Reproductive Health Matters articles from November 2006

Reproductive Health Matters archives from November 2006

Condoms, yes! "abstinence", no.(Editorial)
November 1, 2006... THE slogan that could defeat the HIV epidemic is "No condom--No sex", but who champions the condom? There is highly-funded international research for the development of antiretroviral drugs and vaccines against HIV, and even microbicides, but...

Trends in protective behaviour among single vs. married young women in sub-Saharan Africa: the big picture.(DISCUSSION)
November 1, 2006... Abstract: The trends in contraceptive uptake and condom use among single and married young women show distinct patterns in sub-Saharan Africa. A large median increase of 1.4 percentage points per year in condom use by single young women for...

Pleasure and prevention: when good sex is safer sex.
November 1, 2006... Abstract: Most sexual health education programmes use fear and risk of disease to try to motivate people to practise safer sex. This gives the impression that safer sex and pleasurable sex are mutually exclusive. Yet there is growing evidence...

Sex, life and the female condom: some views of HIV positive women.
November 1, 2006... Abstract: This article offers some insights into the experiences of HIV positive women with the female condom, drawing on my own personal experience and responses of 18 members of the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS to an...

The 100% condom use programme in Asia.
November 1, 2006... Abstract: One of the main reasons for the rapid spread of HIV in Asian countries is the massive transmission among sex workers and clients. Therefore, effective interventions to prevent HIV transmission through sex work are necessary. Many...

"No Party hat, no party": successful condom use in sex work in Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
November 1, 2006... Abstract: Sex workers and their clients are particularly vulnerable to HIV/STI transmission. Most research on condom use has focused on barriers preventing use; less is known about attitudes, motivations and strategies employed by those who...

Promoting condoms in Brazil to men who have sex with men.
November 1, 2006... Abstract: DKT International is a non-profit social marketing enterprise whose mission is to provide safe, affordable options for family planning and STI/HIV prevention. In Brazil, DKT sells male and female condoms to mostly lower-income couples...

Preventing HIV with young people: a case study from Zambia.
November 1, 2006... Abstract: The US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is funding thousands of community-based organisations, international NGOs and government services in high HIV prevalence countries to persuade young people to abstain from sex...

Where have all the condoms gone in adolescent programmes in the democratic republic of Congo.(education on right to adolescent sexual and reproductive health)
November 1, 2006... Abstract: Decades of mismanagement, combined with the withdrawal of international cooperation and a protracted war, have seriously affected the health system in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the health status of the population. As...

A qualitative study of condom use among married couples in Kampala, Uganda.(Clinical report)
November 1, 2006... Abstract: Twenty-five years into the HIV/AIDS epidemic, condom use among married/stable couples remains low and under-researched in developing countries, even countries with high HIV prevalence. Introducing condoms into a long-standing...

Promoting female condoms in HIV voluntary counselling and testing centres in Kenya.
November 1, 2006... Abstract: Promotion of male condoms and voluntary counselling and testing for HIV (VCT) have been cornerstones of Kenya's fight against the HIV epidemic. This paper argues that there is an urgent need to promote the female condom in Kenya...

Condoms become the norm in the sexual culture of college students in Durban, South Africa.(Clinical report)
November 1, 2006... Abstract: The aim of this study was to examine the factors contributing to the increase in condom use among college students in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and some of the barriers to consistent condom use. The data were drawn from six...

The Mpondombili Project: preventing HIV/AIDS and unintended pregnancy among rural South African school-going adolescents.
November 1, 2006... Abstract: Unintended pregnancy, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections are major threats to the health of South African youth. Gendered social norms make it difficult for young women to negotiate safer sex, and sexual coercion and...

Young men's project: Great Yarmouth, UK.(United Kingdom)
November 1, 2006... Abstract: The Young Men's Project has been working with young men and young fathers as part of Great Yarmouth Primary Care Trust in the UK since June 2001. The Project works in schools and other educational environments to promote positive...

Fruity, fun and safe: creating a youth condom brand in Indonesia.
November 1, 2006... Abstract: DKT Indonesia, a social marketing enterprise, undertook research among young people in Indonesia to develop a strategy to heighten understanding of safer sex and increase the availability and use of condoms among sexually active...

Challenging and changing gender attitudes among young men in Mumbai, India.
November 1, 2006... Abstract: This article presents findings from a pilot intervention in 2005-6 to promote gender equity among young men from low-income communities in Mumbai, India. The project involved formative work on gender, sexuality and masculinity, and...

