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8 JULY 2022 VOLUME 24 ISSUE 27

Media Coverage

  • Amid Fear and Anger Over Roe v. Wade, Tonia Poteat Calls for Action and Collaboration

    In recent days, Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1970s ruling that legalized abortion across the United States, was overturned. The Supreme Court has decided that bodily autonomy is no longer a constitutional right and should be determined at state level. Although the ruling had been expected due to earlier leaked documents, the decision remains devastating for many. Half of US states are expected to ban or severely restrict access to this health service, if they have not done so already.

    July 8, 2022
    General
    TheBodyPro

  • Long-Acting Treatment and Prevention of HIV Are Here

    Although oral antiretroviral therapy (ART) and preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) have been revolutionary in terms of reducing the morbidity, mortality, and incidence of HIV infection, some populations still have a hard time taking a pill every day for HIV treatment or prevention. In the United States, a recent review showed that among over 200,000 people living with HIV (PLWH), 40 percent reported their adherence to daily oral ART to be less than 80 percent.

    July 8, 2022
    General
    Medscape

  • A Nasty Disease Is Even Nastier for Patients With HIV. Now There’s Encouraging News

    Nobody wants to get bitten by a sandfly and catch a terrible disease with a daunting name – visceral leishmaniasis. It can cause fever, weight loss, enlargement of the spleen and liver, and anemia. If untreated, VL as it is called for short, is almost always fatal. It's one of three types of leishmaniases spread by the protozoan parasite, Leishmania. And definitely the worst. "If you don't get the treatment, you're usually going to die from this," says Dr. Fabiana Alves, director of the leishmaniasis cluster at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative.

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    July 7, 2022
    General
    NPR

  • Study Finds HIV May Speed Up the Body’s Aging Process

    More than four decades since HIV emerged, researchers are still gleaning more about how the virus affects people’s overall health. A new study published in the journal iScience sheds light on how HIV can accelerate aging at the cellular level within just two to three years of initial infection. For the researchers behind the study, this work is significant in painting an even clearer picture of the role the virus may play in the aging process compared to people who aren’t living with HIV.

    July 7, 2022
    General
    Healthline

  • People Who Start HIV Treatment With High CD4s Have a Smaller Viral Reservoir

    People with HIV who started antiretroviral treatment early, before their CD4 T-cell count fell below 800, had a substantially smaller viral reservoir, according to study findings published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Having a smaller reservoir of latently infected CD4 cells improves the prospects for long-term remission.

    July 6, 2022
    Treatment
    POZ Magazine

  • New Head of US Aid Program for HIV/AIDS Vows To Refocus Attention on the Other, ‘Silent’ Pandemic

    On 13 June, John Nkengasong, 58, was appointed the first African-born head of the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a program that helps more than 50 countries respond to their HIV/AIDS epidemics. Nkengasong, who grew up in Cameroon and became a US citizen in 2007, previously ran the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

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    July 5, 2022
    General
    Science

  • 4 Ways Period Poverty Affects Africa's Women and Girls, According to Activists

    For many girls across Africa, getting their period means staying home from school, exposure to negative social stigma, and the risk of significant health issues all because they don’t have access to safe sanitary products. Period poverty is a global issue, which affects mensutrators who don't have access to safe, hygienic period products or who can't manage their periods with dignity — because of stigma, or a lack of menstrual education, or proper hygiene facilities.

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    July 5, 2022
    General
    Global Citizen

  • When It Comes to HIV Treatment, We've Come a Long Way, Baby

    At 45 years old, I am part of the generation that lived through the devastation of the AIDS epidemic during the 1980s and ’90s. My childhood best friend and I both lost uncles to HIV-related complications. And stigma and fear was so great at the time around HIV, neither of them wanted anyone to see them in the end. It was heartbreaking.

    July 5, 2022
    Treatment
    Plus Magazine

  • HIV Stigma Remains ‘All These Years On’ As Public Not Up to Date With Progress Since 1980s, Poll Reveals

    Less than 40 percent of people in Britain know that those being effectively treated for HIV cannot pass the virus on to partners, a survey has revealed. Just 30 percent of people said they are comfortable dating someone with HIV, the YouGov poll found. The survey, released by the Terrence Higgins Trust, also discovered that only 37 percent of people feel comfortable kissing a person who has the virus.

