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Positively Positive - Living with HIV/AIDS:
HIV/AIDS News Archive - July 2021
Living longer with HIV brings consequences
31 July 2021 - As persons living with HIV (PLWH) survive longer, their risk rises for age-related conditions such as frailty and the attendant falls and higher mortality.
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People with HIV should be prioritised for COVID-19 vaccination
31 July 2021 - Roger Pebody - People living with HIV should be prioritised for COVID-19 vaccination, the World Health Organization (WHO) says, following the release of research showing that people with HIV have an increased risk of severe COVID-19.
The research was presented at the recent International AIDS Society conference and www.aidsmap.com is official scientific media partner for the conference.
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Global Plan Fails At Crushing AIDS; New HIV Pill Comes With A Catch
July 30, 2021 - This 5-year campaign was run by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The plan met none of its goals.
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HIV has changed, but public knowledge and attitudes lag behind
30 July 2021 - Mercy Shibemba - A new report reveals patchy knowledge of HIV, low awareness of key developments like U=U and PrEP, and stigmatising perceptions of people living with HIV. The findings reveal “confusing and contradictory” views about HIV among the general public in the UK.
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ACCM Pride Events
- Who said HIV always has to be depressing?
July 29, 2021 - Celebrate Pride with ACCM
AIDS Community Care Montreal has a great lineup of activities for your Montreal Pride Celebrations including fundraisers and a trivia night. We are raising critical funds that will directly help our members living with HIV or Hepatitis C.
AIDS Community Care Montreal and TD Bank are thrilled to announce Artsida Pride!
1990s AIDS activism in spotlight at SF library
Jul 28, 2021 - ANITA KATZ - Exhibition recalls demonstrations, disruption of international conference in The City
A fascinating exhibition at the San Francisco Public Library looks back at the AIDS crisis of three decades ago and the effective and spirited activism it sparked.
The show revisits June 1990, when activists took to the streets of San Francisco and disrupted the sixth International Conference on AIDS to call for better treatment and services for people with AIDS and HIV.
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AIDS Committee of North Bay encouraging people to get tested for Hepatitis C
July 28, 2021 - Jaime McKee - NORTH BAY - Wednesday marks World Hepatitis Day and the AIDS Committee of North Bay is encouraging people to get tested.
Hepatitis C is a disease that affects the liver. Keri McGuire-Trahan, a nurse practitioner with the AIDS Committee of North Bay, told CTV News that one to two per cent of the population in North Bay is living with the condition.
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Long-acting HIV-prevention drugs may be key to beating the epidemic in the U.S.
JULY 28, 2021 - By Benjamin Ryan - New forms of pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, could be used by groups who find daily preventive medications too burdensome.
Almost a decade after the daily HIV-prevention pill hit the market, long-acting forms of this public health tool, including a drug-infused implant meant to last a year, have shown promise in clinical trials.
Although the virus had made the jump from monkeys to humans several decades earlier, it was only in 1981 that public health agencies in North America took notice.
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Launch of public health partnership to tackle the silent epidemic of hepatitis C in low- and middle-income countries
Geneva, Paris, New York – 27 July 2021 - Hepatitis C PACT will work in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe –collaborating with ‘champion countries’ that are already revolutionizing hepatitis care
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), FIND, the global alliance for diagnostics, and the Treatment Action Group are joining forces to tackle a ‘silent’ public health injustice: the continuing disparities in access to diagnostics and treatment for the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), home to 75% of those living with this viral illness.
Potent new anti-HIV drug only needs to be injected once every six months
26 Jul y2021 - Roger Pebody - Early results from people taking a new antiretroviral medication called lenacapavir are promising. The long-acting drug is still at the research stage, but if the developers are able to pair it effectively with other drugs that also only needs to be taken twice a year, it could revolutionise HIV treatment.
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AHF Commends the Resumption of HIV Treatment in Kenya – But More Is Needed
NAIROBI, Kenya--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 26, 2021 - AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) welcomes the decision reached by the US Embassy in Kenya and the National AIDS Control Council (NACC) to end the stalemate between the Kenya Ministry of Health and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). As a result, distribution of lifesaving HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment medications has resumed as of July 14, according to the US Embassy.
Improved treatment for cryptococcal meningitis, a leading cause of death in people with HIV
26 July 2021 - Alain Volny-Anne - A study conducted in sub-Saharan Africa has found that only one high-dose of liposomal amphotericin-B is non-inferior to the standard treatment of HIV-associated cryptococcal meningitis, and much easier to administer. It has also revealed that the single high-dose of the drug is associated with significantly fewer drug-related adverse events than those found with the standard of care regimen.
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People with HIV can produce an adequate immune response to SARS-CoV-2
26 July 2021 - Liz Highleyman - People with HIV on antiretroviral treatment showed evidence of broad immune responses against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to a pair of studies presented last week at the 11th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2021). The ability to develop natural immunity against the coronavirus bodes well for a good response to COVID-19 vaccines.
