Researchers call for new guidelines for women using family planning services in Aids-hit areas Campaigns to increase the number of women opting for long-lasting contraceptive injections in Aids-hit parts of the developing world could be helping to spread the epidemic, scientists are warning. New research shows that women who use hormonal contraceptives may double their risk of contracting HIV and of passing it to their male partner, throwing up a new dilemma for global development. The authors of the large-scale study, published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases , call for urgent guidance to be drawn up andgiven to women using family planning services in HIV-endemic areas. The study showed particularly that the risk of HIV transmission was raised by the long-lasting injections that are most widely used and most popular in the sub-Saharan regions worst hit by the Aids epidemic. The results present a significant problem for global health and development. Unwanted pregnancy is a threat to a woman’s life and can lead to greater poverty and deprivation for her family. The more children she has, the harder it will be to feed and educate them. While family planning is still resisted in parts of the developing world, campaigns to promote injectable contraception have met with some success. Many women have sought out the injections that last for months and that they can sometimes get without their husband’s knowledge if he refuses permission. But the study of 3,800 couples shows that there is a risk which has previously been suspected but unconfirmed. The risk was present for those who took the pill too, but it was not statistically significant because most women in the study had opted for injections. “These findings have important implications for family planning and HIV-1 prevention programmes, especially in settings with high HIV-1 prevalence”, said Jared Baeten from the University of Washington, Seattle, one of the study’s authors. “Recommendations regarding contraceptive use, particularly emphasising the importance of dual protection with condoms and the use of non-hormonal and low-dose hormonal methods for women with or at risk for HIV-1, are urgently needed,” said lead study author Renee Heffron, also from the University of Washington. More than 140 million women worldwide use some form of hormonal contraception. The study group comprised 3,790 couples where one partner had HIV (usually the woman) although the other did not. They were drawn from two existing studies of HIV incidence in seven African countries – Botswana, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The researchers found that women who did not have HIV were twice as likely to be infected by their partner if they were using hormonal contraception. Those who had HIV themselves were twice as likely to give it to their partner. Tests showed that women with HIV using injectable contraception had raised concentrations of virus inside the cervix. Researchers are unclear why and a larger study specifically designed to look at this issue should be carried out, they say. Meanwhile women should be told there may be an increased risk of HIV infection if they use hormonal contraception and should be counselled that condoms will give them dual protection. In a comment published by the journal, Charles Morrison from Clinical Sciences, Durham, USA, said: “Active promotion of DMPA [injectable contraception] in areas with high HIV incidence could be contributing to the HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa, which would be tragic. Conversely, limiting one of the most highly used effective methods of contraception in sub-Saharan Africa would probably contribute to increased maternal mortality and morbidity and more low birth weight babies and orphans—an equally tragic result. The time to provide a more definitive answer to this critical public health question is now; the donor community should support a randomised trial of hormonal contraception and HIV acquisition.” Aids and HIV Africa Botswana Kenya Rwanda South Africa Tanzania Uganda Zimbabwe Sarah Boseley guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …In a dramatic and touching video that went viral over the weekend , Sarah Churman—severely hearing impaired from birth—heard herself for the first time. The video, shot by Churman’s husband, shows Churman crying as her new Esteem Inner Ear Stimulator, the first implantable hearing aid for people with her…
Continue reading …The Haqqani network has no ties to Pakistan’s ISI and isn’t responsible for the assassination of former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani , Siraj Haqqani tells the BBC . Siraj is the son of Haqqani network founder and namesake Jalaluddin Haqqani, and is a major leader within the group. “We’ve had contacts with…
Continue reading …A Louisiana hospital is really serious about its no-smoking policy: Starting next July, employees will no longer be allowed to work if their clothing even smells like smoke. Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital is expanding a policy originally put in place only in the women’s and children’s areas two years…
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Weak manufacturing data reported across Europe and far east, while Athens warns it is likely to miss targets on cutting deficit A dramatic slowdown in manufacturing output across Europe and Greece’s failure to control public spending fuelled fears on Monday that the continent stands on the edge of a double-dip recession that could ripple across to the US and Asia. European stock markets fell sharply after France and Germany joined Spain and Italy on the sick list of manufacturing nations, undermined by weak demand and a lack of business and consumer confidence. Measures of manufacturing activity in China and the far east also showed a weakness that unnerved investors, sending the FTSE 100 back below the 5,000 mark at one stage and leaving all the major European stock markets in the red. Markit’s closely watched eurozone-wide manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI), which gauges changes in the activity of thousands of factories in the countries that share the euro, fell to a final reading of 48.5 in September from 49 in August. A figure below 50 indicates that the sector is contracting. French manufacturing was especially