Court: Namibia HIV sterilizations violated rights

A legal aid group says a court in Namibia has ruled that the government there sterilized three women infected with HIV without getting proper consent.

The Southern Africa Litigation Centre said Monday that the Namibia High Court ruling will see monetary damages awarded to the three women affected. The center said the court ruling found the government forced women into agreeing to the procedure while they were in severe pain or in labor.

The lawsuit, filed in 2010, comes as activists say that other HIV-infected women have been coerced into being sterilized.

UNAIDS estimates there are some 180,000 people living with HIV in Namibia, a country of 2.1 million people.

Sterilization is a drastic tactic to treat HIV-positive women, as mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS can be prevented with medication.

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Namibia illegally sterilized HIV-infected women

Reuters – 2 hrs 39 mins ago WINDHOEK (Reuters) - A Namibian court on Monday ruled state hospitals illegally sterilized three HIV-positive women, opening the door for suits from other women who claim they were coerced into the procedure because they were infected with the virus that causes AIDS.

The court ruled the three were sterilized without being adequately informed, but in this case found no grounds to link the procedure to their HIV status.

"There should be unhurried counseling in a language that is clearly understood by the patient," Windhoek High Court Judge Elton Hoff said. "I am not convinced that informed consent was given".

Women who were sterilized say they were forced into the procedure to slow down the spread of HIV and AIDS in the southern African country.

"These three cases represent only the tip of the iceberg because numerous HIV positive women have come forward alleging they were similarly subjected to coerced sterilization at public hospitals in Namibia," said Nicole Fritz of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre.

The women said they were presented forms for sterilization just before and after delivering babies through caesarian sections without being told what they were signing.

According to U.N. data, Namibia has one of the higher rates of HIV infection in the world with HIV prevalence of about 17 percent among pregnant women.

(Reporting by Servaas van den Bosch; Editing by Jon Herskovitz and Angus MacSwan)

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No evidence that sex spoils sport

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Controversial Down's syndrome testing gets Swiss go-ahead

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Court: Namibia HIV sterilizations violated rights

A legal aid group says a court in Namibia has ruled that the government there sterilized three women infected with HIV without getting proper consent.

The Southern Africa Litigation Centre said Monday that the Namibia High Court ruling will see monetary damages awarded to the three women affected. The center said the court ruling found the government forced women into agreeing to the procedure while they were in severe pain or in labor.

The lawsuit, filed in 2010, comes as activists say that other HIV-infected women have been coerced into being sterilized.

UNAIDS estimates there are some 180,000 people living with HIV in Namibia, a country of 2.1 million people.

Sterilization is a drastic tactic to treat HIV-positive women, as mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS can be prevented with medication.

View the Original article

Rope a Dope: Drug Testing in Sports Enters a More Aggressive Era

Scientific American – 3 hrs ago For thousands of world-class athletes, a passport is something they can't forget to pack before heading off to London for the summer Olympic games. But for a few athletes, a different kind of passport is keeping them out of competition entirely.

A new anti-doping program known as the athlete biological passport (ABP), which looks for indirect evidence that an athlete has cheated, is being implemented by several international sports authorities. Already the testing scheme, developed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), has ensnared world-class athletes

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Auxilium sees positive data for wider use of Dupuytren's contracture drug

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Vermillion ovarian cancer test shows positive result

Reuters – 2 hrs 55 mins ago (Reuters) - Diagnostics company Vermillion Inc said a clinical trial of its blood test for detecting ovarian cancer showed the test had a high chance of correctly identifying patients with cancer.

Shares of the company jumped 21 percent to $2.17 on the news.

The study, named OVA1, is a blood test for pre-surgical assessment of ovarian tumors for malignancy.

The study focused on two particularly challenging subgroups - women with early-stage ovarian cancer and pre-menopausal women.

"A key goal of the study was to investigate the challenging pre-menopausal setting, where benign cysts have a high incidence and early-stage cancer often goes undetected," Chief Executive Gail Page said.

The test had a 94 percent sensitivity in the pre-menopausal group, and a 91 percent sensitivity in the early-stage ovarian cancer group.

A diagnostic test's sensitivity refers to its ability to correctly identify those who are actually affected by the disease.

Overall, the test showed a 96 percent sensitivity.

OVA1 also had a low chance of mistakenly classifying a sick person as healthy.

Vermillion shares were up 11 percent at $2 in morning trade on the Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Esha Dey in Bangalore; Editing by Supriya Kurane)

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Capri scooter spill leaves ex-French PM in Rome hospital

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Namibia illegally sterilized HIV-infected women

Reuters – 2 hrs 39 mins ago WINDHOEK (Reuters) - A Namibian court on Monday ruled state hospitals illegally sterilized three HIV-positive women, opening the door for suits from other women who claim they were coerced into the procedure because they were infected with the virus that causes AIDS.

The court ruled the three were sterilized without being adequately informed, but in this case found no grounds to link the procedure to their HIV status.

"There should be unhurried counseling in a language that is clearly understood by the patient," Windhoek High Court Judge Elton Hoff said. "I am not convinced that informed consent was given".

Women who were sterilized say they were forced into the procedure to slow down the spread of HIV and AIDS in the southern African country.

"These three cases represent only the tip of the iceberg because numerous HIV positive women have come forward alleging they were similarly subjected to coerced sterilization at public hospitals in Namibia," said Nicole Fritz of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre.

The women said they were presented forms for sterilization just before and after delivering babies through caesarian sections without being told what they were signing.

According to U.N. data, Namibia has one of the higher rates of HIV infection in the world with HIV prevalence of about 17 percent among pregnant women.

(Reporting by Servaas van den Bosch; Editing by Jon Herskovitz and Angus MacSwan)

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Namibia illegally sterilised HIV-infected women

Reuters – 2 hrs 36 mins ago WINDHOEK (Reuters) - A Namibian court on Monday ruled state hospitals illegally sterilised three HIV-positive women, opening the door for suits from other women who claim they were coerced into the procedure because they were infected with the virus that causes AIDS.

The court ruled the three were sterilised without being adequately informed, but in this case found no grounds to link the procedure to their HIV status.

"There should be unhurried counseling in a language that is clearly understood by the patient," Windhoek High Court Judge Elton Hoff said. "I am not convinced that informed consent was given".

Women who were sterilised say they were forced into the procedure to slow down the spread of HIV and AIDS in the southern African country.

"These three cases represent only the tip of the iceberg because numerous HIV positive women have come forward alleging they were similarly subjected to coerced sterilisation at public hospitals in Namibia," said Nicole Fritz of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre.

The women said they were presented forms for sterilisation just before and after delivering babies through caesarian sections without being told what they were signing.

According to U.N. data, Namibia has one of the higher rates of HIV infection in the world with HIV prevalence of about 17 percent among pregnant women.

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EU approves Afinitor for certain breast cancers

Swiss drug maker Novartis AG says it has received European approval to market Afinitor for treatment of women with the most common form of advanced breast cancer.

Afinitor is already approved to treat various tumors of the pancreas, kidney and brain.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the pill-based drug earlier this month for use in combination with Aromasin for postmenopausal women with recurring hormone receptor positive breast cancer lacking the protein HER2.

Novartis said Monday that the European Commission's approval was based on a trial of more than 700 patients showing those treated with the two drugs lived significantly longer before their disease progressed.

The company said recently its annual sales of Afinitor could rise above the $1 billion mark with the new approvals.

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