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Positively Positive - Living with HIV/AIDS:
HIV/AIDS News Archive - June 2016
NIH-led effort uses implementation science approaches to reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission
June 30, 2016 - Studies investigate best practices to ease major disease burden in Sub-Saharan Africa.
An emerging field, known as implementation science, may help reduce the nearly 150,000 instances of mother-to-child HIV transmissions that occur annually around the world, mostly in developing countries. A team of scientists and program managers, led by the National Institutes of Health, has been studying a variety of implementation science approaches to prevent mother-to-child transmission and has published the results in a 16-article open-access supplement to the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.
GeoVax Announces Filing of Investigational New Drug Application for HIV Human Clinical Trial
June 30, 2016 - GeoVax Labs, Inc . (OTCQB: GOVX), a biotechnology company developing human vaccines, announced today the filing of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the conduct of the next human clinical trial of GeoVax's preventive HIV vaccine. The IND was filed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.The Phase 1 trial (designated HVTN 114) will be conducted by the NIAID-supported HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN). The Company expects HVTN 114 to begin enrolling patients in September 2016.
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Canada: In Nova Scotia, Glimmers of Hope for Science in the Prosecution of HIV Non-Disclosure
June 29, 2016 - Despite very few prosecutions, Nova Scotia has become an interesting place in Canada with respect to the criminalisation of HIV non-disclosure.
In April 2016, a trial judge from Antigonish ruled that non-disclosure before vaginal sex with a condom or a low viral load (< 1,500 copies/ml) did not amount to aggravated sexual assault.
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Vaccination could have important role in control of UK HCV epidemic among people who inject drugs
30 June 2016 - A vaccine, even with low efficacy, could lead to meaningful reductions in the incidence and prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) among people who inject drugs (PWID), a modelling study published in PLOS One shows.
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Sex Workers React to the UN's 2016 Political Declaration on Ending AIDS
June 30, 2016 - At the 2016 High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS on June 8, the UN General Assembly voted to adopt a political declaration On the Fast-Track to Accelerate the Fight Against HIV and to End the AIDS Epidemic by 2030 -- the latest iteration of a quinquennial process through which governments around the world pledge to respond to the HIV epidemic.
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TSRI scientists stabilize HIV structure, design potential AIDS vaccine candidates
LA JOLLA, CA - June 28, 2016 - Findings represent 'big accomplishment' in biomedical engineering and design
Want to stop HIV infections? Get the immune system to recognize and attack the virus's tell-tale structure.
That's part of the basic approach behind efforts at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) to design an AIDS vaccine. This strategy may hinge on finding new ways to stabilize proteins called HIV-1 surface antigens and in designing HIV-like particles to prompt the body to fight the real virus.
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Guelph doctor receives Governor General’s medal for AIDS work in Africa
June 28, 2016 - Guelph - Guelph doctor Anne-Marie Zajdlik has received a medal from the Governor General for her tireless work helping people with HIV/AIDS in Africa.
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HIV/AIDS is running rampant in South Florida — get tested!
June 28, 2016 - Complacency has set in. People with the disease are living longer, which has created a false sense of security. However, we must remain vigilant and stem the tide of new HIV/AIDS cases in South Florida by taking action.
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Prince Harry takes up Princess Diana's AIDS fight
June 28, 2016 - Coldplay is rocking Kensington Palace Tuesday night, with Prince Harry cheering them on as part of his expanded charity effort to fight global AIDS.
The number of people living with HIV across the globe.
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35 million dead in 35 years — and people are still dying from HIV/AIDS
JUNE 27, 2016 - 36.7 million
The number of people living with HIV across the globe.
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On National HIV Testing Day, GMHC Reminds Everyone that HIV Testing Is Paramount in our Fight to End the HIV Epidemic
June 27, 2016 - New York, New York - Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) joins everyone in America to recognize National HIV Testing Day, a day to get the facts and get tested. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), more than 90 percent of new HIV infections in the United States could be prevented by testing and diagnosing people living with HIV.
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Global Backlash Against LGBT Rights Impairs HIV/AIDS Advances
June 27, 2016 - The past year has brought an outpouring of victories in the fight for global LGBTIQ rights that just a couple of years ago seemed all but impossible -- landmark legislation and court decisions in countries from the United States to Columbia, the UN Security Council's very first discussion of LGBTIQ rights, and more.
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US National HIV Testing Day boosts numbers testing
27 June 2016 - Today, June 27, is National HIV Testing Day in the United States and a study just published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report shows that in previous years, this event has resulted in a statistically significant increase in the number of people diagnosed with HIV.
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ART use averting huge numbers of opportunistic infections among children living with HIV in lower-income countries
27 June 2016 - There has been a decrease in cases of many opportunistic infections (OIs) among children living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries thanks to antiretroviral therapy (ART), a meta-analysis published in the June 15th edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases shows. Investigators estimated that use of ART is averting over 161,000 opportunistic infections each year, saving $17 million per annum.
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The Re-invention Tour
POZ July-August 2016 - The documentary Strike a Pose catches up with Madonna’s Blond Ambition dancers. Two of them are long-term survivors now shining the spotlight on HIV.
It’s fitting that when POZ meets up with Carlton Wilborn and Salim “Slam” Gauwloos—two of the dancers made famous in Madonna’s Blond Ambition tour and iconic “Vogue” video—they’re both striking a pose.
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Test driving a Ford in Guelph helps families living with AIDS in Africa
July 25, 2016 -
Drive 4UR Community supports Bracelet of Hope
On Saturday Wayne Pitman Ford offered free test drives of eight of its new line up in the parking lot at the Frank Hasenfratz Centre of Excellence in Manufacturing in an event it called Drive 4UR Community.
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Injectable antiretrovirals: The future of HIV management?
June 2016 - HIV therapy has dramatically improved over the past few decades due to advances in new drug discoveries and reformulations allowing for simple oral regimens. These advancements have helped to combat resistance and reduce pill burden for patients. Once-daily antiretroviral regimens are quickly becoming new standards for new patients; however, adherence is still a concern.
But what if patients no longer had to take a pill every day? This could be possible with the new, long-acting injectable antiretrovirals cabotegravir and Edurant.
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Haiti launches new AIDS testing, information campaign
June 25, 2016 - Some 150,000 Haitians are HIV-positive, a number that represents 55 percent of all HIV cases across the Caribbean.
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Right-Wing Media's Obsession With Planned Parenthood Is Thwarting Local Efforts To Reduce HIV Rates
June 24, 2016 - Right-wing media have been adamant that Planned Parenthood should not receive any government funding, even for programs that have nothing to do with abortion. But withholding health care funds from Planned Parenthood is the medical equivalent of cutting off your nose to spite your face, as evidenced by the defunded local affiliates whose HIV prevention programs have become far less -- or completely -- ineffective.
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Study Finds Detroit is One of Nation’s Hot Spots for HIV
June 24, 2016 - Experts say that Detroit is one of 40 cities in the nation most affected by cases of HIV.
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Moscow Region HIV Patients Not Receiving Vital Medicine
Jun. 24 2016 - According to patients registered with the Moscow Region Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS, even children and pregnant women have been refused necessary treatment.
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President Obama Designates Stonewall National Monument
June 24, 2016 - Summary: Today, President Obama designated Stonewall National Monument to honor the broad LGBT equality movement.
Today, President Obama designated a new national monument at the historic site of the Stonewall Uprising in New York City to honor the broad LGBT equality movement.
The new ‘Stonewall National Monument' will protect the area where, on June 28, 1969, a community's uprising in response to a police raid sparked the modern LGBT civil rights movement in the United States.
Cuomo Expands H.I.V. Benefits in New York City
JUNE 24, 2016 - Thousands of New York City residents who are H.I.V.-positive will become eligible for public assistance for housing, transportation and food under a significant expansion
of a state program that some activists had feared was being delayed.
