Over the next few decades, one of the most pressing issues, at both the national and international levels, will be the undeniable ageing of the world's richest peoples. Last month, at a Tokyo conference entitled Aging and the Global Economy, the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies warned us that the world's wealthiest countries are ageing too quickly.
Equity in Health
World's ageing population could lead to permanent recession
AIDS expert challenges ethical stance on drug trials
Measures to protect people in developing countries from being exploited in medical research trials may prevent some projects going ahead that could improve the health of poor people, a leading scientist has warned.
Angola: Plans to Launch HIV/AIDS Testing Project
The Angolan government plans to launch an HIV/AIDS testing and counselling project to analyse the prevalence of the disease in the country, official news agency Angop has reported.
BBC: "Tobacco On Trial"
The tobacco industry claims to employ 30 million people worldwide. But it produces a product that has serious health implications for millions more. Governments are negotiating new international controls. This website helps you to understand the health, political and economic issues at stake as tobacco goes on trial.
Botswana: Government to Test Students for HIV/AIDS
The Botswana government may soon test all prospective students for HIV/AIDS, reported the 'Botswana Gazette' on Thursday. Addressing first year students of the University of Botswana last week, career guidance officers from the Ministry of Education said the government was considering testing students compulsorily.
Botswana: Interview With National AIDS Coordinator
Botswana has one of the world's highest percentages of people living with HIV/AIDS. Latest figures from UNAIDS suggest more than 35 percent of Botswana's adult population carry the virus. Stigma and denial remain huge impediments to fighting the disease. A recent government report found that many Batswana still believe that HIV/AIDS was a foreign disease, which is not in Botswana or is only found in urban areas. Head of the National AIDS Coordinating Group (NACG), Babu Khan, spoke to IRIN about the challenges associated with tackling the epidemic.
Curbing the Epidemic:
Governments and the Economics of Tobacco Control
A World Bank study on tobacco in developing countries. "Developing countries can prevent millions of premature deaths and much disability if they adopt measures to reduce the demand for tobacco" according to the study. "To effectively reduce demand, governments can raise cigarette taxes, ban the advertising and promotion of tobacco products, and provide information on the health risks smoking causes directly or through research."
Developing Countries See Increase in Birth Defects
More Women Use Misoprostol in Effort to End Pregnancies
Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa and the Philippines are experiencing a "minor epidemic of birth defects" because poor women are taking misoprostol in an attempt to end their pregnancies, the New Scientist reports.
Discrimination Against People With HIV/AIDS
In the first half of 2000, the German national AIDS organization Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe e.V. (DAH) in Berlin presented the results of a study into international entry and residence regulations and the availability of medical treatment for people with HIV infection and AIDS. DAH had succeeded in collecting information from 166 countries. The results are disturbing.
Drug firm is to supply AIDS drug free in South Africa
As the legal campaign against the South African government’s decision not to provide antiretroviral drugs grows apace, it has emerged that the manufacturer of one of the drugs is about to supply the drug free of charge.