By George E. Curry
Medical trials now underway in the very region most ravaged by the virus hold the best prospect of finally controlling the disease for which there is no known cure.

By TaRessa Stovall
A trio of new products designed to protect against rape and STDs, especially HIV/AIDS, raises questions about the gaps and conflicts between scientific progress, lifestyle logistics and human nature. These recent developments also call into question the age-old role of Black bodies as test sites for potential progress.

By The Editors
Researchers in South Africa announced this week the development of a vaginal microbicidal gel that in clinical trials has sharply reduced the possibility of women contracting H.I.V. from infected partners.

By Stacey Patton
Supporters have argued that the sugar tax would generate a projected $1 billion annually for healthcare programs and encourage New Yorkers to cut out sugary soda and fruit drinks that are major contributors to obesity.

By Jackie Jones
Over the past 20 years, cancer death rates for men have decreased by 21 percent for men and 15-16 percent for women, but increasing obesity rates threaten to reverse those trends, especially for African-American women, according to Otis Brawley, M.D., chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society.

By C. Nicole Mason
A few weeks ago, I was visiting with a friend and she relayed a troubling story to me. She had visited family down south and threw a slumber party for her nieces and nephews. As a part of her duties for the evening, she fixed dinner and provided the treats. To the usual fare of ice cream and pizza, she added a vegetable tray of carrots and celery. While chowing down, her nephew turned to her and asked what it was he was eating that tasted so good.

It was a carrot.

By Janet Singleton
Chris Rock’s documentary Good Hair caused bad feelings last summer for many black female film-goers, who felt more betrayed than they did fairly portrayed by the film. Lost in all of the earsplitting debates and viral blog posts, was any deeper discussion of the health implications for black women and girls who use hair straightener

By Rev. Susan Newman
One of the best lessons my mother taught me as a child is “It is better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.” This is how I feel about the looming threat of abortion restrictions being reintroduced in the Health Care Reform bill when debate begins on the Senate floor.

By TaRessa Stovall
Experts call it “food insecurity … meaning that the food intake is reduced and … disrupted at times … because the household lacked money and other resources for food.” And not surprisingly, it’s on the rise.

By Makani Themba Nixon
A recent Cornell University study finds that half of all US children and 90 percent of black children will eat food paid for by food stamps at some point in their childhoods. You, like the good folk at Cornell, may think this is dire and even shocking news. And for good reason, as the co-authors of the study write in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine that food stamp use is an important indicator of poverty and food insecurity.