    July 4, 2022
    General
    Sky News

  • Are Youth-Only Clinics the Answer to Better Healthcare for Young People?

    Getting young people to access healthcare services in the public sector is often an uphill battle. One solution is to have special clinics catering just for the youth. Pumeza Runeyi, a health officer at Doctors without Borders (MSF), was involved in setting up two such clinics in Khayelitsha in Cape Town. She says there is a myriad of reasons why young people don’t want to go to general clinics – she highlights the fact that some young people fear bumping into neighbours or relatives at the clinic. “At times, it is just the fear of being judged.

    July 4, 2022
    General
    Spotlight

  • People Planning To Attend AIDS Conference in Montreal Still Struggling To Get Visas

    International AIDS organizations say people from Africa, South America and Asia who are planning to attend a major AIDS conference in Montreal are still struggling to get visas from the Canadian government. The groups say a growing number of activists -- including some who were scheduled to speak at the conference which begins at the end of the month -- are having their visa applications denied, often on the grounds that the Canadian government doesn’t believe they’ll return home after the event.

    July 2, 2022
    General
    Toronto Star

  • Q&A: Halting the Burden of STIs in Africa

    The burden of sexually transmitted infections remains high. According to the World Health Organization estimates, one million new infections are acquired globally each day. And a large share of those goes unnoticed, undiagnosed, and untreated.

    June 30, 2022
    General
    Devex

  • Fierce Next Gen: ViiV Research Strategy Chief Talks Risks, Rewards of Long Quest To ‘Cure’ HIV

    Can we cure HIV already? It’s a tough question and one that ViiV Healthcare’s Max Lataillade would love to have a concrete answer for. But it depends how you define cure. A functional cure means suppressing the virus to a point where a patient can mostly live normally, but the virus is not gone. It lies dormant deep in the cells and is still capable of replicating. A sterilizing cure, on the other hand, means the virus is gone and it’s not coming back. Unfortunately, we’re not there yet.

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    June 30, 2022
    Cure
    Fierce Biotech

  • How Far Away Is a Cure for HIV?

    There are actually two concepts when it comes to talking about an HIV cure. One is eradication, meaning that the virus is completely eliminated from the body. This is also called a “sterilizing” or “neutralizing” cure. The second concept is a functional cure, or treatment-free HIV remission. This means that HIV virus levels are kept at extremely low levels in the body and are prevented from becoming active (also called a latent state).

    June 30, 2022
    Cure
    TheBody

  • Key Communities, Communities and Civil Society Face Obstacles in Attending International Meetings

    Key populations and other communities from the developing world are unable to attend the International AIDS Conference due to the prolonged and bureaucratic visa process. It is hard to put people at the centre of the HIV response when their very presence at the conference -- and other such events -- is thwarted by the difficulties in obtaining the correct travel and other documentation.

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    June 29, 2022
    General
    Aidspan

  • Health Officials Expand Monkeypox Testing and Vaccine Rollout

    On June 28, the White House and the Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) announced an enhanced strategy to vaccinate at-risk people—in particular gay and bisexual men—against monkeypox. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has activated its Emergency Operations Center to facilitate the nation’s monkeypox response. HHS will distribute 56,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine immediately, and around 1.6 million doses are expected to be available this year.

    June 29, 2022
    General
    POZ Magazine

Published Research

  • A Call for Antiracist Action

    In January 22, 2022, neo-Nazis marched on Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, with a banner claiming that the hospital “kills Whites” and flyers featuring photos of Drs. Michelle Morse, a Black woman, and Bram Wispelwey, a White man, who have led antiracism work at the hospital. The group denounced the physicians and the hospital for “creating preferential health care treatment policies for non-White patients.” This was not the first time that Morse and Wispelwey were attacked for their work.

