Jack Mackenroth, a fashion designer from the hit reality television series “Project Runway,” who has been living with HIV for more than 20 years, has launched a new “Living Positive By Design: Creating Positive Conversations” online video as part of his national HIV and AIDS education initiative. The new video features discussions from this year’s United States Conference on AIDS (USCA) in San Francisco, with Jack interviewing prominent advocates, celebrities and a local HIV doctor, about their important work to help the HIV and AIDS community. The Living Positive By Design campaign, supported by Merck & Co., Inc., and videos aim to confront HIV stigma and motivate HIV-positive people to have a positive outlook on life while effectively managing their disease.
The new USCA “Living Positive By Design: Creating Positive Conversations” video is now available online. The video features Jack interviewing Cleve Jones, founder of the AIDS Memorial Quilt; Sheryl Lee Ralph, acclaimed actress and founder of the HIV and AIDS benefit, “Divas Simply Singing”; Ongina, HIV-positive former contestant of “RuPaul’s Drag Race”; and local San Francisco HIV specialist Dr. Lisa Capaldini, Medical Director of Castro Medical.
“I am thrilled to be able to share my interviews with such internationally renowned HIV and AIDS activists from this year’s USCA, which marks the one year anniversary of the Living Positive By Design program,” said Mackenroth. “These advocates were just four of the thousands who attended USCA this year to discuss important topics such as stigma, treatment and activism. I hope hearing about their important and courageous work will inspire others to join the fight against HIV and AIDS.”
The trend in new HIV infections around the world has slowed markedly over the past eight years, according to a United Nations report released today (Tuesday November 24), which also notes that more people than ever before are living with the virus.The 2009 AIDS Epidemic Update reported that new HIV infections have been slashed by 17 percent globally and that some 33.4 million people are now living with HIV, while AIDS-related deaths have dropped by 10 percent in the last five years.
The report, by the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) , largely attributes the decline in infections and decrease in deaths to a rise in the number of people benefiting from HIV prevention programmes and those receiving antiretroviral treatments.
“The good news is that we have evidence that the declines we are seeing are due, at least in part, to HIV prevention,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé.
“If we do a better job of getting resources and programmes to where they will make most impact, quicker progress can be made and more lives saved,” added Mr. Sidibé.
The UNAIDS and WHO report estimated that some 2.9 million lives have been saved since 1996 due to the availability of effective treatments and a boost in funding.
“International and national investment in HIV treatment scale-up has yielded concrete and measurable results,” said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan.
The report noted that in Botswana, where treatment coverage is 80 percent, AIDS-related deaths have fallen by over 50 percent over the past five years and the number of children newly orphaned is also coming down as parents are living longer.
“We cannot let this momentum wane,” said Dr. Chan. “Now is the time to redouble our efforts, and save many more lives.”
The joint report also said that allowing access to antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive mothers has prevented around 200,000 new infections among children since 2001.
Another of the report’s findings pointed to the positive impact of integrating prevention and treatment programmes with other health and social welfare services.
“AIDS isolation must end,” said Mr. Sidibé. “Half of all maternal deaths in Botswana and South Africa are due to HIV. This tells us that we must work for a unified health approach bringing maternal and child health and HIV programmes as well as tuberculosis programmes together to work to achieve their common goal.”
The report also warns that prevention programmes must keep pace with changes in the epidemic. For example, it said that programmes should take into account shifts in the spread of the disease in parts of Asia where the epidemic – once characterized by transmission through sex work and injecting drug use – is now increasingly affecting heterosexual couples.
The number of HIV positive people in China probably stands at around 740,000, up from the estimated 700,000 who had the virus in 2007, the country’s health minister said Tuesday.
Sex between men is now one of the main reasons for the spread of the disease, said Chen Zhu.
As of Oct 31, China had recorded 319,877 HIV infections, 102,323 of which had developed into AIDS. China has had 49,845 AIDS deaths since it detected its first HIV infection in 1985, Chen said during the 5th Conference of International Cooperation Programmes on HIV/AIDS in China.
Chen said experts predict there will be 48,000 new infections in 2009, compared to 50,000 in 2007.
Of the new infections, sexual transmissions will account for more than 70 percent of cases. Some 42.2 percent will come from heterosexual transmission. The number was 44.7 percent in 2007.
