Elevated HIV Prevalence Despite Lower Rates of Sexual Risk Behaviors

from AIDS Patient Care and STDs, by Magnus et al.

The District of Columbia (DC) has among the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the United States, with 3.2% of the population and 7.1% of black men living with HIV/AIDS. The purpose of this study was to examine HIV risk behaviors in a community-based sample of men who have sex with men (MSM) in DC.

Data were from the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance system. MSM who were 18 years were recruited via venue-based sampling between July 2008 and December 2008. Behavioral surveys and rapid oral HIV screening with Western blot confirmation on positives were collected. Factors associated with HIV positivity and unprotected anal intercourse were identified. Of 500 MSM, 35.6% were black. Of all men, 14.1% were confirmed HIV positive; 41.8% of these were newly identified HIV positive. Black men (26.0%) were more likely to be HIV positive than white (7.9%) or Latino/Asian/other (6.5%) men. Black men had fewer male sex partners than non-black, fewer had ever engaged in intentional unprotected anal sex, and more used condoms at last anal sex. Black men were less likely to have health insurance, have been tested for HIV, and disclose MSM status to health care providers. Despite significantly higher HIV/AIDS rates, black MSM in DC reported fewer sexual risks than non-black.

These findings suggest that among black MSM, the primary risk of HIV infection results from nontraditional sexual risk factors, and may include barriers to disclosing MSM status and HIV testing. There remains a critical need for more information regarding reasons for elevated HIV among black MSM in order to inform prevention programming.

Read more.

How do you know if a clinical trial is ethical?

by Lori Miller, AVAC

Provide input on the draft second edition of the Good Participatory Practice Guidelines.

Join a call next week to learn more.


As the rectal microbicide field is progressing, more trials will be rolled out into communities and involve greater and greater numbers of volunteers. All stakeholders in biomedical HIV prevention research – from advocates, to community groups, to research teams and research sponsors have important contributions to make in the process of designing and conducting rectal microbicide trials.

The GPP guidelines provide trial funders, trial sponsors, and trial implementers with specific guidance on how they should work collaboratively with other stakeholders such as community members. Advocates can also use the GPP Guidelines to evaluate how well research teams are engaging community stakeholders, and if they are following the standards established in the GPP Guidelines.

The GPP Guidelines cover areas such as how stakeholders should be involved in the protocol development process, how research teams should work with community advisory boards and other stakeholders advisory mechanisms, how the standard of HIV prevention offered in any trial should be negotiated with community members , how trial results should be shared with trial participants and members of the community, as well as many other topics.

A teleconference/webinar on the 5th of October will provide an opportunity to learn about the revised guidelines and to ask questions. All stakeholders are encouraged to read the draft second edition of the GPP Guidelines and send their comments and suggestions by October 31st to UNAIDS and AVAC. Feedback on the draft second edition will then be compiled and the final version of the second edition of the GPP Guidelines will be released in late 2010.

Teleconference/webinar info

• UNAIDS and AVAC invite stakeholders in biomedical HIV prevention research to join a webinar on good participatory practice
  
• Tuesday, 05 October, 9am – 10am US Eastern time / 3pm - 4pm Geneva time
• Call-in number: US & Canada 866.740.1260
• Access code: 3671417
• Please register here for access to the webinar link

Click here to download the draft second edition GPP guidelines.
Comments on the GPP guidelines can be emailed to avac@avac.org or gpp@unaids.org.

IRMA's Marc-André LeBlanc Gives Good Podcast

IRMA's Steering Committee Secretary (and founding member) Marc-André LeBlancrecently made a guest appearance on Peer Review Radio, a podcast based in Ottawa, Canada devoted to making science interesting and approachable for all types of communities.

He talks about rectal microbicides, naturally, and other new prevention technologies in a program titled "HIV - Staying Positive." Go to 22:44 to 35:50 to hear his section. Marc-André does an excellent job - the way he describes/explains issues and concepts is definitely worth stealing.

