Archive for February 25th, 2016

25/02/2016

Clinical Trials in Africa Reduce by 30% the Risk of HIV Infection in Women

Human Wrongs Watch

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) on 23 February 2016 welcomed the “encouraging” results of two studies from Africa in which women modestly reduced their risk of infection by inserting a vaginal ring coated with the antiretroviral drug dapivirine once a month.

Malawi teen, Martha, was born with HIV. Now a mother herself, she has defied the odds and her son, Rahim Idriss, is part of Malawis AIDS-free generation. In this picture, she awaits the results of Rahmins HIV test. After two months of waiting, she finds out the Rahmin, now 8-months old, is HIV negative. Photo: UNICEF/HIVA201500101/Schermbrucker

According to these two clinical trials, a vaginal ring, inspired by those used for contraception or hormone treatments, reduce by 30 per cent on average the risk of HIV infection in women.

It contains the experimental antiviral dapivirine, a microbicide that gradually diffuses.

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25/02/2016

An Open Letter to the People of West Papua

Human Wrongs Watch

By James Burrowes & Robert J. Burrowes*

25 February 2016
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Wa wa wa wa.

We have recently been discussing your ongoing courageous struggle to liberate yourselves from more than 100 years of occupation, first by the Netherlands, briefly and brutally by Japan during World War II, and now by Indonesia. In that regard, we would each like to share a brief message with you, our friends from West Papua.

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**Papua province | West Papua province | Green = western New Guinea, (Indonesia) divided into the two provinces of West Irian Jaya (light green) and Papua (dark green) | Beinge (yellow) = eastern New Guinea, the ‘mainland’ portion of the nation of Papua New Guinea | Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. | Wikimedia Commons

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From James: I have been very impressed with the information gleaned from my son Robert Burrowes after his recent meeting in Brisbane with your leaders Octovianus Mote, Benny Wenda, Jacob Rumbiak and Rex Rumakiek of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua.