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Tag: HIV and AIDS

  • A new “queer summer camp” cycling event rises from the legacy of AIDS/LifeCycle

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    This Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding two cases about transgender girls in sports: Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J. 

    In 2020, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed into law HB 500, which bans transgender girls and women from participating in school sports. This affected the first case’s respondent: transgender student athlete Lindsay Hecox, who was barred from participating in the track and cross country teams as well as intramural soccer and running clubs.

    In 2021, then-governor of West Virginia, Jim Justice, approved HB 3293, which enacts a similar ban. Becky Pepper-Jackson (B.P.J.), now an incoming high school student, opposed the discriminatory policy when it prevented her from joining her then-middle school’s cross country and track and field teams. Pepper-Jackson has also only undergone female puberty due to gender-affirming care, but West Virginia argues that its anti-transgender policies should be upheld because of her assigned sex at birth. 

    For LGBTQ+ advocates and allies, these cases illustrate the burden and harm transgender people face daily as their rights to privacy, dignity, care, and inclusion are constantly at risk of being eroded and stripped completely. 

    Experts also wonder if these cases could potentially reshape the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause as well as the civil rights law, Title IX. The former prohibits discrimination on other factors aside from race, though governments have argued that certain “suspect classifications” can be looked at more closely through “heightened scrutiny.” The latter prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally-funded schools.

    What is unfolding and how local advocates are informing change:

    The fight ahead is weary, and experts are certain that the states involved will not concede their points. In a webinar organized yesterday by the Williams Institute, several LGBTQ+ policy experts, including Rutgers Law School professor and anti-discrimination scholar Katie Eyer, examined where these cases may be heading, as well as efforts to muddy the arguments. 

    “It seems possible that the court might try to sidestep that issue here by saying that these laws don’t target transgender people at all,” Eyer said. “I think for most people, this seems bananas: like an upside-down world. We all know these laws were about transgender people.”

    Jenny Pizer, an attorney for the LGBTQ+ civil rights legal organization Lambda Legal and a co-counsel member for the B.P.J. case, affirmed this sentiment at a press conference organized Tuesday by Lambda Legal and AIDS Healthcare Foundation affinity group, FLUX. “They’ve gone to great lengths to say there’s no discrimination,” Pizer said. “[They’re arguing] it’s just technicalities or classifications.” 

    Eyer was one of three Equal Protections scholars who filed an amicus brief to be considered in the Supreme Court cases. An amicus brief is a legal document submitted by someone who is not involved directly in a case but who may offer additional perspectives and information that can inform the ruling process. 

    Eyer’s brief provided historical context that clarified the disadvantages of blanket sex-based policies. These types of laws, according to Eyer, uphold stereotypes over nuance, truth, and equal protection guidelines. For Pepper-Jackson, who has only undergone female puberty and who does not “benefit” from what dissidents define as a sex-based competitive “advantage,” the state should have provided her the ability to argue that she should have the same rights as other girls. 

    “Of course, the state hasn’t done that here,” Eyer said. “Under these precedents, the Supreme Court should invalidate the laws as applied to those trans girls who really don’t have a sex-based competitive advantage.”

    Who are these bills protecting?

    The states argue that their policies are merely “ensuring safety and fairness in girls’ sports.” But queer advocates understand that this is a veneer for the exclusion of transgender people from society. Forcing trans youth out of sports “does not protect anyone,” according to California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network director Dannie Ceseňa, who spoke at Tuesday’s press conference.

    “It encourages the scrutiny of children’s bodies. It fuels gender policing, and it creates hostile school environments — not safer ones,” said Ceseňa. “Our youth should not inherit a world that treats their existence as a threat.” 

    Transgender people are systemically disempowered 

    At yesterday’s webinar, Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Williams Institute Andrew Flores discussed his own amicus brief in support of Pepper-Jackson. The brief highlights the need for “heightened judicial scrutiny” in Pepper-Jackson’s case because the majority of political processes “systemically fail” transgender people. 

    For example, the transgender community faces substantial barriers in exercising their voter rights because of voter identification laws and other policies that regulate and define identity. “Even being able to gain access to the franchise is a burden for transgender people,” Flores said. “The court does play an important role there. It can grant legitimacy to arguments…or at least [acknowledge] that these issues are more complicated than maybe how they’ll receive them.” 

    What’s next?

    Experts are hesitant about where the cases stand. “Bottom line: I don’t know what the court is going to do in these cases. They may send them back down for further development,” Pizer said, who thinks future rulings will not shift more overarching policies regarding transgender rights. “I think they will probably decide based only on laws about sports, not laws more broadly about the rights of trans folks.” 

    But whatever is decided, the impacts will trickle down to everyone. While the cases deal specifically with anti-transgender policies, experts warn that LGBTQ+ issues have always been tied to racial, economic, and disability justice. “There’s this looming constitutional campaign to really undermine civil rights,” said Eyer. “That affects LGBTQ people. It affects people of color. It affects people with disabilities. It affects everybody, and it really is concerning.” 

    As transgender inclusion and safety are being argued on the largest legal stage, advocates are asking: “When are you going to step up?” They are also sending a direct message to transgender youth: “We see you, we believe in you, and we are fighting for you,” said Ceseňa. “You deserve joy, community, and care. You deserve a future that reflects who you are and not who anyone or any politician demands you to be. Trans youth deserve better.” 

    Kristie Song is a California Local News Fellow placed with the Los Angeles Blade. The California Local News Fellowship is a state-funded initiative to support and strengthen local news reporting. Learn more about it at fellowships.journalism.berkeley.edu/cafellows.

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    Kristie Song

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  • After global aid cuts, nonprofits seek new energy and new partners on the UN sidelines

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    NEW YORK — A passing comment in a hotel hallway at one of the many conferences on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly’s annual high-level meetings this past week may have turned into a solution.

    A global antipoverty nonprofit executive, recently returned from Zambia, mentioned that a hospital there had just one incubator, warmer and resuscitator for the fifty-some babies born daily.

    The conversation could’ve ended there with an empathetic response. But in this case, leaders of a corporate-nonprofit alliance providing medical equipment to those in need heard the story. And in this case, Children International President Susana Eshleman said help may come by year’s end.

    “It’s very encouraging and inspiring to be here,” she said. “It feels like a shot in the arm sometimes when the work that we’re doing is hard and the global situation, given all the recent developments, is particularly hard.”

    In a year marked by significant foreign aid pullbacks from the U.S. and other wealthy countries, the exchange provides a glimpse into the unique connective tissue that still draws foundations, nonprofits, corporations and international actors to what attendees call UNGA week.

    The meetings at Manhattan ballrooms and intimate townhouse dinners solidify relationships and hasten coordination, made even more impactful by the sheer number of parties. This year, attendees described more pragmatic, focused and galvanizing discussions than before, placing a greater emphasis on the roles companies and philanthropies must play in shaping an uncertain future.

    Conversations, in private and on stages, would generally open with the impact of aid cuts on a particular organization, but quickly move to the group’s pivots and current needs. Former President Bill Clinton began the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting with a list of the world’s issues currently worrying him. But he ended it with the message: “Be caught trying.”

    Philanthropists’ interest in engaging with the private sector was evident in some of the heaviest hitters’ announcements.

    At his global forum on Wednesday in The Plaza Hotel, billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg unveiled a new partnership with the African Development Bank Group to bring more investment to the continent.

    “There’s certainly no shortage of challenges to discuss over there,” said Bloomberg, referencing the U.N. headquarters. “But the truth is, in a world that’s more interconnected and fast-moving than ever, the biggest problems can’t be solved by national governments alone.”

    At the Clinton Global Initiative, which retooled this year’s meeting to focus on working groups, ballrooms across the New York Hilton Midtown were packed with hundreds of front line workers, policy experts, foundation donors and NGO representatives divided into groups of 10 to discuss specific problems and potential solutions.

    The working groups yielded numerous new initiatives, ranging from a social enterprise fund from Kiva Microfunds alongside corporate foundations to a new Global Network for National Service.

    At Rockefeller Foundation headquarters, former heads of state, major foundations’ leaders and global health experts gathered around a table Monday to reimagine international development systems weakened by foreign aid cuts.

    The Rockefeller Foundation committed $50 million to the effort. Rajiv Shah, the foundation’s president, said that includes upgrading a critical famine early warning system, created by the U.S. Agency for International Development, and diversifying its financing so no one political party can take it away.

    The Clinton Health Access Initiative announced its partnership with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Unitaid, and Wits RHI to provide Gilead Sciences’ HIV prevention drug lenacapavir in 120 low- and middle-income countries. The Gates Foundation announced a similar deal with Indian pharmaceutical manufacturer Hetero Labs.

    Bill Gates also announced the foundation would pledge $912 million to the Global Fund’s replenishment campaign to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

    But, for all the talk of non-governmental funders’ importance, philanthropic leaders emphasized they cannot do it alone. Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman said he hopes their commitment to the Global Fund spurs the U.S. and other countries to step up.

    “There is no possible way any philanthropy, any combination of philanthropies, can fill the gap,” Suzman said Wednesday.

    International Rescue Committee CEO David Miliband, who reported losing $600 million in U.S. grants, said aid is being spread too thin. He called on his sector to more effectively deliver assistance with new technologies and find alternative financing streams.

    “We’ve got to embrace innovation. And we’ve got to persuade newly wealthy countries — like those in the Gulf would be one example — that there’s a real potential to have lifelong impact on the people we’re helping,” Miliband said. “And we also have to appeal to philanthropy in the countries where we’re working.”

    Whether they work in health, climate, migration or any other issue facing funding setbacks, nonprofit leaders reported a different feel to this year’s programming.

    Conversations carried a heightened urgency and like-minded groups were forced to better coordinate their goals. Some advocates trod lightly between rallying their cause and avoiding any missteps that might suggest opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. Concerns about obtaining visas prompted some to travel with fewer staff than usual.

    There was real worry that “we wouldn’t have UNGA,” according to USA for UNHCR Executive Director Suzanne Ehlers.

    Her nonprofit had already begun developing a $15 million campaign to fund refugee women’s scholarships. But with everything “thrown up in the air,” she said, many questioned the point of coming.

    “And here we are,” said Ehlers, who announced the campaign this week. “It’s actually more consequential than ever, I would say.”

    The challenge is identifying who has financial resources in this new aid landscape, said Charity Wallace, a past adviser to former first lady Laura Bush. Her consulting firm, Wallace Global Impact, focuses on cross-sector solutions to world problems.

    “Frankly, some people bemoan, as if it was still February and we wish that USAID still existed,” said Wallace, adding that many now see “they have to step up in a different way” in this different reality.

    Matt Freeman, executive director of Stronger Foundations for Nutrition, said previous UNGA weeks have been filled with concurrent events where advocates fight for the same limited audience. He sensed a stronger spirit of collective action this year.

    “That’s been really heartwarming,” he said. “Because you could imagine in a moment of scarcity that everyone’s elbows become sharper and they’re fighting for the pie.”

    Kitty van der Heijden, the deputy executive director of partnerships at the United Nations Children’s Fund, said her week on the sidelines had been a mix of disappointment and excitement. She said UNICEF, which faces at least a 20% cut in revenue next year, will cut staff and look for other ways to save money.

    On one hand, she said there was both “withdrawal from governments” and “depression” the state of the multilateral system. On the other hand, she said she saw many philanthropic and private sector actors “really trying to lead now in difficult times.”

    “I have no time for depression,” she added. “I only have time to build more partnerships, to be out there, to deliver, because I know that we can. And we cannot do it alone.”

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    Associated Press writers Thalia Beaty and Glenn Gamboa contributed to this report.

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    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • The US will buy 2 million doses of an HIV prevention drug for low-income countries

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    WASHINGTON — The U.S. is purchasing enough doses of a new twice-a-year HIV prevention shot to share with up to 2 million people in poor countries by 2028, the State Department announced Thursday.

    Gilead Sciences had already announced it would sell that supply of the protective drug lenacapvir at no profit for use in low- and middle-income countries that are hard-hit by HIV. The question was who would buy and distribute them after the Trump administration slashed foreign aid earlier this year – forcing closures of health clinics and disrupting HIV testing and care in many countries.

    Under Thursday’s move, the U.S. will purchase the doses under the PEPFAR program and work with governments in hard-hit countries on how to distribute them. The priority will be to protect pregnant or breastfeeding women, said Jeremy Lewin, a State department senior official.

    Lewin said the program will be a collaboration with the Global Fund, another international program that funds HIV treatment and prevention efforts but wouldn’t disclose how much the U.S. was investing.

    “We’re hoping, with the Global Fund, to help 2 million people get on the medication over the next three years but could potentially see more,” he said.

    There are more than 30,000 new HIV infections in the U.S. every year and 1.2 million people are living with the virus. Worldwide there are 1.3 million new infections annually and nearly 40 million people living with the virus.

    Many experts say lenacapavir is the most powerful option yet for what’s called PrEP – using preventive medicines to guard against sexually transmitted HIV. Unlike daily pills that people may forget, each lenacapavir shot offers protection for six months. In two groundbreaking studies with people at high risk, it nearly eliminated new infections.

    The drug already has been approved for use in the U.S. and Europe.

    In March, the head of the U.N. AIDS agency urged the Trump administration and Gilead to make the preventive shots available worldwide for millions.

    Gilead has signed agreements with generic drug makers to produce low-cost versions of the shot for poor countries, mostly in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. The doses provided at-cost for up to 2 million people in those countries was intended to be a stopgap until the generics are available.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Forced labor, same-sex marriage, shoplifting on the ballot in California this year

    Forced labor, same-sex marriage, shoplifting on the ballot in California this year

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    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Forced labor, same-sex marriage and shoplifting are among the 10 statewide ballot measures that California voters are set to consider in November.

    The California secretary of state assigned proposition numbers to the measures on Wednesday after the Legislature added two more bond proposals to the ballot.

    Here’s a look at what voters will decide in November:

    This asks voters for permission to borrow $10 billion for public school construction and repairs. Most of the money, $8.5 billion, would go to elementary and secondary schools. The rest, or $1.5 billion, would go to community colleges. No money would be available for the California State University or University of California systems.

    This would remove the ban on same-sex marriage from the California Constitution. Voters added that ban to the constitution in 2008. But the U.S. Supreme Court has prevented California from enforcing the ban since 2013. Still, the language banning same-sex marriage remains in the state constitution. The proposed amendment would remove the ban and replace it with language saying, “The right to marry is a fundamental right.”

    This asks voters for permission to borrow $10 billion for various climate programs. The largest chunk of the money, $3.8 billion, would help pay to improve drinking water systems and prepare for droughts and floods. Programs preparing for wildfires would receive $1.5 billion while programs combating sea level rise would get $1.2 billion.

    The rest would be divided up among parks and outdoor recreation programs, clean air initiatives and programs preparing for extreme heat, protecting biodiversity and helping make farms and ranches sustainable.

    This would change the state constitution to make it easier for local governments to borrow money, provided they use the funds to build affordable housing or public infrastructure. Local governments, excluding school districts, currently can borrow money only if two-thirds of voters approve.

    This would lower that threshold to 55% for affordable housing and public infrastructure projects. Public infrastructure includes water and sewer systems, public transportation, libraries, broadband internet and hospitals.

    This would change the California Constitution to ban forced labor in any form. The constitution currently bans involuntary servitude, or forced labor, except as a punishment for crime. That exemption has become a target of criminal justice advocates concerned about prison labor conditions. It is not uncommon for people who are incarcerated to be put to work earning less than $1 an hour.

    This eventually would increase California’s minimum wage to $18 per hour. It is currently $16 per hour for most people and $20 per hour for fast food workers. Health care workers will eventually see their minimum wage reach $25 per hour, according to a law that Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last year.

    This would repeal a state law prohibiting cities and counties from capping rents on single-family homes, condominiums and apartments built after 1995. Supporters say the proposal would help prevent homelessness.

    Similar measures failed in 2018 and 2020 amid fierce opposition led by landlord groups and the real-estate industry. Opponents argued the proposal would hurt mom-and-pop landlords and discourage the construction of affordable housing.

    State lawmakers in 2019 approved a 10% statewide cap on annual rent increases. The law exempted new construction for 15 years and is set to expire in 2030. Several cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose also have local rent control policies.

    This would permanently allow California’s Medicaid program to pay pharmacies directly for prescription drugs. California started doing this in 2019 after Newsom signed an executive order allowing the payments. This measure would make it a law.

    The measure also would require some health care providers to spend almost all of the money they get from a federal prescription drug program directly on patient care instead of other things.

    This proposition appears to be directed at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. The measure has the backing of the California Apartment Association, which helped pay for an ad criticizing the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. The foundation has said it is being targeted for its support for rent control.

    This would make the state pay doctors more money for treating patients who are covered by Medicaid, the government-funded health insurance program for people with low incomes.

    Managed care organizations contract with the state to provide these health benefits. The state taxes these organizations to help pay for the Medicaid program. This measure would require the state to use a portion of that tax money to increase how much Medicaid pays doctors.

    This would make the crime of shoplifting a felony for repeat offenders and increase penalties for some drug charges, including those involving the synthetic opioid fentanyl. It also would give judges the authority to order those with multiple drug charges to get treatment.

    Proponents said the initiative is necessary to close loopholes in existing laws that have made it challenging for law enforcement to punish shoplifters and drug dealers.

    Opponents, including Democratic state leaders and social justice groups, said the proposal would disproportionately imprison poor people and those with substance use issues rather than target ringleaders who hire large groups of people to steal goods for them to resell online.

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  • CDC identifies 1st documented cases of HIV transmitted through cosmetic needles

    CDC identifies 1st documented cases of HIV transmitted through cosmetic needles

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    FILE – This electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health shows a human T cell, in blue, under attack by HIV, in yellow, the virus that causes AIDS. Three women who were diagnosed with HIV after getting “vampire facial” procedures at an unlicensed New Mexico medical spa are the first believed to have contracted the virus through a cosmetic procedure using needles, according to federal health officials. (Seth Pincus, Elizabeth Fischer, Austin Athman/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/NIH via AP, File)

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  • South African company to start making vaginal rings that protect against HIV

    South African company to start making vaginal rings that protect against HIV

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    A South African company will make vaginal rings that protect against HIV, which AIDS experts say should eventually make them cheaper and more readily available.

    The Population Council announced Thursday that Kiara Health of Johannesburg will start making the silicone rings in the next few years, estimating that 1 million could be produced annually. The devices release a drug that helps prevent HIV infections and are authorized by nearly a dozen countries and the World Health Organization.

    The nonprofit council owns the rights to the rings, which are now made by a Swedish company. About 500,00 rings are currently available to women in Africa at no cost, purchased by donors.

    Ben Phillips, a spokesman at the U.N. AIDS agency, said the advantage of the ring is that it gives women the freedom to use it without anyone else’s knowledge or consent.

    “For women whose partners won’t use a condom or allow them to take oral (preventive HIV) medicines, this gives them another option,” he said.

    HIV remains the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age in Africa and 60% of new infections are in women, according to figures from WHO.

    The ring releases the drug dapivirine in slow doses over a month. It currently costs $12 to $16, but experts expect the price to drop once it is widely produced in Africa. Developers are also working on a version that will last up to three months, which should also lower the yearly cost.

    WHO has recommended the ring be used as an additional tool for women at “substantial risk of HIV” and regulators in more than a dozen African countries, including South Africa, Botswana, Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe have also given it the green light. WHO cited two advanced studies in its approval, saying the ring reduced women’s chances of getting HIV by about a third, while other research has suggested the risk could be dropped by more than 50%.

    Last year, activists charged the stage in a protest during last year’s biggest AIDS meeting, calling on donors to buy the silicone rings for African women.

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • South Africa, Colombia, others are fighting drugmakers over access to TB, HIV drugs

    South Africa, Colombia, others are fighting drugmakers over access to TB, HIV drugs

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    CAPE TOWN, South Africa — South Africa, Colombia and other countries that lost out in the global race for coronavirus vaccines are taking a more combative approach towards drugmakers and pushing back on policies that deny cheap treatment to millions of people with tuberculosis and HIV.

    Experts see it as a shift in how such countries deal with pharmaceutical behemoths and say it could trigger more efforts to make lifesaving medicines more widely available.

    In the COVID-19 pandemic, rich countries bought most of the world’s vaccines early, leaving few shots for poor countries and creating a disparity the World Health Organization called “a catastrophic moral failure.”

    Now, poorer countries are trying to become more self-reliant “because they’ve realized after COVID they can’t count on anyone else,” said Brook Baker, who studies treatment-access issues at Northeastern University.

    One of the targets is a drug, bedaquiline, that is used for treating people with drug-resistant versions of tuberculosis. The pills are especially important for South Africa, where TB killed more than 50,000 people in 2021, making it the country’s leading cause of death.

    In recent months, activists have protested efforts by Johnson & Johnson to protect its patent on the drug. In March, TB patients petitioned the Indian government, calling for cheaper generics; the government ultimately agreed J&J’s patent could be broken. Belarus and Ukraine then wrote to J&J, also asking it to drop its patents, but with little response.

    In July, J&J’s patent on the drug expired in South Africa, but the company had it extended until 2027, enraging activists who accused it of profiteering.

    The South African government then began investigating the company’s pricing policies. It had been paying about 5,400 rand ($282) per treatment course, more than twice as much as poor countries that got the drug via a global effort called the Stop TB partnership.

    In September, about a week after South Africa’s probe began, J&J announced that it would drop its patent in more than 130 countries, allowing generic-makers to copy the drug.

    “This addresses any misconception that access to our medicines is limited,” the company said.

    Christophe Perrin, a TB expert at Doctors Without Borders, called J&J’s reversal “a big surprise” because aggressive patent protection was typically a “cornerstone” of pharmaceutical companies’ strategy.

    Meanwhile, in Colombia, the government declared last month that it would issue a compulsory license for the HIV drug dolutegravir without permission from the drug’s patent-holder, Viiv Healthcare. The decision came after more than 120 groups asked the Colombian government to expand access to the WHO-recommended drug.

    “This is Colombia taking the reins after the extreme inequity of COVID and challenging a major pharmaceutical to ensure affordable AIDS treatment for its people,” said Peter Maybarduk of the Washington advocacy group Public Citizen. He noted that Brazilian activists are pushing their government to make a similar move.

    Still, some experts said much more needs to change before poorer countries can produce their own medicines and vaccines.

    When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Africa produced fewer than 1% of all vaccines made globally but used more than half of the world’s supply, according to Petro Terblanche, managing director of Afrigen Biologics. The company is part of a WHO-backed effort to produce a COVID vaccine using the same mRNA technology as those made by Pfizer and Moderna.

    Terblanche estimated about 14 million people died of AIDS in Africa in the late 1990s-2000s, when countries couldn’t get the necessary medicines.

    Back then, President Nelson Mandela’s government in South Africa eventually suspended patents to allow wider access to AIDS drugs. That prompted more than 30 drugmakers to take it to court in 1998, in a case dubbed “Mandela vs. Big Pharma.”

    Doctors Without Borders described the episode as “a public relations disaster” for the drug companies, which dropped the lawsuit in 2001.

    Terblanche said that Africa’s past experience during the HIV epidemic has proven instructive.

    “It’s not acceptable for a listed company to hold intellectual property that stands in the way of saving lives and so, we will see more countries fighting back,” she said.

    Challenging pharmaceutical companies is just one piece to ensuring Africa has equal access to treatments and vaccines, Terblanche said. More robust health systems are critical.

    “If we can’t get (vaccines and medicines) to the people who need them, they aren’t useful,” she said.

    Yet some experts pointed out that South Africa’s own intellectual property laws still haven’t been changed sufficiently and make it too easy for pharmaceutical companies to acquire patents and extend their monopolies.

    While many other developing countries allow legal challenges to a patent or a patent extension, South Africa has no clear law that allows it to do that, said Lynette Keneilwe Mabote-Eyde, a health care activist who consults for the nonprofit Treatment Action Group.

    The South African department of health didn’t respond to a request for comment regarding drug procurement and patents.

    Andy Gray, who advises the South African government on essential medicines, said J&J’s recent decision to not enforce its patent may have more to do with the drug’s limited future earnings than caving to pressure from activists.

    “Because bedaquiline is not ever going to sell in huge volumes in high-income countries, it’s the sort of product they would love to offload at some stage and perhaps earn a royalty from,” said Gray, a senior lecturer in pharmacology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

    In its annual report on TB released earlier this month, the World Health Organization said there were more than 10 million people sickened by the disease last year and 1.3 million deaths. After COVID-19, tuberculosis is the world’s deadliest infectious disease and it is now the top killer of people with HIV. WHO noted only about 2 in 5 people with drug-resistant TB are being treated.

    Zolelwa Sifumba, a South African doctor, was diagnosed with drug-resistant TB in 2012 when she was a medical student and endured 18 months of treatment taking about 20 pills every day in addition to daily injections, which left her in “immense pain” and resulted in some hearing loss. Bedaquiline was not rolled out as a standard treatment in South Africa until 2018.

    “I wanted to quit (treatment) every single day,” she said. Since her recovery, Sifumba has become an advocate for better TB treatment, saying it makes little sense to charge poor countries high prices for essential medicines.

    “TB is everywhere but the burden of it is in your lower and middle income countries,” she said. “If the lower income countries can’t get it (the drug), then what’s the point? Who are you making it for?”

    ___

    Cheng reported from London.

    ___

    AP health coverage: https://apnews.com/health

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  • South Africa, Colombia and others are fighting drugmakers over access to TB and HIV drugs

    South Africa, Colombia and others are fighting drugmakers over access to TB and HIV drugs

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    CAPE TOWN, South Africa — South Africa, Colombia and other countries that lost out in the global race for coronavirus vaccines are taking a more combative approach towards drugmakers and pushing back on policies that deny cheap treatment to millions of people with tuberculosis and HIV.

    Experts see it as a shift in how such countries deal with pharmaceutical behemoths and say it could trigger more efforts to make lifesaving medicines more widely available.

    In the COVID-19 pandemic, rich countries bought most of the world’s vaccines early, leaving few shots for poor countries and creating a disparity the World Health Organization called “a catastrophic moral failure.”

    Now, poorer countries are trying to become more self-reliant “because they’ve realized after COVID they can’t count on anyone else,” said Brook Baker, who studies treatment-access issues at Northeastern University.

    One of the targets is a drug, bedaquiline, that is used for treating people with drug-resistant versions of tuberculosis. The pills are especially important for South Africa, where TB killed more than 50,000 people in 2021, making it the country’s leading cause of death.

    In recent months, activists have protested efforts by Johnson & Johnson to protect its patent on the drug. In March, TB patients petitioned the Indian government, calling for cheaper generics; the government ultimately agreed J&J’s patent could be broken. Belarus and Ukraine then wrote to J&J, also asking it to drop its patents, but with little response.

    In July, J&J’s patent on the drug expired in South Africa, but the company had it extended until 2027, enraging activists who accused it of profiteering.

    The South African government then began investigating the company’s pricing policies. It had been paying about 5,400 rand ($282) per treatment course, more than twice as much as poor countries that got the drug via a global effort called the Stop TB partnership.

    In September, about a week after South Africa’s probe began, J&J announced that it would drop its patent in more than 130 countries, allowing generic-makers to copy the drug.

    “This addresses any misconception that access to our medicines is limited,” the company said.

    Christophe Perrin, a TB expert at Doctors Without Borders, called J&J’s reversal “a big surprise” because aggressive patent protection was typically a “cornerstone” of pharmaceutical companies’ strategy.

    Meanwhile, in Colombia, the government declared last month that it would issue a compulsory license for the HIV drug dolutegravir without permission from the drug’s patent-holder, Viiv Healthcare. The decision came after more than 120 groups asked the Colombian government to expand access to the WHO-recommended drug.

    “This is Colombia taking the reins after the extreme inequity of COVID and challenging a major pharmaceutical to ensure affordable AIDS treatment for its people,” said Peter Maybarduk of the Washington advocacy group Public Citizen. He noted that Brazilian activists are pushing their government to make a similar move.

    Still, some experts said much more needs to change before poorer countries can produce their own medicines and vaccines.

    When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Africa produced fewer than 1% of all vaccines made globally but used more than half of the world’s supply, according to Petro Terblanche, managing director of Afrigen Biologics. The company is part of a WHO-backed effort to produce a COVID vaccine using the same mRNA technology as those made by Pfizer and Moderna.

    Terblanche estimated about 14 million people died of AIDS in Africa in the late 1990s-2000s, when countries couldn’t get the necessary medicines.

    Back then, President Nelson Mandela’s government in South Africa eventually suspended patents to allow wider access to AIDS drugs. That prompted more than 30 drugmakers to take it to court in 1998, in a case dubbed “Mandela vs. Big Pharma.”

    Doctors Without Borders described the episode as “a public relations disaster” for the drug companies, which dropped the lawsuit in 2001.

    Terblanche said that Africa’s past experience during the HIV epidemic has proven instructive.

    “It’s not acceptable for a listed company to hold intellectual property that stands in the way of saving lives and so, we will see more countries fighting back,” she said.

    Challenging pharmaceutical companies is just one piece to ensuring Africa has equal access to treatments and vaccines, Terblanche said. More robust health systems are critical.

    “If we can’t get (vaccines and medicines) to the people who need them, they aren’t useful,” she said.

    Yet some experts pointed out that South Africa’s own intellectual property laws still haven’t been changed sufficiently and make it too easy for pharmaceutical companies to acquire patents and extend their monopolies.

    While many other developing countries allow legal challenges to a patent or a patent extension, South Africa has no clear law that allows it to do that, said Lynette Keneilwe Mabote-Eyde, a health care activist who consults for the nonprofit Treatment Action Group.

    The South African department of health didn’t respond to a request for comment regarding drug procurement and patents.

    Andy Gray, who advises the South African government on essential medicines, said J&J’s recent decision to not enforce its patent may have more to do with the drug’s limited future earnings than caving to pressure from activists.

    “Because bedaquiline is not ever going to sell in huge volumes in high-income countries, it’s the sort of product they would love to offload at some stage and perhaps earn a royalty from,” said Gray, a senior lecturer in pharmacology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

    In its annual report on TB released earlier this month, the World Health Organization said there were more than 10 million people sickened by the disease last year and 1.3 million deaths. After COVID-19, tuberculosis is the world’s deadliest infectious disease and it is now the top killer of people with HIV. WHO noted only about 2 in 5 people with drug-resistant TB are being treated.

    Zolelwa Sifumba, a South African doctor, was diagnosed with drug-resistant TB in 2012 when she was a medical student and endured 18 months of treatment taking about 20 pills every day in addition to daily injections, which left her in “immense pain” and resulted in some hearing loss. Bedaquiline was not rolled out as a standard treatment in South Africa until 2018.

    “I wanted to quit (treatment) every single day,” she said. Since her recovery, Sifumba has become an advocate for better TB treatment, saying it makes little sense to charge poor countries high prices for essential medicines.

    “TB is everywhere but the burden of it is in your lower and middle income countries,” she said. “If the lower income countries can’t get it (the drug), then what’s the point? Who are you making it for?”

    ___

    Cheng reported from London.

    ___

    AP health coverage: https://apnews.com/health

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  • Scottish officials approve UK’s first drug consumption room intended for safer use of illegal drugs

    Scottish officials approve UK’s first drug consumption room intended for safer use of illegal drugs

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    LONDON — Scottish authorities on Wednesday approved a 2.3 million-pound ($2.8 million) pound drug consumption room, the first government-backed place in the U.K. where users can take illegal drugs such as cocaine and heroin under the supervision of medical staff.

    Local officials in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Wednesday approved the facility, which had long been delayed by political disagreements. Authorities hope the pilot project will help tackle drug misuse problems in Scotland, which has the highest drug death figures in Western Europe and saw almost three times the rate of drug poisoning deaths compared to the U.K. average in 2021.

    The facility, which will start recruiting staff next year, was first proposed in 2016 following an HIV outbreak in Glasgow among people who injected drugs in public places. It’s backed by the Scottish government, although some lawmakers have raised concerns about the impact on local residents and businesses.

    Proponents, including Scotland’s drug and alcohol policy minister Elena Whitham, say evidence from more than 100 similar facilities worldwide, including in Germany and the Netherlands, show they work to save lives and reduce overall costs to health services.

    The center will be staffed by trained health care professionals and offer a hygienic environment where people can consume drugs they obtained elsewhere.

    Officials say people can’t share drugs with others in the facility, and that health and social workers at the center will offer advice and support on recovery and welfare. They added that the center doesn’t encourage drug use but promotes harm reduction and reduces overdoses.

    In a report, Glasgow officials, including health professionals, said there was “overwhelming international evidence” that such facilities reduce the negative impact of drug use in public spaces, in particular the risk of infection and risks to the public from discarded needles.

    It said that following the 2016 HIV outbreak, an assessment found there were “approximately 400 to 500 people injecting drugs in public places in Glasgow city centre on a regular basis.”

    Official figures for last year showed that 1,051 people died in Scotland because of drug misuse, a decrease compared to recent years but still far higher than the rest of the U.K. and most places in Europe. The city of Glasgow had the worst problem, with 44 such deaths per 100,000 people.

    Whitham said Scotland’s government has committed 2.35 million pounds a year from 2024 to fund the pilot facility.

    Scotland’s devolved government makes it own policy decisions on matters such as health and education. The U.K.-wide government in London has previously said it does not support such facilities in England and Wales, citing concerns that they condone or encourage drug use.

    The Scottish government, which often taken more liberal positions on social issues than the Conservative administration in London, has proposed decriminalizing possession of all drugs for personal use. But that suggestion was blocked by the U.K. government in London, which said it had no plans to soften drug laws.

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  • Former Tennessee police officer sues after department rescinds job offer because he has HIV

    Former Tennessee police officer sues after department rescinds job offer because he has HIV

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    A former Memphis police officer of the year is suing the Nashville Police Department for rescinding a job offer after the department learned he has HIV

    ByTRAVIS LOLLER Associated Press

    A former Memphis police officer of the year has filed a discrimination lawsuit against the Nashville Police Department, claiming it violated federal law by rescinding a job offer after learning he has HIV.

    The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court in Nashville, said the officer presented a letter from his health care provider showing that his HIV status should not disqualify him from employment. The officer, identified only by the pseudonym John Doe, has successfully suppressed the virus with medication and that his viral load is undetectable, according to the letter.

    “Undetectable means un-transmittable,” the letter states. It adds that, “He remains in great health and this virus will not and has not ever effected his job performance or duties.”

    Nashville’s legal department has not yet been served with the lawsuit and declined to comment on the case, associate director Allison Bussell said in an email Tuesday.

    The department previously defended the decision to rescind Doe’s offer of employment in a position statement to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2021. It explains that the city’s charter requires all police officer candidates to meet the physical requirements for admission to the U.S. Army or Navy. Those regulations exclude people with HIV from enlisting and are currently the subject of a separate lawsuit by Lambda Legal.

    According to Doe’s lawsuit, which was also brought by Lambda Legal, he began working as a Memphis police officer in 2017. In 2019, when his wife got a job in Nashville, he sought employment with the Metro Nashville Police Department. He was offered a job in February 2020 contingent upon a successful medical exam. When a blood test turned up his HIV status, the department rescinded the job offer. He appealed and lost.

    Doe then filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He received a notice of right to sue this past April. In the meantime, Nashville voted to amend its charter to remove the requirement that a police recruit comply with the U.S. military standards, although Lambda Legal attorney Jose Abrigo said in an interview Tuesday that the change has not yet been implemented.

    Doe currently works as an officer with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, according to the lawsuit. He is seeking a court order to require Nashville police to hire him at the same salary and position he would have occupied if his employment offer had not been rescinded, including lost wages and other benefits. He also is seeking a damage award and legal fees. And he wants a court order preventing Nashville police from refusing to employ officers because they are HIV-positive.

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  • Undue influence? Anonymous donations to World Health Organization’s new foundation raise concerns

    Undue influence? Anonymous donations to World Health Organization’s new foundation raise concerns

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    Nearly 40% of the money raised by the WHO Foundation in its first two years came from anonymous sources, worrying some that donors may be trying to influence the World Health Organization and its role in shaping global health policy with their gifts.

    The foundation, launched in 2020 to help raise private sector funds for the WHO, said it received $66 million in direct gifts through 2022, with $26 million coming from donors who chose not to be publicly named. Anil Soni, WHO Foundation CEO, told The Associated Press the foundation’s board, which includes a representative from the WHO, knows the donors’ identities and that the foundation will not accept a gift if there is a conflict of interest.

    “They want to be anonymous because they’re otherwise solicited or even targeted because they’re seen to be a source of wealth,” Soni said in an interview. “And I respect that.”

    The foundation, which is based in Switzerland, is not required to disclose its donors.

    Some global health practitioners worry anonymous donations make it harder to spot potential conflicts of interest. They say companies may donate to the foundation to influence the WHO’s global health policies and reports that often have wide-ranging ramifications. For example, food and beverage companies took note last week when two branches of the WHO found that the sweetener aspartame — used in diet soda and countless foods — may be a “possible” cause of cancer.

    “For the integrity of the WHO, I think it’s really important that there’s some greater transparency around this,” said Sophie Harman, professor of international politics at Queen Mary University of London, of the anonymous donations, which include a single anonymous gift of $20 million to the foundation’s operating expenses.

    Private and philanthropic funding have long supported other large global health organizations like Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, but Harman said the WHO has stood out as the publicly funded body that also sets standards across all areas of health.

    “This is a big step change for the WHO that it’s now doing this,” Harman said.

    The bulk of the WHO’s funding comes from governments. But in 2020 with the onslaught of the pandemic and then-President Donald Trump’s move to withdraw from the WHO, many hoped the WHO Foundation might generate new financing from wealthy individuals, the private sector and public fundraising campaigns.

    Soni, the first leader of the foundation, has become an evangelist of sorts for bringing in new private sources of funding for the WHO. A veteran of major global health organizations like the Global Fund and the Clinton Health Access Initiative, he most recently worked eight years at the pharmaceutical company Viatris.

    Soni said he is committed to transparency. The foundation published a list of donors and their donations online, including the anonymous ones. Soni pointed to the foundation’s gift acceptance and whistleblower policies as examples of how it guards against undue outside influence. It also bundles gifts to support specific work, such as the WHO’s Ukraine and COVID-19 responses.

    “What they’ve set out in their gift policy is a really good start,” said Quinn Grundy, assistant professor with the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto, who has studied the interactions of industry with health systems. She also encouraged the foundation to decline gifts from donors who do not want to be publicly named.

    The WHO already receives private support from major philanthropies, like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which directs much of its donations toward eradicating polio. The WHO Foundation does not aim to redirect that support, but rather motivate new donors.

    Among the companies that have donated to the foundation are Meta, the parent company of Facebook, medical technology company Masimo Corp., luxury travel company DFS Group, and food giant Nestle. That donation elicited outcry from some global health professionals because of Nestle’s history of marketing baby formula. WHO guidelines advocate for breastfeeding and say that formula should be available when needed, but not be promoted.

    The foundation eventually reallocated Nestle’s $2.1 million donation to the vaccine-sharing initiative COVAX rather than to the WHO’s COVID-19 response. Nestle did not comment on the donation but said it complies with national laws on marketing formula. It has also voluntarily extended a policy not to promote formula for babies up to six months to all countries, including those like the U.S. that do not have regulations, among other commitments.

    “Any donor to the WHO, whether a company or a government, the entirety of what they’re doing is not necessarily going to be compliant with WHO norms and standards,” Soni said, adding that the foundation’s acceptance of those gifts should not limit the WHO’s ability to hold those countries or companies accountable.

    Another new vehicle that the foundation has created is an impact investment fund, which launched last year. The Global Health Equity Fund will be run by the Israeli-venture group OurCrowd and seeks to raise $200 million to invest in “breakthrough” technologies for health care and in industries that impact health, like energy and agriculture. The foundation will not select the investments but will work with companies to make their technologies accessible and appropriate for markets in low- and middle-income countries.

    Javier Guzman, director of global health policy at the Center for Global Development, thinks it is inappropriate that the WHO Foundation is involved with the development of any technology that might eventually be evaluated by the WHO, which he said has the power to shape industries and markets.

    “The foundation should not be associated with any global venture firm, should not be associated with picking winners and deciding what companies and what technologies should or should not be developed,” Guzman said.

    Soni responded that “The WHO Foundation does not ‘pick winners’, but we are helping to make more bets to encourage innovative solutions to save lives.”

    He pointed to his experience working on access to treatments for HIV and AIDS as one motivation for the fund. While great strides have been made, he said, it generally takes years for new medications and interventions to reach poorer countries. The fund will ask the companies it invests in to make a plan to incorporate those countries into their business models.

    “Too often in these debates about development, whether it’s health, education or climate, we’re focused on public capital or charitable capital,” said Soni, adding the foundation is seeking to influence return-seeking capital to be better aligned with public good.

    ___

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Chinese president Xi Jinping stresses US-China cooperation in meeting with Bill Gates

    Chinese president Xi Jinping stresses US-China cooperation in meeting with Bill Gates

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    Chinese leader Xi Jinping said the United States and China can cooperate to “benefit our two countries” in a meeting Friday with Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates

    In this photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, Bill Gates, left, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Friday, June 16, 2023. Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates has met with Chinese President Xi Jinping just days after a visit to Beijing by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The state broadcaster CCTV showed Xi saying he was happy to see Gates, who he called an “old friend,” after three years without meeting during the pandemic. (Yin Bogu/Xinhua via AP)

    The Associated Press

    BEIJING — Chinese leader Xi Jinping said the United States and China can cooperate to “benefit our two countries” in a meeting Friday with Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates ahead of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a time of strained relations.

    The state broadcaster CCTV showed Xi saying he was happy to see Gates, who he called an “old friend,” after three years without meeting during the pandemic.

    “I believe that the foundation of Sino-U.S. relations lies in the people,” Xi said to Gates. “Under the current world situation, we can carry out various activities that benefit our two countries, the people of our countries, and the entire human race.”

    Xi gave no details but emphasized the potential benefits of cooperation that has been hampered by disputes over human rights, Taiwan, security and technology. Gates told Xi he was “very honored” to meet with Xi.

    The visits by leading foreign business people have coincided with efforts by the ruling Communist Party to revive investor interest in China’s slowing economy. Apple CEO Tim Cook visited China in March.

    Despite his upbeat remarks, Xi accused Washington in March of trying to hold back China’s development with restrictions on access to U.S. microchips and other technology.

    Tensions between the U.S. and China have festered in recent years, but recently the two sides have held talks on trade and other issues. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to arrive in China on Sunday for a two-day visit.

    He will be the first secretary of state to visit China since 2018 and is expected to meet with Foreign Minister Qin Gang and possibly with Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to U.S. officials.

    On Thursday, the the Gates Foundation pledged $50 million to bolster the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute’s capacity to develop drugs to fight diseases like malaria and tuberculosis. The institute was jointly founded by the Gates Foundation, Tsinghua University and the Beijing municipal government.

    Gates’ last trip to China was in 2019, where he met first lady Peng Liyuan to discuss the Gates Foundation’s efforts in HIV/AIDS prevention.

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  • NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

    NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

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    A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

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    Italy hasn’t created a ‘Family Pride Month’ in response to LGBTQ+ celebrations

    CLAIM: Italy’s prime minister has launched “Family Pride Month” to promote “traditional families” as a counterpoint to events celebrating the LGBTQ+ community.

    THE FACTS: Anti-gay groups and LGBTQ+ advocates in the southern European nation confirm the government has made no such announcement. A longstanding, conservative event known as “Family Day” was held last month in Rome, but it is not sponsored by the government and is mostly focused on opposing abortion and same-sex marriage. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and other right wing politicians have attended that daylong event over the years. But social media users are claiming Italy’s conservative government has come up with a new, monthlong celebration of the traditional concept of marriage between a man and a woman. “Report: Italy PM Giorgia Meloni has decided to counter ‘Pride Month’ by launching ‘Family Pride Month’ which will instead promote traditional family,” wrote one Twitter user in a widespread post. Meloni’s office did not respond to emails seeking comment, but LGBTQ+ advocates, opponents and other experts confirmed there is no truth to the claim. “There has been no such announcement by the government and, as far as we know, there has been no proposal either,” said Jacopo Coghe, a spokesperson for Pro Vita & Famiglia, a Rome-based group opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage. “Proof that it is fake news can be found in the fact that no Italian media outlet has ever mentioned it.” Vincenzo Branà, a spokesperson for Arcigay, a prominent LGBTQ+ advocacy group based in Bologna, concurred, adding that the group would strongly oppose such an idea if it ever came to fruition. Some posts making the false claim even include video clips from a longstanding anti-abortion march in Rome, noted Gabriele Magni, a political science professor and founding director of the LGBTQ+ Politics Research Initiative at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Manifestazione Nazionale per la Vita, or the National Demonstration for Life, was organized in part by the Family Day Association and took place May 20. Over the years, Magni said, Meloni and other prominent conservatives have participated in the event, which is akin to the anti-abortion March for Life that takes place annually in Washington, D.C.

    — Associated Press writer Philip Marcelo in New York contributed this report.

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    Video of helicopter conducting a planned burn doesn’t show Canada wildfires are a ‘set up’

    CLAIM: A video of a helicopter dropping flames on treetops in Canada shows wildfires in the country are “a set up.”

    THE FACTS: The footage shows firefighters conducting a planned burn last weekend on the Donnie Creek wildfire in northeastern British Columbia. The ignition was being used to help contain the fire by taking away fuel, not to spread it. Yet social media users misrepresented footage of the containment efforts to baselessly claim it shows that the fires were deliberately lit. A video shared on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter shows a yellow helicopter flying above a forest filled with smoke, as a helitorch suspended from the chopper emits flames. The next shot shows a forest ablaze. Text overlaid on the footage reads: “it was a set up.” However, the footage was taken from a video shared by the British Columbia Wildfire service on June 4 on YouTube. In the video, members of the fire service explain how they are using “planned ignitions” to fight the Donnie Creek blaze. Mike Morrow, an ignition specialist with the service, says firefighters are stopping the conflagration from spreading by using planned burns to rob the fire of fuel. “We’re taking the fuels out on our terms rather than letting Mother Nature guide the project,” he says. Sarah Budd, a spokesperson for the British Columbia Ministry of Forests, confirmed to the AP that the clip circulating online matches the video from the planned burn that took place last weekend, on June 1 and 2, on the Donnie Creek wildfire in northeastern British Columbia. “When the decision is made to conduct such a burn operation, the wildfire is usually beyond the initial attack stage,” Budd said in an email. “The goal is to remove the majority of available fuel ahead of the wildfire so there’s less fuel available for the wildfire to burn.” Similar videos of planned burns have been shared in the past to spread conspiracy theories during major wildfires or to discredit climate change.

    — Associated Press writer Karena Phan in Los Angeles contributed this report.

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    AIDS medication didn’t kill more people than the virus itself

    CLAIM: The majority of AIDS patients died from medication developed when Dr. Anthony Fauci led the nation’s response to the emerging epidemic, not from the virus itself.

    THE FACTS: While it’s true that Fauci had been a leading researcher when AIDS emerged in the 1980s, the claims that azidothymidine, commonly known as AZT, killed more people than the virus itself are baseless. Public health agencies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the World Health Organization, as well as prominent AIDS organizations and researchers, told the AP that the drug, while not perfect, remains in use today as it’s been shown to be effective at keeping HIV in check when used in combination with other medications. Still social media users are once again sharing the long debunked notion that Fauci, the face of the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, advocated decades earlier for a drug to combat the emerging AIDS epidemic that turned out to be more deadly than the virus itself. Many are sharing a video clip from a newly released conspiracy theory film called “Plandemic 3,” a sequel to a 2020 video that spread misinformation about COVID-19 online. The clip features old footage of a young Fauci speaking about the safety and efficacy of AZT, which at the time was the first drug developed to treat HIV, the virus that causes the immune system-damaging disease AIDS. The caption of the clip includes the claim that “hundreds of thousands of innocent people died” as a result of the medication, which it said Fauci “pushed” on the American public. “AZT is what killed a majority of the AIDS patients. Not the virus,” wrote one user on Instagram who shared the video clip. But officials and experts say the claim that AZT was responsible for most AIDS deaths is not backed by scientific evidence. Kathy Donbeck, a spokesperson for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the false claim has “long been trotted out by AIDS ‘denialists’ and debunked repeatedly over the years.” Chanapa Tantibanchachai, a spokesperson for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which approved the antiretroviral drug in 1987, concurred, adding that AZT remains an approved drug for the treatment of HIV. She noted that the FDA-approved package label for Retrovir, the brand name for the drug, which is also known as zidovudine, states that the drug was found to reduce the risk of HIV progression compared to a placebo. A New England Journal of Medicine study from 1987 also concluded that patients who received AZT died at a much lower rate compared to those who received placebo. Fauci, who served as director of NIAID from 1984 until his retirement last year, declined to comment. But health experts also acknowledged the development of better medications to treat HIV diminished AZT’s use over the years. Longer-term research, such as a 1994 study published in Lancet, found that AZT’s effectiveness waned when used as a standalone treatment, explained Marlène Bras, a director at the International AIDS Society based in Geneva, Switzerland. Many patients in the early years of its use ultimately developed AIDS and succumbed to the illnesses as the virus became resistant to AZT. Researchers eventually came to understand that a combination of medications — not just one — was needed to keep HIV in check, said WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic. Today, AZT is among some 40 drugs approved for HIV treatment, he said, though it’s generally reserved for patients for whom new medications fail. The drug is also used to prevent disease transmission in certain situations, such as from an HIV-positive mother to a developing fetus. Health experts weren’t able to provide any statistics or estimates for whether any people died as a result of AZT. Kristen Nordlund, a CDC spokesperson, said a number of factors contribute to AIDS-related deaths, including late diagnosis, limited access to healthcare and co-infections. “AZT was just one component of the evolving treatment strategies for HIV/AIDS, and its use has significantly evolved over time,” she wrote in an email. GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of Retrovir, similarly dismissed the claims as “unsubstantiated.” “Did Fauci support the use of AZT? Yes,” wrote Warren Gill, a spokesperson for AIDS United, an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. in an email. “Was that backed by science? Also, yes.”

    — Philip Marcelo

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    No, Pfizer wasn’t caught ‘funneling’ millions to Anderson Cooper

    CLAIM: Pfizer was caught “funneling” $12 million to CNN host Anderson Cooper to promote COVID-19 vaccines.

    THE FACTS: There is no evidence to support that claim, which is an outgrowth of comments made by anti-vaccine activist and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. His campaign said the remarks were intended as a “rhetorical” comment about the pharmaceutical industry’s influence through advertising. Social media users, however, shared his comments as literal. “BREAKING: Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. claims Pfizer funneled $12 million dollars to CNN anchor Anderson Cooper as part of a deal to promote mRNA COVID jabs to the American public,” one widely shared tweet reads. But there is no factual support for that claim, which a CNN spokesperson called “completely false and fabricated.” Kennedy said during an October 2022 video interview with podcaster Brian Rose that “75% of advertising revenues now in the mainstream media are now coming from pharma and that ratio is even higher for the evening news.” “Anderson Cooper has a $12 million a year annual salary,” he continued. “Well $10 million of that is coming from Pfizer. His boss is not CNN. His boss is Pfizer.” Kennedy made similar comments in another 2022 interview with Dr. Drew Pinsky. While social media users shared his remarks as literal — suggesting Pfizer actually provided Cooper with millions of dollars — Kennedy’s campaign said the Democrat’s words were “rhetorical.” “This was a rhetorical comment, based on the huge proportion of television advertising revenue that comes from pharmaceutical companies,” the campaign said in a statement. “Since they contribute as much as 80% of TV ad revenue, close to $10 million of Mr. Anderson’s salary originates in Big Pharma. To use ‘Pfizer’ as a stand-in for ‘Big Pharma’ was a rhetorical flourish and not technically accurate.” The campaign, when asked, did not provide a citation for the statistic on TV advertising revenue from the pharmaceutical industry, but instead noted that the industry spends billions on TV advertising — and argued that Pfizer advertising on CNN helps to fund Cooper’s salary. CNN declined to comment on Cooper’s salary. The $12 million figure has been floated online without clear sourcing.

    — Associated Press writer Angelo Fichera in New Jersey contributed this report.

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    Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck

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    Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck

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  • Utah man sues Alaska troopers, says his job offer was yanked after revealing HIV status

    Utah man sues Alaska troopers, says his job offer was yanked after revealing HIV status

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    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A Salt Lake City man who says his job offer to become an Alaska State Trooper was rescinded after he disclosed he was HIV positive filed a lawsuit in state court Thursday to get his position on the statewide police force and to prevent others from suffering similar alleged discrimination.

    The lawsuit was filed electronically by Anchorage civil rights attorney Caitlin Shortell on behalf of a man only identified as John Doe, whose HIV is undetectable and untransmissible.

    “There are no reservations about his ability to do the duties of the job, and he is completely fit,” Shortell said, adding he can work without accommodations.

    Doe “seeks to challenge the constitutionality of the Alaska State Troopers’ rescission of a job offer based on his being a person who lives with HIV, in light of medical advancements that render HIV status irrelevant to a person’s ability to meet the criteria for entry and service at Alaska State Troopers in any capacity,” the lawsuit states.

    It alleges violations of civil rights laws, the state and U.S. constitutions and the Alaska Human Rights Act. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the lawsuit, which, as of Thursday morning, had not yet appeared online.

    Named as defendants are James Cockrell, the head of the troopers; the state of Alaska; the troopers, and Beacon Occupational Health and Safety, the troopers’ outside vendor.

    The Department of Public Safety, which oversees the troopers, had not been served with the lawsuit as of Thursday, spokesman Austin McDaniel said in an email to The Associated Press.

    However, he said the department stands by the decisions that were made in this case and “reject the notion that this individual was discriminated against.”

    McDaniel said that because of the threat of litigation and privacy laws, they cannot go into specifics regarding this case.

    “The public places immense trust in their law enforcement officers, and we review a large amount of information, including an individual’s criminal history, work history, psychological fitness, physical fitness, medical fitness, and truthfulness, as we select men and women to become Alaska State Troopers to ensure that they can maintain the public’s trust,” McDaniel said.

    Aris Brimanis, the operations manager for Beacon in Anchorage, said the company did not have immediate comment.

    According to the lawsuit, Doe wanted to be a law enforcement officer since his childhood, where he volunteered at the California Highway Patrol Academy and was an explorer with the local sheriff’s office during high school. He was working as a flight attendant when he applied to be a trooper in April 2020.

    Six months later, he received a conditional offer of employment, the lawsuit said, detailing how he completed the required written exam, two physical ability tests, passed a background test and an oral board interview.

