Postings from UNWire
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MALARIA: Chinese Drug Seen As Potential Major Advance
The Chinese-developed malarial drug Artekin, which the World Health
Organization said has the greatest potential of all malaria drugs,
could be a major weapon against the disease, the South China Morning
Post reported today.
Malaria expert Li Guoqiao of the Guangzhou University of Traditional
Chinese Medicine developed Artekin, which is made from a Chinese
plant and may crack Western pharmaceutical company dominance in ma-
laria drugs, the Post said.
Scientists said in December early clinical trials showed eradication
rates of the malarial parasite in 95-100 percent of patients tested.
Li said Artekin, which he has been selling to public hospitals for a
third of the price of similar treatments, produces rapid results in
its short, two-day treatment schedule, making it easier for patients
to stick to their treatment.
WHO regional adviser on malaria Allan Schapira has provided support
for Li's research, but Janis Lazdins-Helds, a scientist with the
WHO's special program for research and training in tropical diseases,
said the WHO needs more information on the treatment before adding
the drug to its Model List of Essential Drugs.
Li said the drug, financed by local pharmaceutical companies and the
WHO, would be sold in Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe and is being
produced in Vietnam (Carrie Chan, South China Morning Post, March 6).
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HIV/AIDS: U.S. Abortion Politics Said To Hinder Bush's $15 Billion
Package
A political divide among U.S. lawmakers over abortion funding is ham-
pering U.S. President George W. Bush's $15 billion global HIV/AIDS
plan, the New York Times reports today.
Initially expected to pass through Congress easily, the Bush plan re-
mains held up over dollar amounts to give to the U.N.-created Global
Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria and whether the proposed
funding would benefit overseas health clinics offering abortion.
Regarding funding, the White House wants to spend $200 million this
year on the Global Fund with the rest to come later, while some con-
gressional Democrats want initial funding up to $1 billion.
On the abortion issue, Bush has come under pressure from anti-
abortion advocates who urged him to extend a federal policy barring
funds from going to abortion clinics to HIV/AIDS clinics that also
offer or promote abortions. Bush's compromise solution was to grant
money to health clinics that perform both services, while insisting
on accounting measures to ensure that U.S. dollars fund only HIV/AIDS
care, not abortions.
Some U.S. lawmakers want to make the policy into law, but others fear
that a congressional debate over the thorny question of abortion
could set Bush's initiative back further.
"I want the AIDS bill to pass," said Representative Henry Hyde, a
conservative Republican and staunch anti-abortion advocate. "And I
think misdirected attention to other issues might overly burden the
AIDS bill" (Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times, March 6).
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