The rest of the episode is also quite interesting and worth a listen. Here is a description:

In this episode, Manon will try and help you grasp the intricacies of her favourite virus, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, with an emphasis on solutions! In a first segment, Dr James Brooks from the National HIV and Retrovirology Laboratories, will start from the basics and tell us all about the molecular biology of HIV: where it came from, how it works, and why the search for a cure is taking so long. Next, Marc-André LeBlanc, an expert in HIV policy, advocacy and prevention, will tell us about New Prevention Technologies – because the good ol’ ACT strategy (abstinence, condoms and treatment) just ain’t workin’. Finally, Dr Rainer Engelhardt, from the Canadian HIV Vaccines Initiative will enlighten us as to how close we are from discovering a vaccine against HIV, and on the role that Canada is playing in the field. In our “Careers” segment this week, our guest Helene LeBlanc, a forensic entomologist (!!!), will be telling us all about her extraordinary field of work.

IRMA's South American Chapter Celebrates Our New Report

by Steve Miralles of IRMA-ALC

Last Friday September 24 the Spanish version of IRMA's latest report - From Promise to Product: Advancing Rectal Microbicide Research and Advocacy - was officially presented in Lima, Peru at Epicentro - a social organization that provides information about sexual and holistic health, as well as cultural activities, to the gay community in Lima. Epicentro is also the home of IRMA-ALC (América Latina y El Caribe.)

In this event we had the participation of doctors, psychologists, persons from trans groups, representatives of PLWHA groups, researchers, activists, IRMA members and general public interested in learning about rectal microbicides and its perspectives in Latin America.

For those wishing to obtain a printed copy of the report in Spanish (De la Promesa al Producto: Avanzando en la Investigación y Promoción de los Microbicidas Rectales) can communicate by mail irma-alc@epicentro.org.pe , or you can download it in Spanish on the IRMA-ALC page of the IRMA website.

Visit IRMA-ALC on Facebook.





Este viernes 24 de septiembre fue presentado en Lima, Perú en Epicentro (un espacio de socialización en Lima, donde se brindaran servicios e información sobre salud sexual y mental, además de fomentar actividades culturales) el informe realizado por IRMA e IRMA-LAC (América Latina y El Caribe), De la Promesa al Producto: Avanzando en la Investigación y Promoción de los Microbicidas Rectales.

En este evento contamos con la participación de médicos, psicólogos, representantes de grupos trans, representantes de grupos de PVVS, investigadores, activistas, representantes de IRMA y público en general, interesados en conocer el panorama en Latinoamérica de microbicidas rectales.

Para quien desee obtener una copia de dicho informe en español puede comunicarse al correo irma-alc@epicentro.org.pe , o si desea, puede obtener el informe en pdf aqui.

IRMA-LAC en Facebook.

AIDS VACCINE 2010, The only conference dedicated to HIV vaccine research, in Atlanta

from GLT News Now

Advances in the search for a safe and effective HIV vaccine will be the focus of nearly 1,100 researchers, funders, policy makers and advocates from around the world gathered in Atlanta for AIDS Vaccine 2010. The conference, the world’s only scientific meeting on HIV vaccine research, will run through 1 October and include more than 500 scientific presentations detailing progress and challenges in the field.

AIDS Vaccine 2010 follows closely on the publication in Nature Medicine of the, Scientific Strategic Plan of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise a comprehensive new framework to speed and enhance HIV vaccine research developed with the participation of hundreds of scientists, policy-makers, funders and advocates worldwide. The new strategic plan, which includes recommendations to speed the development, execution and analysis of HIV vaccine trials; better integrate pre-clinical and clinical research; capitalize on scientific advances from other fields; and bring new researchers and new funders to HIV vaccine research, will be the focus of a special session at AIDS Vaccine 2010 on 29 September.

Watch webcasts of key sessions and press conferences from AIDS Vaccine 2010

Read more

Review and Interview: Queer Visibilities: Space, Identity and Interaction in Cape Town

via BOOK Southern Africa, by Brent Meersman

Just think about what the rainbow flag – the ‘gay’ flag is meant to represent. It’s meant to be a metaphor for unity of diverse groups. The struggles to gain this unity – to protect this unity in South Africa – are struggles that must be written about. To not speak about these issues is to belittle not only what the flag represents but also the incredible challenges and successes that continue to define this country.

On Clifton Third Beach, muscular male bodies of all hues, from deep ebony to blinding white, from chemically bronzed to natural beige lie side by side. This is Cape Town’s ‘gay beach’. At the height of summer, the vast majority of sun worshippers here are male, though scattered between them are always a few umbrellas with families and children, who seem quite unperturbed by the occasional kiss, body rubs and other demonstrative physical affection between the men. It’s a postcard for the country’s human rights based Constitution; black and white, straight and gay, male and female, all peacefully luxuriating in natural beauty.

Yet this represents only a privileged minority of broader society, and the homosexual men within it are a tiny subset of queer men in South Africa. Many of the Clifton clique share the same circuit; the beach, the Virgin Active gym, the sauna, clubs and bars of Green Point’s world famous ‘gay village’. They either have good incomes or at the very least access to money. They are the visible gay set; the gays you find in television soap operas; the gays that car advertisers and so-called ‘lifestyle’ marketers target; the gays who magnetize the city’s booming rainbow tourist industry.

Read the rest.

Tonight is The Night...

Tytuł mówi wszystko :) Wczoraj miała miejsce premiera 5 sezonu mojego ulubionego serialu - moim zdaniem najlepszego jaki kiedykolwiek powstał! Mówię oczywiście o Dexterze :)


Sam nie wiem nawet od czego zacząć. Moja przygoda z Dexterem zaczęła się jakoś na początku 2007 roku. Wówczas kupiłem swój pierwszy numer miesięcznika "Film". Na jednej z ostatnich stron przeczytałem o podobno ciekawym serialu z nietuzinkową fabułą. U nas serial praktycznie nie był jeszcze znany, a w Stanach zakończyła się emisja pierwszego sezonu. Cóż - wielka moc internetu przyszła mi z pomocą :) Wystarczy trochę poszperać i wszystko można znaleźć.


Niektórzy mówią, że do Dextera przekonali się dopiero po kilku odcinkach. Ja załapałem bakcyla od pierwszych minut. Wszystko co wymyślono w tym serialu jest dla mnie świetne. Począwszy od samego głównego bohatera , przez scenariusz i muzykę po aktorów drugoplanowych i epizodycznych.


W ciągu dnia Dexter jest specjalistą od badania śladów krwi pracującym w laboratorium dla Wydziału Zabójstw w Miami. Pozornie nudna historia o dobrym, przykładnym glinie pomagającym w łapaniu psychopatów?! Otóż nie. Dexter skrywa w sobie mroczny sekret, który nigdy nie może wyjść na jaw, o którym wiedział tylko jego przybrany ojciec. Za maską ułożonego policjanta kryje się bowiem żądny krwi, perfekcyjny seryjny morderca. Sam główny bohater nazywa siebie "potworem". Nie zabija jednak przypadkowych osób, ma bowiem kodeks, który wpoił mu ojciec i którego zawsze się trzyma.

Mogłoby się wydawać, że nie sposób polubić bohatera, który jest psychopatycznym mordercą, a krew i zabijanie sprawiają, że czuje się lepiej. Nic bardziej mylnego. Ja od pierwszych odcinków jestem wielkim fanem i kibicem Dextera. Za każdym razem kiedy jest w niebezpieczeństwie trzymam kciuki za to, żeby go nie złapali. Nie sposób nie polubić jego poczucia humoru. Bezcenne wręcz są jego wstawki zza planu - monologi. Akcja toczy się w bardzo przemyślany i inteligenty sposób, nie ma tu przypadku. Każdy bohater wnosi do serialu nową jakość. Zresztą gra aktorska w tym serialu prezentuje najwyższą klasę. Każdy z aktorów zasługuje na gromkie brawa. Szkoda mi tylko Doakes - jednego z moich ulubionych bohaterów. Razem z Dexterem tworzyli wręcz nieprawdopodobny duet. Ich dialogi - jak dla mnie bomba :)

O tym jak lubię muzykę z Dextera niech świadczy fakt, że jeden z dzwonków w moim telefonie to główna ścieżka dźwiękowa z serialu :)
Nie będę pisał o minusach serialu - zawsze jakieś się znajdą - zwłaszcza w 3 serii - w zgodnej opinii fanów dotychczas najsłabszej. Zresztą krytyków jest dosyć;p


Dobra trochę się rozpisałem. Mam nadzieję, że jest więcej osób podzielających moją pasję i uwielbienie do Dextera. Z drugiej strony trzeba jasno zaznaczyć, że należy odróżnić fikcję od rzeczywistości i że w gruncie rzeczy nasz ulubiony seryjny morderca nie jest nikim innym niż mordercą zabijającym z zimną krwią.
Nie zmieni to faktu, że od 5 lat - kiedy wszyscy narzekają na październik, że początek roku akademickiego itp , ja z niecierpliwością wyczekuje kolejnego sezonu Dextera :)
W tym miejscu należy wspomnieć jeszcze o Jeffie Lindsayu - autorze książek na podstawie których Dexter powstal. Do tej pory miałem przyjemność przeczytać tylko 2 - w najbliższym czasie zamierzam to nadrobić - z 4 które do tej pory się ukazały. Polecam równie gorąco jak serial, tym bardziej, że podobieństwa z seriale występują tylko w 1 książce :)

Community meetings on National HIV/AIDS Strategy

via National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS

As part of his National HIV/AIDS Strategy, President Barack Obama  mandated that Executive Branch departments and agencies with HIV/AIDS programs come up with an implementation plan for the strategy within  150 days (by Dec. 9). The National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS,  in collaboration with other national organizations and local leaders, is hosting community meetings in New York, Washington, D.C., Jackson, Miss., Atlanta, Los Angeles and Detroit from Sept. 16 to Oct. 12.

The purpose of the meetings  is to elicit input and recommendations to ensure that the National HIV/AIDS Strategy adequately addresses the unmet prevention, treatment and care needs with the African-American community. We are seeking participation in these meetings from clergy, health practitioners, persons living with HIV/AIDS, community-based organizations, direct service providers, community activists, policy makers and other concerned citizens.
More information

New resources on gay/bi men's health courtesy CDC

The CDC has a number of new info resources that will be very handy for all of us working in gay/bi men's health, as well as HIV/AIDS.

The following came to IRMA's in box today....Check them out.

Updated Factsheet: HIV among Gay, Bisexual and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM)
The HIV among Gay, Bisexual and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM)factsheet has recently been updated with information from the 2008 HIV Surveillance Report: Diagnoses of HIV infection and AIDS in the United States and Dependent Areas.

MMWR: Prevalence and Awareness of HIV Infection Among Men Who Have Sex With Men --- 21 Cities, United States, 2008
Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at increased risk for infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In 2006, 57% of new HIV infections in the United States occurred among MSM. To estimate and monitor risk behaviors, CDC's National HIV Behavioral Surveillance system (NHBS) collects data from metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) using an anonymous cross-sectional interview of men at venues where MSM congregate, such as bars, clubs, and social organizations. 

New CDC Site: Gay and Bisexual Men's Health
Gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) represent an incredibly diverse community. Gay and bisexual men have both shared and unique experiences and circumstances that affect their physical health and mental health needs as well as their ability to receive high-quality health services. 

NIH Releases Biennial Report of the Director

via NIH News Media Branch

Dr. Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D, director of the National Institutes of Health, announced the release of the Biennial Report of the Director, NIH, for fiscal years 2008 and 2009. The report provides an integrated portrait of NIH research activities, making it easy for Congress, advocates and patient groups and the general public to understand the many activities of the agency. This is the second report under the mandate in the NIH Reform Act, which reinvented the NIH Biennial as a consolidated report, replacing many disparate ones. Now on NIH's website, the report will be available in print this fall.

The report contains an assessment of the state of biomedical and behavioral research organized by disease category, investigative approach, and resource. To ensure that the document reflects the work of all 27 institutes and centers, 16 trans-NIH teams gathered, reviewed, and organized information into a standardized format.

"When I began my tenure as NIH director a little more than one year ago, I restated our collective commitment to be as transparent as possible," said Dr. Collins. "We have worked to make the NIH Biennial Report a key resource for NIH's partners, collaborators and constituents — including members of Congress and their staff persons — to help keep them informed about what the agency is doing and why we are doing it."

Read more

Read the full report online

UN pushes for de-criminalization of sexual orientations

via UN News Centre

“No one, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, should be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. No one should be prosecuted for their ideas or beliefs. No one should be punished for exercising their right to freedom of expression.”

Top United Nations officials today appealed to all countries that criminalize people on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity to reform such laws and to ensure the protection of basic human rights for all.