Chen said there had been a dramatic increase in the number of HIV infections resulting from homosexual encounters. Those infections now account for 32.5 percent of transmissions. They only accounted for 12.2 percent in 2007.
China’s gay population is estimated at 5-10 million.
Until Dr. Jonas Salk introduced the Salk vaccine to fight polio, it was a dreaded disease, one which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt suffered from. The 1952 outbreak was the worst in the history of the United States with nearly 58,000 reported cases of which over 3,000 people died and over 21,000 suffered from mild to severe forms of paralysis, most of which affected children.
I remember when I went to Mill Ridge Elementary School here in Danbury, there was a young girl in my class who suffered from polio and had to wear the standard leg braces of the time back in the early 60’s and used crutches to get around. And I remember getting the vaccine shots in school and also the “sugar cube pill” to stave off polio.
Since the discovery and outbreak of HIV in the 80’s there has been the hope that one day a vaccine would be developed to fight HIV infection.
One such vaccine which was tried, but halted in 2007 is the vaccine trial known as “STEP” and on Monday (November 16) a report was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which attempted to explain why the vaccine failed.
The recent failure of an HIV vaccine was probably caused by the immune system reacting to the virus ’shell’ used to transmit the therapy around the body. The trial, called ‘STEP’, was halted in September 2007 because preliminary results suggested that people who had been given the vaccine were more likely to be infected with HIV than people who had been given a placebo.
The researchers behind this study, from Imperial College London, King’s College London and Royal Holloway, University of London, say their findings mean scientists may have to rethink other vaccines they are developing for diseases like HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, which are delivered in the same way, using the same virus ’shell’.
The vaccine used an adenovirus, which normally causes the common cold, to enable the vaccine therapy to travel around the body. Harmless HIV genes were then inserted into the virus. It was thought that this would help the immune system to learn to recognise and fight off HIV.
This study suggests that after receiving the trial vaccination, people who had previously built up immunity to the adenovirus had an influx of immune cells called CD4 T-cells homing in on their mucous membranes, as these cells prepared to fight off a new adenovirus infection. Mucous membranes are found in areas including the nose, mouth, vagina and gut. HIV naturally infects CD4 T-cells, so this inadvertently provided HIV with an abundance of potential new homes at the sites where the virus would naturally enter the body during sexual intercourse, thereby increasing people’s risk of infection. (source – Medical News Today)
The researchers say their findings are a warning for scientists developing adenovirus vaccines against other diseases, as the same effect occurs with other, perhaps all, adenovirus subtypes.
Another vaccine trial was reported in September of this year as the first to cut infection rates, A trial HIV vaccine that cuts infection rates by almost a third has provided the research community with some hope following years of setbacks.
The vaccine, a combination of two earlier experimental vaccines that had not reduced infection rates individually, is the first to prevent infection. It was given to 16,000 Thai volunteers in the world’s largest HIV/AIDS vaccine trial, carried out by the Thai government and the United States Army.
The male and female volunteers, all HIV negative and aged between 18 and 30, were split into two groups — half were given a placebo, and half given the vaccine. All were provided with condoms and counselling on HIV/AIDS prevention.
Over the course of the trial, 74 people from the placebo group and 51 in the vaccine group became infected. Scientists say the results are statistically significant — with a 31.2 per cent lower risk of infection for the vaccinated group.
“This result is tantalisingly encouraging,” says Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet. “The numbers are small and the difference may have been due to chance, but this finding is the first positive news in the AIDS vaccine field for a decade.” (source – SciDevNet)
And now Dr. Sudhir Paul in association with the Covalent Immunology Foundation is hoping, along with his team of researchers to find the “magic bullet” to guard against HIV as Dr. Jonas Salk did so many years ago to fight polio.
In his bio at the website of CIF it reads, Scientific principles underlying CIF’s mission have been discovered by Dr. Sudhir Paul and his research team at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and for the last 12 years, at the University of Texas Houston Medical School. Dr. Paul has proved that abzymes are inherently more potent in attaining inactivation of various targets than traditional antibodies with reversible binding activity. Their work on basic science of antibodies and abzymes, HIV, hepatitis C virus infection, Alzheimer’s disease and hemophilia has been covered in over 150 scientific publications. Dr. Paul has been a professor and researcher for over 26 years, and the recipient of numerous federal grants and awards during his distinguished career, much of which has been devoted to developing abzyme technology.
