Year: 2019

When AIDS was first identified, more than 40 years ago, it was considered a death sentence. Since then, it has become a chronic but treatable disease. The yearly World AIDS Day observance is a way to make people realize AIDS is still with us and, despite advances, the epidemic isn’t over. VOA’s Carol Pearson reports…

When AIDS was first identified more than 40 years ago, it was a death sentence. Since then, it has become a chronic, but treatable, disease. World Aids Day on December 1 is a yearly observance to help make people realize AIDS is still with us and, despite advances, the epidemic isn’t over.Every year communities around…

Babies born with HIV benefit the most if treatment is started within hours or days of birth rather than waiting for them to be a little older, a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine found.A Harvard-led study of 40 infected infants in Botswana found those treated within hours of birth developed a…

Rebels have attacked and killed Ebola response workers in eastern Congo, the World Health Organization chief said Thursday, an alarming development that could cause the waning outbreak to again pick up momentum in what has been called a war zone.“We are heartbroken that our worst fears have been realized,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitter.Three…

Polluted streams in West Virginia may prove an unexpected source of key minerals used in modern tech from mobile phones to military hardware. VOA’s Steve Baragona has a look …

The rusty orange streambed is a giveaway.Paul Ziemkiewicz pulls off a winding country road at a stream about 45 kilometers east of Morgantown, West Virginia. The water is about as acidic as vinegar, he says. It’s “100% fatal” to aquatic life.”I doubt that even deer want to drink the water,” he added. “it’s useless.”This pollution,…

As Zimbabwe’s healthcare system collapses amid medical worker strikes, some women are being forced to rely on midwives and give birth in unsanitary conditions, which experts say puts the mother and child at risk infections.Zimbabwe’s clinics have often been forced to suspend operations since medical workers went on strike to push for better wages in…

New United Nations data shows that global HIV/AIDS infection rates and deaths are down and treatment is up, but new infections remain a serious challenge in certain high-risk groups.In a report launched Tuesday ahead of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, UNAIDS reports that of the nearly 38 million people globally living with HIV —…

More than one-third of the United Nation’s Ebola responders in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Beni were relocated Tuesday amid growing insecurity in the area, while the other responders remained to help combat the deadly outbreak.The World Health Organization said a surge in violence in Beni forced 49 “non-critical” staff members to…

The majority of Americans, including a growing share of moderate Republicans, are dissatisfied with U.S. government efforts to curb global warming, researchers said on Monday.In a survey by the Pew Research Center, a Washington-based non-partisan think-tank, two-thirds of Americans said U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration was “doing too little” to reduce the effects of climate…

Atmospheric levels of climate-changing greenhouse gases hit a record high in 2018, “with no sign of a slowdown, let alone a decline,” the World Meteorological Organization said.In a report released Monday, the WMO said despite international pledges made under the Paris Agreement, the levels of carbon monoxide, methane and nitrous oxide all surged by higher…

More college students are turning to their schools for help with anxiety, depression and other mental health problems, and many must wait weeks for treatment or find help elsewhere as campus clinics struggle to meet demand, an Associated Press review of more than three dozen public universities found.On some campuses, the number of students seeking…