Aids-related Deaths ‘Down 21% From Peak’, says UNAids

Aids-related deaths are at the lowest level since their 2005 peak, down 21%, figures from UNAids suggest.

Globally, the number of new HIV infections in 2010 was 21% down on that peak, seen in 1997, according to UNAids 2011 report.

The organisation says both falls have been fuelled by a major expansion in access to treatment.

Its executive director, Michel Sidibe, said: “We are on the verge of a significant breakthrough.”

He added: “Even in a very difficult financial crisis, countries are delivering results in the Aids response.

“We have seen a massive scale up in access to HIV treatment which has had a dramatic effect on the lives of people everywhere.”

‘End in sight?’

This latest analysis says the number of people living with HIV has reached a record 34 million.

Sub-Saharan Africa has seen the most dramatic improvement, with a 20% rise in people undergoing treatment between 2009 and 2010.

About half of those eligible for treatment are now receiving it.

UNAids estimates 700,000 deaths were averted last year because of better access to treatment.

That has also helped cut new HIV infections, as people undergoing care are less likely to infect others.

In 2010 there were an estimated 2.7m new HIV infections, down from 3.2m in 1997, and 1.8m people died from Aids-related illnesses, down from 2.2m in 2005.

The figures continue the downward trend reported in previous UNAids reports.

The UN agency said: “The number of new HIV infections is 30-50% lower now than it would have been in the absence of universal access to treatment for eligible people living with HIV.”

Some countries have seen particularly striking improvements.

In Namibia, treatment access has reached 90% and condom use rose to 75%, resulting in a 60% drop in new infections by 2010.

UNAids says the full preventive impact of treatment is likely to be seen in the next five years, as more countries improve treatment.

Its report added that even if the Aids epidemic was not over: “The end may be in sight if countries invest smartly.”

‘Promising moment’

The charity Medecins Sans Frontieres urged governments to keep up their funding.

MSF’s Tido von Schoen-Angerer, said: “Never, in more than a decade of treating people living with HIV/Aids, have we been at such a promising moment to really turn this epidemic around.

“Governments in some of the hardest hit countries want to act on the science, seize this moment and reverse the Aids epidemic. But this means nothing if there’s no money to make it happen.”

The International HIV/Aids Alliance said: “We welcome the ongoing commitment of UNAids to changing behaviours, changing social norms and changing laws, alongside efforts to improve access to HIV treatment.

“For bigger and better impact though, we must not be complacent. There is still much more to do.”

November 15, 2011December 24, 2011

What Do the Most Successful People Have in Common?

Are The Smartest The Most Successful?

Of course YES! That is what the conventional wisdom says. As kids in primary school, our teachers instilled this belief in us. Spend more time with your books, learn, learn and learn if you want to be successful in life.

That was what I was taught and I held onto that from Primary school through University. Fortunately, today I don’t have any formal examination to write, even though I learn every day, so that gives me reasonable space and time to pause and ask:

“It is true that the smartest are the most successful in life?”

I’m not going to explore the philosophy of what is success and what is failure because there can be as many definitions of success and failure as there are stars in the sky. Nevertheless, regardless of how I define success, I come to the same conclusion; the smartest academically are not necessarily the most successful. That kind of hurts, but that was the only honest conclusion I could arrive at. I try to look at every group of students that I was part of home and abroad and then sample a section of people I can call to mind and follow, not on twitter but in real life. These are the folks you would call successful, and of course you have the liberty to define success anyway you want.

After completing this exercise, the picture that emerges is a scarily a mixed bag: few of the people who made my list were very smart by the conventional definition of the word, some were average, and some were passing throughs, that is those who felt too school was not their thing but were just passing though to make mom and dad happy, anyway.

While classroom performance was not the common denominator that puts these folks in one class, there are certain factors that I identified common to all of them. In the coming weeks, I would be discussing each of these qualities in detail. This is not going to be ’14 Steps to be a Millionaire in 14 Days’ kind of stuff. In fact if I knew any secret like that, I would be in Jamaica on vacation at this hour. What I hope to accomplish is to share with you powerful qualities I have learned by observing a number of people in diverse fields and perhaps to attempt to convince you that the race is not to the smartest.

As a summary for today, in my assessment, the men and women I could describe as successful shared some traits which are also shared by some of the most successful people everywhere. Prominent among these traits are:

The propensity to break rules: It’s unfortunate that this quality comes out first, but I can identify it in almost all the people that made the cut
Passion: They just do something for the love of it
Making connections: they just want to be noticed and known for reasons no one knows and sometimes makes no sense
Curiosity: They desire to explore and ask stupid questions
Risk taking: they do the things mom dreads of
Persistence: they never take no for an answer
Focus: they get fixed on their strengths and passions. Nothing else matters.