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Lawrie McFarlane: HIV vaccine should be a priority to eradicate scourge of AIDS
JULY 25, 2021 - Lawrie McFarlane - It’s now 40 years, almost to the day, since the first case of HIV/AIDS was reported in the U.S. The following year, the first Canadian case was diagnosed.
Although the virus had made the jump from monkeys to humans several decades earlier, it was only in 1981 that public health agencies in North America took notice.
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Faster Test Results Mean Better Outcomes For HIV Patients
July 24, 2021 - By Laura Kurtzman - Over the last 15 years, many African nations have made major strides towards enabling millions of HIV-positive people to access HIV antiretroviral therapy. This has helped to treat individual patients and maximize their health, as well as help lower the risk for transmission of HIV to others. But the lack of a key lab test needed to track whether HIV therapy is working optimally—known as HIV viral load testing—has been an obstacle to optimal patient care.
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IAS 2021: Professor Jean-Michel Molina talks about injectable treatment for multidrug-resistant HIV
Jul 23, 2021 - In this short video, Professor Jean-Michel Molina of Hôpital Saint-Louis in Paris talks to NAM aidsmap's Roger Pebody about injectable lenacapavir, a capsid inhibitor currently under development, for people with multidrug-resistant HIV. Research on lenacapavir was presented at the recent International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2021).
Trial finds improving household finances linked to effective HIV treatment
23 July 2021 - More adolescents with HIV virally suppressed after taking part in savings scheme for families in rural Uganda
A trial in southern Uganda that supported families to save money for education, health and income-generating activities increased viral suppression rates among adolescents with HIV by 9%.
The findings from the Suubi + Adherence scheme suggest that making family-based saving schemes part of HIV care would be an effective – and cost-effective way – to address some of the financial issues that can make it difficult for adolescents to stay on antiretroviral treatment (ART). For example, families may not be able to afford the cost of travelling to a clinic, or have enough food to take medication.
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How to Survive a Plague, Part 2
July 23, 2021 - By Ginia Bellafante - The resistance to Covid vaccinations is eerily familiar to those who lived through the early days of the AIDS crisis.
This week, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that workers in the city hospital system would be required to get the Covid vaccine or submit to weekly testing. If you were surprised by the development, it was almost certainly because you assumed that nurses and doctors and orderlies and administrators — those with such an intimate connection to so much devastation — had been vaccinated already for months.
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Novel dual antibody therapy partially controls virulent HIV infection in monkeys off treatment
23 July 2021 - Gus Cairns - A dual therapy of two drugs that are antibodies not to HIV, but to host proteins that help to perpetuate HIV infection, has reduced viral load in monkeys chronically infected with a highly pathogenic monkey analogue of HIV, the 11th IAS Conference on HIV Science was told this week.
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AIDS Run & Walk Chicago returns for 30th year Oct. 2
July 23, 2021 - Submitted by AIDS Foundation Chicago - Now in its 30th year, AIDS Run & Walk Chicago returns to Soldier Field Saturday, Oct. 2, to support individuals living with and vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and other chronic illnesses.
AIDS Run & Walk Chicago offers accessible options for participation (in-person, remotely and virtually) in an effort by AIDS Foundation Chicago to move Forward Together to look beyond the current state and focus on what to do to create a better future for people living with HIV and AIDS.
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‘Call to Prioritize People Living with HIV for the COVID Vaccine.’
22 July 2020 - Cape Town, South Africa - Global Networks of People Living with HIV: ‘Call to Prioritize People Living with HIV for the COVID Vaccine.’
The Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW), and the Global Network of Young People Living with HIV (Y+ Global) are deeply concerned by the findings from a World Health Organization (WHO) report indicating that HIV infection is a significant independent risk factor for both severe and critical COVID-19 presentation at hospital admission and in-hospital mortality.
The report released last week at the 11th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2021) found that the risk of developing severe or fatal COVID-19 was 30% greater for people living with HIV compared to people without HIV infection.
NIH Awards More than $20 Million to International HIV Database Centers
July 22, 2021 - IeDEA Program Analyzes Health Data from Over 2 Million People to Advance HIV Care
The National Institutes of Health has renewed grants to seven regional centers that compose the International epidemiology Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA), awarding $20.8 million in first-year funding. The 15-year-old IeDEA program efficiently advances knowledge about HIV by pooling and analyzing de-identified health data from more than two million people with HIV on five continents to answer research questions that individual studies cannot address. The grants are expected to last five years and to total an estimated $100 million.
Data Presented at the 11th IAS Conference on HIV Science Supports AREV's Development of SUS-TAINN(TM), a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food to Treat Global Malnutrition and Starvation
VANCOUVER, BC – TheNewswire - July 22, 2021 - AREV NANOTEC BRANDS INC. (CSE:AREV) (CNSX:AREV.CN) (OTC:AREVF) (“AREV” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the Company’s RUTF product development premise has been validated.