badly hit, with Spain and Ireland. A survey of British manufacturers found a decline since the summer had been reversed in September, giving the chancellor, George Osborne, a little autumn cheer . However, with little optimism among businesses, and export orders suffering a significant drop, the sector was unlikely to support growth in the wider economy or create jobs. The US proved more resilient, with manufacturing orders and employment up, adding to the recent rise in the value of the dollar and US government bonds. Economists said the gathering storm in the eurozone was the biggest factor weighing on the UK and should give Osborne some pause for thought. The chancellor, speaking in Manchester at the Conservative party conference , said he recognised the significance of the problem and would be pressing his message for action at a series of EU meetings in the coming weeks. He said: “Britain is not immune to all this instability. Indeed, the resolution of the eurozone debt crisis is the single biggest boost to confidence that could happen to the British economy this autumn. “They’ve got to get out and fix their roof, even though it’s already pouring with rain,” Osborne said. Greece warned over the weekend that it would struggle to contain its ballooning debts this year and next, adding pressure on Brussels to agree a package of measures capable of funding Athens – and possibly several other eurozone countries should they be forced to tap bailout funds. Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics, said the European Central Bank must share the blame for Europe’s struggling manufacturing sector. He said the ECB had taken up arms against inflation in a “phoney war” when a lack of growth outside a core of strong economies was the key problem. “There was a view that all the troubles in Greece, Spain and Portugal would not affect the major economies, but that is clearly no longer the case. Now the eurozone is slipping into recession, which means that consensus expectations are way too optimistic,” he said. The PMI for UK manufacturing rose to 51.1, when it was expected to show a further fall from its August level of 49.4. Back in January the survey stood at 61.4 and was heralded by government supporters as an indication that the Treasury’s focus on keeping international money markets at bay with severe austerity measures was working. Since the spring, confidence in the UK’s ability to grow has evaporated and manufacturers have joined other parts of the economy in decline. Many analysts fear the UK’s manufacturing sector shrank over the last three months, hitting tax receipts and raising unemployment, which in turn will make it harder for the Treasury to cut debt. Samuel Tombs, UK economist at Capital Economics, said: “Output in the industrial sector might have increased a bit – but it still seems likely that the sector remained in recession in the third quarter as a whole. “There are signs that the improvement in the survey in September will prove to be just a blip. A large part of the increase in output was only achieved by the fastest depletion in the backlog of work for two years. “The new orders balance only edged up from 48 to 50.5, reflecting the continued weakness of orders from overseas.” China’s factory activity typically rises in September as businesses prepare for the Golden Week holiday, but this year’s increase was smaller than the average. Yao Wei at Société Générale said: “There was no reason to be cheerful, as this was in fact the weakest September reading ever and was on tie with that in 2008.” European debt crisis European banks Financial crisis Global recession Banking Europe Europe Phillip Inman guardian.co.uk
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Weak manufacturing data reported across Europe and far east, while Athens warns it is likely to miss targets on cutting deficit A dramatic slowdown in manufacturing output across Europe and Greece’s failure to control public spending fuelled fears on Monday that the continent stands on the edge of a double-dip recession that could ripple across to the US and Asia. European stock markets fell sharply after France and Germany joined Spain and Italy on the sick list of manufacturing nations, undermined by weak demand and a lack of business and consumer confidence. Measures of manufacturing activity in China and the far east also showed a weakness that unnerved investors, sending the FTSE 100 back below the 5,000 mark at one stage and leaving all the major European stock markets in the red. Markit’s closely watched eurozone-wide manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI), which gauges changes in the activity of thousands of factories in the countries that share the euro, fell to a final reading of 48.5 in September from 49 in August. A figure below 50 indicates that the sector is contracting. French manufacturing was especially badly hit, with Spain and Ireland. A survey of British manufacturers found a decline since the summer had been reversed in September, giving the chancellor, George Osborne, a little autumn cheer . However, with little optimism among businesses, and export orders suffering a significant drop, the sector was unlikely to support growth in the wider economy or create jobs. The US proved more resilient, with manufacturing orders and employment up, adding to the recent rise in the value of the dollar and US government bonds. Economists said the gathering storm in the eurozone was the biggest factor weighing on the UK and should give Osborne some pause for thought. The chancellor, speaking in Manchester at the Conservative party conference , said he recognised the significance of the problem and would be pressing his message for action at a series of EU meetings in the coming weeks. He said: “Britain is not immune to all this instability. Indeed, the resolution of the eurozone debt crisis is the single biggest boost to confidence that could happen to the British economy this autumn. “They’ve got to get out and fix their roof, even though it’s already pouring with rain,” Osborne said. Greece warned over the weekend that it would struggle to contain its ballooning debts this year and next, adding pressure on Brussels to agree a package of measures capable of funding Athens – and possibly several other eurozone countries should they be forced to tap bailout funds. Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics, said the European Central Bank must share the blame for Europe’s struggling manufacturing sector. He said the ECB had taken up arms against inflation in a “phoney war” when a lack of growth outside a core of strong economies was the key problem. “There was a view that all the troubles in Greece, Spain and Portugal would not affect the major economies, but that is clearly no longer the case. Now the eurozone is slipping into recession, which means that consensus expectations are way too optimistic,” he said. The PMI for UK manufacturing rose to 51.1, when it was expected to show a further fall from its August level of 49.4. Back in January the survey stood at 61.4 and was heralded by government supporters as an indication that the Treasury’s focus on keeping international money markets at bay with severe austerity measures was working. Since the spring, confidence in the UK’s ability to grow has evaporated and manufacturers have joined other parts of the economy in decline. Many analysts fear the UK’s manufacturing sector shrank over the last three months, hitting tax receipts and raising unemployment, which in turn will make it harder for the Treasury to cut debt. Samuel Tombs, UK economist at Capital Economics, said: “Output in the industrial sector might have increased a bit – but it still seems likely that the sector remained in recession in the third quarter as a whole. “There are signs that the improvement in the survey in September will prove to be just a blip. A large part of the increase in output was only achieved by the fastest depletion in the backlog of work for two years. “The new orders balance only edged up from 48 to 50.5, reflecting the continued weakness of orders from overseas.” China’s factory activity typically rises in September as businesses prepare for the Golden Week holiday, but this year’s increase was smaller than the average. Yao Wei at Société Générale said: “There was no reason to be cheerful, as this was in fact the weakest September reading ever and was on tie with that in 2008.” European debt crisis European banks Financial crisis Global recession Banking Europe Europe Phillip Inman guardian.co.uk
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Weak manufacturing data reported across Europe and far east, while Athens warns it is likely to miss targets on cutting deficit A dramatic slowdown in manufacturing output across Europe and Greece’s failure to control public spending fuelled fears on Monday that the continent stands on the edge of a double-dip recession that could ripple across to the US and Asia. European stock markets fell sharply after France and Germany joined Spain and Italy on the sick list of manufacturing nations, undermined by weak demand and a lack of business and consumer confidence. Measures of manufacturing activity in China and the far east also showed a weakness that unnerved investors, sending the FTSE 100 back below the 5,000 mark at one stage and leaving all the major European stock markets in the red. Markit’s closely watched eurozone-wide manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI), which gauges changes in the activity of thousands of factories in the countries that share the euro, fell to a final reading of 48.5 in September from 49 in August. A figure below 50 indicates that the sector is contracting. French manufacturing was especially badly hit, with Spain and Ireland. A survey of British manufacturers found a decline since the summer had been reversed in September, giving the chancellor, George Osborne, a little autumn cheer . However, with little optimism among businesses, and export orders suffering a significant drop, the sector was unlikely to support growth in the wider economy or create jobs. The US proved more resilient, with manufacturing orders and employment up, adding to the recent rise in the value of the dollar and US government bonds. Economists said the gathering storm in the eurozone was the biggest factor weighing on the UK and should give Osborne some pause for thought. The chancellor, speaking in Manchester at the Conservative party conference , said he recognised the significance of the problem and would be pressing his message for action at a series of EU meetings in the coming weeks. He said: “Britain is not immune to all this instability. Indeed, the resolution of the eurozone debt crisis is the single biggest boost to confidence that could happen to the British economy this autumn. “They’ve got to get out and fix their roof, even though it’s already pouring with rain,” Osborne said. Greece warned over the weekend that it would struggle to contain its ballooning debts this year and next, adding pressure on Brussels to agree a package of measures capable of funding Athens – and possibly several other eurozone countries should they be forced to tap bailout funds. Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics, said the European Central Bank must share the blame for Europe’s struggling manufacturing sector. He said the ECB had taken up arms against inflation in a “phoney war” when a lack of growth outside a core of strong economies was the key problem. “There was a view that all the troubles in Greece, Spain and Portugal would not affect the major economies, but that is clearly no longer the case. Now the eurozone is slipping into recession, which means that consensus expectations are way too optimistic,” he said. The PMI for UK manufacturing rose to 51.1, when it was expected to show a further fall from its August level of 49.4. Back in January the survey stood at 61.4 and was heralded by government supporters as an indication that the Treasury’s focus on keeping international money markets at bay with severe austerity measures was working. Since the spring, confidence in the UK’s ability to grow has evaporated and manufacturers have joined other parts of the economy in decline. Many analysts fear the UK’s manufacturing sector shrank over the last three months, hitting tax receipts and raising unemployment, which in turn will make it harder for the Treasury to cut debt. Samuel Tombs, UK economist at Capital Economics, said: “Output in the industrial sector might have increased a bit – but it still seems likely that the sector remained in recession in the third quarter as a whole. “There are signs that the improvement in the survey in September will prove to be just a blip. A large part of the increase in output was only achieved by the fastest depletion in the backlog of work for two years. “The new orders balance only edged up from 48 to 50.5, reflecting the continued weakness of orders from overseas.” China’s factory activity typically rises in September as businesses prepare for the Golden Week holiday, but this year’s increase was smaller than the average. Yao Wei at Société Générale said: “There was no reason to be cheerful, as this was in fact the weakest September reading ever and was on tie with that in 2008.” European debt crisis European banks Financial crisis Global recession Banking Europe Europe Phillip Inman guardian.co.uk
