04/30/08

GLOBAL:  Global Warming Set to Fan the HIV Fire: Expert

Global climate change could further impede efforts to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS in the developing world, Australian experts are warning.

"It was clear soon after the emergence of the HIV epidemic that discrimination, gender inequality, and lack of access to essential services have made some populations more vulnerable than others," said Daniel Tarantola, a professor of health and human rights at the University of New South Wales. These problems persist and are being joined by others "as the global economic situation deteriorates, food scarcity worsens, and climate change begins to affect those who were already dependent on survival economies," he said.

"Climate change will trigger a chain of events which is likely to increase the stress on society and result in higher vulnerability to diseases including HIV," said Tarantola, who was due to address an HIV forum in Sydney Wednesday night.

"Climate change will lead to food scarcity and poorer nutrition, putting people with perilous immune systems at more risk of dying of HIV, as well as contracting and transmitting new and unusual infections," said Professor David Cooper, director of the National Center in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research.

"It's a pretty grim situation," said Cooper, who echoed the recent prediction of 35 top US and UK scientists that the development of an effective HIV vaccine is at least 10 years away. Cooper said this underscores the importance of strengthening proven preventative measures like condoms and male circumcision as well as accelerating the hunt for microbicide gels and new antivirals to block infection.

Source: Australian Associated Press:: Tamara McLean; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention