The World Health Organisation is warning of the potential for an untreatable form of tuberculosis to develop on Australia's doorstep.

The TAC is an award winning South African social movement campaigning to save the lives of people living with HIV and TB. In the 12 years since it was established TAC has helped to save and better millions of people's lives in South Africa. It has also contributed to the deepening of democracy in South Africa, through its use of the courts, advocacy and promotion of human rights constitutionalism. Internationally, TAC has been one of the most influential AIDS activist movements; an organisation that has catalysed action on HIV/AIDS across the world. Yet today TAC faces a real threat of imminent closure due to a dire funding crisis.

DURBAN -  The KwaZulu-Natal government wants to reduce the transmission of HIV from mother to child to less than 1.4 percent, premier Zweli Mkhize said on Wednesday.

To mark the tenth anniversary of the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health adopted in November 2001, UNAIDS released a study evaluating how the use of the TRIPS flexibilities has helped improve access to antiretroviral therapy over the past decade.

In 2010, the reported number of TB cases decreased slightly from the previous year.  In 2010, there were 11,182 reported TB cases (3.6 cases per 100,000 persons) compared to 11,537 reported TB cases from 2009. TB case totals are now at the lowest number recorded since national reporting began in 1953.  Yet, even though reported TB cases reached all-time lows in the United States, there are still disproportionately higher rates of TB among racial/ethnic minorities, especially U.S.-born blacks. TB rates are higher for some racial and ethnic groups, probably because a greater proportion of people in these groups have other risk factors for TB.

Financial difficulties have caused the Global Fund Board to cancel Round 11. This difficult decision was made at a stressful two-day Board meeting just concluded in Accra, Ghana. The Board also announced new rules for grant renewals in an attempt to find savings that can be applied to funding new proposals.

ACCRA, Ghana – The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has adopted a new strategy which commits the institution to work with implementing countries and partner organizations to sustain and accelerate gains in the fight against the pandemics. The Global Fund aspires to contribute substantially to international goals by saving 10 million lives and preventing 140 180 million new infections from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria from 2012 to 2016.

November 22, 2011 -- Because donor funding for global HIV/AIDS and the Global Fund has been declining, the Fund is in the most dire financial situation it has ever seen since its creation ten years ago. As a result, the Global Fund board today decided to effectively cancel its 11th funding round due to lack of resources – an unprecedented act in its history.

On Monday the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) released a new report on the state of global AIDS, which shows that nearly half of people living with HIV/AIDS who qualify for treatment are receiving it.  The 2011 UNAIDS World AIDS Day Report estimates that 6.6 million of the estimated 14.2 million people eligible for treatment in low and middle income countries accessed antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 2010, in increase of 1.35 million since 2009.  The report also highlights that there are early signs that show scaling up ART is reducing the number of new HIV infections.

For Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders), the 10th anniversary of the Doha Declaration on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and Public Health marks an opportunity to look forward.