AIDS Daily Summary December 2, 1994 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National AIDS Clearinghouse makes available the following information as a public service only. Providing this information does not constitute endorsement by the CDC, the CDC Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information. Copyright 1994, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD ************************************************************ "Paris Meeting Backs U.N. Program to Combat AIDS" "AIDS Effort Shifts to Treat Society's Economic Health" "Amid Darkness and Protest, Citizens Mark World AIDS Day" "Asia Razzles and Dazzles on World AIDS Day" "AIDS-Related Product Enters Mass Media" "AIDS Group Drops Plan to Boycott World Conference" "AIDS Demonstrators and Pro-Lifers Clash in Madrid" "AIDS Protesters Block Paris Champs-Elysees" "Bureaucracy in India Hobbles AIDS Fight" "Needle-Exchange Program Results Showing Trend Toward Treatment" "Cutbacks at AmFAR" "CDC Links Rifabutin Use to Uveitis in Some Patients" ************************************************************ "Paris Meeting Backs U.N. Program to Combat AIDS" New York Times (12/02/94) P. A12; Riding, Alan At the Paris AIDS summit, representatives from 42 nations acknowledged that worldwide efforts to curb the spread of AIDS have been ineffective, and promised to increase their political support for a new United Nations program that focuses on prevention and combating AIDS-related discrimination. The international leaders also pledged to work more closely in the future with those who have AIDS and HIV. Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna E. Shalala said the international meeting had placed AIDS "higher on the world agenda. "We're talking about a whole new partnership with non-governmental organizations and with people with AIDS," she explained. Conference attendees also denounced measures that discriminate against those who have AIDS or are at risk. The action plan revealed at the meeting contained an acknowledgment of the vulnerability of women to AIDS and a need to improve prevention efforts. Conference discussions also underscored the need for governments to assume the responsibility of combating AIDS. U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali remarked that prevention efforts have been unsuccessful largely because of the disparities between global and national strategies. Outside the conference hall, groups such as Act Up staged protests, and expressed skepticism about the meeting's effect on the AIDS crisis. Related Story: Washington Times (12/02) P. A19 "AIDS Effort Shifts to Treat Society's Economic Health" Christian Science Monitor (12/02/94) P. 2; Moffett, George While the focus on coping with AIDS has in the last decade emphasized the health of individuals, the next decade will shift that focus to include the economic well-being of families and societies--who are jeopardized by the continuing AIDS pandemic. "The economic implications of AIDS have been underappreciated, but now it's accepted that AIDS is having effects beyond the health sector," says Paurvi Bhatt, a senior program officer at the international relief agency CARE. "That's forcing development agencies to go beyond prevention to deal with the economic disruptions AIDS is causing to families." In a recent report, the World Bank agrees that the disease can have a direct effect on economic development by forcing self-sufficient families into poverty. The problem is amplified in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Development agencies are, therefore, seeking new ways to help the families of AIDS patients. "Amid Darkness and Protest, Citizens Mark World AIDS Day" New York Times (12/02/94) P. B3 Yesterday, a number of demonstrations and other public activities were staged to mark World AIDS Day. An Act Up demonstration in New York City resulted in 19 arrests for disorderly conduct. The city's Metropolitan Museum of Art draped several exhibitions in black, observing a Day Without Art. At City Hall, a coalition of groups combating AIDS convened to read out a list of people who had died of the disease. "Asia Razzles and Dazzles on World AIDS Day" Reuters (12/01/94) On Thursday, World AIDS Day, events were held across Asia in an effort to boost awareness of the disease. In Bombay, India, a parade was held to mark the day, while students in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, gathered in a stadium to acknowledge ignorance about AIDS and other sexually-transmitted diseases. Although the World Health Organization reports between 3,000 and 5,000 cases of AIDS in Cambodia, the country itself has reported none. In Thailand yesterday, a group of AIDS patients and their supporters asked for sympathy and tolerance in a 60-hour radio call-in program. An AIDS exhibit opened in Malaysia, where Health Minister Lee Kim Sai urged people to discuss the disease openly and support those who have contracted it. Five of China's major daily newspapers published a special World AIDS Day knowledge quiz, and a variety of other AIDS-related media offerings indicated the country's growing concern about the disease. In the Philippines, however, where the population is largely Catholic, anti-AIDS efforts are still running into religious objections. "AIDS-Related Product Enters Mass Media" Wall Street Journal (12/02/94) P. B5; Goldman, Kevin Mass media advertisements for the nutritional supplement Advera, a treatment for AIDS-related progressive weight loss from the Ross Products Division of Advera Laboratories, are stirring up controversy. The advertisements were created by Interpublic Group's LCF&L agency and are believed to be the first AIDS-related product promotions not to be relegated exclusively to gay and lesbian publications. John Stansell, medical director of San Francisco General Hospital's AIDS program, complained, "The implication in the ads is that Advera, which is a very good product, will help every patient with AIDS or who is HIV positive." However, Keith Lewis, the president of the Morgan Agency, which provided the models for the advertisements, said that each of the models was HIV positive and used the product. "AIDS Group Drops Plan to Boycott World Conference" Reuters (12/01/94) After their demands for increased funding were met by the government of British Columbia, a coalition of Canadian AIDS groups on Thursday said it would abandon plans to boycott the international AIDS conference to be held in Vancouver in 1996. The coalition announced in April its intention to boycott the event, which is expected to attract 15,000 participants. "AIDS Demonstrators and Pro-Lifers Clash in Madrid" Reuters (12/01/94) Dozens of demonstrators commemorating World AIDS Day yesterday, many of them wearing symbolic red ribbons, clashed with members of an anti-abortion lobby in Madrid. A handful of the pro-life protesters were hoisting a banner reading "Promiscuity causes AIDS," and the AIDS protesters proceeded to douse them with red paint squirted from syringes. In Spain--which has the fastest-growing AIDS rate in Europe--nearly two-thirds of AIDS patients are thought to have been infected through contaminated needles used to inject drugs. Health ministry statistics indicate that more than 27,000 people have AIDS, and 125,000 more are infected with HIV. "AIDS Protesters Block Paris Champs-Elysees" Reuters (12/01/94) Members of the group Act Up staged a public display on Thursday in protest of an international AIDS conference being held in Paris, France. Some 70 demonstrators lay on the ground across the Champs-Elysees, in front of the Arc de Triomphe, and held banners that criticized global inaction in the AIDS prevention arena. The demonstration, which lasted for 30 minutes, caused traffic jams in the capital city. Christophe Martet, Act Up's president, remarked, "This summit will be full of worthy promises but these are no longer enough." "Bureaucracy in India Hobbles AIDS Fight" Toronto Globe and Mail (12/01/94) P. A16; Stackhouse, John India's governmental efforts to combat the spread of AIDS are impeded by a massive domestic bureaucracy. In the first three years of operation, the country's National AIDS Control Program has spent less than 50 percent of the funding provided by foreign agencies. "There are all kinds of problems," explained Lev Khodakevich, a senior AIDS adviser with the World Health Organization in New Delhi. "There are 32 states and union territories, each responsible for health. It has been like dealing with 32 different countries." Other public-health experts, meanwhile, say India's program is failing because it separated AIDS from other health issues at the outset. The Voluntary Health Association of India says this focus qualifies the effort as a mere "panic reaction." The World Bank estimates that 2 million of the 17 million people infected with the AIDS virus live in India, and 11 million live in Africa. However, Asia and Africa receive less than 15 percent of all AIDS-prevention funding. "Needle-Exchange Program Results Showing Trend Toward Treatment" Boston Globe (12/01/94) P. 35; Kong, Dolores An assessment of Massachusetts' needle-exchange pilot program indicates that 13 percent of the 1,200 participants have begun taking treatment for their drug addictions. The program aims to help reduce the spread of the HIV at a time when infection in the state has climbed from 12 percent of intravenous drug users in 1986 to 40 percent today. "I believe it's going to prove there's a reduction in the virus and it certainly proves it gets people into treatment," says Gary Sandison, AIDS adviser to Boston's Mayor Menino. AIDS activists have criticized Massachusetts for its delay in implementing needle-exchange programs and its slow progress in developing prevention efforts aimed at minorities. The 13-percent success rate of the state's experimental needle-exchange effort marks an improvement over the early results reported by similar efforts in other cities. "Cutbacks at AmFAR" Advocate (11/29/94) No. 669, P. 16 The American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) announced on Oct. 21 that it was eliminating 11 jobs due to a decline in donations. No AIDS programs, however, will be cut. "Sadly, AIDS is no longer seen as a public-health emergency, and that has impacted our ability to raise funds," said AmFAR president Dr. Mervyn Silverman. "CDC Links Rifabutin Use to Uveitis in Some Patients" AIDS Alert (11/94) Vol. 9, No. 11, P. 159 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the use of rifabutin for prophylaxis for Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) has caused uveitis in some patients. Uveitis is an inflammatory eye condition characterized by pain, redness, and temporary or permanent loss of vision. The condition has occurred in participants of studies for treatment and prophylaxis of MAC using doses of 300-900 mg of rifabutin per day in conjunction with other drugs, such as clarithromycin and fluconazole. The CDC says that while uveitis was rare in patients who only used rifabutin, the higher doses administered in combination with other drugs may create a higher risk.