In the coming days and weeks, I will be discussing each of these success factors in detail with specific examples. Please check back and join to share your views and experiences.

Next on this series

Part 1: They Love to Break Rules

Please check back

November 12, 2011

A New Test to Help Predict Pre-eclampsia During Pregnancy

A test carried out during pregnancy could predict which women will develop a potentially fatal condition called pre-eclampsia, scientists say.

Presenting their study to the American Society of Nephrology, researchers said the test detected specific kidney cells in patients’ urine.

Out of 15 women who developed pre-eclampsia, all tested positive for the cells.

Experts say a simple, predictive test during pregnancy would be valuable.

Warning sign

Pre-eclampsia is a disorder which appears in the late stages of pregnancy and is characterised by high blood pressure and excess protein in the urine.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic, who presented their work to the annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology, tested 300 women

Dr Vesna Garovic assessed a test which detects the shedding of kidney cells called podocytes in the urine. The team had previously found podocytes present in patients with pre-eclampsia when they gave birth.

In this study, all the women who went on to develop pre-eclampsia had podocytes in their urine, while none of the 15 who went on to develop high blood pressure or the 44 healthy pregnant women did.

Although carried out on small numbers of women, the researchers say the test is highly accurate for predicting pre-eclampsia and could alert doctors early to the problem.

Ann Marie Barnard, chief executive of Action on Pre-Eclampsia, said an accurate test would help many women.

“A large number of the 1,500 women who call our helpline each year are terrified of becoming pregnant again because they have suffered pre-eclampsia, often with tragic results. Many do decide to go ahead with a new pregnancy anyway.

“Any test which can predict whether they are going to get it again has to be welcomed – while it cannot stop the disease occurring, it would enable services to be more closely focused on them and more alert to signs of the disease developing.”

And Andrew Shennan, professor of obstetrics at St Thomas Hospital in London, said: “Being able to use a simple accurate test in pregnancy, such as from a urine sample, would be valuable in identifying those women to watch closely.

“Current tests are not reliable enough, and further work is needed to confirm these promising findings in larger groups.”

October 21, 2011

Link Between Mobile Phones and Brain Cancer Rejected

By Nick Triggle Health correspondent, BBC News

Further research has been published suggesting there is no link between mobile phones and brain cancer.

The risk mobiles present has been much debated over the past 20 years as use of the phones has soared.

The latest study led by the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Denmark looked at more than 350,000 people with mobile phones over an 18-year period.

Researchers concluded users were at no greater risk than anyone else of developing brain cancer.

The findings, published on the British Medical Journal website, come after a series of studies have come to similar conclusions.

‘Reassuring’

But there has also been some research casting doubt on mobile phone safety, prompting the World Health Organization to warn that they could still be carcinogenic.

In doing so, the WHO put mobile phones in the same category as coffee, meaning a link could not be ruled out but could not be proved either.

The Department of Health continue to advise that anyone under the age of 16 should use mobile phones only for essential purposes and keep all calls short.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

These results are the strongest evidence yet that using a mobile phone does not seem to increase the risk of cancers of the brain or central nervous system in adults”

Hazel Nunn Cancer Research UK

The Danish study, which built on previous research that has already been published by carrying out a longer follow-up, found there was no significant difference in rates of brain or central nervous system cancers among those who had mobiles and those that did not.

Of the 358,403 mobile phone owners looked at, 356 gliomas (a type of brain cancer) and 846 cancers of the central nervous system were seen – both in line with incidence rates among those who did not own a mobile.

Even among those who had had mobiles the longest – 13 years or more – the risk was no higher, the researchers concluded.

But they still said mobile phone use warranted continued follow up to ensure cancers were not developing over the longer term, and to see what the effect was in children.

Hazel Nunn, head of evidence and health information at Cancer Research UK, said: “These results are the strongest evidence yet that using a mobile phone does not seem to increase the risk of cancers of the brain or central nervous system in adults.”

Prof Anders Ahlbom, from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, praised the way the study was conducted, adding the findings were “reassuring”.

Prof David Spiegelhalter, an expert specialising in the understanding of risk who is based at the University of Cambridge, said: “The mobile phone records only go up to 1995 and so the comparison is mainly between early and late adopters, but the lack of any effect on brain tumours is still very important evidence.”