Romance and sex: pre-marital partnership formation among young women and men, Pune district, India.(Survey)
November 1, 2006... Abstract: Using qualitative and survey data in a rural and an urban slum setting in Pune district, India, this paper describes patterns of pre-marital romantic partnerships among young people aged 15-24, in spite of norms that discourage...

School-based sex education in Western Nepal: uncomfortable for both teachers and students.
November 1, 2006... Abstract: The National Adolescent Health and Development Strategy (2000) of Nepal considers adolescents a key target group for information and services. The extent to which sex education is being provided in schools has received little...

Dual protection: more needed than practised or understood.(use of condoms)
November 1, 2006... Abstract: Although non-barrier contraceptive use has become a global norm, unprotected sex in relation to sexually transmitted infections remains the norm almost everywhere. Dual protection is protection from unwanted pregnancy, HIV and other...

Unsafe condoms and other unsafe sex accessories.
November 1, 2006... Abstract: Condoms remain the sole effective method of prevention of HIV. However, in some places--including Cambodia and China--condoms have been modified to add so-called pearls, hard rubber studs or even bristles that are painful and...

The Less They Know, The Better: Abstinence-Only HIV/AIDS Programs in Uganda.(BOOKSHELF)(Excerpt)(Reprint)
November 1, 2006... The Less They Know, The Better: Abstinence-Only HIV/AIDS Programs in Uganda From: Jonathan Cohen and Tony Tate. Human Rights Watch 2005; 17(4a) Summary "With funding coming in now, for any youth activities, if you talk about...

Big Brother and AIDS: DKT International vs. USAID.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... IN Washington DC in May 2006, Judge Emmet Sullivan of the DC Federal Circuit Court handed down a major decision on free speech in the case of DKT International v. USAID. (1) The result was a major victory for DKT, for free speech and for the...

Second generation female condom available.
November 1, 2006... The female condom has been on the market r over ten years but despite a clear need it s not yet been adopted for wider use. In 2005 only 14 million female condoms were distributed compared to 6-9 billion male condoms around the world. However,...

Dr. Jose Barzelatto.(In Memoriam)(In memoriam)
November 1, 2006... Many tributes to Jose Barzelatto's memory speak of his intellectual brilliance, uncompromising honesty, fearless commitment to social justice and remarkable mix of innocence and realism. In my judgement, his most positive trait was a total...

Nasreen Huq.(In Memoriam)(In memoriam)
November 1, 2006... Nasreen Huq was a member of Naripokkho and worked as Country Director of Action Aid Bangladesh up to her untimely death. Her enthusiasm, strategic thinking and the inspiration of her engagement in Naripokkho and with government, both locally...

Accuracy of condom studies affected by key measurements.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... This systematic review assesses the importance of four key design and measurement factors in studying condom effectiveness: distinguishing consistent from inconsistent use; measured correct use and condom use problems; distinguished new...

Future studies on condom effectiveness.(ROUND UP: Condoms)
November 1, 2006... A review of scientific evidence on condom effectiveness for sexually transmitted disease prevention underscores the need to conduct better designed studies, which will continue to face complex design and ethical challenges. Critical design...

Practical teaching increases correct condom use.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Incorrect condom use can increase the risk of exposure and increase negative attitudes towards condoms, so interventions to promote consistent condom use must emphasise and support correct condom skills. This research evaluates two different...

Condom discomfort associated with breakage.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... This cross-sectional study of 206 US college students finds that nearly a third of students reported condom discomfort, including tightly fitting condoms, vaginal irritation and loss of sensation. The research assessed the impact of condom...

Oral contraceptive use decreases condom use in Canada.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... This study of 350 adolescent girls recruited from eight family planning clinics in Montreal, Canada, assesses condom use before and after the first prescription for oral contraception. Researchers interviewed participants at their first medical...

Condom use among sex workers and their clients in Indonesia.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Five surveys of brothel-based sex workers and clients in Bali, carried out between 1992 and 1999, assessed knowledge of HIV/AIDS and condom use. Over the seven-year period there was a substantial increase in the number of sex workers who had...

Condom use in US women with high STI risk.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(sexually transmitted infections)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... A six-month prospective follow-up study of 869 women attending two STI clinics in the US supplied women with male condoms or a mixture of male and female condoms. The women kept diaries of their sexual activity each month, including instances...

Acceptability of two female condoms in India.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Couples in two sites in India were enrolled in a randomised cross-over study comparing the acceptability of two female condoms. The 60 men and 60 women were largely enrolled from urban slum areas. They were over 18 and currently protected...

Condom use by Australian adults.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... This study of a representative sample of 19,307 Australian adults assesses significant factors in condom use. Through computer-assisted telephone interviews conducted over 13 months in 2001-02, respondents gave information on their sexuality,...

