AIDS Courier (32/09)

Schwarzenegger’s “catastrophic” AIDS funding cuts to be protested || An HIV-blocking gel for women || Structure of HIV genome decoded

Schwarzenegger’s “catastrophic” AIDS funding cuts to be protested

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the nation’s largest non-profit HIV/AIDS healthcare provider, is joining a broad-based coalition of AIDS advocates and patients to protest draconian budget cuts that were blue lined out of the budget by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and that will jeopardize the public health by eliminating the vast majority of funding for AIDS prevention, care and treatment.
Schwarzenegger’s cuts to HIV/AIDS programs include: an 80% reduction in funding for Education and Prevention, a 70% cut in HIV Counseling and Testing, a 50% cut for Early Intervention (that provides primary medical care), a 100% cut in Therapeutic Monitoring Program (the program that monitors the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS drugs administered through the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program), a 20% cut in Housing and more than a 50% cut in funding for Home and Community-Based Care.

An HIV-blocking gel for women

University of Utah scientists developed a new kind of “molecular condom” to protect women from AIDS in Africa and other impoverished areas. Before sex, women would insert a vaginal gel that turns semisolid in the presence of semen, trapping AIDS virus particles in a microscopic mesh so they can’t infect vaginal cells.

Structure of HIV genome decoded

Scientists say they have decoded the entire genetic structure of HIV-1 - the main cause of Aids in humans. They hope this will pave the way to a greater understanding of how the virus operates, and potentially accelerate the development of drug treatments.