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D.A.P. will again offer free meningitis vaccines
PALM SPRINGS, CA, June 24, 2016 - Nine cases recently identified in LA and Orange Counties
Since the beginning of May, nine meningococcal disease cases have been identified in men living in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, most of whom were gay or bisexual men. Although rare, meningococcal disease
is serious and potentially fatal – and in one of these nine cases, the patient has died as a result of the infection.
HIV Positive Characters Still Absent on TV as Infection Rates Rise
June 24, 2016 - A straight African-American woman finds out she’s contracted HIV from her ex-husband and has to navigate how it affects her personally as well as professionally, since she works as a physician’s assistant in a busy county hospital.
You won’t find this story on television today, but it was a prominent, ongoing storyline twenty years ago on the number one series on television during the 1996-97 season: NBC’s “ER.”
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Help Let's Kick ASS Educate The World About AIDS Survivor Syndrome
June 23, 2016 - Our abstract entitled, HIV Long-Term Survivors: Kicking AIDS Survivor Syndrome was accepted!
We are presenting on Tuesday, 19 July 2016.
Let’s Kick ASS is the organization established to raise awareness about AIDS Survivor Syndrome and to do something to about it .
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Documentary exploring HIV/AIDS long-term survival screened in SA
June 23, 2016 - AN ANTONIO - “Desert Migration” focuses on a group of gay men, all long-term HIV survivors, who sought refuge in Southern California’s Palm Springs, where their homosexuality and health condition are understood.
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Meet the UAL student tackling HIV stigma through app design
June 23, 2016 - Jacob Alexander created The Positive Project to educate young people about the causes and effects of the virus.
Jacob Alexander was diagnosed with HIV on the day of his 22nd birthday last year.
In the months following his diagnosis, the London College of Fashion, UAL student says he has been shocked by the number of people asking him ill-informed, insensitive questions about the virus, or who don’t even know that it still exists.
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Geriatric Assessments Among HIV-Infected Older Adults
June 22, 2016 - This study looked comprehensively across physical, mental and social health domains to examine health related needs of older adults living with HIV.
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35 Years After the AIDS Epidemic Began, It’s Devastating the South
June 22, 2016 - Black Americans in the South are contracting HIV at alarming rates. As one expert put it, “We have a raging fire on our hands.”
People with HIV should begin antiretroviral therapy (ART) as soon as possible after their diagnosis – regardless of infection stage. Two new analyses from the World Health Organization (WHO) confirm that, in addition to slowing disease progression, the treatment helps prevent potentially deadly infections. The studies included more than 20 years of data from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
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Shan Lu on lifelong mission to develop DNA vaccine for HIV
Jun 22, 2016 - Shan Lu, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, has received $17.3 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to develop and produce an optimized HIV vaccine to be used in Phase II human clinical trials.
Gay men report a wide range of behaviours to make sex safer
22 June 2016 - Gay men in the UK employ a wide range of precautionary tactics and behaviours to avoid harms during sex – using condoms is just one of the ways in which men protect themselves and their partners.
Avoiding sex with partners of a different HIV status, knowing their current viral load, using lubricant for intercourse and regular testing were all widely cited behaviours.
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LGBT AND AIDS ACTIVISTS STAGE DIE-IN OUTSIDE TRUMP TOWER
June 22, 2016 - New York, NY - ACTIVISTS CHANT “STOP THE KILLING” WHILE TRUMP MEETS WITH ANTI-LGBT EVANGELICAL LEADERS
Over 100 LGBT and AIDS activists turned up outside Trump Tower last night to protest Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump meeting with 400 Evangelical religious leaders in New York City.
Another Reason That People with HIV Need to Start ART Immediately
Jun 21, 2016 - People with HIV should begin antiretroviral therapy (ART) as soon as possible after their diagnosis – regardless of infection stage. Two new analyses from the World Health Organization (WHO) confirm that, in addition to slowing disease progression, the treatment helps prevent potentially deadly infections. The studies included more than 20 years of data from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
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Vancouver's Pride Legacy Awards 2016 celebrate LGBT community shining lights
June 21, 2016 - It was a night celebrating the strengths and accomplishments of local individuals and organizations, who have contributed selflessly to social progress and improvement.
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INTERVIEW: The Elton John AIDS Foundation
JUNE 21, 2016 - RENO - Anne Aslett, director of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, speaks to Billionaire about the mission to eradicate AIDS for good.
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Many US communities vulnerable to HIV outbreak due to unsafe injecting of prescription opioids
21 June 2016 - Research published in the online edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes has identified the jurisdictions in the United States especially vulnerable to the rapid spread of HIV or hepatitis C virus (HCV) due to unsafe injecting drug use. A total of
220 countries in 26 states had a high level of vulnerability, with factors associated with unsafe injecting including high rates of death due to drug overdose, unemployment and poverty.
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Feds: Nevada discriminates against HIV inmates
June 21, 2016 - RENO - Justice Department lawyers say they may sue the state under the Americans with Disabilities Act if it doesn’t change the policies based on unfounded fears about the transmission of HIV.
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Loyola study reveals how HIV enters cell nucleus
June 21, 2016 - Loyola University Chicago scientists have solved a mystery that has long baffled HIV researchers: How does HIV manage to enter the nucleus of immune system cells?
The discovery, reported in the journal PLOS Pathogens, could lead to effective new drugs to treat HIV/AIDS, said Edward M. Campbell, PhD, corresponding author of the study. Campbell is an associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.
ACT UP NEW YORK TO TRUMP AND THE EXTREME RIGHT OF THE GOP: NOT IN OUR NAME!
June 21, 2016 - New York, NY - TRUMP CONTINUES TO ADVOCATE DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PEACEFUL MUSLIMS WHILE MEETING WITH ANTI-GAY AND ANTI-TRANSGENDER HATE GROUPS
On Tuesday June 21st, 2016 Donald Trump will meet with the leaders of multiple anti-LGBTQ hate groups in a cynical attempt to exploit homophobia, transphobia, anti-Muslim bigotry, and racism to overcome his historically bad polls and unpopularity with the majority of the American people.
Gay men abstinent for a year cleared by Health Canada to donate blood
Jun 20, 2016 - Health Minister Jane Philpott says government committed to reducing wait period further
Love is the bedrock of our community and the source of our strength and progress. Pulse itself was founded as an act of love. Barbara Poma opened Pulse 12 years ago to honor her brother, a gay man who died of complications from AIDS. She wanted the club to embody the energy of his life and, more than anything, to serve as a place of love and acceptance for the LGBT community. It did that, and more. Pulse became a refuge, a place of community.
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This Year Pride Matters More Than Ever
June 20 2016 - Love is the bedrock of our community and the source of our strength and progress. Pulse itself was founded as an act of love. Barbara Poma opened Pulse 12 years ago to honor her brother, a gay man who died of complications from AIDS. She wanted the club to embody the energy of his life and, more than anything, to serve as a place of love and acceptance for the LGBT community. It did that, and more. Pulse became a refuge, a place of community.
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$5.8 million grant to improve health for minorities living with HIV
20-Jun-2016 - An intervention to increase engagement with treatment among African-American/black and Hispanic people living with HIV has been funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a part of the National Institutes of Health. The study will target people who are neither taking antiretroviral therapy nor consistently engaged in HIV primary care.
What Will It Take to Cure HIV?
June 20 2016 - A cure for HIV, long thought impossible, is now well within the mainstream of current research efforts. The case of the Berlin patient, cured in 2007, sparked a sea change in the field,
providing proof that a cure was possible. However, research funding dedicated to finding a cure has been slow to catch up. While investments in cure research rose by 82 percent between 2012 and 2014, from $88.1 million to $160.8 million, this represents only
a fraction of what is needed to address the enormously complex and unprecedented challenge of curing HIV.
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Women in HIV serodiscordant relationships less likely to take PrEP consistently if they experience intimate partner violence
20 June 2016 - Experiencing intimate partner violence is associated with an increased risk of poor adherence to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among women in serodiscorant relationships in sub-Saharan Africa,
investigators report in the online edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. Overall, 16% of women experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) and this increased the risk of sub-optimal adherence to PrEP by 50%, when measured by either pill count or plasma tenofovir concentrations.
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Media should be objective and factual when reporting on HIV/AIDS
18th June 2016 - Telling the whole story also means giving it a human face. The voices of people with HIV and AIDS must be heard more strongly and they must include the vulnerable and marginalised people.
The focus should be on facts. Distortion of facts in any manner to make the story salacious and therefore “more saleable” is unacceptable. Censorship of relevant information too is unethical.
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HIV national crisis remains one of the country’s top priorities
18th June 2016 - The United Nations’ estimates that 40 million people around the world are currently living with HIV, of those only 17 million have access to antiretroviral therapy, 2.4 million
have become recently infected with the disease, and 40.8 million people have lost their battle to the virus since it started.
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Antiviral therapy for HIV/AIDS offered free
June 18 2016 - Drugs have improved a lot and potential side effects, like rashes, are quite limited, expert says
China is bringing free antiviral therapy to all citizens living with HIV/AIDS, the top health authority said.
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AIDS 2016 Conference Provides Opportunity To Take HIV Prevention, Treatment ‘Models To Mainstream’
June 17 2016 - One in 10 men and one in 20 women who travel internationally from Great Britain find new sexual partners abroad, according to two new studies.
Sexually transmitted infection and HIV prevalence is higher in certain parts of the world, so some overseas partnerships may be riskier than others, said the lead author of one paper.
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Many travelers from Britain find new sexual partners abroad
June 17 2016 - One in 10 men and one in 20 women who travel internationally from Great Britain find new sexual partners abroad, according to two new studies.
Sexually transmitted infection and HIV prevalence is higher in certain parts of the world, so some overseas partnerships may be riskier than others, said the lead author of one paper.
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The highs and lows of the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS
6/17/2016 - Harm-reduction strategies use methods to restrict the negative impacts of drug use. One of the most negative impacts is the spread of HIV, and Saskatchewan has the highest rate of the disease in the country.
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Gay congressman calls for FDA to overturn blood donation ban for gay men
June 17, 2016 - CNN - Harm-reduction strategies use methods to restrict the negative impacts of drug use. One of the most negative impacts is the spread of HIV, and Saskatchewan has the highest rate of the disease in the country.
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People who inject drugs have other priorities ahead of PrEP
17 June 2016 - People who inject drugs have fundamental concerns about HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis and the manner in which it being promoted, according to a consultation conducted by the International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD).
With limited availability of harm reduction services, poor access to HIV treatment and little progress on legal reform, respondents suggested that people who inject drugs have more pressing needs than PrEP.
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Study underscores ongoing need for HIV safety net program
16-Jun-2016-- A Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine study of insurance coverage of more than 28,000 people with HIV concludes that a decades-old program that offers free medical care remains a critical necessity despite the availability of coverage under the Affordable Care Act
Madagascar’s AIDS epidemic rages on undetected
June 16, 2016 - An AIDS epidemic is sweeping through Madagascar’s high-risk populations, including gay men and sex workers. But a low detection rate means the statistics do not match the reality.
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HIV testing and treatment campaigns need to target women and the under 35s, says research from South Africa
16 June 2016 - A quarter of people living with HIV in KwaZulu-Natal are unaware of their infection status, according to research published in the online edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. The study also revealed that approximately
three-quarters of people eligible for antiretroviral therapy (ART) were taking this treatment and just over half of all HIV-positive individuals had viral suppression. The majority of individuals who were untested, unaware of their infection status, untreated and unsuppressed were women and the under
35s. However, men had a much greater risk of all these outcomes.
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Cambridge researcher wins prize for a device helping to fight HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa
June 16, 2016 - Dr Helen Lee, an inventor in Cambridge University’s Department of Haematology, has been honoured for her work on HIV diagnosis
Dr Helen Lee, an inventor in Cambridge University’s Department of Haematology, has been honoured for her work on HIV diagnosis, winning the Popular Prize at the 2016 European Inventor Awards.
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Sask. HIV rate goes up as harm-reduction expansion remains on hold
June 16, 2016 - The scientific debate over whether or not harm-reduction programs effectively lower HIV rates is, by most accounts, over.
Harm-reduction strategies use methods to restrict the negative impacts of drug use. One of the most negative impacts is the spread of HIV, and Saskatchewan has the highest rate of the disease in the country.
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Strategy planned to reduce spike in HIV and hep C among drug users
June 16, 2016 - The health board gave the green light Thursday to develop a strategy that could result in the creation of a new outreach team. Members would develop relationships with people who inject drugs to determine the underlying issues behind their addiction.
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HIV treatment reduces HIV transmission by 77% in South African couples
16 June 2016 - Antiretroviral treatment reduced the risk of HIV transmission by 77% in serodiscordant couples in rural South Africa, a population-based study carried out in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal has shown. The findings are published
in advance online in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
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Men With HIV Age Faster According to DNA Methylation Study
Jun. 15, 2016 - Infection with HIV may be associated with accelerated cellular aging, according to a new study in which researchers analyzed DNA methylation patterns of men with HIV infection (Gross AM et al. Mol Cell. 2016;62[2]:157-168). The study provides a possible explanation for
why people with HIV who take antiretroviral medications often develop age-related conditions such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, bone fractures, and renal failure years earlier than those who are uninfected
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Girl who moved crowd with HIV poem is dead
Jun. 15, 2016 - An 18-year-old girl whose poem on HIV-Aids moved First Lady Margaret Kenyatta last Thursday in Busia has died.
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Simulations describe HIV's 'diabolical delivery device'
15-Jun-2016 - Viral maturation study extends reach of biological computations
From a virus's point of view, invading our cells is a matter of survival. The virus makes a living by highjacking cellular processes to produce more of the proteins that make it up.
Housing Works CEO Charles King’s Reflections on the Orlando Attack
June 15, 2016 - A statement by Housing Works President & CEO Charles King on the massacre in Orlando, Florida, at Pulse Night Club, where 49 LGBT people and allies were murdered and over 50 more were injured.
Housing Works stands for radical inclusion, for accepting people as they are. We stand for love that heals. We stand for kindness, especially when directed toward strangers, including those who are seen as strangers only because they are somehow different from us. It is love, often times
coupled with anger against injustice, that has brought us this far in the fight against AIDS. And it is love that will bring us to the end of the epidemic.
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Free HIV Testing from Walgreens & Greater Than AIDS!
June 14, 2016 - Durban - Walgreens and Greater Than AIDS Team Up in National Effort to Encourage HIV Testing and Prevention
Select Walgreens Locations in 150 Cities Across the Nation to Host Free HIV Testing Events June 23 – 25, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, New Orleans and Memphis, Among Other Cities
In the lead up to National HIV Testing Day on June 27, Walgreens and Greater Than AIDS, a leading national public information response to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic, are teaming with health departments and local AIDS service organizations (ASOs) to offer free HIV testing and counseling
about new prevention strategies, including Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP).
Ending HIV: UN slogans vs the voices of civil society
June 14, 2016 - Durban - Last week’s UN meeting exposed the deep divide about whether HIV responses should commit to respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights rather than blaming those who are most affected.
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Durban ready to host Aids conference
June 14, 2016 - Durban - South Africa is ready to host the 21st International Aids Conference in Durban, despite expected protests on issues around the illness.
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Study enables first-time analysis of earliest stage of HIV infection
14-Jun-2016 - DZIF scientists from the Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine at the Medical Center of the University of Munich (LMU) and DZIF African partner institutions in Tanzania participated in a prospective, multinational study
The first days after HIV infection are very important because sexual partners are exposed to extremely high risks of infection due to the subsequent high viral load in the infected person. Additionally, this period of time determines the further course of HIV infection. DZIF
scientists from the Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine at the Medical Center of the University of Mu-nich (LMU) and DZIF African partner institutions in Tanzania participated in a pro-spective, multinational study which investigated virological and immunological changes due to
HIV - prior to the onset of clinical symptoms and commercial HIV testing windows.
New stats on HIV and Hepatitis C among drug users backs calls for safe injection sites in city
June 14, 2016 - Those pushing to build safe injection sites in London seized upon stats Tuesday that show an epidemic of HIV and Hepatitis C among drug users in the city.
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Charlie Sheen’s Newest Role: Condom Pitchman
JUNE 14, 2016 - “Young people still refuse to use condoms, still refuse to participate in activities that will enhance their knowledge and that will keep them from doing bad things. They refuse to change their ways when it comes to influencing others to participate in risky sexual behaviour."
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Number of youth contracting HIV still a challenge in SA
14 June 2016 - “Young people still refuse to use condoms, still refuse to participate in activities that will enhance their knowledge and that will keep them from doing bad things. They refuse to change their ways when it comes to influencing others to participate in risky sexual behaviour."
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HIV-positive adolescents need to be rapidly linked to specialist care to have best chances of sustaining engagement with HIV services
14 June 2016 - Adolescents newly diagnosed with HIV need to be rapidly incorporated into HIV care networks to have the best chances of remaining in care in the long term, research from the United States published in the June 1st edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes shows.
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Study: Autologous stem cell transplant should be standard care for HIV-associated lymphoma
(WASHINGTON - June 13, 2016) - Multicenter, Phase II trial suggests autologous transplant should be standard of care for HIV patients with relapsed/treatment-resistant lymphoma
New research published online today in Blood Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), challenges the generally held belief that individuals with HIV and aggressive lymphoma are not candidates for standard treatment.
AIDS Meeting Was Bold but Disappointing, Organisations Say
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 13 2016 (IPS) - Many were particularly concerned with stripped and exclusionary language on so-called key populations in the document.
“When we saw in the Declaration that key populations were less mentioned than 5 years ago…it is a real setback,” Alix Zuinghedau from Coalition Plus, a French international union for HIV/AIDS organisations, told IPS.
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Dems call for end of blood donation ban from gay men
06/13/16 - The ban remains a divisive issue among government health officials, even as groups such as the American Red Cross and America’s Blood Centers call it “medically and scientifically unwarranted.”
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Gay Orlando, It’s Your Turn to Help Pulse Now
06/13/16 - Pulse was founded 12 years ago by Barbara Poma and Ron Legler. Barbara named the club Pulse in memory of her brother John, a gay man who died of AIDS. The owners of the club made it a priority to serve the gay community and became a fundraising powerhouse.
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Interventions for tobacco use cessation in people living with HIV and AIDS
06/13/16 - Tobacco use is highly prevalent amongst people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and has a substantial impact on morbidity and mortality.
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ActionAIDS expands mission, leaving storied name behind
June 13, 2016 - Burns said the name change had been under consideration for a year, and mission was not the only reason. Some clients said they felt stigmatized by the word AIDS. And with government funding for AIDS services declining, Burns said, his organization as well
as others around the country see a broadened mission as necessary to their survival.
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35 years in the AIDS trenches
June 13, 2016 - After helping pave the way to HIV treatment, Dr. Larry Corey wants a vaccine — and a cure
The June morning in 1981 started out routinely enough. Coffee in hand, Dr. Larry Corey, then a young University of Washington medical virologist, picked up a copy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report. What he read is as fixed in his
memory as a specimen on a glass slide: Five previously healthy men, all of them gay, had fallen ill or died from a lung infection that typically affects only people with severely damaged immune systems.
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Blood donation restrictions for gay men ‘not supported by facts,’ AIDS experts say
June 13, 2016 - Dr. Paul Volberding, director of the AIDS Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco, said the policy requiring gay men to stay celibate for 12 months before donating blood was “not really supported by the facts.”
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HIV in an unexpected place: A quiet epidemic in SW Georgia
June 13, 2016 - It’s not a date you forget – the day you were diagnosed with HIV. For Adolphus Major, that milestone was Oct. 28, 1999.
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#PulseTragedy: Homophobic Blood-Donation Ban Puts Lives at Risk
June 13, 2016 - deadline for submissions: August 5, 2016
After the terrorist attack at Orlando, Fla.’s Pulse nightclub Sunday morning, media outlets encouraged those living in Florida to donate blood. But when federal policy prohibits this from happening,
then no matter how much we can rightfully blame Omar Mateen for these heinous acts of violence, we can also place some blame on institutions like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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Charlie Sheen and the Danger of False Cures
Charlie Sheen's misadventure with a false cure for HIV/AIDS
When basketball legend Magic Johnson announced in 1991 that he had tested positive for HIV, it was a death sentence, and he promptly retired from the Los Angeles Lakers. Fans mourned his coming demise, but to everyone's astonishment, Magic's life continued in relative normalcy.
A quarter of a century later he is an active entrepreneur, business leader, philanthropist and advocate for HIV/AIDS prevention.
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Queer at Queen’s 2016 Positive Futures: HIV/AIDS Disclosure, Prosecution and Performance
June 13, 2016 - deadline for submissions: August 5, 2016
Last year, Queen’s University and Outburst Queer Arts Festival played host to an inspiring range of speakers for Queer at Queen’s 2015: HIV/AIDS, History, Memory, Performance.
That event looked to the past as it attempted to address, among other things, the ways in which the history of HIV/AIDS activism has been written and in some cases distorted. In talks from artists, scholars and activists,
including people living with HIV, one of the most significant things that emerged was a sense of continuing disparity, globally, in attitudes and policies, with Ireland, north and south, continuing to see HIV through
the lens of stigma and sexual shame. That event challenged participants to imagine how we might begin to expose, critique and change this reality through art, film and performance and gave us striking examples of
PLHIV who have shaped their own realities through art and anger, beyond shame.
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The Revolutionary Role of the Gay Bar in American History
June 13, 2016 - The Orlando shooting is an especially grievous insult in view of the role that gay bars have played in LGBTQ history
The selection of Pulse, a gay Orlando nightclub, as the site for a murderous homophobic rampage makes the killer’s crime a special outrage in view of the role that nightclubs have played in this nation’s LGBTQ history.
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Less frequent CD4 and viral load monitoring safe for patients doing well on ART
13 June 2016 - The frequency of routine monitoring for antiretroviral-treated patients with viral suppression can be safely reduced from every three months, to every six months,
investigators from Europe and the United States report in the June 1st edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. However, patients followed-up every nine to twelve months were more likely to
experience virologic failure and also had lower CD4 count increases compared to patients monitored every three months.
Read more...
Gay men outraged over continued ban on blood donation
June 13, 2016 - The ban has caused outrage among some in the gay community who say they are being stopped from helping their LGBT "brothers and sisters" targeted in
Sunday's shooting at the Pulse nightclub.
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HIV-prevention drug Truvada fails for Toronto man
June 12, 2016 - Truvada is used to block the transmission of the virus, but one man contracted it anyhow.
“Even though the patient was taking the drug every day, the HIV virus overpowered the medication and infected him,” said the man's doctor, Dr. David Knox, an HIV-specialist and primary care physician at Toronto's Maple Leaf Medical Clinic.
Knox reported his finding at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infection in Boston this past February. He explained the case serves as stark reminder for gay or bisexual men to continue wearing condoms instead of relying solely on Truvada.
FNB You Can Help Few Words Can Help - CindyHIV
Jun 12, 2016 - In 2004, Cindy Pivacic was diagnosed with HIV. Six years later she chose to go public with her status to help raise awareness about HIV and AIDS.
Her talks encourage other HIV positive South Africans to lead full and healthy lives.
Gay men can't donate blood to victims of the Orlando shooting. That's absurd
12 June 2016 - In short, the ban on gay blood is unjustified. Other countries, such as Argentina, have already done away with it.
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HIV Diagnostic Kit Wins Inventors Prize In Europe
11 June 2016 - The device called SAMBA, which stands for Simple AMplification-Based Assay, was created by Cambridge scientists led by Dr. Helen Lee. It is currently being used in sub-Saharan Africa,
wherein approximately 20 million individuals are believed to be HIV virus carriers.
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Ghana: New HIV/AIDS laws need anti-stigma provisions spelled out
Jun 11, 2016 - The new bill, which is currently before parliament, seeks to repeal and replace the old law initiated in 2002 and to address the inadequacy in the existing law.
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Transwomen Living with HIV
June 10, 2016 - Across the globe, transgender women (transwomen) are affected by HIV to a much greater degree than other groups. It is estimated that the proportion of transwomen living with HIV is 49 times higher than in the general adult population. This is true whether transwomen are living in low-, middle-, or high-resource countries. Worldwide, the prevalence of HIV among transwomen is about 19 percent; this means that 19 out of 100 transwomen in a given population will be living with HIV. By comparison, the global estimate of HIV prevalence among female sex workers is 12 percent, and the estimate for men who have sex with men is 13 percent. The overall global estimate of HIV prevalence is 0.8 percent.
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Neurologic Symptoms Common in Early HIV Infection
June 10, 2016 - Much More Extensive, Though Milder Than Previously Thought
A team led by researchers from UC San Francisco and Yale has found that half of people newly infected with HIV experience neurologic issues. These neurologic findings are generally not severe and usually resolve after participants started anti-retroviral therapy.
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Russia set to launch innovative HIV/AIDS rehabilitation centers
June 10, 2016 - Russia has worked out a special comprehensive program on the rehabilitation and resocialization to clamp down on the HIV/AIDS spread and it will be introduced in the nearest future, Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova told TASS.
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Ad attacks Gilead over delayed TAF release
June 10, 2016 - A new print advertisement accuses Gilead Sciences of putting profits over the health of patients by stalling the development of a safer formulation of its antiviral HIV drug tenofovir.
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The Queen to honour two young people from Malawi with awards: Asante Mzungu and Madalo Banda
June 10, 2016 - Asante Mzungu has been recognised for his commitment to ensuring that young people can benefit from education, and Madalo Banda has been acknowledged for her creative writing project that addresses issues such as HIV/AIDS and child abuse.
Read more...
Big increases in proportion of HIV-positive people in US treated with ART and with viral suppression
10 June 2016 - The proportion of people living with HIV receiving care in the United States who accessed antiretroviral therapy (ART) and achieved viral suppression increased substantially between 2009 and 2013, according to research published in the online edition of AIDS.
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Supermodel Naomi Campbell honoured for AIDS charity work
June 9, 2016 - Supermodel Naomi Campbell was honoured for more than two decades of fundraising and promotion of HIV/AIDS awareness at an event in New York held by the American Foundation for AIDS Research.
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International travelers frequently report new sexual partners, risky behaviors
June 9, 2016 - New data published in the BMJ’s Sexually Transmitted Infections suggest many British travelers meet new sexual partners while abroad and frequently forgo protection or engage in other risky behaviors.
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Candida-specific helper T cells are preferential and early targets of HIV
9-Jun-2016 - Candida yeasts normally live on human skin and mucous membranes without causing disease. In individuals with a weakened immune system, however, they are a major cause of opportunistic infections. A study published on June 9th in PLOS Pathogens shows how HIV
soon after infection specifically targets and destroys the very immune cells that keep Candida in check.
Pioneering early stage researchers selected for NIDA's 2016 Avenir awards
9-Jun-2016 - Awards recognize cutting edge HIV/AIDS and epigenetics research
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, today announced seven recipients of its two Avenir Award programs for HIV/AIDS and genetics or epigenetics research. The awards will support exciting approaches with tools such as genome editing and
smart phone technologies, as well as studies of epigenetic changes in brain cells and couples-based HIV prevention. The Avenir (the French word for "future") Awards provide grants to early stage investigators who propose highly innovative studies. Each of the seven scientists will receive up to $300,000 per
year for five years to support their projects.
Elton John and Desmond Tutu: How to make AIDS history
June 9, 2016 - This week, world leaders are gathering at the United Nations to act on a groundbreaking goal: to make AIDS history. And while the goal is undoubtedly ambitious, it is achievable if we commit the political will and resources to make it happen.
Read more...
Test holds potential to diagnose myriad conditions with drop of blood
PITTSBURGH, June 9, 2016 - Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have developed a unique method for detecting antibodies in the blood of patients in a proof-of-principle study that opens the door to development of simple diagnostic tests
for diseases for which no microbial cause is known, including auto-immune diseases, cancers and other conditions.
Caribbean still worried at high prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS
June 09, 2016 - UNITED NATIONS (CMC) - The 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) grouping says despite its successes in dealing with the HIV/AIDs epidemic, the region still remains second to Sub-Sahara Africa in its prevalence rate.
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‘Tat’ HIV vaccine shows promising signs in trials
June 9, 2016 - A SOUTH African trial of the therapeutic "Tat" HIV vaccine, which scientists hope will delay progression of the disease, shows promising signs that it can improve patients’ response to anti-retroviral therapy and boost their immune system.
The results of the phase 2 trial, conducted in Limpopo, would be published on Thursday in the peer-review journal Retrovirology.
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Viewpoint: Why blood transfusions are still giving Indians HIV
June 9, 2016 - A recent news report on HIV transmission through blood transfusion in India has been the cause of much controversy.
According to information revealed by the country's National Aids Control Organisation (Naco) in response to a petition filed by an information activist, 2,234 Indians have contracted HIV while receiving blood transfusions in hospitals in the past 17 months alone.
Read more...
Cali Drug Price Initiative Sparked Sanders-Staley Spat
June 9, 2016 - In his interview with the ACT UP Oral History Project, Peter Staley recalled that the high price of an AIDS drug motivated him and six other members of the AIDS activist group to briefly stall the opening of the
New York Stock Exchange with a protest in 1989.
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HIV/AIDS - WHAT ARE WE DOING WRONG?
June 9, 2016 - (CNN) - LISTENING to the news yesterday covering proceedings at the UN I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed for this nation to be labelled the country with the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the world! Our invitation as
a country to address the UN should not be regarded as an honour for this country but an embarrassment. And the princess must be lauded for having braved it all to tell our story to the world.
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UN, world leaders adopt declaration to fight AIDS
June 8, 2016 - U.N. member nations agreed to speed up plans to cut the number of new HIV infections from slightly more than 2 million now to fewer than 500000, half the number of AIDS-related deaths to fewer than 500,000
and eliminate the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS by 2020.
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Immunocore’s ImmTAV Shown to Redirect the Immune System to Kill HIV-Infected Cells from Patients Treated with Antiretroviral Therapy
(Oxford, UK, 8th June 2016) -
- Data published in peer - reviewed Molecular Therapy demonstrate Immunocore's new class of bispecific antiviral reagents , ImmT AV s , can recruit T cells to kill HIV infected CD4+ T cells
- Persistence of latent HIV in CD4+ T cells is a major barrier to eradication
- First demonstration of the potential for an ImmTAV to treat infectious diseases
Persistence of HIV in a latent state in long-lived CD4+ T cells is a major barrier to eradication, and these data demonstrate the potential of an ImmTAV as a therapy to facilitate clearance of reactivated, latently-infected reservoir cells.
Political Declaration Will Not End AIDS
08 Jun 2016 - UN Headquarters N.Y. - 2016 U.N. Political Declaration on Ending AIDS a disappointing and unprincipled setback in the fight against AIDS
This declaration turns a blind eye to the needs of sex workers, people who use drugs, prisoners, gay men and men who have sex with men, and transgender persons living in political environments that perpetuate socially and legally sanctioned discrimination and violence,
including misogyny, homophobia and transphobia. Maintaining the status quo is no longer good enough—we must stand together and raise our voices to demand better.
Bold new Political Declaration on Ending AIDS adopted in New York
UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK, 8 June 2016 - United Nations Member States agree to reach ambitious new targets by 2020, pledging to leave no one behind and end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030
A progressive, new and actionable Political Declaration on Ending AIDS has today been adopted by Member States at the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS, taking place in New York, United States of America. The Political Declaration includes a
set of specific, time-bound targets that must be reached by 2020 to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals.
UNAIDS and PEPFAR announce dramatic reductions in new HIV infections among children in the 21 countries most affected by HIV in Africa
NEW YORK/GENEVA, 8 June 2016 - Concerted global efforts have led to a 60% drop in new infections among children, which has averted 1.2 million new HIV infections among children in 21 priority countries since 2009
UNAIDS and the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) announced today that there has been a 60% decline in new HIV infections among children since 2009 in the 21 countries in sub-Saharan Africa that have been most affected by the epidemic.
Suffering in Silence: Why the HIV Community Can No Longer Ignore Mental Health
June 8, 2016 - "Those of us living with HIV/AIDS must be vigilant about mental health. In any given 12-month period, more than one quarter of us will meet criteria for anxiety disorder, and over half will have a serious depressive episode.
This can affect medication adherence and it impacts our psychological and physical health."
Read more...
Ending HIV: ideology vs evidence at the UN
8 June 2016 - This week’s negotiations over the UN’s Political Declaration Ending AIDS are rife with circular debates, and sex, gender and sexuality are flashpoints of polarization.
In the current negotiations three disputes have reached new heights of absurdity: first, whether we can “name” the communities that are most affected by HIV globally - “key populations”- composed of men who have sex with men [MSM],
transgender women, drug users and sex workers; second, whether evidence supports the claim that gender-based violence increases women’s and key populations’ vulnerability to HIV; and third, whether we can name “comprehensive sexuality education” as
one important strategy to reduce vulnerability to HIV and increase access to services. The debates illustrate a toxic combination of cowardice, misogyny, homo-and trans-phobia, religious fundamentalism, and a closing of space for realistic
discussion of how to solve pressing global challenges by governments and civil society together.
Read more...
Elton John and Desmond Tutu: How to make AIDS history
2016-06-08 - By Elton John and Desmond Tutu
This week, world leaders are gathering at the United Nations to act on a groundbreaking goal: to make AIDS history. And while the goal is undoubtedly ambitious, it is achievable if we commit the political will and resources to make it happen.
Read more...
AIDS @ 35: Sean Strub speaks about the HIV/AIDS crisis
2016-06-08 - On June 5, 1981, the Centers for Disease Control ( CDC, now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ) published in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report ( MMWR ) that there were five cases—all gay
men in Los Angeles—of pneumocystis carinii pneumonia ( PCP ). Two of the men had died.
Read more...
Ajax’s Ashley Murphy wins two prestigious awards for her efforts to end HIV/AIDS stigma
Jun 08, 2016 - AJAX - Teen is recipient of Prince of Wales global action award and Terry Fox Humanitarian Award
The 18-year-old Ajax resident was named the recipient of the Prince of Wales Youth Service Award for Global Action in mid-May and then at the end of the month, she was notified she’d be receiving a Terry Fox Humanitarian Award,
which comes with a $28,000 four-year post-secondary scholarship.
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LGBT groups defy UN decision to bar them from AIDS meet
JUNE 8, 2016 - Stonewall Community Foundation honors Ronan Farrow, Selenis & Marizol Leyva, and Levi Strauss & Co. at 2016 Vision Awards in New York
Last night in New York, the Stonewall Community Foundation, the only public foundation for New York City's LGBTQ community, awarded its 2016 Vision Awards to Ronan Farrow, Selenis & Marizol Leyva and Levi Strauss & Co., and
also recognized grantee partner The Ackerman Institute’s Gender and Family Project.
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Thailand eliminates mother-to-child HIV transmission
June 7, 2016 - CNN - The World Health Organization has congratulated Thailand as the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.
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Traveling the HIV Spectrum With An HIV/AIDS Specialist in the Developed and Developing Worlds
June 7, 2016 - Having turned 60 years old this past year and approaching 30 years as an HIV/AIDS specialist, I erroneously believe I have seen it all in the field of HIV medicine.
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UN High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS faces battle over key populations
07 June 2016 - Alliance of reactionary countries seeks to block recognition of key populations in a new global framework for HIV response
In particular, activists say that interventions by Russia, Iran, Indonesia and a group of Gulf States have resulted in the removal of references to the need to repeal discriminatory and punitive laws affecting sex workers, people who use drugs and men who have sex with men.
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There’s More Room in a Broken Heart
June 7, 2016 - When Will Armstrong emerges from heart surgery in just a few days, he will have weeks of hospitalization ahead. He will also have expensive new hardware in his chest and a devoted animal waiting anxiously at home.
What he will not have is a pulse.
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An HIV Long-Term Survivor's Poem-a-Day Countdown to 35 Years of AIDS: Michael Broder on the Here and Now of HIV
June 7, 2016 - You identify as a long-term survivor of HIV. Can you share your experiences of HIV in your own life?
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UNAIDS appoints amfAR Chair and fashion designer Kenneth Cole as International Goodwill Ambassador
NEW YORK/GENEVA, 7 June 2016 - UNAIDS has appointed amfAR Chair and leading fashion designer Kenneth Cole as a UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador. The announcement was made at a special event held on the eve of the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting
on Ending AIDS, taking place in New York, United States of America, from 8 to 10 June.
FDA Clears a New Latex Condom by O-RING Products with the Technology to Ease and Improve the Application of Condoms
June 07, 2016 - LOS ANGELES - Patented O-RING Condoms® Take Aim at the 30% Failure Rate of Condoms to be Correctly Applied Right Side Down
O-Ring Products LLC announced today that it has received FDA clearance for its patented O-Ring Condom®. Studies at Indiana University and the Kinsey Institute have demonstrated that at least 30% of the time condoms are initially applied upside down, causing
a series of potential risks and unwanted events including user disruption, feelings of frustration or embarrassment, physical discomfort, loss of erection, increased risks of STIs and unintended pregnancies. O-Ring Condom solves this problem by introducing a patented luminescent
ring on the latex that can be easily seen when the consumer opens the wrapper, indicating simply which way to apply the condom so it can be applied correctly in the light or dark.
HIV self-testing has several advantages, but some barriers to HIV testing likely to remain
07 June 2016 - A service offering kits for HIV self-testing in South Africa has the potential to improve uptake of HIV testing by individuals who fear breaches of confidentiality or who do not trust healthcare workers, according
to a qualitative study published in PLoS ONE. But other, long-standing barriers to accessing HIV testing are likely to remain pertinent – individuals who do not feel ‘ready’ to know their status, who worry about HIV-related stigma or who fear dying of AIDS will probably still be reluctant to test.
Read more...
Significant attrition at each stage of HIV care cascade in South Africa
06 June 2016 - Over half of HIV-infected men undiagnosed
There is significant attrition at each stage of the HIV care continuum in South Africa, according to a study published in the online edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. The population-based research was conducted in North West Province and revealed that of those with HIV,
only 48% of men and 76% of women were aware they were infected. Patients were then lost at each stage in the cascade of HIV care. Overall, just 22% of HIV-positive men and 56% of HIV-positive women had viral suppression, liberally defined as a viral load below 5000 copies/ml.
Read more...
Annie’s Opening Speech – Fast-Track Cities: Ending the AIDS epidemic
June 6, 2016 - June 2016, world leaders, government representatives, HIV programme implementers and civil society organizations from across the world have gathered for a UN High-level Meeting on Ending AIDS
to chart the way forward to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. The meeting will consit of a number of Official Panels, Side events and other events.
Earlier today during Fast-Track Cities: Ending the AIDS Annie presented the opening plenary
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Long-term survivor marks 35 years since AIDS was first recognized
June 6, 2016 - KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Ken Garwood believes he was infected with HIV, the AIDS virus, in 1980. That was long before it had a name. Ken didn't realize he had it until his partner became ill in 1984
and died six months later.
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Greg Louganis thought he would never see his 30th birthday
6 June 2016 - Olympic icon, now 56, looks back on 35th anniversary of first AIDS death in the US
Diving icon Greg Louganis, who competed in the 1988 Summer Olympics just six months after finding out he was HIV-positive, took to Facebook Monday (6 June) to share his story on the 35th anniversary of the first AIDS death in the US.
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Zimbabwe Launches HIV/AIDS Management Booklet
June 06, 2016 - HARARE - The Zimbabwe National Network of People Living with HIV in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and Childcare, the National AIDS Council and people living positively with HIV/ AIDS, has launched a booklet designed to create
awareness on taking antiretroviral drugs and the management of HIV/AIDS.
Read more...
Expensive Worldwide Abstinence Program Did Not Prevent HIV
June 6, 2016 - Abstinence and marriage fidelity programs costing 1.4 billion have not been effective when it comes to preventing HIV on a global scale, Stanford study says.
Worldwide abstinence and fidelity programs funded by the US government at a cost of $1.4 billion have failed to prevent HIV.
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How a doc shocked India with first HIV diagnosis 30 yrs ago
June 06, 2016 - CHENNAI: The year was 1986. It was a hot, humid day in June when Dr Suniti Solomon first discovered that the deadly HIV/AIDS virus had made its way to India.
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Mayors of New York and Paris convene a global meeting of mayors on ending AIDS in cities
NEW YORK/PARIS/GENEVA, 6 June 2016 - More than 30 cities playing a leading role in the AIDS response meet to discuss ongoing strategies and innovations in their cities that are improving health and development
The Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, and the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, have convened a meeting in New York, United States of America, in collaboration with UNAIDS and the Fast-Track cities partners, UN-Habitat and the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC),
on ending the AIDS epidemic in cities by 2030.
Reclaiming ‘Our Golden Years’ as People with HIV
June 5th, 2016 - A few months ago, Olivia invited me to join her as the guest editors of a special issue of Positively Aware magazine and the result, “Our Golden Years,” explores aging and HIV from the viewpoint of people who are already post-retirement age.
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New Campaign Features Top YouTube and Social Media Stars To Educate Young People About Latest In HIV/AIDS
June 06, 2016 - “Girl, no! You cannot get HIV like that!,” exclaims YouTube star Todrick Hall in a new video for HIV BEATS, an upbeat and informative new series from #endHIV and Greater Than AIDS, made in collaboration with YouTube.
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35 years on, AIDS survivors struggle
June 6th, 2016 - ON JUNE 5, 1981 the Centers for Disease Control published its first report on AIDS cases. Now, 35 years later, new treatments have been a success in extending the life of many with the disease, but with sometimes debilitating side effects
especially among long-term survivors. In addition to this, most if not all long-term survivors suffer from AIDS Survivor Syndrome.
Read more...
Gene editing technique could transform future
6 June 2016 - CRISPR - get to know this acronym. It's good to know the name of something that could change your future.
The world's first gene-editing trials took place in California, involving a different technique, ZFNs. Around 80 patients with HIV had immune cells in their blood removed.
Read more...
Statement by the President on the 35th Anniversary of HIV/AIDS in America
June 5, 2016 - Summary: President Obama reflects on the 35 years since the first reported cases of AIDS in 1981, including major accomplishments of his Administration.
On June 5, 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a report on what would later be understood as the first documented cases of AIDS. The past 35 years tell a story that bends from uncertainty, fear, and loss toward resilience, innovation, and hope.
Surviving Life Itself: Reflections of a Longtime Survivor
June 5th, 2016 - Many of us remember that new world, when people with AIDS were saved by a miraculous “cocktail” of new medications. Living with HIV before the mid-1990s, when these medications were introduced, has become the popular line
of demarcation for entry into the fellowship of long-term survivors.
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A look at the graying of HIV
June 4, 2016 - Survivors from the U.S. AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and '90s are accustomed to being told they dodged a bullet. They know they are fortunate to be alive, all these decades later.
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Long-term homelessness linked to more advanced HIV: Canadian study
JUNE 4, 2016 - A Vancouver study of homelessness in its Downtown Eastside neighbourhood has revealed that the longer a person with HIV remains homeless the more likely he or she will have a more compromised immune system accompanied by greater health risks.
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GMHC Marks 35 Years Since the CDC's First Reported "AIDS" Cases
June 3, 2016 - New York, New York - GMHC released the following statement in response to the first Center for Disease Control (CDC) Report noting Pneumocystis Pneumonia in 5 young, otherwise healthy, gay men. The report was released on June 5, 1981.
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Calling on innovators, implementers, investors, activists and leaders to Fast-Track ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030
NEW YORK/GENEVA, 3 June 2016 - UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé, stresses the importance of a people-centred approach at up-coming United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS
The AIDS epidemic has defined the global health agenda for an entire generation. The first AIDS-related deaths were diagnosed over 30 years ago and HIV rapidly became a global crisis. The epidemic threatened all countries and had the power to destabilize the most
vulnerable nations. By 2000, AIDS had wiped out decades of development gains.
HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day 2016
Jun 3, 2016 - Sunday, June 5, marks HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day 2016 (HLTSAD). This year’s theme is “Moving Forward Together.”
Let’s Kick ASS (AIDS Survivor Syndrome), a nonprofit group focused on healthy older adults living with HIV, founded and leads the awareness day formerly known as the National HIV/AIDS Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day.
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Alarmingly High Levels of HIV Drug Resistance in Those Failing Treatment in Kenya
June 3, 2016 - Rates of antiretroviral (ARV) resistance are very high among those failing first-line Viread (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, or TDF)–based treatment in a Kenyan clinic, aidsmap reports.
Publishing their findings in the Journal of the International AIDS Society, researchers studied a sample of 333 out of nearly 27,000 people treated for HIV at Kenya’s largest HIV clinic.
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Botswana gets GSK's modern HIV drug in largest ever Africa deal
Jun 3, 2016 - An HIV drug first approved less than three years ago is being rolled out in Botswana as a core medicine for newly diagnosed patients, following the largest ever tender secured by GlaxoSmithKline's HIV business in Africa.
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Exclusion Kills! Gay Men and Sex Workers Worldwide Express Anger Over Attempts by Governments to Erase Key Populations from the UN Political Declaration on HIV & AIDS
June 3, 2016 - On May 27th, new draft language was released for the 2016 Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS, which is scheduled to be finalized in New York City next week (Wednesday, June 8 to Friday, June 10) at the United Nations. The Global Network of Sex Work
Projects (NSWP) and MSMGF (The Global Forum on MSM & HIV) together with the Global Platform to Fast-Track the HIV and Human Rights Responses Among Gay and Bisexual Men and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men (The Platform) are deeply concerned with numerous changes made in the new draft, which erase key populations
from the global HIV response. As the final political declaration will be issued during next week’s United Nations High-level Meeting on HIV and AIDS, we urge our partners to take bold and fast actions now to influence decisions made by UN delegation members.
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AIDS at 35: Surprising Life Lessons From Living With HIV
06/03/2016 - Thirty-five years ago, on June 5, 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the first cases of what became known as AIDS in five gay men; two of the men had already died.
I was just beginning to come out as a gay man in 1981, and, like everyone else, couldn’t have imagined the fear, horror, rage and sorrow that lay ahead in the years to come.
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Condoms to blame for Russia's HIV epidemic, Putin-backed study controversially claims... as 'health experts' say only heterosexual families can escape disease
June 3, 2016 - CONDOMS have caused an HIV crisis in Russia, according to a study backed by Putin’s government.
Russian scientists controversially claim that the only way to protect from the disease is to remain in a monogamous, heterosexual relationship.
The group's findings are in stark contrast to conventional research, which shows that condoms help to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.
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"Love a positive life"
Published on Jun 3, 2016 - “I thought I’d never get married, I thought I’d never get anyone to love me, I thought HIV positive people never give birth and I thought HIV positive people never become happy,” says Daphine, 19 from Kampala, Uganda.
Egypt's landmark court decision on HIV discrimination
3 Jun 2016 - In 2015, Ahmed* was dismissed from his job as a plumber in a Giza club when his employer discovered he was infected with HIV. In February 2016, in a landmark decision for Egypt and the Arab region,
an Egyptian court ruled that HIV infection was not grounds for
dismissal under the Labor Code of 2003. The ruling is considered a significant achievement for human rights activists and legal professionals working to advance the rights of persons living with HIV.
Read more...
AIDS epidemic still driven by human rights violations, UN experts warn
3 June 2016 - Ahead of next week’s high-level meeting on ending AIDS by 2030, United Nations independent experts are warning that the epidemic is still being driven by human rights violations, urging all
Governments to remove punitive laws, policies and practices.
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Dining Out for Life: Best year yet for D.A.P.
PALM SPRINGS, CA, June 3, 2016 - Record-breaking $190,000 and counting raised so far
"Dine Out - Fight AIDS" is the long-standing motto used by Dining Out For Life as the fundraiser is promoted in selected cities throughout the U.S. and Canada on the last Thursday in April. Desert locals took that message to heart in a big way,
by patronizing participating businesses - for breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee, a snack, a smoothie, or a cocktail - in Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, La Quinta, and Indio.
Cost is biggest barrier to PrEP in Europe, ECDC declares
03 June 2016 - Study finds significant PrEP use in gay men throughout Europe: France starts its programme
A meeting a month ago at the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) in Stockholm found that cost was regarded as the biggest barrier to the adoption of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) by European countries. Many regarded significant
price reductions in the drugs used as a pre-condition for adopting PrEP.
Read more...
LGBT Communities Silenced in HIV Reduction Efforts
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 2 2016 (IPS) - Treatment for HIV and AIDS has increased, but key populations including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities continue to be left behind and even excluded altogether.
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SFU students engage in co-learning on global health, HIV and youth in South Africa
June 02, 2016 - Eight SFU students, including five undergraduates, were among the first to participate in an intensive, experiential learning field course in global health that focused on HIV and youth in South Africa this month.
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Men Who Have Sex With Men at High Risk of Certain Anal HPV Infections
June 02, 2016 - Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at an increased risk for nontransient infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) that carries a high risk of cancer, and that risk increases as their number of lifetime partners increases,
according to a recent study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Read more...
White House's Dr. Amy Lansky on 35 Years of HIV/AIDS
Published on Jun 2, 2016 - Dr. Amy Lansky, Acting Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP), also shared a reflection on the 35 th anniversary. She observed that the advances of the past three-and- a-half decades are integrated
into the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, which now guides our national response to HIV.
Checking Privilege at ‘HIV Is Not A Crime’ 2016
June 2nd, 2016 - The issues of race, gender and privilege crackled through the recent HIV Is Not A Crime (II) conference like a live wire, throwing sparks at every turn. From the main stage to the hallways, attendees called out white classism,
the utter failure of the criminal justice system (unless its purpose is solely to imprison black men), and what it truly means to be an ally of marginalized communities.
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The Water Molecule That Killed 34 Million People
Jun 2, 2016 - Given the complexity of HIV/AIDS as well as the enormous toll it has taken on the world, the “culprit” that has enabled this catastrophe to take place is astonishingly simple — one molecule of water. Without it, there would be no such disease. Here’s why:
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France to provide universal access to hepatitis C treatment
02 June 2016 - France will provide access to hepatitis C treatment with direct-acting antivirals to everyone diagnosed with hepatitis C from September 2016, and will begin to provide treatment to everyone with stage 2 fibrosis
immediately, health minister Marisol Touraine announced last week.
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Men who have sex with men in small cities less likely to be tested for HIV
June 5, 2012 - Men who live outside major Canadian cities and have sex with other men are less likely to get an HIV test than their metropolitan counterparts, a UBC study shows.
The study, conducted at UBC's Okanagan campus, also shows that the lower testing rates are likely connected to internalized feelings of homophobia and a reluctance to disclose sexual preferences at a doctor's office.
455 new cases of HIV reported in Singapore in 2015, most patients got virus through sex
Jun 2, 2016 - SINGAPORE - There were 455 new cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections reported among Singapore citizens and permanent residents last year, said the Ministry of Health (MOH). In most cases, patients got the virus through sex.
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A clinician’s career in viral hepatitis: a powerful history and optimistic future
June 2, 2016 - The experts in the European Liver Patients Association (ELPA) Hep-CORE advisory group provide a window on the broad range of hepatitis activities and perspectives in Europe today. Hep-CORE PI Jeffrey Lazarus has been interviewing
some of them about how they came to work with viral hepatitis, how the field has been changing, and what new research is called for.
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Many South African people whose HIV has been diagnosed have unprotected sex with a serodiscordant partner before starting ART
02 June 2016 - Among a sample of South Africans living with diagnosed HIV infection in South Africa and waiting to start antiretroviral therapy (ART), one quarter reported recent condomless sex with an HIV-negative/untested partner, according to research
published in the online edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.
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Hollywood's struggle to deal with AIDS in the '80s
June 2, 2016 - (CNN) - In the early 1980s, the AIDS crisis was being covered nightly on the news -- but that was likely the only time you'd hear about it on your television.
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Russian State Experts Blame Condoms for HIV Spread
6/1/16 - Government-backed Russian health experts have blamed the spread of HIV in Russia on condoms and accused the West of exaggerating the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in Russia.
The Russian Institute for Strategic Research (RISR), which was set up by the Kremlin in 2012, presented a report on Tuesday to Moscow’s city council that casts doubt over the validity of statistics showing the spread of HIV in Russia.
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TGen investigates global fungal threat; discovers six new species associated with bat evolution
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - June 1, 2016 - Histoplasma infection poses deadly risk to HIV and other immune-compromised patients
A fungal infection associated with a high percentage of deaths among HIV and other immune-compromised patients is more diverse than previously known and likely spread around the world by bats.
AIDS ACTIVISTS RALLIED OUTSIDE CANDIDATE CLINTON’S FUNDRAISER
New York City, June 1, 2016 - Yesterday, ACT UP New York (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) rallied outside Sec. Clinton’s fundraiser at the Sheraton Hotel in midtown.
Leading up to Clinton's arrival, activists picketed and chanted at the front of the hotel while handing out flyers to passersby. After Clinton arrived via a side entrance, activists marched around the entrance and then through the nearest traffic intersection briefly blocking traffic on 7th Ave. As Clinton left the fundraiser, activists chanted for her to support a Robin Hood Tax to End AIDS.
Longtime AIDS activist focuses on criminal-justice system
June 1, 2016 - For Megan McLemore, a longtime activist and attorney with the New York-based Human Rights Watch ( HRW ), the HIV epidemic in the United States is being fueled by the epidemic of mass incarceration.
But McLemore, a senior researcher in HRW's Health and Human Rights division, has contended that the criminal justice system is largely absent from local and national conversations about HIV prevention and treatment.
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