AIDS

Ok, I’m back…that wasn’t too long--was it?

Now—of course, the feminista in me always comes out, especially at a conference where there are so many opportunities to learn about what experts are doing at the policy and programmatic level to address gender inequities.   read more »

(good thing we're all working on that!)

The venerable medical journal the Lancet dedicated its pre-IAC issue to HIV-prevention, what editor Richard Horton called “the neglected issue in the AIDS response.” On Wednesday, contributing authors called for a reinvigorated movement for prevention that demands a comprehensive, multifaceted approach, including structural change. Mirroring the Caucus for Evidence Based Prevention critiques of narrow definitions of evidence, the distinguished panel also called for investment in flexibile, realistic monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.

Jeffery O’Malley, director of the HIV and AIDS group at the UN Development Program, opened with the history of HIV-prevention, urging us to remember when prevention and epidemiology were all the AIDS community had enough information talk about. In the early 80s, he recalled, “gay men and drag queens invented safe sex, and they still haven’t been given the Nobel Prize.”

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The following was originally posted on PHR's Blog AIDS. It's not over, about the Iranian HIV/AIDS Docs I posted about recently here.  

 

The most moving aspect of AIDS 2008 so far for me has been meeting so many of Kamiar and Arash Alaei’s friends and colleagues—all of whom have stories and kind words about the two physicians detained in Iran and are hoping to see the brothers again soon. Today, one of their colleagues, Dr. Adeeba Kamarulzaman, gave an important plenary speech about her work on harm reduction—and in front of thousands of conference participants, made an impassioned plea to the Iranian Government to free Arash and Kamiar. To sustained applause, we walked in front of the plenary carrying signs with photos of the brothers and the URL for the petition to the government of Iran, IranFreeTheDocs.org. We passed out thousands of buttons and stickers, which are now all over the conference.  read more »

My colleagues at PHR have been busy in the press room at the AIDS Conference this year.  On Monday, they released “The Right to Health and Health Workforce Planning: A Guide for Government Officials, NGOs, Health Workers and Development Partners.”   According to the press release, the guide already has its fans.

I  find this document impressive, accessible, and groundbreaking. When one reads the document one can’t but be amazed by the intense and intensive, broad and detailed consultations that have gone into this unique publication. It should be a pocket book to every health professional, a bible to every Minister of Health, a guiding star for every health and human rights expert and novice.

—Maxwell V. Madzikanga, Senior HIV/AIDS Researcher to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health  read more »

The July 23, 2008 Washington Post front page expresses what many of us working in the HIV/AIDS community, particularly those involved with the Latino/Hispanic community, have been saying for some time. We are grateful that the Post has again put the issue of HIV/AIDS at the front line of the alarming healthcare disparities that impact the Latino/Hispanic community.

However, this should not be a surprise to anyone familiar with the data.

This article highlights what grassroots HIV/AIDS advocates have previously expressed to the Centers for Disease Control in trying to cajole them into more accurately and rightfully report HIV/AIDS surveillance data in our community

This article details, perhaps for the first time at a national level, a minor reporting discrepancy that has plagued the CDC’s surveillance data – namely that the CDC has historically understated (albeit, not intentionally) the number of Latinos/Hispanics infected with HIV/AIDS by not including in the overall numbers the HIV/AIDS cases for ALL Latino/Hispanic communities, especially Puerto Rico, where the incidence rates are among the highest in the nation.  read more »

You know the AIDS Conference has started when you hear the chants of activists resonate through the halls as they exit a conference room. So I'm happy to say - the AIDS Conference has officially started!

Activists have always played an important (and vocal) role at AIDS Conferences. This year is no exception. Today, more than a dozen activists, organized by ACT UP Paris, took the stage at a Bristol-Myers Squibb Symposium entitled "Rethinking Initiation of HAART" to call attention to the fact that BMS is "rethinking" production of a key HIV medication for children.

Accoring to TRT-5, the European AIDS Treatment Group and Sidaction, BMS stated in March 2008 that the company would stop the distribution of the 100mg pediatric capsule formulation of Sustiva/Stocrin (efavirez). Several countries are already experiencing stock-outs.

This medication, at the 100mg dosage level, works well in children, and is especially imporant considering that there are very few effective medications for children. Children who previously were taking 100mg efavirenz will have to change up their regimens, or will have to take more or larger pills (both of which are difficult for children in particular).  read more »