Oslo  - Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit was Monday awarded the country's Plussprisen prize for her efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.

The prize - announced in connection with World AIDS day - was awarded by the Norwegian group HivNorway that was formed to safeguard the rights and interests of people infected and affected by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The princess is a goodwill ambassador for the joint United Nations programme, UNAIDS.

The 35-year-old princess shared the prize with Ragnhild Backstrom, who has worked to prevent discrimination against HIV-positive children.

Backstrom works to spread awareness about HIV in kindergartens, schools and local neighbourhoods.

New York  - Michel Sidibe of Mali was appointed Monday director of the United Nations programme to fight AIDS, a disease that has infected an estimated 33 million people worldwide.

The appointment came as the world marked World AIDS Day.

Sidibe is currently deputy executive director of the UN programme and will replace his departing boss, Peter Piot, whose name has been linked with the global fight against HIV/AIDS for years. Sidibe has 27 years in public healthcare services and has been Piot's deputy since 2001.

"The leadership of UNAIDS is in very capable hands," Piot said about the appointment. "UNAIDS has a vital role to play in sustaining the progress made in the global response to AIDS."

Nov. 30  -- Top healthcare executives say the U.S. medical system is wasteful, inefficient and not giving people their money's worth.

"We're not getting what we pay for," said Denis Cortese, president and chief executive of the Mayo Clinic. "It's just that simple."

Cortese and other healthcare executives estimate as much as half of the $2.3 trillion spent annually on medical care does nothing to improve health, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Nov. 28 -- A deputy health minister in Zimbabwe says the oncoming rainy season could aggravate an outbreak of cholera in the African nation.

New York  - The United Nations programme on HIV and AIDS said Friday that governments and healthcare services should study new patterns of HIV infections in order to make preventive programmes more effective.

UNAIDS said that as the pattern of an epidemic can change over time, analyses of its spread should be undertaken at regular intervals.

"Not only will this approach help prevent the next 1,000 infections in each community, but it will also make money for AIDS work more effective and help put forward a long-term and sustainable AIDS response," said UNAIDS director Peter Piot.

The realignment of HIV prevention programmes would be based on understanding why new infections occurred, he said.

ROCHESTER, N.Y.,  Nov. 27 -- It need not be the season to use sugar in large quantities, a U.S.endocrinologist says.    

There are ways to keep the holidays sweet but healthy suggests Dr. Nicholas Jospe of the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.

"Sugar isn't necessarily bad -- it just has to be managed," Jospe says in a statement.