“No doubt deeply-rooted cultural sensitivities can be aroused when we talk about sexual orientation. Social attitudes run deep and take time to change. But cultural considerations should not stand in the way of basic human rights,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Read more

Sexual variation in India: A view from the west

via Indian Journal of Psychiatry, by Gurvinder Kalra, Susham Gupta and Dinesh Bhugra

Sexual variation has been reported across cultures for millenia. Sexual variation deals with those facets of sexual behavior which are not necessarily pathological. It is any given culture that defines what is abnormal and what is deviant. In scriptures, literature and poetry in India same sex love has been described and explained in a number of ways. In this paper we highlight homosexual behavior and the role of hijras in the Indian society, amont other variations. These are not mental illnesses and these individuals are not mentally ill. Hence the role of psychiatry and psychiatrists has to be re-evaluated. Attitudes of the society and the individual clinicians may stigmatize these individuals and their behavior patterns. Indian psychiatry in recent time has made some progress in this field in challenging attitudes, but more needs to be done itn the 21st century. We review the evidence and the existing literature.

Read more

Islam, homophobia and the contested Muslim cultural center

via LGBT Asylum News, by Edna Nelson

"As you know, the Muslim faith doesn’t look kindly upon homosexuality, which is why I’m building this bar. It is an effort to break down barriers and reduce deadly homophobia in the Islamic world. In fact, [their] accusations of Islamophobia are meant to hide [their] cowardice concerning gay rights. Think about it – I’m putting gay rights front and center, before an ideology that condemns homosexuality. No one on the left has the balls to do that…Why would you side with those who would kill you – instead of a guy who just wants to open a gay bar?” -Greg Gutefield of Fox News

A Fox News reporter's announcement of his plans for a gay bar next door to the proposed Islamic cultural center is spurring discussion of Islam and the LGBT community as well as debate over who's taking whose side. The author of this piece examines the complexities of the Islam-LGBT relationship, and the challenges of both homophobia and Islamophobia.

Read more

Challenging the concurrency hypothesis

via Journal of the International AIDS Society, by Larry Sawers and Eileen Stillwaggon

A new study from the Journal of the International AIDS Society challenges the notion that concurrent sexual partnerships are especially common in sub-Saharan Africa, and that they are the driving force behind the region’s high HIV prevalence.

The authors find that research seeking to establish a statistical correlation between concurrency and HIV prevalence either finds no correlation or has important limitations. They also suggest that mathematical models of the spread of HIV require unrealistic assumptions and ignore evidence of low concurrency in Africa.

They conclude that individuals promoting the concurrency hypothesis have failed to prove that concurrency is highly prevalent in Africa, and that those relationships lead to more rapid spread of HIV, and call on policy makers to focus on better-established drivers of the epidemic.

Read the rest

Still a long wait for HIV-approved protective gel

via South African Medical Journal, by Chris Bateman

June 2013 – that’s the ‘realistic’ date by which vulnerable South African women can expect to begin using an officially approved vaginal microbicide gel that would provide them with an unprecedented tool to protect themselves from HIV infection. This is the belief of biochemist and epidemiologist, Dr Quarraisha Abdool Karim, who, together with her clinician and fellow epidemiologist husband, Professor Salim Abdool Karim, led the now world-renowned ‘proof of concept’ trial of tenofovir vaginal gel to prevent HIV infection in women. In a 3-year study of 889 women in both rural and urban KwaZulu-Natal, they demonstrated a 39% reduction in HIV infection and a 51% reduction in genital herpes infection among women who used the gel (containing 1% of the antiretroviral (ARV), tenofovir).

Read more

To read even more on this subject see the IRMA blog from 7/27/10

Join IRMA in learning the basic science of drug discovery

via IRMA

Enhance your advocacy skills and bone up on some of the basics. Dr. Jim Turpin of the Microbicide Research Branch at the National Institutes of Health, National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will explain the basic science of drug discovery – the research that happens before we move on to Phase I safety testing in people. Many of us find basic science confusing, daunting, and scary. Jim will show us that it doesn’t have to be any of those things, and is in fact, fascinating!

Register for the Sep 29 teleconference now!

And check out  our slides and recordings from previous IRMA teleconferences here. Previous topics have included lube safety, the epidemiology of HIV among gay men in Africa,  putting pleasure back into prevention, and "the joy of stats."

Mój dom murem podzielony, podzielone murem schody ...