    July 7, 2022
    General
    The New England Journal for Medicine

  • Exploring Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) Knowledge in Incarcerated Men

    A total of 267 men who are incarcerated completed a cross-sectional survey focused on cancer health, HIV prevention, and mental health in three state prisons. The mean age was 39 years. The majority had an annual income of US$10,000 or less, self-identified as heterosexual, not married, had children, did not have any military status, and identified as African American/Black. Less than 4 percent indicated that they had heard about Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), and only 3 percent had heard of Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP).

    July 7, 2022
    PrEP
    American Journal of Men's Health

  • HIV Cure Strategies: Which Ones Are Appropriate for Africa?

    Approaches to HIV cure being investigated include boosting the host immune system, genetic approaches to disable co-receptors and the viral genome, purging cells harboring latent HIV with latency-reversing latency agents (LRAs) (shock and kill), intensifying ART as a cure, preventing replication of latent proviruses (block and lock) and boosting T cell turnover to reduce HIV-1 reservoirs (rinse and replace). Since most people living with HIV are in Africa, methods being developed for a cure must be amenable to clinical trials and deployment on the continent.

    July 6, 2022
    Cure
    Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences

  • Ending HIV Hinges on Reducing Poverty

    Health commentators, politicians, and media campaigns can lead the public to believe that we are close to ending HIV epidemics. This optimistic outlook is based on the remarkable success of antiretroviral therapies (ART) and their suppression of HIV replication. For people living with HIV, ART effectively preserves the immune system and increases life expectancy.

    July 6, 2022
    General
    AIDS and Behavior

  • “These Girls Have a Chance To Be the Future Generation of HIV Negative”: Experiences of Implementing a PrEP Programme for Adolescent Girls and Young Women in South Africa

    Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) have been prioritised for PrEP delivery in South Africa. A combination HIV prevention intervention providing integrated biomedical, behavioural and structural interventions for AGYW aged 15–24 in twelve districts in South Africa characterised by high HIV prevalence, was implemented 2019–2022.

    July 6, 2022
    PrEP
    AIDS and Behavior

  • "Let’s Be a Person to Person and Have a Genuine Conversation”: Comparing Perspectives on PrEP and Sexual Health Communication Between Black Sexual Minority Men and Healthcare Providers

    Patient-provider communication is a key factor affecting HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) awareness and access among Black sexual minority men (SMM). Optimizing patient-provider communication requires a deeper understanding of communication dynamics. In this study, we investigated the perspectives of both HIV-negative/status-unknown Black SMM and practicing community healthcare providers regarding patient-provider communication about PrEP and sexual health.

    July 5, 2022
    General
    Archives of Sexual Behavior

  • HIV and STI Prevention Among Spanish Women Who Have Sex With Women: Factors Associated With Dental Dam and Condom Use

    This study aims to analyze the frequency of dental dam and condom use in Women who have sex with women (WSW) and identify the variables that explain the use of these two preventive methods. The sample is composed of 327 women aged between 18 and 60 years (M = 27.82; SD = 8.10). The results indicate that only 4.7 percent of those who practice cunnilingus and 5.2 percent of those who practice anilingus report “always” using dental dam (systematic use).

    July 5, 2022
    General
    AIDS and Behavior

  • Intersectional Discrimination and PrEP Use Among Young Black Sexual Minority Individuals: The Importance of Black LGBTQ Communities and Social Support

    Intersectional stigma and discrimination have increasingly been recognized as impediments to the health and well-being of young Black sexual minority men (YBSMM) and transgender women (TW). However, little research has examined the relationship between intersectional discrimination and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) outcomes. This study with 283 YBSMM and TW examines the relationship between intersectional discrimination and current PrEP use and likelihood of future PrEP use.

    July 5, 2022
    PrEP
    AIDS and Behavior

  • The Use of Viral Vectors in Vaccine Development

    Vaccines represent the single most cost-efficient and equitable way to combat and eradicate infectious diseases. While traditional licensed vaccines consist of either inactivated/attenuated versions of the entire pathogen or subunits of it, most novel experimental vaccines against emerging infectious diseases employ nucleic acids to produce the antigen of interest directly in vivo. These include DNA plasmid vaccines, mRNA vaccines, and recombinant viral vectors.