And in CIF’s mission statement, CIF aims to raise funds for research and education that will rapidly translate the hard earned abzyme and covalent vaccination discoveries into medical benefits. CIF will provide funds for timely completion of expensive drug effectiveness and safety studies required by the Food and Drug Administration. It is estimated that drug development costs can be up to 1 billion dollars. For instance, preventative HIV vaccination trials will require a large investment, as a large number of humans must be tested, and their infection status must be monitored for years. CIF’s mission is to enable this process with support from a broad cross-section of the public. In addition, CIF will support Dr. Paul’s efforts to raise additional governmental funds for the research and development.
While the development of a vaccine to fight HIV will be too late for those who have passed due to HIV/AIDS or who are currently infected, it could one day become a great hope for a worldwide halt to HIV. But with the finding of a successfull vaccine it does bring up the quandary of, if there is a vaccine, will gay men go back to the practice of “unsafe sex” ?
That perhaps is a question for another day, as they say, one step at a time.
Below is a video made by celebrities on behalf of the Covalent Immunology Foundation.
This writer nor Hearst Newspapers endorses CIF, the video is provided as an information point.
You wouldn’t expect Al Jazeera to be your first choice of finding news about AIDS, much less what is being reported by David Mercer.
In the video report below, Mercer says religious beliefs in Guatemala are playing a large role and could be responsible for the continuing spread of HIV/AIDS in this Central American country.
At the website USAID is a brief report which reads, With less than 1 percent of the adult population estimated to be HIV-positive, Guatemala is considered to have a concentrated epidemic. However, Guatemala – Central America’s largest country – accounts for nearly one-sixth of Central America’s HIV-infected population. Since the country’s first case of HIV was reported in 1984, infections have occurred primarily among men who have sex with men (MSM) and sex workers. According to the National AIDS Program (NAP) in the Ministry of Health (MOH), as of April 2007, Guatemala had 10,304 officially reported cases of HIV/AIDS. UNAIDS estimates that 61,000 people are living with HIV in Guatemala and 2,700 deaths have occurred due to AIDS. You can read more in this PDF report.
In an article from June 2006, the Inter Press Service reports, Discrimination by society and employers against Guatemalans living with HIV/AIDS is deeply entrenched, say local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which note that they are often deprived of their basic rights to work, education and health.
“Some companies force their employees to undergo HIV testing, or the company has the test done without the worker’s permission,” Claudia Areli Rosales of Positive People, an NGO that defends the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS, told IPS.
A United Nations report this year estimated that in 2005 some 61,000 people in this impoverished Central American country of 14.7 million were living with HIV, 6,000 more than in 2003. But as many as 100,000 could actually be infected, according to the report’s more pessimistic projections.
At the website Plan Uk which is an international charity has a section devoted to the HIV/AIDS crisis in Guatemala, Since 1984, when the first case of HIV/AIDS was identified in Guatemala, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS has risen to 67,000. Infection is highest in the 15-29 age group and affects more men than women.
Although the Guatemalan government is determined to combat HIV/AIDS, many people living with the disease face life-threatening discrimination on a daily basis. Frequently they are denied the right to healthcare, as well as medical confidentiality and privacy. Their communities and families often reject them and they cannot find work or a place to live. Children who are HIV-positive are often excluded from schools and playgrounds.
At the website of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, A key affected group in Guatemala is men who have sex with men (MSM).Prevention campaigns often neglect this group, though, as sex between men is highly stigmatized in most Latin American countries.For example, the Guatemalan government attributes only 15% of HIV infections to MSM, but activists estimate the figure to be closer to 40% (Avert).According to UNAIDS, in 2002 HIV prevalence amongst MSM was as high as 11.5%.Commercial sex work is another major cause of HIV transmission.
Further, small-scale studies show that Mayans might be nearly three times more vulnerable to HIV than other member of the Guatemalan population.The Mayan population is often stigmatized, is generally of lower socioeconomic status, and accesses fewer heath care services than other Guatemalans.
The adult HIV prevalence rate in Guatemala is approximately 0.8% and antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage is at about 37%.In 2007, 5,300 pregnant women living with HIV needed antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) for prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) but only 373 received them (about 7%).
