Alex in Phnom Penh
©peripheries

In a comment published in the Phnom Penh Post, independent consultant Michael De Guzman, put forward a few reasons why interventions aiming at reducing HIV infection and transmission amongst Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) are failing in a developing country such as Cambodia where an uncovered epidemic is brewing and growing.
For Guzman, interventions are not working because MSM have been generally ignored by Behavioural Sentinel Surveillance study. Then, when working groups are finally convened they are mostly comprised of government representatives, rarely willing to hear …

Here comes another non evidence-based, cart before the wheel and populist example of dealing with a problem in a society that has jumped from pre-industrial era into the world-wide-web frenzy.
The Nation reports that Chalerm Yoobamrung, Thailand Public Health Minister is urging the Information Technology and Computer (ICT) ministry, which already censored quite a few websites, to close down websites that sell abortion drugs online.
Chalerm has a point when he says that anti-abortion drugs bought online can be harmful for women. But his underlying assumption that availability of abortion-drugs could lead …

Bar Street, Siem Reap, Cambodia
© peripheries

IRIN reports how recent legislation against human trafficking introduced by the Cambodian government early this year, is shifting sex work from brothels to bars and karaokes leading to the development of new sexual behaviours increasing the spread of the HIV infection.
Like Thailand, Cambodia’s fight against HIV became another success story when back in 2001 Prime Minister Hun Sen endorsed a 100% condom policy for sex workers. Prevalence amongst sex workers plummeted from 45.8% in 1998 to 12.7% in 2006.
But earlier this year, under US pressure, …

Photo courtesy of Polio
Canada/Ontario March of Dimes

In an opinion piece published in The Wall Street Journal, Prof Luc Montagnier co-discoverer with Francoise Barré-Sinoussi of the HIV virus that causes AIDS, proposed “using vaccination against HIV antigens not for prophylaxis, but as additional therapy following a short antiviral treatment”
Following a wave of failures in the development of an HIV vaccine, starting with AIDSVax in 2003 and ending with the STEP trial in 2007, Prof Montagnier reiterated a proposal he made more than 10 years ago but that would not have …

Courtesy of Wordle.net by Jonathan Feinberg
Brought to my attention by Orange Ink
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