HIV-AIDS

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will vote on whether to approve a new pill that prevents HIV, the virus which causes AIDS, for those who are at high risk of infection during a meeting to be held on Thursday.

A selected panel of experts will take separate votes on whether the pill, known as Truvada, should be approved for gay and bisexual men; men or women in relationships with HIV-positive partners and other people at risk of acquiring HIV through sexual activity, according to the New York Daily News.

While Truvada has been approved and used since 2004 to treat patients who are already infected with HIV, the panel will determine whether it should now be used on those at risk. more >>

The focus on helping orphans worldwide needs to shift from simply perpetuating orphanages to equipping local churches in connecting children to parents, said leaders at the Christian Alliance for Orphans' annual summit this week.

On Friday, the final day of the two-day event hosted at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., included the megachurch's pastor, Rick Warren, and his wife, Kay, speaking about the need for Christians to refocus.

"Business as usual will not get the job done," Warren told about 2,000 people in attendance and a live webcast audience. "Jesus said you can't put new wine in old wineskins. The way we have been doing it for the last 100 years has not ended the crisis. We have to do a radical, revolutionary – may I say – biblical approach. The issue is to get these kids into families." more >>

Earvin "Magic" Johnson publicly announced he had contracted HIV over 20 years ago but has kept everything else private, until now.

The basketball legend played on five National Basketball Association championship teams, and was the league's most valuable player three times. He was also a 12-time all star.

Johnson announced his HIV diagnosis on Nov. 7, 1991, and also announced his retirement from the Los Angeles Lakers. more >>

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, discussed the importance of combating HIV/AIDS in tackling global poverty and and its implications on gender roles and minority rights at a town hall meeting at the UNAIDS headquarters in Geneva last week.

Williams attended the town hall meeting at UNAIDS to debate the implications of the disease on a variety of social concerns that perpetuate and sustain endemic levels of poverty, and also to discuss the role of the church in fighting the disease.

"AIDS can be the key that opens the way to address many other issues such as the role of women, the rights of minorities, and food security," Williams said. "AIDS presents us with a cluster of issues that are not just a question of epidemiology but are a prism through which a whole range of social issues come into sharp focus." more >>

An HIV/AIDS prevention advocacy group has launched a campaign to distribute one million condoms on a cross-country bus tour of the U.S. to promote HIV prevention and awareness – but might the group step on toes in its effort to equip everyone, including teenagers, on the issue of safer sex?

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) left Venice Beach, Calif., on Monday – which, consequently, was International Condom Day – for its "Condom Nation" tour. The group will travel to 20 cities in a 53-foot long bus over the next two months, distributing free condoms and administering HIV screenings.

Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said the tour is meant to uniquely engage Americans and to influence their opinions on practicing safe sex. more >>

New research shows that sexual activity and sexually transmitted diseases have skyrocketed in the past decade among seniors, revealing that they do not practice safe sex.

The Student British Medical Journal (BMJ) reports that 80 percent of British, Canadian, and American seniors, 50 to 90 years of age, are sexually active. According to the report, STD diagnosis for those ages 45 and older doubled from 2000 to 2009.

The study also concluded that the bacterial infections syphilis, chlamydia, and gonnorhea have increased in adults 45 to 65 years of age.  more >>