Ciężkie, militarne buty długo pozostawały na szczycie mojej listy must have. Jak już jakieś znalazłem to albo były za małe albo cena była odstraszająca. W końcu udało mi się jednak znaleźć idealne i to w sklepie, w którym bym się tego nie spodziewał. Zupełnie przypadkiem wszedłem kiedyś do Big Star i jakież było moje zdziwienie kiedy dostrzegłem te buty :) Oczywiście w sklepie nie było mojego rozmiaru, ale na szczęście BS prowadzi sklep internetowy :) Udało się zdobyć buty i to jeszcze przecenione :)

Boots - Big Star
Bag - NewLook
Jeans - Sh
T-shirt - Reserved
Vest - Sh

Precursor to HIV Was in Monkeys for Millenia

via The New York Times, by Donald G. McNeil

In a discovery that sheds new light on the history of AIDS, scientists have found evidence that the ancestor to the virus that causes the disease has been in monkeys and apes for at least 32,000 years — not just a few hundred years, as had been previously thought.

That means humans have presumably been exposed many times to S.I.V., the simian immunodeficiency virus, because people have been hunting monkeys for millenniums, risking infection every time they butcher one for food.

And that assumption in turn complicates a question that has bedeviled AIDS scientists for years: What happened in Africa in the early 20th century that let a mild monkey disease move into humans, mutate to become highly transmissible and then explode into one of history’s great killers, one that has claimed 25 million lives so far?

Read the rest

The Latest and Greatest: A New Advocate Joins the IRMA Team

by Kelly Nichols, IRMA Intern

Prior to joining the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and IRMA I was in the trenches, so to speak, helping to implement a pilot project at Nyakibale Hospital in Rukungiri district, Uganda. For seven months I lost myself in the day-to-day challenges and relative isolation of life and work in Uganda.

The thing that immediately impressed me about Jim Pickett and his network of IRMA advocates is what an incredible resource they have in each other. IRMA’s growth in just a few years is remarkable, and in the last week I’ve had the opportunity to witness how this network gives a powerful voice to the issues and to individuals.

When I’m not at IRMA I work with Global Emergency Care Collaborative (GECC), a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing sustainable, scalable emergency care to the developing world. GECC is tackling the human resource crisis in developing nations by introducing a new cadre of health care providers at existing hospitals. These “Emergency Nurse Practitioners” are specifically trained to care for critically ill patients, effectively shifting the burden of care off of limited numbers of physicians.

Pleased to meet you! I’m truly looking forward to learning from a community so dedicated, and with such a refreshingly realistic perspective on the important issues in fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Are you IRMA's next Friendly Rectal Microbicide Advocate? Email us at rectalmicro@gmail.com if you're interested, and we'll send you some questions to answer, and we'll craft your responses into a short bio we will feature on our blog and website. We’d love to share your work, and hear how you advocate for the research and development of safe, effective, acceptable, and accessible rectal microbicides for all who need them.

Pitt working on microbicides formulated as films/strips

via Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, by Luis Fabregas

Borrowing a concept used to make breath strips, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are developing a quick-dissolving vaginal film containing an HIV-blocking drug, officials said Wednesday.

"The idea is that it would dissolve quickly in the vagina to prevent HIV infection," said Sharon Hillier, a senior investigator at Magee-Womens Research Institute and co-principal investigator of the project. "It's a bit of an old technique, like the Listerine breath mint strip, but it's a whole new way of delivering the drug potentially in a less expensive way."

Read the rest.

Fully Finance the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Sign on to the letter, and help achieve 500,000 signatures by September 30.

Excerpt from letter:

Contributing to the success of the Global Fund is its commitment to the core principles of demand-driven, country-owned responses.  Some international donors have pre-empted the outcome of the Third Voluntary Replenishment, and have begun calling for caps on the amount of funding to be made available for each round.  This would be a disastrous consequence, going against the very basic foundation of which the Global Fund was established upon, and would leave countries and communities without the resources identified as necessary to effectively respond to HIV, TB and Malaria.

Sign!

Why Won’t AIDS Donors Confirm Their Best New Hope for Avoiding Future Treatment Costs

via Center for Global Development, by Mead Over

Celia Dugger must have known she would get a reaction.  She called from South Africa last week with the surprising news that a donor meeting in South Africa had failed to come up with the $100 million necessary to complete the preparatory research on microbicides as an HIV prevention tool for women.  Luckily for me, she considered my spontaneous reaction to be unprintable and persisted until she got a more coherent quote from me, a quote that appears in her succinct and informative New York Times article here.

