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NewsPapers
- -02-23-03 Vaccine for AIDS Works (USA Today News - Sternberg)
"Nearly two decades after the discovery of the AIDS virus, researchers Monday report for the first time that an AIDS vaccine can prevent infection but with sharply different success rates depending on race."
"The first full-scale human trial of the vaccine, AIDSVAX, indicates that although the vaccine failed to protect whites and Hispanics, it appears to be effective in Asians and blacks. Blacks account for half of all new infections in the USA, federal statistics show."
"Although the vaccine failed to provide protection overall, it was 78.3% effective in blacks and 68% effective in Asians." 2-03
- 05-21-03 Florida Court Supports Tobacco Industry (Washington Times - Wilson)
"A Florida appeals court erased a record $145 billion award against the tobacco industry yesterday, ruling that thousands of Florida smokers could not group themselves together for a class-action attack on cigarette makers."
"The action came on the same day that more than 190 countries approved the first international treaty against smoking, including an advertising ban, aimed at kicking the global habit that kills nearly 5 million people a year."
- 09-05-03 Small Children Die from Poverty (WashTimes.com)
"The World Health Organization (WHO) says nearly 11 million children under age 5 die each year from easily preventable and cheaply cured diseases — including pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and complications during the first year of life."
"It costs just 2 cents for a six-month supply of vitamin A supplement, 15 cents for a five-day course of antibiotics to treat pneumonia and $15 to immunize a child against the six main childhood diseases, according to the U.S. Coalition for Child Survival."
"A bed net, treated to kill and repel malarial mosquitoes, costs less than $10."
"The United States spent $1.7 billion on global health, education and population programs in 2001, according to rough calculations based on figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. France was the second-biggest spender, with $1.1 billion in aid, followed by Germany at $1 billion and Japan at nearly $800 million."
" 'The child survival effort has lost its focus,' the Lancet article said, with 'levels of attention and effort directed at preventing the small proportion of child deaths due to AIDS with a new, complex and expensive intervention ... outstripping the efforts to save millions of children every year with a few cents' worth [of basic treatments]. This must change.' "
"The World Health Organization reports that AIDS causes about 3 percent of child deaths. Deaths related to complications during the first month of life — often malnutrition — account for 23 percent, respiratory diseases (largely pneumonia) for 19 percent, diarrhea 13 percent and malaria 9 percent."
- 09-17-03 Bush and Bono Clash on AIDS Expenditures (CBS News)
"Mr. Bush signed the Global AIDS Act in May that authorized $3 billion to fund global AIDS programs for 2004, but Congress has allocated only $2 billion. Both the president and members of Congress say developing countries wouldn't be able to make use of the extra money."
"Bono said he's very angry but he's trying to calm down and get the president to open "America's wallet." 9-03
- 11-25-03 Congress Approves Remake of Medicare (Bloomberg.com)
"The U.S. Senate voted 54-44 to approve Medicare's biggest expansion in history, a bill designed to help the elderly pay for medicines and test competition between private and federal health insurance."
"The legislation would help 41 million elderly and disabled Americans pay for prescriptions at pharmacies, expanding sales for drugmakers including Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co." 11-03
- 11-25-03 Setback in War on Hunger (CNN News)
"World hunger is growing again after a steady fall in the first half of the 1990s, according to the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization." 11-03
- 11-28-03 More Hungry This Year (CBS News)
"...for the third year in a row, the number of hungry Americans has been rising. The government now says 35 million Americans don't know where their next meal is going to come from, and that number includes 13 million children." 11-03
- 12-30-03 USDA Bans "Downer" Cows for Meat (USAToday.com)
"Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman Tuesday announced a list of new restrictions to further enhance the safety of the American beef supply, including a meatpacking ban on the use of sick 'downer' cattle like the one discovered last week with mad cow disease."
"She also announced bans against the use of small intestines and head and spinal tissue from older cattle in the U.S. food chain, as well as changes in slaughterhouse techniques with the aim of preventing accidental contamination of meat with cow nerve tissue. Mad cow disease is spread through such brain and spinal cord tissue." 12-03
- AIDS - Map of the Prevalence of AIDS (BBC News)
Shows where in the world the epidemic is strongest. 12-03
- AIDS - Map of the Speed of Spread of AIDS (BBC News)
Shows where in the world the epidemic is growing the fastest. 12-03
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