Bill Gates on Thursday announced that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will provide $750 million to the Global Fund which is currently fighting the worldwide spread of AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The announcement arrived at the World Economic Forum and comes in the form of a promissory note which ”gives the Global Fund the flexibility and authority to distribute funds efficiently based on immediate needs.”

In his statement Gates noted:

“By supporting the Global Fund, we can help to change the fortunes of the poorest countries in the world. I can’t think of more important work.”

By providing a promissory note with the funds Bill Gates says money can be made available immediately to

“Saves lives, whether it is bed nets (to protect against mosquitoes carrying malaria) or TB (tuberculosis) treatment, those are two diseases that don’t get perhaps the visibility of the work done in HIV but they are every bit as important.”

The money is a big donation to the fund and the second for Bill & Melinda Gates, through their foundation the Global Fund received $650 million 10 years ago.

The three-quarter of a billion dollar donation comes at a time when the funds executive director Dr. Michel Kazatchkine has announced he will step down after a controversy erupted regarding misuse of funds.  Gates for his part downplayed the controversy by revealing that while it’s “pretty disappointing” he also acknowledges that ”If you are going to do health programs in Africa, you are going to have some percentage that is misused.”

“The interest is saving lives,” Gates said, adding there were “all sorts of things that are going on that far overwhelm any amount of misdirection or whatever it was.”

Funds are available now to the Global Fund on an as needed basis.

Bill Gates Gives Away $750 Million To Help Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a post from: The Inquisitr

A new weapon has been created in the fight against HIV.  Researchers have developed a vaccine that protects rhesus monkey from an extremely virulent form of  simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), which is distantly related to the virus that causes AIDS in humans.

This is not the first time that SIV vaccines have been successful, but scientists are hoping that when combined with data learned from a current human trial that is being conducted, they will be able to develop a vaccine for human HIV.

Bruce Walker, a virologist at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard University told Nature Magazine. “To me, if it’s possible in monkeys it’s got to be possible in humans,”

The vaccine is a two stage virus blocker, where the first stage protects against the common (read easy to kill) strains of the virus followed by a boost vaccine which teaches the antibodies to fight the more virulent strains.

Of the monkeys who were given the vaccine, 12% developed SIV, while the ones who were untreated contracted the disease 74% of the time.

Interestingly enough, the team of scientists continued to inject the monkeys every week with the virus and eventually all the monkeys contracted it, but the vaccine prevented SIV after a single exposure by more than 80%

Dan Barouch, a virologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and the head of the study team said.”Because HIV does not cause disease in monkeys, SIV is the best model for evaluating vaccines before they are tested in humans”.

Researchers have told people to be cautious in evaluating the results of the trial as it has not been done in humans, but there is some cause for optimism.

If there were an HIV Vaccine on the market, would you take it?

HIV Vaccine Protects Monkeys from the Virus is a post from: The Inquisitr

“The individual suffering from AIDS certainly is a victim — frequently a victim of his own lifestyle — but this same individual victimizes innocent citizens by forcing them to pay for his care,” he wrote in the book.

Paul went on to say that everyone in life makes dumb decisions and that doesn’t mean that innocent citizens should have to pay for them.

He also called the idea that society should pay for anyone’s care as a “Socialistic Attitude” and said that Insurance companies should be responsible for determining care.

In the same book, Paul said that there should not any type of law against Sexual Harassment.  He said that people can decide where they want to work and if they don’t like the way they are treated in a company they can go elsewhere.  He went on to write that there are already violence in the workplace laws to deal with harassment that goes too far.

Paul does not apologize for these comments and in fact stands by them.

Paul is currently polling second in Iowa, which holds the nations first caucus this Tuesday.  He says he is going to win because his supporters are way more loyal than anyone else. Some really recent polls show his standing slipping a bit.

Congressman Paul is often finding himself defending his views against the more mainstream candidates.

DO you agree with Congressman Ron Paul that AIDS patients bear the responsibility for their own diseases?

Ron Paul: AIDS Patients Bear Responsibility, Not Society is a post from: The Inquisitr

As the end of 2011 getting closer, China is expecting about 780,000 people infected with the AIDS virus, mostly due to heterosexual sex. The state media, citing a report from the Ministry of Health and the United Nations, said that there will be an estimated 48,000 HIV infections and 28,000 deaths in China this year.

Other than unprotected sex, the virus spread can attributed also to unsanitary blood plasma buying schemes and tainted transfusions in hospitals. The Ministry of Health also said that heterosexual sex in China has already overtaken drug abuse as main cause of virus transmission.

About 88,000 people have already died in China since 1985 when the first case was found in the country.

China’s government is also now taking a more active role in battling the spread of the virus.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said that the State Council will be rolling out a special medical aid next year in regions with high HIV/AIDS incidence that would hopefully ease heavy financial burdens encountered by patients caused by treatment. The Premier also said that some AIDS drugs will be included in the essential medicine system so that its prices can be regulated and covered by basic health insurance.