    Doe also passed the written psychological test and interview, and then had to take a polygraph and medical exam as part of the conditions for employment, according to the lawsuit.

    At the medical exam, Doe disclosed his disability status as a person living with HIV, the lawsuit said. He also provided to Beacon’s nurse practitioner recent lab results and a note from his doctor saying he was able to perform all functions of a trooper without reasonable accommodation. However, the nurse practitioner noted on paperwork that Doe may require an accommodation.

    The lawsuit said the practitioner initially wrote “no” to a question if she had any reservations about the candidate’s ability to perform the duties of the job, but then crossed that out and wrote “error,” noting the guidelines for a law enforcement officer. Doe argues the guidelines were out-of-date and didn’t reflect advances in medicine for those with HIV.

    The next day, during a polygraph test, he was asked if he took medication, the lawsuit said. He said yes, but noted he felt this was a prohibited medical inquiry and he had provided medical information to the nurse.

    He told the examiner he wasn’t comfortable disclosing his medical condition when asked what the medication was for. Doe then disclosed his HIV status to the examiner when told the interview process could be stopped if he refused, according to the court documents.

    That polygraph was deemed inconclusive. He took another the following day, which he passed with no questions about his medical condition, the lawsuit said.

    Doe said troopers later rescinded his conditional job offer, telling him there were better qualified applicants even though he already had received the conditional offer and, of the initial 245 applicants, Doe said he was one of the 10 finalists.

    Doe said he was told other applicants had prior military experience and others had already been living in Alaska. Neither is a condition for employment, according to the lawsuit. Half of the 10 finalists offered jobs didn’t live in Alaska, the lawsuit said.

    The lawsuit argues these reasons “were nothing more than a false pretext for unconstitutional discrimination based on Doe’s HIV status.”

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  • Uganda’s president signs into law anti-gay legislation with death penalty in some cases

    Uganda’s president signs into law anti-gay legislation with death penalty in some cases

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    KAMPALA, Uganda — Uganda’s president has signed into law anti-gay legislation supported by many in this East African country but widely condemned by rights activists and others abroad.

    The version of the bill signed by President Yoweri Museveni doesn’t criminalize those who identify as LGBTQ, a key concern for some rights campaigners who condemned an earlier draft of the legislation as an egregious attack on human rights.

    But the new law still prescribes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality,” which is defined as cases of sexual relations involving people infected with HIV, as well as with minors and other categories of vulnerable people.

    A suspect convicted of “attempted aggravated homosexuality” can be imprisoned for up to 14 years, according to the legislation.

    Parliamentary Speaker Anita Among said in a statement that the president had “answered the cries of our people” in signing the bill.

    “With a lot of humility, I thank my colleagues the Members of Parliament for withstanding all the pressure from bullies and doomsday conspiracy theorists in the interest of our country,” the statement said.

    Museveni had returned the bill to the national assembly in April, asking for changes that would differentiate between identifying as LGBTQ and actually engaging in homosexual acts. That angered some lawmakers, including some who feared the president would proceed to veto the bill amid international pressure. Lawmakers passed an amended version of the bill earlier in May.

    LGBTQ rights campaigners say the new legislation is unnecessary in a country where homosexuality has long been illegal under a colonial-era law criminalizing sexual activity “against the order of nature.” The punishment for that offense is life imprisonment.

    The U.S. had warned of economic consequences over legislation described by Amnesty International as “draconian and overly broad.” In a statement from the White House later on Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden called the new law “a tragic violation of universal human rights — one that is not worthy of the Ugandan people, and one that jeopardizes the prospects of critical economic growth for the entire country.”

    “I join with people around the world — including many in Uganda — in calling for its immediate repeal. No one should have to live in constant fear for their life or being subjected to violence and discrimination. It is wrong,” Biden said.

    The U.N. Human Rights Office said it was “appalled that the draconian and discriminatory anti-gay bill is now law,” describing the legislation as ”a recipe for systematic violations of the rights” of LGBTQ people and others.

    In a joint statement the leaders of the U.N. AIDS program, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the Global Fund said they were “deeply concerned about the harmful impact” of the legislation on public health and the HIV response.

    “Uganda’s progress on its HIV response is now in grave jeopardy,” the statement said. “The Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 will obstruct health education and the outreach that can help end AIDS as a public health threat.”

    That statement noted that “stigma and discrimination associated with the passage of the Act has already led to reduced access to prevention as well as treatment services” for LGBTQ people.

    Rights activists have the option of appealing the legislation before the courts. One group of activists and academics later on Monday petitioned the constitutional court seeking an injunction against enforcement of the law.

    An anti-gay bill enacted in 2014 was later nullified by a panel of judges who cited a lack of quorum in the plenary session that had passed that particular bill. Any legal challenge this time is likely to be heard on the merits, rather than on technical questions.

    Anti-gay sentiment in Uganda has grown in recent weeks amid news coverage alleging sodomy in boarding schools, including a prestigious school for boys where a parent accused a teacher of abusing her son.

    The February decision of the Church of England ’s national assembly to continue banning church weddings for same-sex couples while allowing priests to bless same-sex marriages and civil partnerships outraged many in Uganda and elsewhere in Africa.

    Homosexuality is criminalized in more than 30 of Africa’s 54 countries. Some Africans see it as behavior imported from abroad and not a sexual orientation.

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  • Cannes turns up the glamour for amfAR gala to raise money for AIDS research

    Cannes turns up the glamour for amfAR gala to raise money for AIDS research

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    ANTIBES, France — With a guestlist that boasted equal parts wealth, fame and glamour, amfAR returned to the French Riviera Thursday for its Cannes gala to raise money for AIDS research.

    Queen Latifah hosted the 29th edition with Eva Longoria, Fan Bingbing and Rebel Wilson among the stars walking the red carpet. Also in attendance were models Elsa Hosk, Heidi Klum, Coco Rocha and Winne Harlow. The gala attracts many of the top names attending the nearby Cannes Film Festival.

    Attendees arrived at the famous Hôtel Du Cap, Eden Roc where the evening started with sunset drinks and canapes looking out to a giant super yacht moored up in the bay.

    This was followed by a dinner of asparagus and truffle starter and seared salmon main course while guests enjoyed a night of performances that Gladys Knight kicked off.

    Bebe Rexha and Adam Lambert also performed.

    “I’m very honored to be singing tonight for this cause and seeing amazing people on the carpet and … beautiful fashion all in the name of raising money for HIV, AIDS, research,” Lambert said before the gala.

    Halsey closed the show.

    The auction featured an array of artwork, diamond jewels, and experiences.

    The centerpiece was a unique Aston Martin sportscar, the first of its type in the world which was auctioned off by Eva Longoria and sold for 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million).

    The engine cover is signed by F1 drivers Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso and the car will be presented at a Grand Prix of the buyer’s choice and then delivered anywhere in the world.

    Other top lots included a pair of white gold Chopard earrings set with diamonds and emeralds sold for 275,000 euros ($295,000) and a Damien Hirst portrait of Leonardo DiCaprio reached 1.2 million euros ($1.29 million).

    DiCaprio, an amfAR regular, slipped in undetected by cameras to enjoy the entertainment, but did not come to the stage to present the winning bidder with his prize.

    The annual runway show curated by Carine Roitfeld was this year dedicated to designer Vivienne Westwood and saw a trail of top fashion models showing off a series of designs on a makeshift catwalk through the diners. ‘Jewelry and accessories are not part of this lot’ states the catalogue as the whole collection was auctioned off to the highest bidder an impressive 600,000 euros ($644,000) to the sound of Tina Turner’s “The Best.”

    Guests ended the night dancing into the early hours at the afterparty, held by the hotel’s swimming pool.

    AmfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and advocacy. Since 1985, amfAR has invested nearly $600 million in its programs and has awarded more than 3,500 grants to research teams worldwide.

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  • Cannes turns up the glamour for amfAR gala to raise money for AIDS research

    Cannes turns up the glamour for amfAR gala to raise money for AIDS research

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    ANTIBES, France — With a guestlist that boasted equal parts wealth, fame and glamour, amfAR returned to the French Riviera Thursday for its Cannes gala to raise money for AIDS research.

    Queen Latifah hosted the 29th edition with Eva Longoria, Fan Bingbing and Rebel Wilson among the stars walking the red carpet. Also in attendance were models Elsa Hosk, Heidi Klum, Coco Rocha and Winne Harlow. The gala attracts many of the top names attending the nearby Cannes Film Festival.

    Attendees arrived at the famous Hôtel Du Cap, Eden Roc where the evening started with sunset drinks and canapes looking out to a giant super yacht moored up in the bay.

    This was followed by a dinner of asparagus and truffle starter and seared salmon main course while guests enjoyed a night of performances that Gladys Knight kicked off.

    Bebe Rexha and Adam Lambert also performed.

    “I’m very honored to be singing tonight for this cause and seeing amazing people on the carpet and … beautiful fashion all in the name of raising money for HIV, AIDS, research,” Lambert said before the gala.

    Halsey closed the show.

    The auction featured an array of artwork, diamond jewels, and experiences.

    The centerpiece was a unique Aston Martin sportscar, the first of its type in the world which was auctioned off by Eva Longoria and sold for 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million).

    The engine cover is signed by F1 drivers Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso and the car will be presented at a Grand Prix of the buyer’s choice and then delivered anywhere in the world.