Recent data presented this week on the co-intersection of HIV and nutrition at the 11th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2021), held virtually with a hub in Berlin, demonstrates the need for innovation in the universal address of famine, starvation, malnutrition, and food insecurity in the treatment of HIV and AIDS.
RIT Press publishes ‘Up Against the Wall: Art, Activism, and the AIDS Poster’
July 22, 2021 - by Susan Gawlowicz - Forty years ago, a mysterious wasting illness linked to promiscuous sex and intravenous drug use became a global epidemic and the focus of a massive public health campaign and activist community. Now, a new publication by RIT Press documents the power and impact of nearly 200 examples of AIDS posters from around the world and the social activism that continues to bring awareness to a disease without vaccine or a cure.
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The military's HIV policies are discriminatory — and decades behind the times
July 22, 2021 - By Nikita Lalwani - HIV-positive people are still barred from enlisting. If diagnosed afterwards, their careers often suffer.
Nicholas Harrison joined the Army in 2000, when he was 23; after a few years, he left active duty to go to college, hoping to become an Army lawyer. He earned his BA, and then a law degree, while a reservist in the Oklahoma National Guard. In 2013, after tours with the Army in Afghanistan and Kuwait, he was offered his dream job: a position in the Judge Advocate General Corps for the D.C. National Guard.
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Happy Birthday U=U!
Streamed live on Jul 21, 2021 - Undetectable = Untransmittable is turning 5 years old on July 21st, 2021. Join the U=U global community at 3:00pm ET on PAC's YouTube and Facebook to celebrate 5 years of living and loving without the fear of passing on HIV.
New report reveals stark inequalities in access to HIV prevention and treatment services for children—partners call for urgent action
GENEVA, 21 July 2021 - Almost half (46%) of the world’s 1.7 million children living with HIV were not on treatment in 2020 and 150 000 children were newly infected with HIV, four times more than the 2020 target of 40 000
In the final report from the Start Free, Stay Free, AIDS Free initiative, UNAIDS and partners* warn that progress towards ending AIDS among children, adolescents and young women has stalled and none of the targets for 2020 were met.
Advancing the long-term well-being of people living with HIV
JUL. 20, 2021 - Since antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV was introduced in 1996, AIDS-related morbidity and mortality has declined significantly. People living with HIV are now expected to live nearly as long as people without HIV. Despite these advances, those living with HIV often report poor well-being and health-related quality of life.
PEPFAR Is Still Without a Leader. H.I.V. Activists Want to Know Why.
July 20, 2021 - Apoorva Mandavilli - “Can we not think and act on two pandemics at a time?” asked one epidemiologist.
The Biden administration has not yet nominated a leader for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a $7 billion program that sets priorities for AIDS care worldwide — leaving countries that receive funding from the program without guidance during a pandemic that is particularly dire for those with H.I.V.
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Experimental twice-a-year HIV treatment shows early promise in new study
July 20, 2021 - JOSH MILTON - Early results from a small study suggest a biannual injection could become a safe and simple antiretroviral treatment for HIV.
At the moment, those living with HIV can take antiretroviral treatments to reduce the amount of HIV in their blood to a very low, or undetectable, level.
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Homeless people with HIV prefer flexibility, in-person care and incentives
20 July 2021 - Liz Highleyman - People experiencing homelessness or unstable housing differ in the types of HIV care they prefer, with a majority favouring flexibility while about a third wanted to consistently see the same provider, according to a study presented this week at the the 11th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2021). Telemedicine, which many HIV clinics have adopted due to COVID-19, was not a popular option.
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HIV / AIDS continues with high numbers in the Yucatan Peninsula
Mérida, Yucatán, (July 20, 2021) - Dr. Ligia Vera Once Again Calls For Awareness About HIV / AIDS.
Authority on the subject, Ligia Vera Gamboa, a researcher at the “Dr. Hideyo Noguchi” from UADY, points out the ravages of the HIV / AIDS epidemic in the Yucatan Peninsula: it is the most affected region in the country.
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An HIV Prevention Manifesto by Transgender and Gender-Diverse People
July 19, 2021 - By Trenton Straube - The “No Data No More” manifesto explains why it’s vital to include more transgender people in HIV prevention research. [VIDEO]
Transgender women experience higher rates of HIV than most other populations. Globally, it’s estimated that 19% of trans women are living with HIV, 49 times the general population; conversely, not much is known about HIV among transgender men and nonbinary people. Given these facts, why aren’t more transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) people included in HIV-related research and prevention efforts?
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Twice-a-year injected drug shows promise for first-line HIV treatment
19 July 2021 - Gus Cairns - Early results from a small study suggest that twice-a-year injections of lenacapavir, an experimental HIV capsid inhibitor, can be used as part of a combination regimen for people starting HIV treatment, the 11th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2021) heard today.
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People with HIV should be prioritised for COVID-19 vaccination due to higher risk, WHO recommends
18 July 2021 - Keith Alcorn - Global study found higher risks of severe COVID-19 and death from COVID-19 in people with HIV
People living with HIV should be prioritised for COVID-19 vaccination, the World Health Organization (WHO) said last week, following the release of research at the 11th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2021) showing that people with HIV have an increased risk of being admitted to hospital with severe COVID-19 and of dying from COVID-19.