Why so emotional?  I’ve spent the last few months estimating the billions of annual dollars required to keep alive the four-million-and-counting patients whom the US and others are supporting now on AIDS treatment.  And I’ve been projecting the hundreds of billions the US and other donors will have to spend over coming decades to sustain these patients and to expand AIDS treatment access to even a small share of the unmet need for it.  The idea that these SAME donors would balk at a mere $100 million to confirm that microbicides really work is astonishing.

Read the rest.

Serosorting Is Associated with a Decreased Risk of HIV Seroconversion in the EXPLORE Study Cohort

via PlosONE

Philip SS, Yu X, Donnell D, Vittinghoff E, Buchbinder S (2010) Serosorting Is Associated with a Decreased Risk of HIV Seroconversion in the EXPLORE Study Cohort. PLoS ONE 5(9): e12662. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0012662

Abstract

Background

Seroadaptation strategies such as serosorting and seropositioning originated within communities of men who have sex with men (MSM), but there are limited data about their effectiveness in preventing HIV transmission when utilized by HIV-negative men.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Data from the EXPLORE cohort of HIV-negative MSM who reported both seroconcordant and serodiscordant partners were used to evaluate serosorting and seropositioning. The association of serosorting and seropositioning with HIV seroconversion was evaluated in this cohort of high risk MSM from six U.S. cities. Serosorting was independently associated with a small decrease in risk of HIV seroconversion (OR = 0.88; 95%CI, 0.81–0.95), even among participants reporting ≥10 partners. Those who more consistently practiced serosorting were more likely to be white (p = 0.01), have completed college (p = <0.0002) and to have had 10 or more partners in the six months before the baseline visit (p = 0.01) but did not differ in age, reporting HIV-infected partners, or drug use. There was no evidence of a seroconversion effect with seropositioning (OR 1.02, 95%CI, 0.92–1.14).

Significance

In high risk HIV uninfected MSM who report unprotected anal intercourse with both seroconcordant and serodiscordant partners, serosorting was associated with a modest decreased risk of HIV infection. To maximize any potential benefit, it will be important to increase accurate knowledge of HIV status, through increased testing frequency, improved test technology, and continued development of strategies to increase disclosure.

Read the full paper.

You don't have a clue...

Mucha czy krawat...?? Odwieczne pytanie;p Cóż jeszcze jakieś 3 lata temu nie pomyślałbym nawet o tym, że będę miał chociaż jedną muchę (a mam już 4 ) i że z taką radością będę je zakładał :) Dla mnie wybór jest oczywisty - MUCHA - co nie oznacza ,że nie zakładam również krawatu. Dzieje się to jednak zdecydowanie rzadziej niż w przypadku muchy :)

Shirt - Sh
Trousers - H&M
Shoes - no name
Hat - Asos.com
Bow Tie - KappAhl
Socks -NewLook.com

Superstar...

Lato wciąż trwa... przynajmniej w mojej głowie. Korzystając z ostatnich (mam nadzieję, że się mylę) pogodnych dni założyłem ostatni raz w tym sezonie sandały:) Ku zadowoleniu mojej dziewczyny już wylądowały w szafce i czekają na następny sezon.

Sandals - Asos.com
Vest - Sh
Bag - NewLook.com
Jeans - Pull&Bear
T-Shirt - Sh
Hat - NewLook.com

WHO Priority Interventions - 2010

Priority Interventions
HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care in the health sector

The document aims to:

• describe the priority health sector interventions that are needed to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care;
• summarize key policy and technical recommendations developed by WHO and its partners and related to each of the priority health sector interventions;
• guide the selection and prioritization of interventions for HIV prevention, treatment and care;
• direct leaders to the key WHO resources and references containing the best available information on the overall health sector response to HIV/AIDS and on the priority health sector interventions with the aim of promoting and suporting rational decision-making in designing and delivering HIV-related services.

New AIDS microbicide has huge potential, but needs funding

via ONE, by Todd Summers

At the big International AIDS Conference in Vienna a few weeks back, there was wide coverage of positive trial results for a new microbicide –- a gel that women can use to reduce their risk of getting infected with HIV.

Giving women a prevention tool that they can use to protect themselves from the virus is critical. Right now, they have to depend on men to use condoms or other methods — and you can see how well that’s going.