780,000 People Infected with AIDS Virus in China by End 2011 is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have released a new report in which they reveal that upwards of 20% of people with HIV in the United States don’t realize they have the disease.

According to the agency that would mean that of the 1.2 million US citizens estimated to have HIV, 240,000 people aren’t aware they have contracted the disease.

The study also reveals that almost three-quarters of those people who have been infected are not getting the treatment they need to keep the virus from turning into AIDS or from being passed onto other people. With the lifetime cost of treating the disease placed at $367,000 it’s no wonder so many patients go untreated.

The CDC also reveals that of those infected 50,000 more people are added to their number every single year.

Speaking to WebMD  the director of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the CDC noted:

“The HIV crisis in America is far from over,” and “Closing the gaps in testing, care, and treatment will all be essential to slowing or reversing the US AIDS epidemic.”

Does it surprise you to learn that the lack of care for HIV sufferers is so high in the United States after more than three decades of fighting the virus.

[Image via ShutterStock.com]

20% Of HIV Carriers In The United States Don’t Know About Their Infection is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested $258 million to help prevent AIDS in India and now a recent study has shown that nearly 100,000 people in the region have avoiding the virus because of the organizations educational efforts.

The study concluded that prevention programs targeting high-risk populations were effective in helping reduce HIV and AIDS.

Dubbed the Avahan initiative the program has focused on prevention techniques such as needle-exchange programs, safe-sex counseling and condom distribution, standard practices in many parts of the world that had been overlooked in India.

The current study examined date from 2003 trhough 2008 and found that higher spending from the Avahan initiative correlated to lower AIDS cases in the country.

Critics say sthe methodology used in the study is flawed because it included pregnant women from antenatal clinics and because the study was funded directly through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

One critic says the findings are positive but “hard to quantify.”

Do you believe prevention programs created by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are making a 100,000 person difference in India?

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Reduced India Aids Cases By 100,000 [Study] is a post from: The Inquisitr

12-15 dedicated gamers did in less than 10 days what scientists studying the AIDS virus have never managed to accomplish, they solved a molecular puzzle that has been a headache for AIDS researchers for a very long-time.

Known as “citizen science” the game called Foldit asked gamers to manipulate virtual structures that look like Tinkertoys. Players worked in tag-teams to find the most efficient molecular configuration, a process often witnessed in nature.

With the successful completion of the new gaming model scientists now hope to use citizen science in other endeavors including biofuels, the development of new drugs and even genetic engineering.

While the idea of solving complex molecular structures might sound like fun, biochemist Firas Khatib tells MSNBC that it’s not quite like playing Angry Birds and other popular games, he notes:

“Let’s be honest, proteins aren’t the sexiest video game out there.”

Regardless of how much fun the system may or may not be, the ability to control the outcome of entire technologies, medicines and other man made items might be just enough to create a culture around social science based gaming

Would you be willing to pore over a tedious social science game if it meant you could help find the cure for cancer or build the next generation of biofuels?

Gamers Unlock AIDS Molecular Puzzle is a post from: The Inquisitr

June 27 marks National HIV Testing day and all around our country thousands will make their way to various health centers, hospitals and community-based organizations to participate in a range of community events including free HIV testing.

“One of the best ways to take control of your health is getting an HIV test to learn your status.”
explained Dr. Tina Tan, Acting Deputy Commissioner for New Jersey Public Health Services. “Since the discovery of HIV 30 years ago, great strides have been made in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. However, every day, people are still getting infected.”

National HIV Testing Day (NHTD) was founded in 1995 in response to the HIV epidemic’s steadily increasing growth rate – especially in marginalized communities like people of color and men who have but also in middle-income neighborhoods where people thought, “it doesn’t happen here.”

Check out these alarming statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

At the end of 2008, approximately 20% of the estimated 1.2 million persons living with HIV were undiagnosed and unaware of their infection. In 2008, an estimated 33% of all HIV diagnoses were late diagnoses, often made after persons had already developed acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

For more information, head over to the National Association of People with AIDS’ — the organization that not only established HIV Testing Day, but that is in charge of implementing it — website.

via CDC.gov

National HIV Testing Day is Today is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Indonesian State of Papua is preparing to pass a new law that will require some HIV/AIDS patients to be implanted with RFID chips.

Under the proposal, patients who had shown “actively sexual behavior” could be implanted with the RFID chip to monitor their activity.

Lawmaker John Manangsang told Reuters: “It’s a simple technology. A signal from the microchip will track their movements and this will be received by monitoring authorities.” If a patient with HIV/AIDS was found to have infected a healthy person, there would be a penalty.

The Jakarta Post newspaper the head of Papua’s National AIDS Commission as saying the plan violated human rights. The Indonesian Government claims that the number of HIV/AIDS cases in Papua is 20 times the national average.

I have to agree with Gizmodo on this: “I wonder if his plan B is just putting them in camps or shoot them straight away.”

Indonesian State wants to tag AIDS patients with RFID tags is a post from: The Inquisitr