The World Health Organisation has urged medical aid agencies to stay in Haiti as long as possible while health care is rebuilt following last month’s earthquake.

Henriette Chamouillet, the WHO’s representative in Haiti, said it would take several months for the least damaged hospitals in Port au Prince to reopen.

She said foreign medical teams were also needed to boost health care in rural areas.
Simon makes Stanford plea

Antigua and Barbuda wants restive American investors in the collapsed Allen Stanford group to spare a thought for Antiguans who have suffered as well.

A slew of lawsuits filed in the US against Antigua and Barbuda in the Stanford affair hints at foreign legal fights for years to come.

“They speak quite glibly of US citizens and their losses and no one has yet paused to recognise the loss suffered by citizens of Antigua and Barbuda,” said Attorney General Justin Simon.

Stanford was one of the largest private employers in Antigua until he was charged in the US a year ago with an alleged massive fraud linked to the Stanford International Bank on the island.

Investors from 113 countries were promised huge returns and assured their investments were safe.

AIDS drugs may prevent HIV transmission

New research suggests that drugs used to treat AIDS can help prevent the transmission of HIV — the virus that causes the condition.

A study of almost 3,500 African couples found that people with HIV who took anti-retroviral drugs were less likely to infect their partners.

Over three years, there were more than a hundred new infections in the group being studied — but only one by a person taking anti-retrovirals.

American researchers say this was probably due to the effects of the drugs on patients’ bodily fluids.