Condom use in marriage, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... This study of 238 couples carried out in focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and individual survey responses, assesses the extent and determinants of condom use in married and co-habiting couples in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The...

Choice of condom does not impact on STI incidence in Jamaica men.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... This randomised, controlled trial divided a group of 414 men presenting with urethral discharge to a clinic in Jamaica. Half the group were allocated to a control group and offered the standard condom clinic and half were offered a choice of...

Impact of a safer sex media campaign in Zambia among young people.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... This study evaluated the impact of a media campaign designed by youth in Zambia on HIV prevention. Using a baseline and follow-up survey of 901 and 1,156 adolescents respectively in 1999 and 2000, it aimed to find out whether a media campaign...

Gender inequality, sexual coercion and sexual risk in South Africa.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... This study into the sexual behaviour of 50 South African secondary school students who wrote a diary for three weeks found that inconsistent condom use was more likely in relationships in which the male partner had ever used threat or force to...

Vaginal douching, condom use and STIs among female sex workers in China.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... There is a low rate of condom use amongst Chinese female sex workers, an increasing HIV infection rate and widespread use of vaginal douching. There is evidence globally of an association between vaginal douching and adverse reproductive health...

Impact of clinician-delivered interventions on condom use and STI prevention.(ROUND UP: Condoms)
November 1, 2006... This randomised, controlled trial compared two interventions to promote consistent and correct barrier contraceptive use. 427 women with different demographic and behavioural characteristics who had attended an STI clinic in Birmingham AL, US....

Street vending machines facilitate access to condoms.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Condom vending machines are largely located in the lavatories of bars and nightclubs, making them inaccessible to many people who need them. Access to condoms from street vending machines when shops and bars are closed for the night would make...

Condom use among people living with HIV in Brazil.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Researchers interviewed 30 people living with HIV and receiving highly active anti-retroviral treatment at public health clinics in Rio de Janeiro. Semi-structured interviews with ten heterosexual women, ten heterosexual men and ten men who...

Internalised homophobia and high risk sexual practices in Mexico.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... This cross-sectional study assessed the relationship between sexual practices that are a high risk for HIV and the internalised oppression of homosexual and bisexual men facing prejudice and discrimination. The study records internalised...

Sugar daddy relationships in Kenya are more risky.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The prevalence of "sugar daddy" relationships in sub-Saharan Africa and the link between such relationships and risky sexual behaviour is explored in this research carried out in Kisumu, Kenya. 1,052 men aged 21-45 were asked to talk about all...

US abstinence-only programmes ethically flawed and threaten human rights.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)
November 1, 2006... Many adolescents, most younger adolescents, have not initiated sexual intercourse and many who have had sex are abstinent for varying periods of time. In theory, abstinence protects fully against STIs/HIV and pregnancy, but in practice it fails...

BBC World Service Trust refuses to sign pledge against commercial sex work.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(United States Agency for International Development )(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The BBC World Service Trust, which uses media to promote development goals, chose to suspend an HIV prevention campaign funded by USAID rather than comply with their policy of requiring recipients of HIV service grants to sign a pledge opposing...

US legislation on the "rights" of health workers to refuse to provide treatments.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Legislatures in 18 US states are considering 36 bills that would increase the "rights" of health workers to refuse to provide treatments they find morally objectionable. Laws are being proposed that will protect pharmacists from prosecution if...

Imposition of virginity testing in Palestine.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Contemporary medical and legal practices can reflect and exacerbate a political and social context of oppression. In this study, the practice in Palestinian society of imposing virginity testing when questions of sexual abuse or perceived...

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals for health.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)
November 1, 2006... Three of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focus on reducing key causes of mortality in poor countries: maternal and perinatal conditions, diseases affecting children and infants, and the major communicable diseases. The goals have...

Privatisation and commercialisation of public services do not help achieve the MDGs.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Millennium Development Goals)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Basic services--such as health, education, energy and water--are essential to reducing poverty and improving quality of life, and in so doing to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The ways in which these services are provided have been...

Involving the private sector to achieve contraceptive security.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The growing contraceptive needs of the world's population will only be met by involving the private sector, say these authors. Population growth and the desire for small families are increasing contraceptive demand, which is competing with...

Chinese civil rights campaigner arrested for opposing forced sterilisations and abortions.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Chen Guancheng)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Civil rights campaigner Chen Guancheng has been kept under house arrest for months without charge or trial for speaking out against forced sterilisations and abortions in the municipal district of Linyi. Government officials deny the...