    Other top lots included a pair of white gold Chopard earrings set with diamonds and emeralds sold for 275,000 euros ($295,000) and a Damien Hirst portrait of Leonardo DiCaprio reached 1.2 million euros ($1.29 million).

    DiCaprio, an amfAR regular, slipped in undetected by cameras to enjoy the entertainment, but did not come to the stage to present the winning bidder with his prize.

    The annual runway show curated by Carine Roitfeld was this year dedicated to designer Vivienne Westwood and saw a trail of top fashion models showing off a series of designs on a makeshift catwalk through the diners. ‘Jewelry and accessories are not part of this lot’ states the catalogue as the whole collection was auctioned off to the highest bidder an impressive 600,000 euros ($644,000) to the sound of Tina Turner’s “The Best.”

    Guests ended the night dancing into the early hours at the afterparty, held by the hotel’s swimming pool.

    AmfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and advocacy. Since 1985, amfAR has invested nearly $600 million in its programs and has awarded more than 3,500 grants to research teams worldwide.

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  • Ukraine’s health care on the brink after hundreds of attacks

    Ukraine’s health care on the brink after hundreds of attacks

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    KRASNOHORIVKA, Ukraine — Valentyna Mozgova sweeps shattered glass and other debris from the vacant halls of the bombed-out hospital where she began her career. Living in the basement, the 55-year-old lab technician now works as its solitary guard.

    Russian artillery strikes targeted Marinskaya Central District Hospital in 2017 and again in 2021. But numerous barrages over the last seven months forced the hospital’s medical staff to flee, destroying key departments such as neurology and gynecology, as well as a general medical clinic in the process.

    Mozgova chose to stay. Having worked in the hospital’s laboratories since graduating from medical school in the late 1980s, she agreed to act as the hospital’s security guard for 10,000 hryvnia ($250) a month. She and her husband were soon joined in the basement shelter by five others who had lost their homes to bombing, a dog and a cat.

    Mozgova picks up the broom at 8 a.m. sharp every three days to inspect the hallways, carefully avoiding the fragments of Russian Grad rockets strewn across the floors for fear of yet another explosion.

    “Everything is decaying and falling apart,” she told The Associated Press. “But I’m so sick of it. I want to live my life normally, sleep in my bed, watch my TV, not jump at the sound of an explosion, go to work calmly and do my job.”

    A year into Russia’s war in Ukraine, hundreds of attacks against the health care system have begun to take a toll. More than 700 attacks have targeted health care facilities and staff since the Feb. 24 Russian invasion , according to data verified by five organizations working inside Ukraine.

    The World Health Organization has similarly documented more than 750 attacks and 101 deaths, and Ukraine’s health minister said recently that more than 1,200 facilities have been damaged either directly or indirectly, with 173 hospitals damaged beyond repair.

    The report released Tuesday, which was shared in advance with the AP, said Russia has targeted the Ukrainian health care system “deliberately and indiscriminately” — an allegation that the organization said amounted to a war crime.

    The attacks were at their most ferocious early in the war, according to the report, which found a total of 278 attacks in the last four days of February and all of March — an average of eight per day.

    The report defines attacks not just as weapons strikes, but also threats aimed at forcing doctors to keep working in occupied territories, and incidents of theft in areas that Russian forces failed to hold on to.

    In the city of Kherson, residents said retreating Russian forces took most of the ambulances with them. As they captured the city of Mariupol, the Russians took over the city’s last functioning hospital, days after a Russian airstrike devastated a maternity ward.

    “Russian soldiers were on all the floors. They counted the patients, counted the employees, so that no one would leave. They said that if the doctors left, they would shoot,” Maryna Gorbach, a nurse from Mariupol Hospital No. 2, told the AP in an interview in December.

    Gorbach, like most of the staff, managed to flee a few days later.

    In Izium, explosives ripped through the main hospital’s walls in March, shredding its wiring and forcing doctors and patients into the basement.

    “Before we went to the basement we covered our patients with mattresses because we thought they would protect patients from shrapnel,” said Dr. Yurii Kuznetsov, a trauma surgeon who for a time was the only doctor still at the hospital. At this point, three of the four floors are functional. Water drips from the roof. But patients have already seen how much repair has been accomplished.

    For a year, AP journalists across Ukraine have also witnessed the result of attacks on hospitals, ambulances and medical staff firsthand.

    “They follow specific patterns, and it is those patterns that are important, not even the number,” said Pavlo Kovtoniuk of the Ukrainian Health Care think tank, which was among the groups gathering data. “Because patterns mean that that most likely was a deliberate policy, not just a coincidence or separate events.”

    Russia claims Ukraine has also hit hospitals in territory it occupies. But Kovtoniuk said there’s a vast difference between the huge number of systematic attacks recorded and what he described as accidents that happen in the course of a war for survival.

    The international organization Physicians for Human Rights long documented Russian attacks on medical facilities in Syria and said the war in Ukraine indicated a continuation of that policy. The U.K. defense mnistry said that Russian attacks on medical and educational facilities intensified in January.

    The attacks show keen awareness of “the cascading effects that attacks on health have on the civilian population,” said Christian De Vos, director of research and investigation for Physicians for Human Rights, who contributed to the report. “It’s part of a destabilizing tactic to sow fear in the wider population.”

    In the short term, attacks have forced many hospitals to shut down or sharply reduce services. In Izium, which was liberated by Ukrainian troops last fall, around 200 people from a staff of 500 have returned to work, and one of the damaged wings is operating again after repairs. At least one pharmacy has reopened as well, enabling people whose medication ran out during six months of occupation to be resupplied.

    Ukraine had the second-highest number of HIV infections in Europe and Central Asia and one of the highest rates of drug-resistant tuberculosis. But since the invasion, the number of people being treated for these ailments has dropped precipitously. Drug quantities aren’t an issue thanks to a steady supply from donations. But it’s harder to follow-up or track new infections because of the mass displacement of Ukrainians within the country and across Europe.

    Andriy Klepikov runs the Alliance for Public Health, an organization whose mobile clinics reach towns near the front lines. He worries about cases of tuberculosis or HIV that are going undiagnosed, but remains optimistic about his country’s capacity to overcome.

    “The health system is (not about) walls or buildings or even equipment. It is about people,” he said. “The Ukrainian military are known for their strength and resilience, but in the area of public health, we are equally strong and resilient.”

    Back in Krasnohorivka, a tank shell took out the signal for a Russian television show about the lives of doctors that Mozgova enjoyed. Despite the loss of what little made life comfortable for her, Mozgova said neither she nor her husband have any plans of permanently rejoining their adult children in the western city of Lviv, considered among the safest in Ukraine.

    “They tell us to come and they have space, but what will I do? I’ll be a guest there. So I’ll be here as long as I have work. I’m trying to be useful here,” she said. “However good it was with my children and grandchildren I still think about this place because it’s my home.”

    ___

    Lori Hinnant reported from Paris. Vasilisa Stepanenko reported from Izium. Inna Varenytsia contributed to this report from Kyiv.

    ___

    Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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  • HIV-positive heart donor’s family, recipient meet

    HIV-positive heart donor’s family, recipient meet

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    NEW YORK — Brittany Newton’s family grieved last spring when her life was cut short, at age 30, by a brain aneurysm. But they got to feel close to her again this week, listening to her heart beating in the chest of a thankful New York woman whose life was saved by an organ transplant.

    Miriam Nieves, 62, on Tuesday eagerly hugged Newton’s mother and sisters, who she met for the first time at Montefiore Medical Center, where the heart transplant was performed last April.

    “The only words that come this Thanksgiving for me is, I am so thankful and so grateful for science, for my family, for my God,” Nieves said. “But I can’t express enough that if it wasn’t for the donors, they are my angels, because they are the ones that allow me this second opportunity.”

    Newton’s mother, Bridgette Newton, carried a large photo of her daughter, a certified nursing assistant who had lived in Louisiana.

    “My child is still walking around,” she said. “And for that I will forever be grateful.”

    Nieves, a former public relations professional who now lives in New York City’s suburbs, beat a heroin addiction 30 years ago but was left HIV-positive.

    The married mother of three and grandmother of six started experiencing heart failure after problems with her kidneys.

    In order to find a match when the shortage of donors is acute, doctors at the hospital expanded their search to include HIV-positive donors. Enter Newton, an organ donor whose family only learned of her HIV status after her death.

    Doctors transplanted her heart and kidney into Nieves.

    Newton’s sisters, Breanne and Brianca Newton, used a stethoscope to listen to the beating heart. Breanne Newton said she wasn’t surprised when she heard Nieves say she felt more energetic since the transplant.

    “That was my sister. She had energy. She was a goer,” she said, adding, “We are very, very thankful. And it’s just a blessing.”

    Surgeons have been transplanting organs from HIV-positive donors to HIV-positive recipients for several years but doctors at Montefiore said this was the first such transplant of a heart.

    “I think it’s going to be done again because we’ve shown that it’s safe,” said Dr. Omar Saeed, a transplant cardiologist at Montefiore.

    “The reality is that there are more people who need hearts than there are hearts available,” said Dr. Vagish Hemmige, an infectious disease specialist at the facility. “The HIV heart transplant program enables people living with HIV to receive life-saving transplants from donors that otherwise wouldn’t be used.”

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