A cross-section of articles we've read this week about HIV/AIDS, STIs and a wide cross-section of structural and systemic factors impacting HIV/AIDS in Black communities.

Aids Conference Hears Why Ghana Police Chief Carries Bag of Condoms

New report shows how police, sex workers and drugs users can work together to beat HIV.

AIDS Cure Quest Advances as Cancer Drug Rouses Hidden HIV

AIDS researchers seeking to cure HIV with a one-two punch got an early hint the approach may work by successfully using an old cancer drug to kick the virus out of hiding in a pilot study in Denmark.

Researchers from Aarhus University gave the medicine romidepsin to six HIV-infected people in an effort to rouse the virus from the so-called reservoirs where it sleeps. It worked: Infusions of the drug woke the virus up and caused it to start reproducing, a step that may allow the immune system to clear it, according to results reported today at an International AIDS Conference in Melbourne.

Decriminalise Sex Work to Help Control Aids Pandemic, Scientists Demand

Prostitutes are subject to repression, violence and abuse - even at the hands of law enforcement, research shows.

HIV Diagnoses Down, Except for Young Gay Males

Messages about safe sex may be falling on deaf ears, researcher notes.

How Many People Have Been Cured of HIV? One

Several reports being presented to coincide with an international AIDS conference this week may at first raise hopes that it could be possible to cure HIV infection. But two other major developments make it clear that it's pretty much back to the drawing board for researchers trying to find a way to thwart the virus.

New Drug Therapy Allows Tuberculosis and HIV to Be Treated Simultaneously

Aids 2014 symposium in Melbourne hears drug combination known as PaMZ can treat drug-resistant TB in as little as four months.

New Questions on Health Law as Rulings on Subsidies Differ

WASHINGTON - Two federal appeals court panels issued conflicting rulings Tuesday on whether the government could subsidize health insurance premiums for millions of Americans, raising yet more questions about the future of the health care law four years after it was signed by President Obama.

Social Media Buzz from 20th International AIDS Conference

Take a look at some of the social media buzz surrounding the conference.

VOA Documentary Probes AIDS Stigma

"I believe AIDS can be beaten ... but only by eradicating its most deadly symptom: stigma," Sir Elton John, the rock star and longtime AIDS activist, says at the start of the documentary. It will premiere July 22 at the 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia, and will be streamed online on VOANews.com.