"I spent three years in bed, giving company to death"

K Pradipkumar Singh was diagnosed with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in 2000. After suffering acute stigma for many years, Singh bounced …

Will gene editing provide succour to HIV patients?

There are plenty of problems with the Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) used to treat HIV/AIDS patients

A shot in the arm for abandoned vaccine trials

With HIV spreading fast in some Third World nations, these countries have decided to end months of uncertainity by opting for vaccine trials …

The battle is won, but who won the war?

Hiroshi Nakajima has been re-elected director of the World Health Organisation. But the road ahead promises to be bumpy for the controversial …

TB threat as acute as AIDS

Infectious diseases are still the largest cause of death in the world and tuberculosis remains the leader.

Controversy follows Russian offer

A Russian-Uzbek offer to finance the Tehri dam has sparked fresh debate over the building of the massive structure in what many contend is an …

Behavioural changes is the way to curb AIDS

Doctors and social workers advocate awareness as the best way to prevent AIDS, a disease that has no vaccine or cure, from spreading.

AIDS increases TB death risk

People infected with the AIDS virus are more susceptible to tuberculosis, and this further reduces their chances of survival.

Access denied

Doctors are withholding HIV therapy from some patients fearing their irresponsibility could harm others

A mutating monster

Some strains of the AIDS-causing virus are developing resistance to whatever drugs are available

Book review: HIV/AIDS and Traditional Medicine

Indian systems of medicine could receive a big boost if they could yield a cure for just one major disease. And, theoretically, there can be a …

HIV+ patients protest months-long drug shortage outside NACO office

The patients have demanded fixing irregular supply of everyday antiretroviral therapy medication   

HIV-related stigma, discrimination persists in work world, reveals global survey

Less than half of people surveyed in India said people living with HIV should be allowed to work directly with people who do not have HIV

How COVID-19 restrictions prevent Nairobi’s sex workers from accessing vital healthcare

Unfortunately, COVID-19 has made it harder than usual for sex workers all over Africa to access healthcare

COVID-19: Sharp rise projected in HIV, TB, Malaria deaths due to overwhelmed systems

Deaths could be minimised if people not forced to stay away from hospitals  

10 good news we got in 2018

As this year nears its end, here’s a look at stories by Down To Earth that brought some relief to an otherwise climate change-ravaged period

Ambitious cure for an ailing system

US President Bill Clinton has proposed an ambitious and complex programme to lower federal expenditure on health care and revamp the existing system.

Dharna to defecation: The Indian art of protest

Through the centuries, Indians have evolved several novel ways to protest injustice. Many are still practised in India and some have even been …

Neem gains honour as India's wonder tree

Known in ancient India as a tree with many wondrous properties, the neem tree is slowly drawing the attention of the country's scientific and …

Government policy wrong, says scientist

The government is on the wrong track and it's infected blood, not sexual intercourse, which transmits AIDS in the country

Supermouse

A gene which boosts the growth of muscles in mice could enhance meat production and also be a cure for cancer

Hope of deliverance

Elective caesarean delivery, combined with an antiretroviral drug, can slash chances of infected mothers transmitting AIDS to their babies

Chimp's aid

Chimps are not victimised by AIDS because a lethal sickness has made their immune system resistant to the disease

Acquired shortage: India’s HIV drugs are in short supply, which could have been averted 

This risks undoing India’s hard-won gains against HIV/AIDS and further derails the global progress, which is not on track to meet the goal …

Three decades on, stigma still stymies HIV prevention and treatment

Unless stigma is addressed, the aim of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 is unlikely to become a reality