    July 4, 2022
    General
    npj Vaccines

  • Antiretroviral Treatment Sharing Among Female Sex Workers Living With HIV in eThekwini (Durban), South Africa: Drivers and Implications for Treatment Success

    In South Africa, 62 percent of female sex workers (FSW) are estimated to be living with HIV. Qualitative research indicates that FSW share antiretroviral therapy (ART) with peers to surmount treatment barriers. Researchers quantitatively described ART sharing, its correlates, and its relationship with viral suppression (VS) among FSW living with HIV in eThekwini, South Africa. Among FSW on ART (n = 890), 30 percent ever shared (gave and/or received) ART.

    July 3, 2022
    Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (JIAPAC)

  • Prospective Study of Oral Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Initiation and Adherence Among Young Women in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

    Despite moderate oral PrEP initiation and high pill count adherence, adherence as measured by TFV-DP levels was low and early discontinuation was high. The overall HIV incidence rate was high underscoring the critical need to address barriers to oral PrEP initiation, adherence and continued use, as well as expanding HIV prevention options for young women.y

    July 3, 2022
    PrEP
    Journal of the International AIDS Society

  • A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Evidence for Community-Based HIV Testing on Men’s Engagement in the HIV Care Cascade

    Community-based HIV testing services (CB-HTS) is an important strategy for reaching undiagnosed men with HIV from the general population and key population groups, particularly using targeted outreach models. When compared to facility-based HIV testing services, men tested through CB-HTS are more likely to uptake testing, and nearly all men who tested positive through CB-HTS were newly diagnosed.

    July 3, 2022
    General
    International Journal of STD & AIDS

  • Associations Between Self-Test and Pre- or Post-Exposure Prophylaxis of HIV Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in China

    Knowledge dissemination increased participant awareness and acceptance of PrEP and PEP effectively. Uptake of HIVST, PrEP, and PEP were low and associated with each other. It is promising to achieve high uptake by promoting HIVST, PrEP and PEP as one prevention package.

    July 2, 2022
    General
    International Journal of STD & AIDS

  • Prevalence and Risk Factors of PrEP Use Stigma Among Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Johannesburg, South Africa and Mwanza, Tanzania Participating in the EMPOWER Trial

    Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in sub-Saharan Africa may benefit from pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), yet stigma may limit PrEP acceptance and continuation. Researchers examined factors associated with PrEP use stigma among 307 participants of the EMPOWER trial (2016–2018), an unblinded randomized controlled trial among HIV-negative, AGYW, aged 16–24, in South Africa and Tanzania. The 6-item, brief-PrEP use stigma scale (B-PSS) had high internal reliability. At the end of the trial, 34.2 percent of study participants reported any PrEP use stigma.

    July 1, 2022
    PrEP
    AIDS and Behavior

  • Efficiency of 6-Month PrEP Dispensing With HIV Self-Testing in Kenya: An Open-Label, Randomised, Non-Inferiority, Implementation Trial

    Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention is highly effective and is being implemented at scale at health clinics throughout sub-Saharan Africa. However, barriers to clinic-based PrEP delivery remain. We aimed to establish the efficiency of semiannual PrEP clinic visits supplemented with interim home-based HIV self-testing (HIVST) versus standard of care for HIV testing, drug refilling, and adherence among PrEP users.

    July 1, 2022
    PrEP
    The Lancet HIV

  • Equitable Access to Long-Acting PrEP on the Way?

    Cost cannot be allowed to derail the scale up of new PrEP modalities. The provision of CAB-LA in LMICs, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, will add to the biomedical prevention armamentarium that includes oral PrEP and the dapivirine vaginal ring but also other prevention options, such as condoms and voluntary medical male circumcision. Agreement on the terms of licensing, necessary transfers of technology, and interim pricing should be completed urgently so that CAB-LA becomes an option for those most in need.

