What We’re Reading 21/10/09

Oct 22nd, 2009 8:49 AM UTC
By Robyn Mitchell

Washington Post: HIV vaccine trial’s success more modest than thought
Full details of the HIV vaccine clinical trial in Thailand released Tuesday at a scientific meeting in Paris show that the vaccine provides no protection to people at the highest risk of HIV infection. In people at lower risk, the benefits may start to wane after a year. Furthermore, when the results of the three-year experiment are analyzed using alternative methods, the protective effect falls short of formal statistical significance. Despite the new caveats, many AIDS researchers say the findings are still important.

This Day: Global Fund Commits $1.1bn to Fight Malaria
Nigeria and the Global Fund for Malaria, Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS have signed a $669 million grant, bringing the total of its commitment to the country since 2002 to $1.1 billion. In an celebration marking the landmark signing, regional head of the Global Fund reminded the country that “the real work was in the implementation. Implementing such a big programme would be pain for everybody in the next five years. We expect challenges but the most overriding decision is that we can do it together”.

The Guardian: Alistair Darling to call for EU fund to help poor nations cut emissions
British Chancellor Alistair Darling said that the European Union should commit $9.1 billion dollars a year in direct funding to help developing countries adapt to the effects of climate change and reduce their emissions. Darling wants developed countries to agree to firm commitments ahead of the Copenhagen conference in December to convince developing countries the rest of the world is serious about supporting them to meet emissions targets.

Wall Street Journal: Does Obama Believe in Human Rights? (Editorial)
The Wall Street Journal questions President Obama’s record on human rights, referencing a number of key examples including his new policy in Sudan as well as his refusal to meet with the Dalai Lama. According to the Journal, “It also takes a remarkable degree of cynicism—or perhaps cowardice—to treat human rights as something that ‘interferes’ with America’s purposes in the world, rather than as the very thing that ought to define them. Yet that is exactly the record of Mr. Obama’s time thus far in office.”

The Guardian: Religion, HIV and the developing world
The British Secretary of State for International Development explores the role of religious leaders in the fight against HIV/AIDS, emphasizing that while the debate about religion and HIV is often skewed by the question of contraception, “we shouldn’t allow such disagreements to blind us to the difference faith leaders can make.” According to the Secretary, the role of faith groups in creating public support for international development goes beyond campaigning and advocacy, and that harnessing the power of faith groups will be vital if we are to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS in the developing world.

Reuters Africa: Lamy tells WTO to speed up Doha talks for 2010 goal
World Trade Organization Director Pascal Lamy said Tuesday that WTO members will fail to meet their latest deadline of 2010 for completing the Doha round to open global commerce if they do not speed up their work. Lamy said countries were making some progress in the latest intensive negotiations in Geneva in areas such as facilitating trade and the technical work necessary to implement an eventual deal in agriculture.

The Canadian Press: Chew on this: Gates Foundation thinks gum, chocolate and malaria may have something in common
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Tuesday announced new grants of $100,000 each for 76 unconventional approaches to world problems, such as the idea of using chewing gum to detect malaria biomarkers in saliva. The researcher receiving the grant built his idea on the need for a malaria test that does not require a blood draw and on research using saliva for detecting other diseases. Another grant will be given to researcher at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York the money he needs to test chocolate for combating the malaria parasite.

TAGS: What We're Reading