WORLD AIDS DAY. As Long as Homophobia Lives, AIDS Won't Die

[William769]

Zambian AIDS activist Mannasseh Phiri was once as homophobic as most health officials in the southern African nation. But after Phiri met an out, HIV-positive man, he had an epiphany about gays and the disease — he now warns that if others like him don’t have a similar change of heart, AIDS will continue to ravage the continent, and the world.

History has a very unfortunate way of repeating itself.

Thirty years ago, the gay community in the West faced an unprecedented crisis — a new, unknown virus that was taking the lives of gay men from San Francisco to Stockholm. It was a medical crisis exacerbated by silence from politicians and society at large, leaving the gay community completely alone — for years — in its fight to educate people and save lives. Only when the broader public realized that this virus — now known as HIV — crossed all sexual orientation, gender, race, and national border lines did governments, corporations, and the media finally throw their weight into fighting the epidemic.

In my country, Zambia, the reverse scenario has taken place. The HIV/AIDS crisis is largely a public issue, and the government, media, and international and local organizations are committing huge resources to protect babies, couples, and individuals from HIV infection, and to treat those infected. Today, more than 400,000 Zambians are receiving free HIV/AIDS treatment and care, and millions more are being reached with HIV testing and prevention messages, tools, and services. Except the gay community.

http://www.advocate.com/Health_and_Fitness/AIDS_The_30_Years_War/Oped_As_Long_as_Homophobia_Lives_AIDS_Wont_Die/

[William769]

1. It Takes a Village to Stop HIV

In honor of World AIDS Day on December 1, we look at six individuals, from activists to scientists, working to end HIV in their own singular way.

Africa’s Leila Lopes, recently crowned Miss Universe 2011, is a British-educated 25-year-old Angola native who says she cherishes inner strength over outer beauty. Hailing from the town of Benguela, Lopes is first woman from Angola — and only the fourth black woman — to be crowned Miss Universe. After winning the pageant, held in Brazil in September, the outspoken Lopes slammed racism and plastic surgery, telling reporters, “Any racist needs to seek help. It’s not normal in the 21st century to think in that way.”

She also pledged to expand her philanthropic missions — especially her involvement with HIV prevention, treatment, and visibility.

“I’ve worked with various social causes. I work with poor kids, I work in the fight against HIV,” she said to reporters after the competition. “I think now as Miss Universe I will be able to do much more.” Angola, specifically, needs Lopes’s help—the recently war-torn nation is very poor and antiretroviral medications are hard to come by for many.

http://www.advocate.com/Health_and_Fitness/Here_To_Inspire/It_Takes_a_Village_to_Stop_HIV/

[William769]

2. 10 Greatest HIV Discoveries of 2011

1. Two major new drugs promise to make life easier for HIVers.
In January pharmacies began offering Egrifta, a daily injection that reduces the deep belly fat that surrounds organs like the liver and stomach as a side effect of anti-HIV drugs. Complera, which combines Edurant, Viread, and Emtriva in a single pill and is meant for first-time HIV medication users, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in August.

2. Researchers discover breast-feeding is an option.
Many mothers prefer breast-feeding their infants to using formula, but that option is not always available to HIV-positive women. However, a study presented at March’s Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston found that giving infants a daily dose of nevirapine for the first six months of life halved their risk of contracting HIV from their mothers (compared with a shorter-term regimen), and among HIV-positive women with higher T-cell counts, there was a 75% reduction in transmission rates. Moreover, while mother-to-child HIV transmission is still possible through breast-feeding, another study indicated that antibodies found in breast milk, when isolated, can neutralize HIV and kill HIV-infected cells. While incorporated into breast milk, the antibodies do little to block the virus, because of IgG, another antibody, but scientists are evaluating how to enhance the HIV-combating antibodies.

3. A vaccine may have been found.
Scientists in Spain are testing an HIV vaccine that has proved more powerful than previous ones that have gone to trial. After a year of testing in humans, 95% of the 24 patients built an immune-system defense against the virus, and 85% of them sustained that for a year. Past vaccine trials had shown only 25% of those developed such a defense. The vaccine is specialized to protect against a subtype of HIV that is more prevalent in Europe, North America, and South America.

http://www.advocate.com/Health_and_Fitness/Here_To_Inspire/10_Greatest_HIV_Discoveries_of_2011/

[MNBrewer]

3. If that's the case

It looks like huge swaths of Africa are doing whatever they can to fuck themselves in that respect. Nigeria, Rawanda, Malawi, to name a few.

[William769]

4. amfAR's CEO on Bankrolling a Cure for HIV

Recently amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, announced a new round of grants and fellowships totaling $2.1 million, with $1.6 million going strictly toward cure-focused research. Thirteen grants ranging between $120,000 and $125,000 were awarded to research teams in locations including Australia, Sweden, San Francisco, and Baltimore.

The organization's CEO, Kevin Robert Frost, told HIV Plus magazine that the effort to find a cure has been underfunded in recent years. Now amfAR is spending about 60% of its research funding on finding a cure.

"I think only now are we starting to see that catch up with initiatives from the National Institutes of Health," he said.

The aim for the new funds will focus on understanding how, where, and why HIV persists within infected people even while they are on prescribed medication. Frost said one of the angles being evaluated is the differences in the way HIV is transmitted in various parts of the world, especially in trying to understand transmission among men who have sex with men in countries that tend to be dismissive of or even hostile toward homosexuality.

http://www.advocate.com/Health_and_Fitness/Here_To_Inspire/amfARs_CEO_on_Bankrolling_A_Cure_for_HIV/

[William769]

5. Poignant celebrations for World AIDS Day

This World Aids Day, instead of celebrating a turning point after years of life-saving investment and research, the fight against HIV is facing a serious setback.

The largest single donor for HIV funding, The Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria, has announced that it has cancelled its next round of grant-making, after failing to secure the minimum $13 billion needed to maintain programmes.

International health charity Merlin, which provides HIV testing and counselling, treatment, care and education in South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Somalia warns that the cuts will hit the least developed countries hardest.

In a bitter-sweet ceremony to mark World AIDS Day 2011, Merlin’s health workers were today presented with an Outstanding Achievement Award for their HIV work by the vice president of Puntland government and the chairman of Puntland Aids Commission (PAC), General Abdisamad Ali Shire. Merlin’s programme, which focuses on the integrated prevention, treatment and care of HIV/ AIDS and TB, covers a population of 400,000, but with the reduction in funding both their work and the lives of the people they treat are in serious jeopardy.

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/no-celebrations-for-world-aids-day

[William769]

6. Watch World AIDS Day Event Live

http://www.youtube.com/theonecampaign

[xchrom]

7. recommend

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8. Of course it will. But people don't listen to us, and don't learn from history.

What can I say.