Fanta Zero is about to be produced in Kenya ! No-sugar drinks are popular in most of Europe and the US, but Kenyan Fanta has always been a real sugar-hit drink ! I love it !!!
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And something I'd never heard of, a new AIDS/HIV preventative, which can only be good news in countries where HIV is such a problem:-
"Speaking yesterday at the third International HIV Research for Prevention Conference in Madrid, Spain, various experts gave presentations on the performance of selected countries.
Dr Linda Gail Bekker of the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation in Cape Town, and immediate president of the International Aids Society, said Kenya's response to HIV prevention should be supported.
"Kenya's response and approach to HIV prevention is the best in Africa. It is the first on the continent to put its prevention road map together, which is something we can't fail to mention," Dr Bekker said.
She said that despite resource constraints, Kenya had ensured that pre-exposure prophylaxis drugs were available.
"There is a lot we can learn from Kenya. It has taken the hotspot mapping approach to ensure that those who need the drugs are not left out," she said.
Kenya is the second African country, after South Africa, to have pre-exposure prophylaxis guidelines.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drugs join other prevention and treatment methods already in use. Other strategies include giving anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs to people who are not infected with HIV, but are at high risk of infection. These drugs reduce the chances of HIV infection. (I suppose for negative women married to positive men, as well as others.)
In 2014, the World Health Organisation recommended offering PrEP to men who have sex with men, and in September broadened its recommendation to include all people at substantial risk of HIV infection as an additional prevention choice.
PrEP was first approved by the USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2012 before other countries followed suit.
The Kenya Pharmacy and Poisons Board approved use of oral PreP in December 2015.
In April last year, oral PrEP, the anti-retroviral drug Truvada, which is a combination of tenofovir and emtricitabine, was approved by the drug regulatory authority for use in the country.
When taken daily and consistently, the drug reduces new infections by 95 per cent.
According to data from PrEP Watch, the number of PrEP users in Kenya stands at 26,000 against 37,000, which is the overall target from all projects (planned and ongoing) being carried out in the country.
(From The Daily Nation)
What good news ! Anything which can halt the spread of this dreadful disease is wonderful; I have had friends die from HIV, and have friends who are managing to live with it, thanks to ARV's. But in many parts of Africa, ARV's are freely available, but they have to be taken regularly, and with food; what happens if you are so poor that regular food intake is a luxury, not as in the west, something we consume (often to excess) without a thought. And supposing you live 100 miles from the nearest clinic where free ARV's can be supplied ?
Pretty, but deadly ... the HIV virus.
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