Former Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski on Sunday called for drug decriminalization at the opening of a global conference to curb the spread of HIV, with backing from the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

The four-day conference in Vilnius focuses on "harm reduction" or programs that seek to help intravenous drug users, one of the highest-risk population groups for the AIDS virus.

Pneumonia is one of the most common of lung infections among the elderly but concerns of underlying conditions arise when it recurs, a leading South African pulmonologist said Sunday.

Nelson Mandela was admitted Saturday in a "serious but stable" condition for a recurrent lung infection.

Arena Pharmaceuticals says its weight loss drug Belviq will be available to U.S. patients beginning next week, nearly a year after the drug was officially approved by federal regulators.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Belviq last June for adults who are obese or who are overweight and have at least one serious medical condition, such as diabetes or high cholesterol. At the time, Belviq was the first new drug approved by the FDA for long-term weight loss in more than a decade.

The World Health Organization on Friday formally raised the global death toll from the SARS-like virus MERS to 31, after a new fatality in hard-hit Saudi Arabia.

In a statement, the U.N. agency said that the victim was an 83-year-old man from the eastern region of Al-Ahsaa, where an outbreak began in a healthcare facility in April.

Argentina has approved in-vitro fertilization for same-sex and heterosexual couples in the national health care system, in theory ending problems many had with affording the procedures.

The move comes as barriers to gay marriage and adoption have fallen in a number of countries across mostly Catholic Latin America. Argentina became the first Latin American country to legalize gay marriage in 2010.

Around 9.19 million people in China had dementia in 2010, compared with 3.68 million 20 years earlier, according to a study on Friday that throws a spotlight on an emerging health crisis.

In what its authors say is the most detailed study into age-related mental health in China, the paper says prevalence of dementia there is rising far faster than thought and the country is ill-equipped to deal with the problem.

The Chinese are increasingly facing diseases of affluence such as cancer, according to a study to be published Saturday in a leading medical journal, with threats to health including diet, pollution and city living.

The trends identified in The Lancet, mined from data from 1990 to 2010, illustrate the human impact of China's speedy development and urbanization.

Independent experts urged U.S. regulators Thursday to reduce restrictions on GlaxoSmithKline's controversial diabetes drug Avandia, banned in Europe over heart attack risk concerns.

Thirteen members of the 26-member independent advisory panel convened by the Food and Drug Administration said strict U.S. restrictions imposed in 2010 should be eased.

European researchers on Wednesday said they had identified how the malaria parasite sticks to blood vessels, a finding that opens up new targets for drugs to protect children who are the biggest victims of the disease.

Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest malaria parasite, grows in red blood cells.

An experimental therapy has shown promise in treating multiple sclerosis without weakening the immune system and could help target other autoimmune and allergic diseases, researchers said Wednesday.

Multiple sclerosis causes the immune system to misfire and attack myelin, the insulating layer that forms around nerves in the spinal cord, brain and optic nerve.