The next step in moving the microbicide forward is to conduct confirmatory studies to validate this first one. This ensures that the study wasn’t somehow flawed, and that the product is safe and predictable. Unfortunately, the New York Times reported over the weekend that donors are dragging their feet in funding these studies.

This just cannot be accepted. We need the U.S. and other rich countries to put forward the relatively modest amounts needed to conduct the validation trials to put them on the fast track for completion.

These investments in prevention technology make huge public health and financial sense, helping ensure that we meet the treatment needs of those already living with HIV.

As Melinda Gates said in a great speech four years ago (at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto), “No matter where she lives, who she is, or what she does — a woman should never need her partner’s permission to save her own life.”

A microbicide is the best hope we have — until there’s a vaccine, of course -– of giving women some control over their own HIV risk. So, let’s get these studies going.

Source.

Imiquimod a good treatment for pre-cancerous anal lesions in men with HIV

via Aidsmap, by Michael Carter

HIV treatment centres should screen and treat pre-cancerous anal lesions, UK investigators argue in the online edition of AIDS. They were prompted to make this suggestion by research showing that treatment with imiquimod cream resolved or downgraded high-grade pre-cancerous anal lesions in 61% of HIV-positive gay men.

Although the investigators do not claim that imiquimod will prevent anal cancer, “we at least know that high grade anal intraepithelial neoplasia [HG-AIN, pre-cancerous lesions] can be cured. This is certainly not going to prevent all anal cancers, but it would be a grave error to await the outcome of long-term natural history studies…the time has come for all HIV centres to begin screening for and treating AIN.”

Rates of anal cancer are increasing in patients with HIV. Before the cancer develops pre-cancerous lesions develop in the anal canal.

Read the rest.

UNAIDS, WHO Meeting: Follow-Up Studies Of ARV-Containing Microbicide Gel Must Start Soon

via Kaiser Family Foundation

Experts gathered at a joint meeting of UNAIDS and the WHO last week called for two additional clinical trials to test the effectiveness and safety of a microbicide vaginal gel containing the antiretroviral tenofovir, which previous studies have shown reduces the risk of HIV transmission in women who used it before and after sex by 39 percent, PANA/Afrique en ligne reports (9/5).

"The results of the first trial of the tenofovir-based gel, [conducted by the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA)] … announced in July at the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna, must be confirmed before the product can be made available for general use," U.N. News Centre reports.

The follow-up trials will build off of "[t]he CAPRISA study [which] was conducted in South Africa with women aged 18 to 40 years who used the gel once during the 12 hours before sex and once during the 12 hours after sex," the news service continues. One of the two trials, which will also be held in South Africa, will test the effectiveness of the microbicide in "sexually active 16- and 17-year-olds in settings where HIV incidence is high," according to the U.N. News Centre.

"The other study will be conducted in other African countries and examine if a different dosing schedule is safe and effective. It will test if a single application of the gel before sex, or failing that immediately after, is equally effective and safe as the original two-dose regimen," the news service adds (9/3).

According to VOA News, "The first trials are likely to get under way early next year. The next phase of the research is estimated to cost $100 million." The article includes comments by UNAIDS Chief Scientific Adviser Catherine Hankins (Schlein. 9/3).

Pharma Times, also reporting on the meeting, writes, "An ongoing trial being conducted by the Microbicides Trial Network, which is evaluating the same gel used daily, will generate additional data on safety and product use. Research in the communities where the CAPRISA 004 trial was carried out will look at how to best promote, distribute and monitor gel use through existing family planning facilities." The news service continues, "While participants at the meeting in Johannesburg agreed on research priorities for the tenofovir gel, concerns were expressed over the limited funding committed so far to carry forward the next phase of research" (Mansell, 9/7).

The New York Times reports that "about $58 million of the $100 million needed for follow-up research has been pledged, according to UNAIDS." The newspaper explores the perception that donor nations are rethinking their commitments because of "shifting global health priorities and tight finances," and how "[e]xperts say investing in AIDS prevention is fiscally far preferable to the costs for lifelong treatment." The article includes quotes from Stefano Bertozzi of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Nomfundo Eland of Treatment Action Campaign, Hankins of UNAIDS, and Mead Over of Center for Global Development (Dugger, 9/3).

Source.

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