine. To
address the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the black population must discuss
homosexuality "honestly and compassionately," the Times Magazine reports
(Denizet-Lewis, New York Times Magazine, 8/3).

IN THE COURTS


7. Judge Sentences Two San Francisco Men in Case Involving Harassing Phone
Calls Over AIDS, Syphilis Campaigns

Access this story and related links online:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=19177

A San Francisco judge last week sentenced two men to three years'
probation and mandatory mental health counseling for allegedly making
harassing phone calls to San Francisco health officials and newspaper
reporters in response to city-sponsored AIDS and syphilis campaigns, the
Los Angeles Times reports. Michael Petrelis pleaded no contest to two
misdemeanor charges, and David Pasquarelli pleaded no contest to three
misdemeanors. Visiting Superior Court Judge Raymond Arata also issued
restraining orders that prohibit contact between Petrelis and Pasquarelli
and the recipients of the phone calls, including a press officer for the
University of California-San Francisco's AIDS Research Institute and Dr.
Jeffrey Klausner, director of sexually transmitted disease control for the
San Francisco Department of Public Health (Ornstein, Los Angeles Times,
8/2). Petrelis and Pasquarelli, who both have been diagnosed with AIDS,
said that they agreed to plead no contest in order to end legal proceedings
because of their ailing health, the AP/San Jose Mercury News reports
(AP/San Jose Mercury News, 8/3). Assistant District Attorney Michon Martin
said that prosecutors agreed to end the case because the two men agreed to
"accept some responsibility for their actions" and agreed to the
restraining order, according to the Times (Los Angeles Times, 8/2).

Case History


Pasquarelli and Petrelis were arrested on Nov. 28, 2001, on charges of
harassment, stalking and making criminal threats against public health
officials, AIDS researchers and newspaper reporters. In February 2002,
Judge Parker Meeks released the men on a combined $220,000 bond and forbade
them from going within 150 yards of the UCSF AIDS Health Project.
Pasquarelli -- a member of ACT UP/San Francisco, which is not affiliated
with the national ACT UP organization -- argues that "HIV is harmless, that
AIDS is a myth and that unprotected sex is everyone's birthright."
Petrelis, who is not a member of ACT UP/San Francisco, does not agree with
all of the organization's views but shares its belief that federal AIDS
funds are being "misspent on frightening, sexually graphic prevention
efforts." In May 2002, Judge Kent Grunewald dismissed 27 misdemeanor and
felony charges against the men relating to their conduct toward employees
of the San Francisco Chronicle and the Department of Public Health, but the
district attorney refiled the charges (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report,
5/7/02).

MEDIA & SOCIETY


8. HIV/AIDS Will Be Top Priority, New WHO Chief Says in Washington Times
Interview

Access this story and related links online:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=19178

World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Jong-Wook Lee said in a
Washington Times interview published today that HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and
malaria will be his top priorities, with special emphasis on HIV/AIDS. An
important difference between current and past efforts to combat HIV/AIDS is
that there now exists real opportunity to provide antiretroviral drugs at
affordable prices to HIV-positive individuals worldwide, Lee said. WHO
aims to provide antiretroviral drugs to three million HIV-positive
individuals by the end of 2005, Lee added. Lee said that prevention,
counseling and treatment are all essential to fighting HIV/AIDS. He called
for an end to "philosophical discussion" about how to deal with the
epidemic and more "practical action" (Zarocostas, Washington Times, 8/4).
The complete interview is available online.

________________________________________

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