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Hepatitis C virtually eliminated in people with HIV in the Netherlands
18 July 2021 - Keith Alcorn - Hepatitis C has been almost eliminated as a health problem for people living with HIV in the Netherlands due to direct-acting antiviral treatment, researchers reported this week at the 11th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2021).
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New Phase 3 Data Support the Sustained, Long-Acting Efficacy of Lenacapavir, Gilead's Investigational HIV-1 Capsid Inhibitor
July 17, 2021 - FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- – Week 26 Data From the CAPELLA Trial Show Lenacapavir Leads to High Rates of Virologic Suppression in Heavily Treatment-Experienced People Living With Multi-Drug Resistant HIV –
Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) today announced new results from the ongoing Phase 2/3 CAPELLA trial evaluating lenacapavir, the company’s investigational, long-acting HIV-1 capsid inhibitor, in heavily treatment-experienced people living with multi-drug resistant HIV. The findings demonstrate that lenacapavir, administered subcutaneously every six months in combination with other antiretrovirals, achieved high rates of virologic suppression at Week 26 in people living with HIV whose virus was no longer effectively responding to therapy.
Florida leads the nation in new HIV cases
July 17, 2021 - By Christopher O'Donnell - Hillsborough and Pinellas counties are among the 48 areas across the nation that concern scientists.
Florida leads the U.S. in the number of new HIV cases and has the nation’s third highest infection rate, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
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The Elisse Zack Award for Excellence in HIV and Rehabilitation
PITTSBURGH, July 15, 2021 - Nominations for the 2021 Elisse Zack Award for Excellence will be accepted until July 23, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. EST
Le Prix Elisse Zack d’excellence en réadaptation pour le VIH
Les candidatures au Prix Elisse Zack 2021 d’excellence en réadaptation pour le VIH seront acceptées jusqu’au 23 juillet 2021 à 17h HNE
Study finds adolescent girls and young women in Africa will use HIV prevention products
PITTSBURGH, July 15, 2021 - Interim results of the REACH study of daily oral PrEP and monthly dapivirine vaginal ring presented at IAS 2021 – the 11th IAS Conference on HIV Science
Adolescent girls and young women can and will use HIV prevention products with consistency, according to interim results of a study of two different methods: daily use of the antiretroviral (ARV) tablet Truvada® as oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and the monthly dapivirine vaginal ring, a new HIV prevention product currently under regulatory review in several countries.
To provide protection against HIV, both must be used consistently– daily, for oral PrEP, and for the ring, a full month at a time – which previous studies of these products found to be especially challenging for younger women.
UCLA-led team awarded more than $5 million for HIV prevention projects
UCLA Newsroom | July 15, 2021 - NIH-funded grants will aid interventions that improve antiretroviral medication usage
A team of researchers co-led by Matthew Mimiaga has received more than $5.2 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health to develop and test HIV interventions in the United States and Brazil.
The projects, funded by three separate NIH grants, all have the goal of reducing the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, through the use of antiretroviral medications for HIV primary (PrEP) and secondary (ART) prevention among sexual and gender minority groups.
Covid Is Especially Risky for People With H.I.V., Large Study Finds
July 15, 2021 - By Apoorva Mandavilli - An H.I.V. infection increases the odds of dying from Covid-19 by at least 30 percent, researchers said.
People living with H.I.V. are more likely to become severely ill with Covid-19 and more likely to die if hospitalized than others infected with the coronavirus, according to a large new study. Nearly half of H.I.V.-infected men older than 65 who are hospitalized for Covid-19 may die, the study found.
The results, released ahead of an AIDS conference in Berlin, suggest that people with H.I.V. should be first in line for vaccines, along with older adults and others with weak immune systems, scientists said.
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U.S. transgender women’s preferences for microeconomic interventions to address structural determinants of HIV vulnerability: a qualitative assessment
Published: 14 July 2021 - Transgender women in the United States (U.S.) experience a disproportionate burden of HIV infection and challenges to engagement in HIV prevention and care. This excess burden is driven by structural and economic inequities. Microeconomic interventions may be effective strategies for reducing HIV inequities for this population. However, few studies have explored transgender women’s preferences for microeconomic interventions to address structural determinants of HIV vulnerability.
Dazzling dance doc celebrates the legacy of an AIDS-era masterpiece
July 14, 2021 - By John Paul King - It was also a period when AIDS was ravaging the dance community, decimating the ranks of companies- casting its dark shadow
NEW YORK – Once upon a time in New York City, Bill and Arnie formed a dance company.
They had met each other in 1971, falling in love at first sight across a crowded room at SUNY, and spent the next decade exploring their lives and their art together. Arnie was a photographer, at first, but his fascination with the human body and its movement – stoked by his collaborations with Bill, a dancer who was his muse and favorite photographic subject – soon led him to become a dancer himself.
