India–EU Trade Deal Could Put Millions With HIV at Risk
Caption here. No one could rock jewels like Elizabeth Taylor.
(TAYLOR) GETTY IMAGES; (CHILD) GETTY IMAGES/TONY KARUMBA; (AZAD) GETTY IMAGES
Dame Elizabeth Taylor’s Jewels to Be Sold at Christie’s
The dazzling treasure chest of the late Dame Elizabeth Taylor, lifelong friend of people with HIV and powerful AIDS activist, will go on the block at Christie’s auction house in New York City. Christie’s will devote its entire Rockefeller Center headquarters gallery space to an unprecedented, 10-day exhibition of her collection beginning December 3. A portion of the proceeds from the exhibition admissions, events and publications related to the sales will be donated to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. Taylor also cofounded amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research. To read more about her, visit poz.com/elizabeth_taylor
Having Sex With Albino People Does Not Prevent or Cure AIDS
An albino child in Tanzania
Did we really just write that? Yes, we did. Because some black magic teaches that albino people are an HIV cure. As a result, hundreds of albino people in Tanzania have been killed, and many young albino women and girls raped. Albino “hunters” in the East ast African tourist mecca (home to Mount Kilimanjaro) harvest albino hair, blood, genitals and other body parts to sell on the he black market or to use in bogus cure regimens. Prompted by an international outcry, the Tanzanian government arrested ested suspects (including police) and offered red protection to albinos. Yet reports of attacks ttacks continue. While the albino death toll rises, ises, so does the number of new HIV cases. es.
September 27: National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS, says that about 86 percent of people with HIV/AIDS around the globe who are on treatment are taking generic ARVs made in India. The European Union (EU) and India are negotiating a free-trade agreement that could delay or restrict the manufacture of generic meds by extending patents, requiring exclusivity and enacting harsher border enforcement rules. Those measures could drive up prices for Indian ARVs, limit dosage options and delay access to treatment. Further complicating matters, the Indian health minister called homosexuality “a disease, imported from the West.” Ghulam Nabi Azad made the statement at—get this—a recent HIV/AIDS conference. Despite the fact that a video of his comments aired on Indian television, Azad claims he was misquoted and was referring to HIV as a disease. Activists have denounced his comments, and UNAIDS issued a statement supporting efforts by India’s National AIDS Control Organization to battle HIV stigma and to provide HIV services for men who have sex with men and transgender people.
Ghulam Nabi Azad
HOMOPHOBE?