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3 APRIL 2015 VOLUME 16 ISSUE 14

Media Coverage

  • Potent new HIV "vaccine" bypasses the immune system: new fusion immunoadhesin binds Env & blocks infection

    A new study published in Nature provides striking evidence that an immunoadhesin gene therapy approach could provide effective, long-term protection against HIV-1 – perhaps sooner and better than a conventionally-developed vaccine. eCD4-Ig, a fusion of CD4-Ig with a small CCR5-mimetic sulfopeptide, binds the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein Env far more potently than any broadly neutralizing antibody studied to date.
    April 2, 2015
    GenScript

  • Uganda: women and girls bear burden of HIV caregiving

    According to the Southern African Regional Poverty Network, in the context of HIV, caregiving roles are typically divided along gender lines. Women take on tasks such as cooking, feeding the patient, bathing and providing nursing care. Men tend to do tasks such as transporting patients to hospital, lifting them, and providing financial and material support. However, speaking to patients and carers at five hospitals and health centres in Katakwi, Soroti, Ngora, Serere and Ongiino, it seems the burden of caring for the sick falls more heavily on women and girls.

    April 2, 2015
    Key Correspondents

  • UCMB urged to circumcise men to combat cervical cancer

    The Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau (UCMB), the health arm of the Uganda Episcopal Conference, has been urged to promote safe male circumcision as a weapon to fight the spread of cervical cancer in women....The call was made last week by Dr. Patrick Tusiime, District Health Officer of Kabale, at the closure of the two-day annual general meeting of UCMB held at Sharing Youth Centre, in Nsambya, a Kampala suburb.
     
    April 2, 2015
    Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision
    New Vision

  • Complexity versus the technical fix or how to put sexuality back into sexual health

    These reflections consider the failure of the public health establishment to invest in evaluations of interventions that support community groups to shift individual and community behaviours in favour of sexual well-being, sexual rights and sexual satisfaction. This article queries the willingness to invest substantially in researching technical interventions without simultaneously assessing their potential unintended consequences for sexual health well-being; the associated lack of will to invest in social research is also queried.  
    April 2, 2015
    Global Public Health

  • GeoVax HIV vaccine moves forward

    GeoVax Labs...today announced that the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) has assigned a trial number, HVTN 114, to the next clinical trial of its clade B preventive HIV vaccine candidate. HVTN 114, titled: "A Phase 1 clinical trial to evaluate the immunogenicity of AIDSVAX® B/E bivalent gp120 vaccine and MVA/HIV62B in healthy, HIV-1 uninfected adult participants who previously received MVA/HIV62B in DNA/MVA or MVA/MVA regimens in HVTN 205," is expected to begin enrolling patients during the second half of 2015.

    April 1, 2015
    HIV Vaccine
    Drug Discovery & Development

  • Chinese study sheds light on how well treatment may work as prevention in the real world

    A study from the Henan province of China published recently shows that antiretroviral therapy (ART) may not be as effective at suppressing HIV and preventing onward transmission in ‘real world’ settings as it is in the best clinical practice.
    April 1, 2015
    aidsmap

  • HIV patients experience better kidney transplant outcomes than hepatitis C patients

    HIV (human immunodeficiency virus)-positive kidney transplant patients experienced superior outcomes when compared to kidney transplant patients with Hepatitis C and those infected with both HIV and Hepatitis C, according to a study. 
    April 1, 2015
    Science Daily

  • How AIDS put the sex in sex education

    An unprecedented outbreak of HIV brought both urgency and explicit subject matter to discussions of sex in the classroom. A new book, Too Hot to Handle, explains why. Since the days of Sigmund Freud, educators had deliberated whether, when, and how young people were sexual beings.
    April 1, 2015
    Daily Beast

  • Kenya high court rules section of HIV Prevention Act unconstitutional

    A section of Kenya's HIV and AIDS Prevention Act has been ruled unconstitutional, a move welcomed by human rights groups. The 2006 law states that any person who knows they are HIV positive must tell "any sexual contact" about the virus infection. People who have the virus who "knowingly and recklessly" place other people at risk for infection could be jailed for seven years.
    April 1, 2015
    UPI