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UNAIDS report shows that people living with HIV face a double jeopardy, HIV and COVID-19, while key populations and children continue to be left behind in access to HIV services
GENEVA, 14 July 2021 - People living with HIV are at a higher risk of severe COVID-19 illness and death, yet the vast majority are denied access to COVID-19 vaccines. Key populations and their sexual partners account for 65% of new HIV infections but are largely left out of both HIV and COVID-19 responses—800 000 children living with HIV are not on the treatment they need to keep them alive
The UNAIDS Global AIDS Update 2021, launched today, highlights evidence that people living with HIV are more vulnerable to COVID-19, but that widening inequalities are preventing them from accessing COVID-19 vaccines and HIV services.
Black AIDS Institute Re-Launches Black Leadership Program To Strengthen The HIV Workforce, End The Epidemic
LOS ANGELES, July 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Black AIDS Institute (BAI), the nation's only Black-led organization focused on ending HIV in Black communities, has re-launched its renowned "African American HIV University" (AAHU) program. Aligned with BAI's "We The People: A Black Strategy to End HIV," which is rooted in Black empowerment, the reinvigorated and expanded AAHU program aims to build Black leadership and mobilization skills as an upstream, structural, and sustainable intervention to end the epidemic in Black America. Of its seven interconnected components designed to strengthen the HIV workforce, AAHU's two flagship initiatives, Science and Treatment College and Community Mobilization College are accepting applications through August 15.
Oxford University researchers start trial for HIV vaccine
July 13, 2021 - Brooklyn Neustaeter - TORONTO - Researchers at the University of Oxford in England are trialling a potential breakthrough vaccine for HIV that they hope could also serve as a cure for infected individuals.
The clinical trial, known as HIV-CORE 0052, will test the HIVconsvX vaccine. University of Oxford professor Tomas Hanke says the vaccine is a "mosaic," capable of targeting a range of HIV-1 variants
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Women With HIV Are at Greater Risk for Cervical Cancer
July 12, 2021 - By Heather Boerner - Study suggests HIV-positive women could start cervical cancer screening at age 21.
Women living with HIV, both in the United States and worldwide, have a greater likelihood of developing cervical cancer than their HIV-negative peers. A recent U.S. study found that although the risk of invasive cervical cancer is elevated across most age groups, it is rare among young women.
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Gilead to Present New Data at IAS 2021 Demonstrating the Company’s Commitment to Advancing Innovation in HIV Research
July 12, 2021 - FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--- Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) today announced the company’s upcoming contributions to the 11th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Science, taking place virtually from July 18-21. Thirty-one abstracts reflect Gilead’s ongoing commitment to scientific innovation, a key pillar to addressing unmet needs in HIV treatment and prevention. Beyond presenting new scientific data from the company’s HIV research and development programs, Gilead will convene a symposium featuring a diverse, global panel of leading HIV researchers and people living with HIV, to discuss potential clinical pathways to achieve a functional cure and community perspectives on the process.
STI & HIV World Congress and IAS 2021
14 – 21 July 2021
The 24th STI & HIV World Congress will take place from 14-17 July 2021. Under the theme “Sexual diversity and the city”, this bi-annual meeting is dedicated to STI and aims to address diversity, health and sexuality in the urban context. The 11th IAS Virtual Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2021) will take place from 18-21 July 2021, and will present the critical advances in basic, clinical and operational research that moves science into policy and practice. WHO will participate in both virtual conferences leading key sessions, symposia and satellites.
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Coming soon: news from IAS 2021
12 July 2021 - Amelia Jones - The 11th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2021) is taking place from 18 to 21 July. It is being held virtually this year, with a local partner hub in Berlin.
NAM aidsmap is delighted to be continuing its partnership with the International AIDS Society as an official scientific media partner for the conference.
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Crucial step looms for London's permanent supervised drug-use site
Jul 12, 2021 - Jennifer Bieman - The Regional HIV/AIDS Connection is working to secure provincial funding to renovate a former music store at 446 York St. into its permanent supervised drug-use site.
The Regional HIV/AIDS Connection is working to secure provincial funding to turn a former music store on the eastern edge of downtown London into its permanent supervised drug-use site.
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DUNCAN: Time to end Canada's discriminatory blood ban
Jul 10, 2021 - Six years later, Trudeau Liberals haven't made good on promise to end ban on LGBTQ+ blood donations
Many Canadians are absolutely shocked that in the year 2021, men who have had sex with a man in the past three months are disqualified from donating blood.
There are thousands of gay and bisexual men who are willing and ready to safely give blood. It is about time to allow us to do so.
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Arthur Ashe’s other great serve? As activist for health
Jul 10, 2021 - As another Wimbledon tournament nears its end, we celebrate the birthday of Arthur Ashe, the first African American man to play for the U.S. Davis Cup team, and the only African American to win the men’s singles title at the U.S. Open, the Australia Open and Wimbledon. When near the end of his storied life he discovered he was suffering from AIDS, Ashe transformed that losing match into victory — through activism and his concern for the health of others.
