Maternal and paediatric tuberculosis still overlooked

KUALA LUMPUR, 18 June 2013 (IRIN Global) - The global target of a 50 percent reduction in tuberculosis (TB) by 2015 may already have been achieved, but TB remains a neglected disease among women and young children, say health experts. full report

Tanzanian high-risk groups denied HIV services

KAMPALA, 18 June 2013 (IRIN Africa) - Sexual minorities, sex workers and people who use drugs who are at a higher risk of HIV than the general population, but in Tanzania, they face widespread police abuse and discrimination in health facilities, according to the new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Wake Up and Step Forward Coalition (WASO), a local rights group. full report

Ugandan mHealth initiative increases 'promiscuity'

KAMPALA, 17 June 2013 (IRIN Africa) - A mobile phone-based health programme designed to improve access to sexual health information and boost safe sex in rural central Uganda had the opposite effect, according to the findings of a Yale University study published in May. full report

Libya’s “growing” drugs/HIV problem

TRIPOLI, 17 June 2013 (IRIN Middle East) - Doctors in Libya say they are seeing a “growing” number of patients with drug problems and a corresponding risk of HIV infection, in a post-Gaddafi era marked by limited law enforcement and government capacity. full report

Uganda running out of ARVs, HIV test kits

KAMPALA, 12 June 2013 (IRIN Africa) - Uganda has run out of most antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), HIV testing kits, drugs to treat opportunistic infections and several crucial diagnostic tools for HIV care, according to a recent Ministry of Health stock status report. full report

Thousands still missing HIV treatment following CAR coup

KAMPALA, 11 June 2013 (IRIN Africa) - More than 15,000 people living with HIV in the Central African Republic (CAR) had their life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) treatment interrupted as a result of the instability before, during and after the 24 March coup by the Séléka rebel group. NGOs are now struggling to ensure these people resume their regimens to reduce the risk of illness, drug resistance and death. full report

PEPFAR budget cuts cause anxiety

ADDIS ABABA, 6 June 2013 (IRIN Africa) - Ten years ago, a shipping container was converted into Ethiopia’s first HIV treatment centre, in Addis Ababa, the capital. Created in response to a dramatic rise in new HIV infections and AIDS -related deaths, the centre offered the only hope for HIV-positive Ethiopians, who had to pay to access the life-prolonging antiretroviral therapy (ART). full report

Displaced Malians turn to survival sex

SÉVARÉ/BAMAKO, 5 June 2013 (IRIN Africa) - More displaced women and girls - some as young as 13 - are turning to sex work to get by in Mali where 14 months of occupation and conflict have forced 475,000 people from their homes in the north, according to NGOs. full report

Circumcision plans go awry in Swaziland

MBABANE, 13 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - It was an ambitious plan to circumcise the majority of men in Swaziland, an effort to reduce the risk of HIV transmission in a country with the world's highest HIV prevalence. How could it have gone wrong? full report