NAIROBI, 31 May 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – Many Kenyans see HIV as a punishment for immoral behaviour, which tends to perpetuate stigma against people infected with the virus, according to a report by ActionAid International, an anti-poverty agency, and Women fighting AIDS in Kenya, a local NGO.

NAIROBI, 27 May 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – Targeting antiretroviral treatment (ART) programmes to prioritize people with low immunity and a high viral load could be an effective HIV prevention strategy, say the authors of a new study published in The Lancet.

NAIROBI, 28 May 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – People living with HIV must take their place at the forefront of HIV prevention efforts in Kenya if they are to be truly successful, senior government officials said at the launch of a set of national guidelines for rolling out “Prevention with Positives” in the capital, Nairobi.

NAIROBI, 28 May 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – Making services for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV available without addressing the factors that keep mothers from accessing these services was an exercise in futility, experts told a press briefing in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

JOHANNESBURG, 27 May 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – As donors retreat from funding HIV and AIDS programmes, years of progress in HIV treatment are under threat and the lives of HIV-positive people are increasingly on the line, according to a new report by the international medical charity, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

JOHANNESBURG, 25 May 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – Sub-Saharan Africa is struggling to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing child mortality but with greater access to prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) services, some countries are slowly catching up.

JOHANNESBURG, 25 May 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – Two new studies have confirmed fears that the use of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to prevent HIV could lead to drug resistance if inadvertently used by people who were already infected.

JOHANNESBURG, 24 May 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – Findings from a new study reveal that a man’s risk of contracting HIV from an infected female partner doubles during pregnancy. Other studies have indicated that women are more susceptible to HIV infection during pregnancy, but this is the first to show that men are also at greater risk.

BURNT FOREST, 19 May 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – Rural Kenyans affected by the post-election violence in 2008 are among thousands of beneficiaries of a programme that aims to improve food security and incomes and reduce women’s vulnerability to gender-based violence by teaching better farming techniques.

NAIROBI, 21 May 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – The Kenyan government has won praise for a national door-to-door HIV testing drive that aims to test 80 percent of the population for HIV/AIDS by the end of 2010, but once-enthusiastic counsellors are beginning to show signs of burnout.

NAIROBI, 19 May 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – When the earthquake hit Port au Prince on 12 January, Bill Pape and the rest of the staff of GHESKIO, the country’s largest HIV NGO, were unprepared.

JOHANNESBURG, 19 May 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – Diagnosing HIV early and starting antiretroviral (ARV) treatment could be the most important weapons in the battle against HIV-associated tuberculosis, but this would need a huge injection of resources in southern Africa, where the dual epidemics of TB and HIV claim the most lives.

MANZINI, 11 May 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – Grandmothers from all over Africa have joined hands with grandmothers in Canada to call for greater support and recognition of their role in caring for grandchildren orphaned by AIDS.

BONDO, 17 May 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – Maria Obonyo walked 70km from her home to the nearest hospital in western Kenya’s Bondo District to seek treatment for an uncomfortable rash but could not afford the US$2 for the ointment the doctor recommended.