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Anthony Fauci to Be Honored at Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation Gala
Jul 10, 2021 - By Ethan Shanfeld - Letter notes ‘grave concerns’ and ‘deficiencies’ in detention centers
The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation announced it will host its Ball to End AIDS fundraising gala on Sept. 17 at West Hollywood Park.
At the gala, sponsored by Gilead Sciences, Inc. and American Airlines, the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation will honor Dr. Anthony Fauci, Sandra Thurman and The American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) with the Elizabeth Taylor Commitment to End AIDS Award.
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House Democrats renew calls for ICE to release trans, HIV-positive detainees
Jul 10, 2021 - A group of 30 Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday called for the release of all transgender people and people with HIV/AIDS who are in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
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IAS 2021 – The world’s most influential conference on HIV science
Jul 8, 2021b- IAS 2021– the 11th IAS Conference on HIV Science – will feature a world class line-up of leading scientists, researchers, policy makers and advocates discussing the most cutting-edge HIV science and global health issues.
CANADIAN BLOOD CRISIS! MP Eric Duncan: Gay men should be able to donate
Jul 9, 2021 - Toronto Sun
Combating stigma, discrimination at heart of KSA’s fight to eradicate AIDS: Envoy
NEW YORK: July 09, 2021 - EPHREM KOSSAIFY - Saudi Arabia’s preventative and curative AIDS program combats stigma and discrimination, and works to preserve the rights of those infected and protect the youth and women from contracting the disease, according to the Kingdom’s permanent representative to the UN.
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Getting to 95-95-95: global use of HIV generics would result in large reductions in spending, new infections and deaths
9 July 2021 - Krishen Samuel - Generic HIV combination medications, such as tenofovir/lamivudine/dolutegravir (TDF/3TC/DTG), could be produced for as little as $59 per person per year. Achieving the 95-95-95 targets based on this cost could result each year in $26 billion being saved, 630,000 fewer new HIV infections and 240,000 fewer deaths, according to a recent study by Dr Katherine Heath and colleagues published ahead of print in AIDS.
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8% of Teens With HIV Had AIDS-Defining Illnesses After Transitioning to Adult Care
July 9, 2021 - By Heather Boerner - Immigrants and girls had worse HIV outcomes in this study.
Even after staying in adult HIV care, 8% of young people living with HIV experienced a new AIDS-defining illness or died within five years, according to a retrospective analysis in HIV Medicine.
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Browne Lab Earns NIH Grant to Study Cannabis Effects on HIV Reservoir
July 8, 2021 - Ed Browne, PhD, assistant professor of medicine, is the principal investigator of a $4-million, 5-year study of the role of cannabis use in HIV latency – one of the main barriers toward curing people with the infection.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the NIH, is funding the Browne lab in the UNC HIV Cure Center for a study on the effects of cannabis use on the reservoir of HIV that is dormant within patients but becomes activated and spreads when antiretroviral medications are ceased. This phenomenon is called HIV latency, and it’s considered the main barrier to eradicating the virus that causes AIDS.
The U.S. Has a New AIDS Czar. Can He Help Us End the HIV Epidemic?
July 8, 2021 - Tim Murphy - Remember the director of the U.S. Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP), otherwise known as the country’s “AIDS czar”? The role was conceived back in the pre-combo-therapy Clinton years as a way to centralize the coordination of all HIV/AIDS-related efforts within the U.S. federal government.
ONAP had 12 different directors in the ensuing decades—until the Trump era, that is. Nobody in the former president’s inner circle appears to have cared enough to fill the role. (They also never fully filled the seats that were left open on PACHA, the equally longstanding President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, after about a third of its members quit in mid-2017 and Trump fired the rest in late 2017. It wasn’t until 2019 that a handful of folks were added back to PACHA’s ranks.)
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UCLA Fielding School Professor’s Team Awarded more than $5.2 Million in Grants for HIV Prevention
LOS ANGELES (July 8, 2021) - National Institutes of Health-funded projects are researching interventions to optimize uptake and adherence to antiretroviral medications
A team of researchers co-led by UCLA Fielding School of Public Health epidemiology professor Dr. Matthew Mimiaga has received more than $5.2 million in grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop and test interventions in the U.S. and Brazil.
UNAIDS is shocked and saddened by the assassination of Jovenel Moïse, the President of Haiti
GENEVA, 8 July 2021 - UNAIDS is shocked and saddened by the assassination of Jovenel Moïse, the President of Haiti, during an attack by gunmen at his private residence. It also sends its sincere hopes that the First Lady, Martine Moïse, will recover from the injuries that she sustained during the incident.
PhD graduand’s research highlights need for new approach to combatting HIV-related stigma
(SYDNEY, FRIDAY 2 JULY 2021) - According to research by University of Cape Town (UCT) PhD graduand Vuyelwa Mehlomakulu, there is a need for the development of new, innovative and effective interventions to reduce external HIV-related stigma in communities.