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Weak manufacturing data reported across Europe and far east, while Athens warns it is likely to miss targets on cutting deficit A dramatic slowdown in manufacturing output across Europe and Greece’s failure to control public spending fuelled fears on Monday that the continent stands on the edge of a double-dip recession that could ripple across to the US and Asia. European stock markets fell sharply after France and Germany joined Spain and Italy on the sick list of manufacturing nations, undermined by weak demand and a lack of business and consumer confidence. Measures of manufacturing activity in China and the far east also showed a weakness that unnerved investors, sending the FTSE 100 back below the 5,000 mark at one stage and leaving all the major European stock markets in the red. Markit’s closely watched eurozone-wide manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI), which gauges changes in the activity of thousands of factories in the countries that share the euro, fell to a final reading of 48.5 in September from 49 in August. A figure below 50 indicates that the sector is contracting. French manufacturing was especially badly hit, with Spain and Ireland. A survey of British manufacturers found a decline since the summer had been reversed in September, giving the chancellor, George Osborne, a little autumn cheer . However, with little optimism among businesses, and export orders suffering a significant drop, the sector was unlikely to support growth in the wider economy or create jobs. The US proved more resilient, with manufacturing orders and employment up, adding to the recent rise in the value of the dollar and US government bonds. Economists said the gathering storm in the eurozone was the biggest factor weighing on the UK and should give Osborne some pause for thought. The chancellor, speaking in Manchester at the Conservative party conference , said he recognised the significance of the problem and would be pressing his message for action at a series of EU meetings in the coming weeks. He said: “Britain is not immune to all this instability. Indeed, the resolution of the eurozone debt crisis is the single biggest boost to confidence that could happen to the British economy this autumn. “They’ve got to get out and fix their roof, even though it’s already pouring with rain,” Osborne said. Greece warned over the weekend that it would struggle to contain its ballooning debts this year and next, adding pressure on Brussels to agree a package of measures capable of funding Athens – and possibly several other eurozone countries should they be forced to tap bailout funds. Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics, said the European Central Bank must share the blame for Europe’s struggling manufacturing sector. He said the ECB had taken up arms against inflation in a “phoney war” when a lack of growth outside a core of strong economies was the key problem. “There was a view that all the troubles in Greece, Spain and Portugal would not affect the major economies, but that is clearly no longer the case. Now the eurozone is slipping into recession, which means that consensus expectations are way too optimistic,” he said. The PMI for UK manufacturing rose to 51.1, when it was expected to show a further fall from its August level of 49.4. Back in January the survey stood at 61.4 and was heralded by government supporters as an indication that the Treasury’s focus on keeping international money markets at bay with severe austerity measures was working. Since the spring, confidence in the UK’s ability to grow has evaporated and manufacturers have joined other parts of the economy in decline. Many analysts fear the UK’s manufacturing sector shrank over the last three months, hitting tax receipts and raising unemployment, which in turn will make it harder for the Treasury to cut debt. Samuel Tombs, UK economist at Capital Economics, said: “Output in the industrial sector might have increased a bit – but it still seems likely that the sector remained in recession in the third quarter as a whole. “There are signs that the improvement in the survey in September will prove to be just a blip. A large part of the increase in output was only achieved by the fastest depletion in the backlog of work for two years. “The new orders balance only edged up from 48 to 50.5, reflecting the continued weakness of orders from overseas.” China’s factory activity typically rises in September as businesses prepare for the Golden Week holiday, but this year’s increase was smaller than the average. Yao Wei at Société Générale said: “There was no reason to be cheerful, as this was in fact the weakest September reading ever and was on tie with that in 2008.” European debt crisis European banks Financial crisis Global recession Banking Europe Europe Phillip Inman guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Syria’s diverse opposition has finally come together in an official coalition, a move that should help the movement gain international support as violence continues, with at least 10 protesters killed yesterday. The new Syrian National Council brings together protest organizers, Kurdish groups, Syria’s banned Muslim Brotherhood, and others; about half…
Continue reading …Whether you’re dreading it or desperate for it , you’ll have to wait at least a few more days to use Facebook’s new Timeline . There’s already an online firm called Timelines, and it’s not happy about the plan: The company, whose service is similar to what Facebook plans, sought a temporary…
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