Safety fears over medication in mainland China are driving a risky illegal trade in cancer drugs in Hong Kong, experts say, warning of shortages in a similar scenario to the milk formula crisis that emptied shelves in the territory.

Hong Kong pharmacies are selling the drugs under the counter to mainland Chinese visitors who have lost faith in their own medical system and are dodging high prices, in another example of how demand from China can impact wider markets.

A class action over birth defects linked to the morning sickness drug thalidomide was settled in an Australian court Monday, with the British distributor agreeing to pay victims Aus$89 million (U.S.$81 million).

Lawyers representing some 100 Australian and New Zealand victims of the drug told the Victorian Supreme Court that settlement had been reached with Diageo, which owns now-defunct thalidomide distributor The Distillers Company.

Iranian state television is reporting that the number of HIV-positive citizens in the country has skyrocketed over the last decade.

On Sunday, state television quoted Health Minister Hassan Ghzaizadeh as saying there has been a nine-fold growth in the number of HIV/AIDS patients in the decade.

A new test for the presence of anabolic steroids has resulted in 260 positive cases which in the past would have been undetectable, a researcher from the Cologne anti-doping laboratory revealed on Friday.

The test can more effectively detect Stanozolol, the steroid found in the urine sample of Ben Johnson after he won 100m gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and Oral-Turinabol, a product used in the doping program of the former East Germany.

South Africa has been hailed as a model for HIV treatment, but some now fear its very success may be breeding complacency and making people less careful about infection.

South Africa's free drugs program for AIDS has expanded rapidly to 2.4 million people -- more than double the number three years ago -- and boasts the largest treatment project in the world.

Individuals seeking to sign up for health coverage on the U.S. government's troubled website were urged to visit the crisis-hit portal during off-peak hours on Friday.

In comments which reflect the ongoing problems with the site, which made a calamitous debut last month, U.S. Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius said individuals hoping to sign up for health insurance should avoid visiting the site at peak times.

Two new cases of the potentially deadly MERS respiratory virus, including a heavily pregnant woman, have been reported in the United Arab Emirates, media Friday cited health authorities as saying.

A 38-year-old Jordanian resident was hospitalized with breathing problems and diagnosed to be a carrier of MERS, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus.

North Korea has increased food production for a third straight year, but malnutrition remains widespread, U.N. agencies say, voicing particular concern over stunting in children.

Failures in the state distribution system mean families increasingly rely on unofficial markets and bartering to feed themselves, according to a nationwide assessment published Thursday by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program.

When Lina Afvander got her HIV diagnosis, it came with a set of prescriptions and a disclosure obligation, which legally requires HIV-positive people in Sweden to reveal their status before having sex.

"My strategy is that I don't expose myself to this situation that often, I just don't have that much casual sex," the 35-year-old Swede said.

A Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer with a medical marijuana prescription for job-related stress provoked a national debate Thursday over whether he should be allowed to smoke in uniform.

Corporal Ronald Francis serves in Canada's New Brunswick province, and reportedly received a prescription for medical-grade marijuana on November 4.