Globally, external HIV-related stigma is a major threat to all HIV prevention, care and treatment interventions, including the recently launched Universal Test and Treat strategy in South Africa and the 90-90-90 targets set by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS for the global response by 2020 (the 90-90-90 targets are put in place to track the progression from HIV testing to durable viral load suppression among people living with HIV).
UNAIDS strongly condemns violence against LGBTI activists in Tbilisi, Georgia
GENEVA, 7 July 2021 - UNAIDS strongly condemns the attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) activists and journalists at Tbilisi Pride’s offices and surrounding areas, which have forced the cancellation of Gay Pride events in the city. UNAIDS expresses its solidarity with all LGBTI people in Georgia.
NIH Avant Garde Award for out-of-box, innovative concept to cure HIV and treat addiction
6-JUL-2021 - Multi-disciplinary approach to eradicate all traces of HIV from body, and treat co-existing substance use disorders/addiction
University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) Professor of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, Linda Chang, MD, MS, received the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) 2021 Avant Garde Award (DP1) for HIV/AIDS and Substance Use Disorder Research -- a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director's Pioneer Award. This prestigious award supports researchers with exceptional creativity, who propose high-impact research with the potential to be transformative to the field. Her proposed project will involve a team of experts in brain imaging, infectious diseases, addiction, animal research, and gene-editing technology with the goal to essentially eradicate all traces of HIV from the body, and treat commonly co-existing substance use disorders. 2021 Avant Garde Awardees are expected to receive more than $5 million over five years.
About half of people living with HIV have coronary artery plaque despite low cardiac risk
July 6, 2021 - BOSTON - Significant amounts of atherosclerotic plaque have been found in the coronary arteries of people with HIV, even in those considered by traditional measures to be at low-to-moderate risk of future heart disease, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open. This finding emerged from the global REPRIEVE (Randomized Trial to Prevent Vascular Events in HIV) study, in which Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) is playing a key coordinating role. Researchers found that the higher-than-expected levels of plaque could not be attributed simply to traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors like smoking, hypertension, and lipids in the blood, but were independently related to increased arterial inflammation and immune system activation.
Russian Doctors Refusing to Vaccinate People Living With HIV – NGO
July 6, 2021 - Russian doctors are refusing to vaccinate people living with HIV against the coronavirus despite data showing them to be safe for immunocompromised people, a Russian AIDS NGO said Tuesday.
Thirty out of 700 people with HIV at a Moscow AIDS prevention and control center were refused Covid-19 vaccination by a single doctor in June, according to AIDS.Center nonprofit director Sergei Abdurakhmanov’s estimates.
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I thought HIV meant death but it led me to fight to save millions of lives
Jul 6, 2021 -Vuyiseka Dubula - Twenty years ago in South Africa people were dying unable to access expensive antiretrovirals. The creation of the Global Fund was gamechanging
In 2001, at the age of 22 – when I thought my life had just begun – I was diagnosed with HIV. At that time, the diagnosis felt like a death sentence. Every day, I waited for my hour to die.
However, after two months of waiting, death didn’t come.
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Education Plus launched in response to alarming rates of HIV among adolescent girls and young women in Africa
GENEVA, 6 July 2021 - Unequal gender power dynamics continue to put women and girls at higher risk of acquiring HIV. Six out of seven new HIV infections among adolescents aged between 15 and 19 years in sub-Saharan Africa are among girls and 4200 adolescent girls and young women between 15 and 24 years became infected with HIV every week in 2020
Five United Nations organizations have joined forces to launch a new initiative to ensure that all girls and boys in sub-Saharan Africa have equal access to free secondary education by 2025 and to contribute towards preventing HIV. Education Plus, launched at the Generation Equality Forum in Paris, France, is an ambitious five-year high-level drive to accelerate action and investments to expand access to secondary education for all young people and to advance adolescent girls’ and young women’s health, education and rights in sub-Saharan Africa.
UNAIDS calls on Hungary to immediately remove amendments discriminatory to LGBTI people from newly adopted law
GENEVA, 6 July 2021 - UNAIDS is deeply concerned by new legislation in Hungary that includes discriminatory amendments against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people.
HIV vaccine trial starts at Oxford
5 JUL 2021 - The University of Oxford today started vaccinations of a novel HIV vaccine candidate as part of a Phase I clinical trial in the UK.
The goal of the trial, known as HIV-CORE 0052, is to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of the HIVconsvX vaccine – a mosaic vaccine targeting a broad range of HIV-1 variants, making it potentially applicable for HIV strains in any geographical region.
What to know about mental health and HIV
July 5, 2021 - by Louise Morales-Brown - HIV is a virus that attacks and alters the immune system. Without treatment it can progress to an advanced stage called AIDS. Receiving a diagnosis of HIV and living with the condition can have a negative impact on a person’s mental health.
The stress of living with a serious condition such as HIV can affect a person’s mental health and increase the risk of developing mood, anxiety, and cognitive conditions. The stigma and discrimination associated with HIV can also result in negative mental health outcomes.
