The Conservative government in Canada announced on Thursday it will release new plans and funding to address the AIDS issue after the 16th International AIDS conference is over; the rationale was that the issue had been too "politicized."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper told The Canadian Press during a visit to Whitehorse, "Unfortunately, the issue has been so politicized this week that this is probably not the time for us to make additional announcements."

Coordinators of a gathering of thousands of African Christians in Johannesburg say that it's time to begin "faith-based" campaigns against AIDS. They are asking churches to play a bigger role in to address this health care crisis.

Dr. Kole Akinboboye, of the Voice of Adonai Ministries in Nigeria told Reuters, "Until now the church has been aloof. We haven't taken this on as our problem. For the first time in Africa the church is standing up to make this relevant."

Almost a fifth of the people in China are overweight or obese, according to a new study. In the past, China was thought to have one of the thinnest populations in the world, but the country is rapidly catching up with the West in terms of the number of people who are carrying extra pounds.

The author of the report, Yangfeng Wu of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Beijing, wrote that the change occurred "in a remarkably short time."

Researchers report that pregnant women who have breast cancer can be treated safely with chemotherapy during the second and third trimesters. Most of the babies will not experience pronounced short-term problems linked to maternal treatment.

Researchers at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston write, "Further follow-up of the children is required to determine the potential long-term effects of this exposure...However, our short-term data is reassuring."

Indonesia confirmed its 45th casualty to bird flu with the death of a nine-year-old girl. Health authorities suspect it could be part of a cluster of human cases.

An official said that test results for the girl, Ai Siti Aminah, both from national health ministry laboratory and a US-run laboratory identifies that she had died from the H5N1 virus.