    July 1, 2022
    PrEP
    The Lancet HIV

  • Assumptions About Patients Seeking PrEP: Exploring the Effects of Patient and Sexual Partner Race and Gender Identity and the Moderating Role of Implicit Racism

    Medical education about PrEP for HIV prevention must ensure future health professionals understand the full range of patients who are at risk for HIV, as well as how implicit racial biases may affect assumptions about patients in serodifferent couples seeking PrEP for HIV prevention. As gatekeepers for PrEP prescription, clinicians’ assumptions about patients seeking PrEP represent a barrier to access. Consistent with prior research, we identified minimal effects of race and implicit racism in an experimental setting.

    July 1, 2022
    PrEP
    PLOS One

  • Couples’ Decision Making Regarding the Use of Multipurpose Prevention Technology (MPT) for Pregnancy and HIV Prevention

    Researchers conducted a secondary analysis of discrete choice experiment (DCE) data from 395 couples enrolled in the Microbicide Trials Network (MTN)-045/CUPID study in Uganda and Zimbabwe to understand couple decision making around choice of multipurpose prevention technologies (MPTs) to prevent both HIV and pregnancy. Members of couples completed the same DCE, first separately then jointly, choosing between two hypothetical MPTs in a series of nine questions. Most couples either had similar preferences at the outset or had equal decision-making around MPTs (62 percent).

    July 1, 2022
    AIDS and Behavior

  • “PrEP Gives the Woman the Control”: Healthcare Worker Perspectives on Using Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) During Pregnancy and Postpartum in Kenya

    Healthcare workers (HCWs) perceived PrEP as an acceptable and feasible HIV prevention strategy for pregnant and postpartum women. They believed PrEP meets women’s needs as an on-demand, female-controlled prevention strategy that empowers women to take control of their HIV risk. HCWs highlighted their role in PrEP delivery success while acknowledging how their knowledge gaps, concerns and perceived PrEP implementation challenges may hinder optimal PrEP delivery.

    July 1, 2022
    PrEP
    Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (JIAPAC)

  • “You Don’t Want Your Parents Knowing That You’re Taking Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis”: Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Stigma Among Black and Latinx Adolescents

    Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) stigma is an understudied barrier to PrEP uptake among Black and Latinx adolescents. US Black and Latinx adolescents (13–17 years) completed an online survey or participated in focus groups/interviews. Associations between PrEP stigma, PrEP disclosure, and provider-initiated PrEP discussion preferences were examined using logistic-regression models.

    July 1, 2022
    PrEP
    Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care

  • ‘When I Have These Kits … I Have Confidence’ – HIV Self-Testing Provides Agency for Women in Their Sexual Decision-Making

    Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted among 32 women at high risk of HIV infection, including women who engage in transactional sex, who participated in a cluster randomised trial of a secondary distribution strategy in western Kenya. Interviews explored how women used self-tests within relationships and how this affected their sexual decision-making.

    June 30, 2022
    General
    Global Public Health

  • Influences on PrEP Uptake and Adherence Among South African Women During Periconception and Pregnancy: A Qualitative Analysis

    Researchers report qualitative research from a study evaluating PrEP use as part of safer conception care for 330 South African women. Fifty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 study participants to identify influences on PrEP adherence. Influences were: (1) changing proximity to male partners; (2) COVID-19 lockdown; (3) mobile lifestyle; (4) PrEP-related stigma; (5) disclosure of PrEP use; and (6) pregnancy and motherhood.

    June 30, 2022
    PrEP
    AIDS and Behavior

  • “Whatever Is in the ARVs, Is Also in the PrEP” Challenges Associated With Oral Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Use Among Female Sex Workers in South Africa

    Pre-exposure prophylaxis as an ARV targeted for the prevention of HIV among high-risk groups was found to be stigmatizing. The distinctive use of PrEP and ARVs should be correctly explained to users to minimize confusion, enable differentiation and reduce interpersonal conflict. Cohesion among sex work organizations and public health care facilities is needed to disseminate the correct knowledge on PrEP. A non-stigmatizing approach to the distribution of PrEP may serve to increase uptake and adherence.

    June 17, 2022
    PrEP
    Frontiers in Public Health

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