In doing a Google search for “AIDS in Guatemala”, it wasn’t until page 6 that I found a story by the mainstream media here in the United States about HIV/AIDS in Guatemala which was a link to a 2006 two-part series by The Dallas Morning News.
So this writer’s question is, why does it take a “news outlet” like Al Jazeera to bring to the world’s attention want is becoming an epidemic where religious beliefs and “the church” are stymying prevention and even indirectly encouraging discrimination against those who are HIV positive or have full blown AIDS ?
Warning … the following is a frank and honest discussion which some readers may find offensive.
The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services addressed a convention of health experts who have convened in Atlanta for this year’s National HIV Prevention Conference. Secretary Sebelius made her speech on Aug. 24, after being introduced by the new head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Thomas Frieden.
Secretary Sebelius told the crowd, “Six years ago, the United State announced the most ambitious plan to fight global HIV/AIDS in the history of the world. This plan combined a new level of focus, new funding, and a new commitment to using proven approaches.”
Noting that the program, called PEPFAR, has been a “great success,” Sebelius’ speech went on to acknowledge that the fight here at home has “stalled.”
“In 2006, more than 56,000 Americans were newly infected with HIV, a rate that has been stable over the past 10 years.”
“Because HIV infection is fatal if not treated–and its transmission can be prevented with proven interventions–this isn’t just a statistic. It’s a tragedy,” Sebelius continued. – source – EDGE
And therein lies the problem, because AIDS is no longer the definitive death sentence it once was, today’s youth in many cases ignore the AIDS awareness campaigns about wearing condoms when having sex, and instead go “bareback”, anal sex without the protection of a condom.
Part of the problem are the display and poster ads themselves which give the appearance that AIDS is not the threat it once was.
As it was “fashionable” for a time for young teenage girls to get pregnant, so now as unbelievable as it may sound, for some young gay and bi men, it has become “fashionable” to get HIV from older men who are either HIV positive or in fact have full blown AIDS.
Throw into the mix the idea of secretive bareback parties held around the United States in which participants willingly risk getting infected with HIV, this writer as well as many others who lived through the AIDS epidemic of the 80’s, can not understand why anyone, even if AIDS no longer carries with it the once dreaded diagnosis of death, would purposely take the gamble and in fact wish to become infected.
In an article at RH Reality Check, CDC official Dr. Amy Lansky announced today at a plenary session of the National HIV Prevention Conference the CDC’s finding that, in the United States, gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) have AIDS at a rate more than 50 times (that’s right, FIFTY TIMES) greater than women and non-gay/bi men. This confirms in emphatic terms that of all the disparities and disproportionate impacts in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States, the greatest one is the extraordinarily disproportionate impact on gay and bisexual men — of all races and ethnicities– though the most disproportionate impact is on African American gay, bi and other MSM.
As incidence estimates released by CDC last year revealed, MSM constitute more than half of all new cases of HIV and are the group in which the number of new cases each continues to slowly increase. What’s new today is that the CDC has calculated *rates* of HIV/AIDS prevalence among MSM, not just raw numbers. Lansky says the CDC estimates that there were 692.2 new HIV cases in 2007 per 100,000 MSM. Having a rate as well as the raw numbers allows comparisons for the first time to other population groups at risk, such as women and heterosexual men.
In 2006, BBC Television did a documentary called“I love being HIV+”, in which HIV positive man Ricky Dyer investigated the “bug chasing” culture and is appalled to find dozens of apparent bug chasers contact him within days saying that they want to be “pozzed up” – infected with the virus. Several UK-based websites deal with the phenomenon, as do many more in the US, where the phenomenon of bug chasing was originally reported. As part of the investigation Dyer went on-line on a gay dating website, saying that he is an HIV positive man who wants to talk to bug chasers. Bug chasers supposedly look for “conversion parties” where HIV positive men have the opportunity to pass on the virus to multiple partners. Dyer finds that the overwhelming majority of the talk is pure fantasy.
By doing searches and looking into dialog and postings on any number of websites which promote and encourage “bug chasing”, bareback circuit parties and personal ads, there is no doubt this culture is anything but fantasy and in fact is causing more young gay men to become infected with HIV and other STD’s.
For all the thousands who died from AIDS, has nothing been learned ?
The sad and pathetic answer is ….. apparently not.
