Health - AFP

ABIDJAN (AFP) - Ivorians with HIV/AIDS can now get free anti-retroviral treatment in public health centers with foreign funders picking up much of the tab, according to a decree of which AFP obtained a copy Friday.

GENEVA (AFP) - Novartis said Friday it was halting research into its Aurograb treatment designed to combat bacterial infections such as the deadly MRSA bug after disappointing clinical tests.

BRUSSELS (AFP) - Belgian authorities on Friday warned people living close to a medical laboratory of contamination risks following a radioactive iodine leak last weekend, an incident first considered as without danger.

MBABANE (AFP) - Traditional sexual practices including polygamy and promiscuity are driving rampant HIV-AIDS in Swaziland where nearly 40 percent of adults are infected, a UN study released Friday has found.

MEXICO CITY (AFP) - Mexico's top court on Thursday upheld a law which allows first trimester abortions in the country's capital, with the support of eight out of 11 judges.

GENEVA (AFP) - A "toxic combination" of poverty and social injustice is killing people on a grand scale, a World Health Organisation report said Thursday, urging states to fund healthcare to cut inequalities.

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Long-term daily use of incense, an important feature of Asian religious practices, increases the risk of some cancers, an international study has found.

NEW YORK (AFP) - The AIDS virus spreads in New York City three times faster than in the rest of the United States, the city's health department said Wednesday in a report on the deadly disease.

MANILA (AFP) - The Philippine Health Department will promote the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS despite disapproval from the influential Roman Catholic church, an official said Thursday.

OTTAWA (AFP) - Sixty-five people have either died or become sick likely from contaminated deli meats in Canada, health officials said Thursday, as a nationwide outbreak of listeriosis expanded.

VIENNA (AFP) - Four people recently fell ill with tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in western Austria after eating homemade goats' cheese, medical experts reported Thursday.

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Ten thousand copies of a food magazine were recalled in Sweden after a mistake in one of its recipes left four people poisoned, the magazine said Thursday.

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - A condom lubricant designed for sex workers and gay men has become a popular acne cure among female Cambodians, women in the capital and local media said Thursday.

GENEVA (AFP) - People are deeply confused about what causes cancer and the most effective means of prevention, with many favouring more fruit rather than cutting down alcohol, a new study said Wednesday.

BRUSSELS (AFP) - Fresh tests carried out near a Belgian medical laboratory showed that a leak of radioactive iodine last weekend was worse than had initially been thought, authorities said late Thursday.

MEXICO CITY (AFP) - Mexico's supreme court on Thursday rejected a bid to reverse a law which allows abortions in the country's capital, with the support of eight out of 11 judges.

PARIS (AFP) - Men who enjoy warming their bottom on a heated car seat should beware, for they may also be frying their chances of fatherhood, New Scientist reports in its latest issue.

MADRID (AFP) - Spanish health authorities said Wednesday they were looking into the possibility that a woman who died last week at a hospital in Leon suffered from the human variant of mad cow disease.

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's Sharp Corp. said Wednesday that it has developed an air purifier that eliminates 99.9 percent of the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu within 10 minutes.

GENEVA (AFP) - Novartis said Wednesday its Lucentis eye treatment has been recommended by Britain's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) as a cost-effective therapy to stave off blindness.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US researchers have shown a significant link between having non-melanoma skin cancer and the chance of developing other types of cancers in the body over one's lifetime, according to a study published Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - One fifth of Ayurvedic medicines sold on the Internet contain unhealthy levels of dangerous substances like lead, mercury, and arsenic, US researchers said Tuesday.

NEW DELHI (AFP) - A top Indian hospital where 49 babies died in clinical trials that took place at the facility said Tuesday that the drugs used in the tests were "safe," according to a report.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian child welfare authorities on Tuesday ended a legal bid to force a couple to vaccinate their six-day-old baby against hepatitis B after the family went into hiding, authorities said.

MANILA (AFP) - AIDS-related infections are rising rapidly in the Philippines although the ratio of those afflicted out of the total population remains low, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said Tuesday.

JUBA, Sudan (AFP) - Tapping down the rough track with metal sticks, blind Sudanese schoolchildren negotiate a route between stinking pools of muddy rainwater and zooming motorbikes.

MEXICO CITY (AFP) - Mexico's top court on Monday began debate on a bid to reverse a law which allows abortions in the country's capital.

OTTAWA (AFP) - The death toll from an outbreak linked to contaminated deli meats in Canada rose to 12 Monday, with several other people sickened, health officials said.