A response to IRIN/PlusNews list of six potholes in the road to significantly increasing HIV treatment coverage in Africa.
1. Cost:
The Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has estimated that US$ 28 billion to US$ 50 billion would be needed globally every year from 2010 to 2015 in order to progressively reach universal access targets for HIV/AIDS by 2015. One-third of this will contribute towards the cost of the drugs.
The figure may sound “staggering” but it needs to be put in perspective with a few other figures such as:

The cost of …

The MAC AIDS Funds (MAF) new campaign to raise awareness and funding for HIV-AIDS research brings together two glam artists, Lady Gaga and Cyndi Lauper. This women’s initiative aimed at strengthening the service network and resources available to women living with and at risk of contracting HIV.
The two artists will promote the sale of limited editions of lipsticks created to support the work of the funds.
Unlike Starbuck armchair’s activism, where less than 10% of what you spend on expensive lattes goes to support HIV/AIDS programmes, M-A-C decided that every cent …

Mates® is now manufacturing and merchandising a new type of condom, “thinner, softer and much more flexible”. The objective is to make wearing condom as if wearing nothing. Made with Sensoprene (aka polyisoprene), Mates® claims that using their Skyn™ condoms will make sex feel better.
The advert is rather interesting with its antithetic approach to condom promotion.

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Blogging has slowed down due to an increased work overload. Today,  this intermezzo is provided courtesy of Kaiser Network
In this narrated slide tutorial, Jen Kates, M.A., M.P.A., vice president and director of HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, defines basic surveillance terms and explains the federal and states’ role in surveillance of the U.S. epidemic. The tutorial also features a guide to reading a surveillance report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and explains the various data contained in the report.
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