Mexican and US women crossing the border for safer abortions.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Middle-class Mexican women are travelling to southern California to have abortions that are easier to access and safer than at home. This study found that up to 20% of women accessing abortions in San Diego's largest abortion clinic had Mexican...

New Ethiopian abortion law recognises women's rights.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Ethiopia's new criminal code, which came into effect in May 2005, provides legal grounds for abortion in a range of circumstances. These include pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, when the pregnancy risks the health or life of the woman,...

Ugandan health ministry considering abortion law reform.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The Ugandan Ministry of Health is considering the recommendations of a report it commissioned into the safety and legality of abortion. The report proposes legalising abortion in specific cases such as rape. Illegal abortion in Uganda...

Sex selection: is a universal approach ethical or appropriate?(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... This article compares legal frameworks governing sex selection, attitudes to sex selection, birth ratios of girls and boys, and the social and economic status of women in China, India, Canada and Germany, to assess the reasons for prohibitions...

Constantly shifting policy on safe motherhood an obstacle to progress.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... This opinion piece discusses the impact of constantly shifting policy on the implementation of effective safe motherhood programmes. Drawing on case studies and literature from India, Nepal, Malawi and Indonesia, the paper highlights obstacles...

Priorities in global assistance for health, AIDS and population.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... HIV/AIDS has had overall priority in total official development assistance for health in the past decade. Excluding HIV/AIDS, however, the share health had in development assistance in 2003 declined from 5.4% in 1993 to 5.0%, and pro-poor...

Corruption costs health services billions of dollars globally.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Corruption in provision of health services is rife in countries of all sizes from the wealthiest to the poorest. It exists at every level, from informal payments to boosts in health workers' income, trade in substandard and counterfeit drugs,...

Legal abortion should be provided in Ghana.(ROUND UP: Advocacy)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Medical experts at a seminar in Accra, Ghana, called for policies to reduce the incidence of maternal mortality caused by unsafe abortion. Abortion is legal on several grounds in Ghana, including protecting the woman's life, her mental and...

Demonstrators march for abortion rights and gay rights in Italy.(ROUND UP: Advocacy)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched in Milan in January 2006 to defend abortion rights. The march was held in advance of the general election, in which abortion was a campaign issue that is thought to be increasingly under threat from...

Parents of premature babies: a new social movement in the US.(ROUND UP: Advocacy)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... This article describes the changing status of premature infants in the United States and the differing levels of public sympathy accorded to these babies depending on whether they are premature as result of recreational drug use or fertility...

Pregnancy and infant loss support movement in the US.(ROUND UP: Advocacy)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The author of this article analyses the evolution of the pregnancy and infant loss support movement in the United States. Using ethnographic field research with three pregnancy loss organisations, analysis of their documents and websites and...

Breast ironing in Cameroon: breaking the silence.
November 1, 2006... The Tantines ("aunts") are a group of young women in Cameroon who have undergone reproductive health training and who in turn train other young people to address the issues of adolescent pregnancy and HIV. "Breast ironing" is one of the issues...

Cambodia: HIV-related risk behaviour, mobility and intervention programmes.(ROUND UP: HIV/AIDS)(human immunovirus )
November 1, 2006... Cambodia has experienced the most severe HIV epidemic in Southeast Asia but with support from policymakers, effective leadership and commitment from public health officials, the country's HIV programme has, despite resource constraints, been...

One Cambodian project's experience of US policy on sex work.(ROUND UP: HIV/AIDS)(Global AIDS Act)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... In May 2003, the Global AIDS Act was passed in the US. It prohibits allocation of US government funds to organisations that "promote or advocate" legalisation and practice of prostitution and sex trafficking. In Cambodia, a programme found...

Sex work, drug use, HIV and STIs in Moscow.(human immunodeficiency virus)(sexually transmitted infections)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Rates of HIV and STIs are growing rapidly within the Russian Federation. A cross-sectional study was undertaken in 2001-02 of STIs, HIV and drug use among street youth in a juvenile detention facility, adults in homeless detention centres and...

HIV vulnerability among sex workers, Yangon, Myanmar.(ROUND UP: HIV/AIDS)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Sex workers in Yangon, Myanmar are particularly vulnerable to HIV and STIs, and are hard to reach. The authors of this study interviewed 25 sex workers and 27 workers from governmental, non-governmental and private sector agencies, UN and...

Increased risk of pre-eclampsia and fetal death in HIV-positive pregnant women receiving HAART.(ROUND UP: HIV/AIDS)(highly active antiretroviral therapy)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... This analysis finds that the risk of pre-eclampsia and fetal death have increased sharply among HIV-positive pregnant women receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) initiated prior to pregnancy. (1) (1.) Suy A, Martinez E,...