And Prof Malcolm Sperrin, director of medical physics at Royal Berkshire Hospital, said: “The findings clearly reveal that there is no additional overall risk of developing a cancer in the brain although there does seem to be some minor, and not statistically significant, variations in the type of cancer.”

But the researchers themselves do accept there were some limitations to the study, including the exclusion of “corporate subscriptions”, thereby excluding people who used their phones for business purposes, who could be among the heaviest users

October 18, 2011July 8, 2012

Making a Case For Tuition Reimbursement and Flexible Hours

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Folks who have been in the industry longer will tell us one thing: the landscape has changed, and it is a big change. Gone are the days when you got hired after college and you were certain that you were going retire with that employer if you chose to. These days, it is possible to change careers several times in one year and many times in your career.

At some point, you may realize that the skills that you brought out of college are no longer needed or inadequate to meet the ever-changing demands at the workplace. At other times, all you may need is a different challenge. All these situations may require you to go back to school or take some additional courses to make your position more secured or just for personal fulfillment. Continue reading “Making a Case For Tuition Reimbursement and Flexible Hours”

October 4, 2011October 5, 2011

“If I Was Famous” Available Now, Get a Copy

THE ISSUES DRIVING TODAY’S DEBATE, THE ISSUES THAT WILL SHAPE THE FATE OF TOMORROW

Our world is driven by issues that affect us all but are controlled by a minority, who’re they?

In If I Was Famous, I’d Have a Lot To Say, Kirby A. Manager tackles:

Political Missionaries: The Graham Spin-Why for politics sake, even Bishop can miss basic tenets of the Christian faith

Faith, Politics, and Fear: Why is politics sexier than evangelism? Would Jesus ever be on the ballot? What would Jesus do about malaria?

We Hispanics, You Africans: What is not common between Hispanic & African American politicians?

What a Chocolate Response: US/NATO responds to Libya and Ivory Coast, but how? And what drives the response?

Why is He Nervous: When an African American cries that Muslims make him nervous; CNN’s Lous Dobbs versus Rick Sanchez

Media Caricature of African Coolness: A sketch of all that you need to describe Africa to be really cool

Why Mosquitoes Suck: Really they do, and you should check why

Classified but on the Record: Multinational corruption that brings Africa back to square one

Witches, Bitches, and Prejudice: Culture of fear and superstition culminating in abuse of the helpless

And many more

In If I Was Famous, I’d Have a Lot To Say, scientist and writer, Kirby A. Manager, PhD., employs his passion and understanding of the issues that drive today’s debate and those that will potentially shape the fate of tomorrow. He invites readers into a discussion about some of the complex but forgotten subjects of our time. Manager tackles topics such as evangelical politics, the scourge of malaria, prejudice and bigotry as political tools, racial identity, religious intolerance, multinational corruption, and the media’s portrayal of the “other world”, all in an entertaining but serious fashion.

If I Was Famous, I’d Have a Lot To Say is an excellent choice for both the casual reader and the avid social commentator.

Get Your Copy, 20% off Free Shipping

Above all, 100% of net proceeds from sales of the book will go into scholarship programs to support children who can be counted only with help.

September 14, 2011September 30, 2011

Words That Make Me Pause

“We should, all of us, be filled with gratitude and humility for our present progress and prosperity. We should be filled with awe and joy at what lies over the horizon. And we should be filled with absolute determination to make the most of it.” Former President Bill Clinton

In the clutter of email, Facebook, twitter and the back and forth of the day, it’s easy to miss the opportunity to pause and ponder over the many blessings we enjoy and show gratitude. True modesty should keep us from thinking too highly or too spitefully of ourselves. It reminds us of how far we have come short of what we could be. This is possible only if we will pause and ponder. Continue reading “Words That Make Me Pause”

September 4, 2011

Education Delays Sex and Marriage for African Girls

A new statistics from the East Africa’s demographic and health survey points to something we may all be familiar with through sketches or stories: the longer a girl stays in school, the longer she is likely to delay marriage, and the fewer children she is likely to have.

The conclusion form the survey is simply: In most all African societies, education is the number one factor that will influence when a girl gets married and when she starts having children.

Early marriage and childbirth have been linked to higher maternal mortality, as young mothers are more likely to die during childbirth; and with higher fertility rates, as women who start having children young tend to have many children

Samples Demographic Housing Survey shows that the median age of marriage increases with advances in education —

Kenya

Girls who have no education will get married at about 17.5 years

Girls with at least a secondary education will tie the knot at 22.4 years, almost a five year delay.

Tanzania,

Girls who have never been to school will be married by 17.7 years of age, but

Girls who have a secondary education or higher are likely to postpone marriage till 23.1 years.