In honor of World AIDS Day
Obama administration urged to develop national HIV/AIDS strategy
Risk of death reduced for HIV-positive infants when treatment is started early
Study finds that older antiretrovirals increase risk of diabetes and heart disease
PA Wellness Checklist
In honor of World AIDS Day
Researchers at New York City-based Public Health Solutions and New York University have teamed up to produce an innovative web-based campaign that tells the story of a young gay man in New York City who meets partners online and must deal with issues around unprotected sex and disclosing HIV status. A sample of 500 men who were surveyed through Manhunt.net three months after viewing the first episode of the series found that the men were three times more likely to disclose their HIV status and 1.5 times more likely to get tested for the virus.
In The Life Media, producer of In The Life (the longest-running television show documenting the gay experiences), will begin broadcasting the series nationally on public television stations on December 1st – World AIDS Day. The videos will also be available to view or to download for free at the In The Life website (www.hivbigdeal.org).
...also…
Positively Aware Associate Editor Keith Green will appear on a BET news special produced in collaboration with the Kaiser Family Foundation called Are You Positive? The special follows four HIV prevention and treatment advocates as they engage in their daily work routines, as well as in their personal lives. Viewers are asked to attempt to guess which two of the four participants is in fact HIV-positive.
Tune in to BET tonight, December 1st, at 6:30 pm Central time to check it out!
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Obama administration urged to develop national HIV/AIDS strategy
In a letter to President Elect Barack Obama’s transition team, advocates encouraged the incoming President’s administration to adopt a comprehensive approach to domestic HIV/AIDS policy when he takes office, and to develop a national strategy for addressing HIV/AIDS in the U.S. that is modeled after the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
The letter, which included policy recommendations designed to guide the President Elect during his first 100 days of office, also called for increased federal funding for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and research programs, as well as for a departure from existing policies enacted under the Bush administration, including abstinence-only sex education programs and the ban on federal funding for needle-exchange programs..
An additional $450 million for HIV/AIDS research through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was also requested by the advocates, as well as a $200 million increase for HIV prevention and surveillance through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as increased funding for the Ryan White Program for the 2009 and 2010 fiscal years.
Advocates are hopeful that the Obama administration will bring a sense of “renewed leadership on the domestic HIV/AIDS front,” and believe that priority given to HIV/AIDS programming in the administration’s first budget “will be a good signal of the Obama administration’s commitment to the domestic [HIV/AIDS] epidemic.”
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Risk of death reduced for HIV-positive infants when treatment is started early
A recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine indicates that when HIV-positive infants begin receiving treatment with antiretroviral therapy immediately after being diagnosed, they are 76 percent less likely to die than those who are not given treatment until the disease has progressed.
Conducted by researchers at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, the study separated 377 HIV-positive infants into two groups. One group was given antiretroviral treatment when they were about seven weeks old, while the other was not given treatment until their T-cells dropped or until they began to show symptoms related to their illness.
Disease progression was reduced by 75% for infants who received early treatment, resulting in a smaller number of deaths in this group after 40 weeks (4%), compared with those who did not receive treatment until later (16%).
The results were conclusive enough early on for researchers to stop the study before it was actually scheduled to end, providing all of the participating infants with antiretroviral therapy. As a result, officials from the U.S., Europe, and the World Health Organization (WHO) are now recommending immediate antiretroviral treatment for HIV-positive infants.
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Study finds that older antiretrovirals increase risk of diabetes and heart disease
Researchers at the Garvan Institute in Australia have noted that HIV-positive people receiving treatment with older antiretroviral drugs may be at an increased risk of developing heart disease and type-2 diabetes.
As we have come to know over time, many of the older antiretrovirals can bring on a condition known as lipodystrophy, which causes fat on the arms, legs, buttocks and other parts of the body to move, or be redistributed, to the stomach. According to researchers, this excess weight around the waist significantly increases a person’s chances of developing cardiovascular and metabolic disorders.
Many of the newer drugs do not cause fat redistribution, but are far more expensive than the older drugs and, therefore, not used in Australia’s pharmaceutical benefit program or in many developing countries. This current study found that many HIV-positive people taking older antiretrovirals could have the same level of heart disease risk seen in obese people with inactive lifestyles. The study also found that these antiretrovirals can also cause fat cells to produce inflammatory molecules that promote certain diseases, including heart disease.
“We also have the problem that the older drugs are off-patent now and very cheap, so they are the frontline treatment [in developing countries in particular],” said Katherine Samaras, lead author of the study. “There are drugs on the market which do not have these side effects, but [cost makes them unavailable to many people].” Samaras points out that viral suppression is the primary concern in treating people with HIV, so when the use of older antiretrovirals is the only option, it is important for patients to be regularly screened for diabetes and other potential co-morbidities.
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PA Wellness Checklist
AIDSinfonet.org, a useful online HIV treatment resource, has adapted the “Wellness Checklist” created by Joel Gallant, MD (which originally appeared in the September/October 2008 issue of Positively Aware) into a user-friendly fact sheet available on their site. The Checklist helps people with HIV keep track of recommended laboratory tests and important vaccinations, and is especially helpful for those who may change health care providers for whatever reason.
You can access the newly adapted Checklist at www.AIDSinfonet.org.
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Special 20th Anniversary Issue in
January/February
Positively Aware celebrates its 20th anniversary, going back to its origin as TPA News, with a special issue in January/February 2009. The annual drug guide will be published in March/April instead. If you have any reminiscences or updates about your experiences at TPAN or with Positively Aware that you’d like to share, especially from the early days, please submit them to publications@tpan.com, to our mailing address, or in our online forum by November 24. |
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