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AIDS task force urges Israelis to have safe sex after jump in HIV cases
JULY 5, 2021 - By TZVI JOFFRE - Israel's AIDS Task Force issued statements urging Israelis to follow safe sex practices in recent weeks, after they noticed a jump in positive HIV tests recently, compared to previous months.
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People With HIV Are Highly Satisfied With Cabenuva
July 5, 2021 - By Liz Highleyman - Injections given every month or every other month were preferred over daily pills.
People with HIV who received long-acting Cabenuva preferred the monthly or bimonthly injections over their previous daily oral regimen, and those who tried both dosing schedules favored less frequent administration, according to study results published in Patient-Centered Outcomes Research.
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‘I was so lucky’: A gay son honors his dads lost to AIDS
July 5, 2021 - By Dan Avery - Noel Arce says the few years he got to spend with his fathers, who took him in as an HIV-positive infant in the 1980s, were a “blessing” though a brief one.
Sometimes, Noel Arce has trouble remembering his dads.
Not his biological parents — he never met them: His birth mother gave him up as an infant, and he never knew who his birth father was.
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Countries that criminalise gay sex have worse HIV outcomes
5 July 2021 - Roger Pebody - Countries that criminalise same-sex relationships have significantly more people with undiagnosed HIV and more people with HIV that is not properly treated than countries that do not criminalise, Dr Matthew Kavanagh of Georgetown University reports.
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On This Gay Day: In 1981 the first mainstream media report about AIDS was published
4 Jul 2021 - 40 years ago the first newspaper report about HIV appeared
In 1981 the New York Times ran the first article in the mainstream media that covered that would later be recognised as HIV/AIDS.
On the 18th May 1981 a news article has been published in the gay press, and on 5th June 1981 the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention published a notice about gay men who had died rare, and usually curable diseases.
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Continuing declines in HIV diagnoses thanks to successful PrEP rollout in NSW
(SYDNEY, FRIDAY 2 JULY 2021) - New research from the Kirby Institute at UNSW Sydney shows that HIV transmissions are at historically low rates among almost 10,000 high-risk gay and bisexual men on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the HIV prevention medication. Low HIV rates persisted after PrEP moved from being available cost-free as part of a NSW clinical trial, to being available at a subsidised cost through the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) in 2018.
New free HIV self-test kits available at ARCH through national research program
July 2, 2021 - By: Ariel Deutschmann - 'This is a great resource for the interim until we can return back to normal again,'
ARCH is helping to distribute free HIV self-testing kits to residents as part of a larger research project being conducted across Canada on HIV testing.
Launched during Pride month on June 2, I’m Ready is a HIV self-testing research program from REACH Nexus, a research team behind Canada’s first approved HIV self-testing kit.
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First major study of new HIV therapy opens to recruitment
01 July 2021 - by Genevieve Timmins - The RIO clinical trial will test whether a new type of therapy can keep HIV under control without daily antiretroviral treatment (ART) tablets.
The novel therapy uses a combination of two experimental antibodies (called broadly neutralising monoclonal antibodies, or bNAbs) which have been designed by scientists at the Rockefeller University to target multiple strains of HIV.
The RIO study, jointly led by Imperial College London, the University of Oxford and the Rockefeller University, will use viral load blood tests to measure how long HIV can be controlled using bNAbs. To do this, trial participants will be randomised to receive either a bNAb injection or a placebo before stopping their ART tablets.
Research into AIDS cure advancing but remains in ‘very early days’
July 1, 2021 - By Lou Chibbaro Jr. - HIV treatment and prevention getting ‘better and better’
Unlike the coronavirus, the AIDS virus’s ability to permanently infect the human body has made it more difficult to develop an AIDS vaccine, and research into a cure for HIV/AIDS is continuing to advance but remains in its “very early days,” according to Carl W. Dieffenbach, who has served for the past 25 years as director of the National Institutes of Health’s Division of AIDS.
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New film sends a powerful message to world leaders: end inequalities, end AIDS
GENEVA/NEW YORK, 1 July 2021 - Celebrities and supporters of the global HIV response take part in a new UNAIDS film and social media campaign calling on world leaders to address the inequalities driving the HIV epidemic to end AIDS by 2030
After weeks of robust discussions, the 2021 United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AIDS is drawing to a close with the adoption of a new, ambitious and achievable Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Ending Inequalities and Getting on Track to End AIDS by 2030. The declaration is based on evidence, grounded in human rights and will serve as an important road map to advance the global HIV response over the next five years.
IAS 2021 official press conference
Thursday, 15 July 2021
DATE: Thursday, 15 July 2021
TIME: 9:00-10:00 AM EDT / 15:00-16:00 CEST
IAS President Adeeba Kamarulzaman alongside study authors will highlight the key science and announcements to be presented at IAS 2021 – the 11th IAS Conference on HIV Science. Embargos for featured studies lift at the start of the press conference.
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