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Tuberculosis deaths in the Indian city of Chennai have decreased by 35% over the past four years, in part because of increased use of DOTS, the Times of India reports. The number of TB deaths in the city decreased from 497 deaths in 2004 to 321 deaths in 2008, according to the Times of India.

In addition, the TB treatment success rate has increased from 25% to 84%, Aleyamma Thomas, a physician at Chennai's Tuberculosis Research Centre, said. Thomas added, "If we are able to intensify [DOTS] further with early diagnosis and continuous monitoring, we can bring down the number of deaths further." According to the Times of India, the decrease in TB deaths corresponds with a decrease in HIV/AIDS incidence in the city. Increased efforts to provide HIV-positive people with information about TB and other opportunistic infections also have contributed to the decrease in TB deaths, the Times of India reports (Narayan, Times of India, 1/16).

Utah Blacks Face Significant Health Disparities, Report Finds

Utah's black residents have higher rates of smoking, uninsurance and infant mortality than other residents, according to a report by the state Department of Health's Center for Multicultural Health released on Thursday, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. Blacks represent 1.5% of Utah's population, which is about 400,000 people. According to the report, blacks smoke and lack health insurance at twice the rate of the entire state population. In addition, nearly 50% of black women do not receive adequate medical care, and black infants have about twice the risk of death as infants of other races.

Laurie Baksh, a state reproductive health epidemiologist, said much of the high rate of infant death is related to a similarly high rate of premature births among blacks. In general, half of premature births are because of maternal or fetal illnesses while the other half is unexplained, according to the Tribune. Steve Alder, chief of the University of Utah's division of public health and director of its Office of Global Health, said the disparities in part can be attributed poverty. He said, the report "highlights the need to think about how we can tailor our efforts to try and bring up different populations to have the standard of health we've come to expect in our society." Betty Sawyer, director of the faith-based health group Harambee African-American Tobacco and Health Network, said racism also is a factor.

State officials plan to target low-income and minority women with a program that promotes wellness before pregnancy. The health department received a $1 million federal grant to fund the program (May, Salt Lake Tribune, 1/16).

The report is available online (.pdf).

Arkansas Group Launches $150,000 Grant Program for Community HIV/AIDS Advocacy Groups

The Arkansas Minority Health Commission has designed a new grant program aimed at fighting HIV/AIDS among minority populations at a local level, the group announced Wednesday, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. The commission will begin offering up to $150,000 in grants this year for community-based groups that work to educate people about HIV/AIDS, offer testing and services, or develop policies, Wynona Bryant-Williams, the commission's executive director, said. She added that commission officials "really want to be more proactive" in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Applications for individual grants -- which range from $15,000 to $50,000 -- are due by Feb. 6, and the awards will be announced in March. Creshelle Nash -- the commission's medical director who also is a professor with University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' College of Public Health and a physician at the UAMS Medical Center -- said the commission is "looking for partners, we are looking for collaborators because minority health is everyone's health."

The Democrat-Gazette reports that about 7,375 HIV/AIDS cases have been reported in Arkansas in the past 25 years, with 44% of them occurring among black and Hispanic populations. About 15.6% of the state's population is black and 5% is Hispanic. Nash said that the social disparities of minority groups in health care are "the most shocking and the most inhumane."

Bryant-Williams said the obstacles to preventing the spread of HIV among minority populations are "multilayered" and include issues like poverty, lack of health care access, social misconceptions and poor education. She added that people "have this facade that they're indestructible" and that many believe HIV/AIDS will not affect them because it was seen as only a "gay man's disease" when it was first discovered. Nash said conversations about prevention and the risks of HIV/AIDS need to occur within families, churches and schools. Rick Collins -- chair of the Arkansas HIV/AIDS Minority Task Force and co-executive director of Future Builders Inc., a not-for-profit HIV/AIDS awareness, counseling and testing group for local Arkansas communities -- said the group consistently finds people who do not understand the virus or how to prevent transmission. He added that many black men are hesitant to take precautions or be tested. "A lot of people still don't realize where the disease comes from," he said, adding, "People are engaging in sexual activity, and they're really not protecting themselves" (Park, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 1/15).


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