Also In Global Health News: HIV/AIDS Discrimination In China; HIV Testing In Zimbabwe; Child, Maternal Health In Rwanda; NTD Meeting

China's CDC Releases Report Urging End To HIV/AIDS-Related Job Discrimination As High Profile Lawsuit Advances

China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC) released a report "on the need for China to tackle HIV/AIDS-related job discrimination" just as "a Chinese court has breathed new life into a potentially precedent-setting AIDS discrimination lawsuit," the Wall Street Journal's "China Real Time Report" blog writes. A "22-year-old aspiring teacher known only by his nickname, Xiao Wu, lost a high-profile discrimination lawsuit against the local education bureau that had rejected his job application after discovering he was HIV-positive," but his lawyer "revealed that an appeal last week has been accepted," according to the blog. "According to a summary from Xinhua (the full report has yet to be released), the CCDC collected multiple examples of institutionalized discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS in places ranging from government offices to bars and beauty parlors, ultimately concluding that mandatory HIV testing of workers in the country should stop" (Wang, 12/2).

U.S. Launches Confidential HIV Testing Program In Zimbabwe

"The United States launched a program in Zimbabwe Wednesday to encourage HIV testing, with the U.S. ambassador, local musicians, broadcast personalities and soccer stars taking tests to mark the occasion," the Associated Press/Washington Post reports. After HIV tests were conducted on Wednesday, "all the results were kept personal and confidential, a core principle of the program," the news service writes. "U.S. Ambassador Charles A. Ray said 'wiser older folk' like him are not always listened to, but he hoped the young, popular celebrities should set example that others would follow" (Shaw, 12/1).

IRIN Examines Child, Maternal Health In Rwanda

IRIN examines Rwanda's efforts to improve maternal and child health. "The government aims to vaccinate more than five million children and reach more than 300,000 mothers with tetanus vaccines and vitamin A. It also intends to de-worm all children between the ages of one and 16. The country has recorded major successes in its maternal and child health programme, lowering its under-five mortality from 152 per 1,000 live births in 2005 to 103 in 2008, and its under-one mortality rate from 86 per 1,000 live births in 2005 to 62 in 2008. Maternal mortality has fallen from 750 per 100,000 live births in 2005 to 383 in 2009," according to the news service. Richard Sezibera, the country's health minister, highlighted Rwanda's "strong community health workforce of 60,000" and noted "investments in infrastructure and health system strengthening so that hospitals have the capacity to deliver services to their populations." The article also discusses remaining challenges (12/1). 

Regional Meeting Focuses On NTDs

Participants, including WHO officials and health ministry officials from 13 African countries, at a three-day regional Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) consultative meeting in Accra, Ghana, "have called for a comprehensive multi-year country plan to implement sustainable NTDs programmes in Africa. They also called for integration of mass drug administration to encourage delivery of preventive chemotherapy (PCT) to control such diseases in sub-Saharan Africa," Ghana News Agency/GhanaWeb reports (12/1).