  • Evofem, Inc. appoints Dr. David Friend as Senior Vice President of Product Development

    ...In this role, Dr. Friend will be responsible for providing scientific leadership and managing product development from initial concept to final product...."David brings an extensive scientific background coupled with global experience in women's health," said Evofem's COO, John Fair....Prior to joining Evofem, Dr. Friend served as Director of Product Development at CONRAD, an organization that works to expand contraceptive choices and prevent sexually transmitted infections.
    April 1, 2015
    Spoke

  • Concern over rise in HIV infections in the Philippines

    According to the United Nations, the Philippines is one of nine countries where HIV cases are rising at an alarming level....According to a UNAIDS report, new incidents of HIV infections around the world halved between the years 2001 and 2011. But in the Philippines, the number of new infections has risen by 25 per cent.
    April 1, 2015
    Before Its News

  • UNAIDS/Stratcomm walk for women's rights

    The United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and Strategic Communications Africa Ltd (Stratcomm Africa) have organised a public walk and forum on women empowerment and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment...Ms Esther Cobbah, Chief Executive Officer of Stratcomm Africa,...highlighted the need to remove the traditional position of 'the woman as a housewife, manager of the home and nothing more', and to remind people that HIV/AIDS was still a reality.
    April 1, 2015
    Modern Ghana

  • How Uganda male circumcision truck brings hope on HIV

    Looking from the outside you would not expect much. It is a 20ft container mounted on to a trailer. What could betray its purpose are the paintings on its sides showing people visiting a health facility. When it rolls into a town, village or sets up on an island, it plugs itself into the local community to get the word out about its services. Out of the truck come tents, tables and medical equipment – it is essentially a moving clinic....Some are already looking at the mobile circumcision truck as an innovation that could be extended to help people get access to a range of healthcare.

    April 1, 2015
    People's Daily

  • Our HIV crisis: PrEP is not a cure

    Take a pill daily and prevent the contraction of HIV 99 percent of the time. That is the narrative presented to many young men who have sex with men by their peers regarding pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). And, as is normally the case with anything framed in such a simple manner, the nuances of treatment fall through the cracks. It is unwise to herald PrEP as the key to freeing a generation from HIV. It is merely one piece of a larger effort.
    April 1, 2015
    PrEP
    Yale Daily News

  • CDC to lead $185 million in new HIV prevention initiatives for gay men and transgender people

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will lead new programs totaling more than $185 million in HIV prevention funding for men who have sex with MSM and transgender people, with a particular focus on addressing the needs of MSM of color. The multi-faceted strategy will respond to the severe burden of HIV among MSM and transgender men and women through three new programs enabling health departments and local HIV prevention partners to deliver the most effective HIV prevention tools.
     
    March 31, 2015
    Outbreak News Today

  • GlaxoSmithKline's big give to IAVI's Human Vaccines Project

    The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) has been pushing for funding for its Human Vaccines Project since 2013....A recent $350,000 grant from GlaxoSmithKline will work to help establish a global consortium and lay the groundwork for the project’s research program.
    March 31, 2015
    Inside Philanthropy

  • World Bank backs contraception, sexual health in Sahel region

    Broadening access to contraceptives in Africa's arid Sahel region and improving women's sexual health are key parts of a $200 million World Bank project in the conservative Muslim region, its coordinator said. The project in Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Chad, and Ivory Coast seeks to boost long-term prosperity by relieving population pressures on an environment stricken by drought, Christophe Lemiere, coordinator of the Sahel Women's Empowerment and Demographics Project, told Reuters.
     
    March 31, 2015
    Reuters

  • Tense debate as House shifts HIV funding to abstinence

    Seven hours into Tuesday's debate on the [Texas] House's $210 billion two-year budget, things got first heated and then uncomfortable as state Rep. Stuart Spitzer, R-Kaufman, successfully pushed an amendment to move $3 million from HIV and STD prevention programs to pay for abstinence education. A line of opponents gathered behind the podium as Spitzer laid out his amendment and proceeded to grill, quiz and challenge the lawmaker on his motives.
     
    March 31, 2015
    Texas Tribune

  • ViiV Healthcare launches new global Positive Action program focused on MSM & transgender population

    ViiV Healthcare today announced the launch of a new initiative designed to support and inform the global effort to alleviate the impact of HIV and AIDS among men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender populations around the world. Through Positive Action, ViiV Healthcare has committed to invest £2 million per year to encourage community-led interventions to reduce stigma and discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity/expression and/or HIV status.
     
    March 31, 2015
    Bio Space

  • To know her is to love her: exploring the impacts of stigma and discrimination on the treatment-seeking behaviour of women living with HIV/AIDS

    This exploratory research study revolves on how stigma and discrimination impinge on the treatment-seeking behavior of women living with HIV/AIDS....The findings revealed that HIV-related stigma and discrimination is a concrete manifestation of structural violence reinforced by a conservative Filipino culture highly influenced by the Catholic Church...[and] is also regarded as one of the biggest barriers that hinder women living with HIV/AIDS from disclosing and accessing medical services.
    March 31, 2015
    Asian Bioethics Review

  • Prophets in Karonga disappoint a network of religious leaders living with HIV/AIDS

    The Malawi Network of Religious Leaders living with or personally affected by HIV/AIDS (MANERELA) has expressed disappointment over some people calling themselves prophets in Karonga District who ask those living with HIV/AIDS to stop taking the antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) after praying for them. Programme Officer for MANERELA Sibongile Singini was speaking on Monday during the awareness raising campaign on the new antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the area of Paramount Chief Kyungu in the district. 
    March 31, 2015
    MANA Online

  • A natural feeling: Gates and the ongoing search for a better condom

    ...We all know the possible repercussions of failing to use a condom during sex; now imagine those repercussions in countries where HIV/AIDS rates are among the highest in the world....The Gates Foundation has been thinking about condoms for many years....Lately, it's backed some interesting research on materials that enhance sensitivity—and address the most common complaint about condoms.....not out of the foundation’s Family Planning program, but rather its Discovery and Translational Sciences grantmaking program. 
    March 31, 2015
    Inside Philanthropy

  • Most HIV-positive gay men in European survey are on HIV treatment, though fewer in the east

    The large EMIS survey of gay men living in Europe has found that over 70% of respondents with HIV are taking antiretroviral therapy. Of those who have never started ART or have stopped, by far the most common reason was a doctor’s recommendation that they did not need to take it....EMIS was a large enough study that it was able to unearth interesting minority reasons for not taking ART. 
    March 30, 2015
    aidsmap

  • A world shared with HIV

    The grayest heads among us still think of AIDS as a terrible new disease. But younger adults have never known a world without it, and many of the youngest think of it only as an annoying condition you take a pill for. They know nothing of the anguish and heroism that once surrounded the word “AIDS.” One disease, many perceptions — and in two new books, some surprising truths.
     
    March 30, 2015
    New York Times

  • Indiana races to fight HIV surge tied to drug abuse

    Jeanni McCarty, a nurse and native of this threadbare city of 4,200, hurried up and down Main Street in Saturday’s bright sun, handing out stacks of fliers to any business that would take them. They were announcing a hastily planned specialty clinic — FREE, they emphasized in red — that would provide HIV treatment to anyone who needed it. Quite suddenly, a lot of people around here do. And the number keeps growing. 
    March 30, 2015
    New York Times

  • Activists protest denial of condoms to Africa’s high-risk groups

    With restrictions blocking the distribution of condoms in schools and prisons in Africa, health experts say the continent’s opportunity to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS in line with the UN Millennium Development Goals may be squandered....“African countries like Zimbabwe are being cornered by their own laws which bar them from dishing out condoms to prisoners and school children,” Tonderai Zivhu, chairperson of the Open Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS, told IPS.
    March 28, 2015
    IPS News

  • Aetna to lower costs for most HIV drugs after complaint

    Aetna Inc. has agreed to reduce out-of-pocket payments for most HIV and AIDS medicines after pressure from an advocacy group, revising coverage that had some patients paying $1,000 a month for the drugs....The announcement comes after the AIDS Institute and the National Health Law Program filed a complaint with the U.S. Health and Human Services Department in May 2014. 
    March 27, 2015
    Bloomberg

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