Fake drug creator caught, policing and HIV, workplace programs winning hearts and minds

Herbal potion banned

A fake AIDS cure that received the support of the South African Health Minister can no longer be advertisied following a ruling by the country’s Advertising Standards Authority.

The authority ruled in favour of the Treatment Action Campaign, ordering the potion’s creator Zeblon Gwala to withdraw the advertisement for Ubhejane and not to publish it again unless there was credible proof that it was effective.

Gwala has been selling Ubhejane for years, charging more than R200 per month for the substance.
The TAC has published a video by showing Gwala's staff selling the product as an AIDS cure, and telling her to use Ubhejane as an alternative to anti-retrovirals.

You can watch the video and get the full ruling from the Advertising Standards Authority via the Treatment Action Campaign's website.

And don’t forget to drop in on the AIDS Truth site to see the latest news exposing AIDS denialism and other quackery.

New wave of policing produces results

Police practices that unnecessarily target injecting drug users, such as arresting people as they leave methadone clinics and needle and syringe exchanges or harassing outreach workers who hand out clean needles and fits means more HIV transmission.

Infections increase because vulnerable people are driven away from the means of prevention – either a treatment program or clean injecting equipment. Harsh policing also means drug users are more likely to take chances by sharing needles, injecting in risky areas or harm themselves by rushing to inject without detection.

A report from the International Harm Reduction Development Program and the Open Society Institute out this week highlights not just the failures of law enforcement and HIV, but also the successes of a collaborative policing strategy.

It shows the positive impact sensitive policing can have on curtailing rates of HIV transmission amongst injecting drug users. In both the UK and Australia, Drug Action Teams work with local authorities, social services and health providers to reduce drug-related crime and stem the supply of illegal drugs while increasing access to effective drug treatment, the report notes.

Conditions improve for some HIV-positive workers

The treatment of HIV positive people in the workplace has improved, according to a report from the International Labor Organisation that measured the success of a program covering almost one million workers across 24 countries.

''With 33.2 million people globally living with HIV, the majority of whom are still working and in their most productive years, the workplace is a unique entry point in addressing HIV/AIDS,'' the ILO says.

Featuring data from the six pilot countries – Belize, Benin, Cambodia, Ghana, Guyana and Togo – the report examines the impact of the Strategic HIV/AIDS Responses in Enterprises (SHARE) project.

It found the proportion of workers who reported supportive attitudes toward co-workers living with HIV increased from 49 per cent in 2003 to 63 per cent, while the percentage of workers who reported using condoms with nonregular partners increased from 74 per cent to 84 per cent, the report found