Mode of delivery and HIV disease progression.(ROUND UP: HIV/AIDS)(The Women and Infants Transmission Study)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The Women and Infants Transmission Study is a prospective US multicentre study of HIV infection among pregnant women and their infants. This study assessed the relationship between mode of delivery and subsequent maternal HIV disease...

Factors associated with uptake of PMTCT by HIV positive women in Cote d'Ivoire.(ROUND UP: HIV/AIDS)(prevent mother-to-child transmission)(human immunovirus)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... In Africa, many women who are offered antiretroviral prophylaxis to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV do not accept the treatment. Research on barriers to participation has not addressed the possible effects of women's...

Antenatal counselling in a PMTCT programme in Kenya.(ROUND UP: HIV/AIDS)(prevent mother to child transmission)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... A report from a PMTCT implementation study in Mombasa, Kenya, highlights a gap between efficacy in clinical trial circumstances and effectiveness of PMTCT programmes implemented in real life. In light of this, a study was conducted of the...

Domestic violence and PMTCT in Kenya.(prevention of mother to child transmission)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... A prospective cohort of 2,836 women were followed to determine the prevalence of lifetime domestic violence by current partners before HIV testing, its impact on the uptake of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) interventions and...

Low CD4 count in mothers means greater risk for HIV-negative babies.(cluster of differentiation)(human immunodeficiency virus)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Advanced maternal HIV infection is associated with increased rates of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and faster disease progression in infected infants. Little is known about rates of illness and death among the HIV-uninfected infants of...

Impact of breastfeeding on the health of HIV-positive mothers and their children in sub-Saharan Africa.(human immunodeficiency virus)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Breastfeeding by HIV-positive women is not associated with mortality or morbidity but is associated with significant reductions in mortality among their children. This was the conclusion reached by researchers who analysed longitudinal data...

Romanian parents keep HIV a secret from infected children.(ROUND UP: HIV/AIDS)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... According to official statistics there are 10,000 people in Romania who are living with HIV. Activists claim that the real figure could be ten times higher. Most were infected during the late 1980s when unscreened blood was transfused, needles...

Cognitive effects of HIV in children.(ROUND UP: HIV/AIDS)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... US-based researchers studied 274 HIV-positive children aged 2-17 had previously undergone antiretroviral treatment. The researchers examined the relationship between neuropsychosocial characteristics, age and CD4 and T-cell count. They found...

Assisted reproduction for HIV discordant couples.(ROUND UP: HIV/AIDS)
November 1, 2006... Assisted reproduction with semen washing can significantly reduce the risk of sexual and vertical transmission of HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) in discordant couples in which the male partner is infected. In an Italian centre between 2001 and 2003,...

Decreasing pregnancy rates after IVF in HIV-positive women receiving HAART.(ROUND UP: HIV/AIDS)(in vitro fertilisation)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... A study was conducted on in vitro fertilisation (IVF) among HIV-infected women. A reduced pregnancy rate after IVF was observed when a woman's own oocytes were used, but no significant reduction was found when donated oocytes were used. CD4...

HIV-positive women with cervical cell abnormalities often infected with multiple HPV strains.(ROUND UP: HIV/AIDS)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... HIV-positive women have a higher rate of cervical infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) together with elevated rates of pre-cancerous and cancerous cell changes in the cervix than HIV-negative women. HPV types 16 and 18 are most frequently...

HPV in HIV-positive men.(ROUND UP: HIV/AIDS)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Human papillomavirus (HPV) types are associated with squamous cell cancers. HIV infection is linked with a higher prevalence of anal HPV infection, including in men. In order to establish a cancer prevention programme, researchers assessed the...

Bacterial vaginosis associated with HIV among Kenyan women and their male partners.(ROUND UP: HIV/AIDS)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Recruited from clinics in Nairobi, 219 women aged 18-45 years and their male partners were examined and tested for HIV, syphilis, trichomoniasis, gonorrhoea and bacterial vaginosis. 97% of the women had bacterial vaginosis, which was...

Impact of syphilis on HIV.(ROUND UP: HIV/AIDS)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Outbreaks of syphilis are occurring in urban centres of North America and western Europe, particularly among men who have sex with men. Researchers at Copenhagen's leading hospital searched their database for information collected on HIV and...

HSV-2 infection increases HIV acquisition in men and women.(ROUND UP: HIV/AIDS)(herpes simplex virus type 2)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies was undertaken in order to estimate the sex-specific effect of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) on the acquisition of HIV infection. Nineteen eligible studies were identified....