HIV and AIDS
From local meetings to advocacy campaigns, KCS document the way in which communities are currently responding to HIV and AIDS. KCs will also report announcements of new HIV testing and prevention schemes and highlight the successes and failures of existing programmes. The impact traditional healers, ARV stock-outs and expired medication have on the lives of those living with HIV is also reported, as are spikes and declines in HIV prevalence rates. KCs also document what life is like for people living with HIV and the impact culture and religion has on their choices around treatment and care. KC stories often examine the links between poverty and HIV, as well as the links between maternal health and HIV, told through the lenses of community campaigns and individual stories.
HIV prevalence increases in Amuria District, Uganda
The HIV prevalence in the eastern Uganda District of Amuria has increase, a new report indicates. more
‘I might die before my trial begins’: life as an HIV positive prisoner in Uganda
The woe of an HIV positive prisoner unmasks Uganda’s security forces and the judiciary’s inadequacy in handling people living with serious health issues in their custody, finds KC Goodluck Musinguzi. more
‘Hard labour’ for prisoners living with HIV
Prisoners livings with HIV at Ndorwa Government Prison say they are being exposed to heavy work which weakens their health. more
‘We are empowered to handle HIV in our communities’
When Collins Wanyama was invited to take part in community care course, sponsored by Regional AIDS Training Network (RATN), he knew his dream of improving his skills had come true. KC Hope Mafaranga reports. more
Warning over HIV home test kits
From www.bbc.co.uk
Illegal home testing kits for HIV are giving people incorrect results, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has warned.
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Farmers asked to use condoms
Farmers in Mwizi sub county, Mbarara district, Western Uganda have been urged to embrace the use of condoms. more
Register for debate on ‘treatment as prevention’
From www.aidstar-one.com
The sixth debate of the Emerging Issues in Today’s HIV Response Debate Series, titled ‘Treatment as Prevention’, will see expert panellists discussing whether countries should spend the majority of what is likely to be a flat or even declining HIV prevention budget on ‘treatment as prevention’.
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Rosemary, 23, South Sudan
Rosemary, 23, from South Sudan, is five months pregnant and a mother of two infants. She recently tested HIV positive and suspects that the father of her unborn child, who died in August this year (2011), infected her. Furthermore, she suspects her partner showed her fake test results so that he could claim to be HIV negative. more
Prevention of mother to child transmission failing at health centre, medics warn
Health workers in Western Uganda have expressed concern over the government’s failure to provide HIV testing kits, which they say is making a prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) program fail, despite it being a priority. more
HIV campaign in Amuria District, Eastern Uganda
The Aids Support Organization’s (TASO) manager in Eastren Uganda’s Soroti district, Patrick Igulot, has urged everybody to do whatever they can to prevent the spread of HIV in their midst. more
The Global Fund to transfer HIV grant in Mali from National AIDS Council to new recipient
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will transfer management of a US$28.77 million HIV/AIDS grant from Mali’s national AIDS council, the Haut Conseil de Lutte contre le Sida (HCLNS), to a new principal recipient at the end of the year. more
‘HIV/Aids response faltering’
From allafrica.com
Once touted as a success story in the fight against HIV/Aids, but recent evidence is shows that Uganda’s response to the scourge is faltering. go
Co-trimoxazole: job aids and information to increase and sustain use
From www.aidstar-one.com
Co-trimoxazole is an antibiotic that reduces rates of opportunistic infections, such as malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia, and death among adults and children living with HIV. Access to this intervention, however, remains inconsistent. A key barrier to appropriate Co-trimoxazole use is limited awareness about the benefits of using the antibiotic as a prophylaxis. go
Groundbreaking trial results on HIV treatment as prevention
From www.unaids.org
WHO and UNAIDS hail results from the HPTN 052 trial that show antiretroviral therapy to be 96% effective in reducing HIV transmission in couples where one partner has HIV. Results announced by the United States National Institutes of Health show that if an HIV-positive person adheres to an effective antiretroviral therapy regimen, the risk of transmitting the virus to their uninfected sexual partner can be reduced by 96%. go
A personal story of one the participants in the gene therapy study
From www.aidsmap.com
In April’s HTU, AIDSMAP featured a news story, reporting that a group of patients had had their CD4 counts boosted by a form of gene therapy – and declared that this could be the first step to a cure for HIV infection. Matt Sharp wrote an article on lymphoma for that same issue. He was one of the six participants in the gene experiment and so far, he writes, it seems to be working just fine. go
Zambian pioneer HIV/TB activist Winstone Zulu remembered
From www.aidsmap.com
The prominent HIV and TB activist Winstone Zulu has died at the age of 47 in hospital in Lusaka. Mr Zulu was diagnosed with HIV in 1990 and was the first person in Zambia to make a public statement about his HIV status. go
Without a balanced diet, inmates on ARVs are at risk of slow recovery
From www.monitor.co.ug
Like some drugs that pharmacists dispense to patients, Godfrey Byaruhanga, 57, should take ARVs after meals.
Byaruhanga now appreciates that. “One day, I took my medication on an empty stomach because our meal had been delayed. I felt like there was fire in my stomach,” he recalls. No wonder that he felt that way. A Zimbabwean health worker said in 2009 that taking antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) on an empty stomach would be like ‘digesting razor blades’.
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HIV diagnosis in infants reduces to three days
From www.monitor.co.ug
The duration of establishing the HIV status in infants has been reduced from 40 to three days after the launch of a new network system of transporting blood samples and results. go
AIDS activist Winston Zulu put to rest
Winston Zulu, who in 1990 was the first person living with HIV to disclose his HIV status in Zambia, and the first in this part of the region, was put to rest on 15th October 2011 in Lusaka. more
The heart and heartbreak of Aids grandmothers in Uganda
From www.monitor.co.ug
For decades, HIV/Aids has swept across the globe felling the young, the old, children and couples, the brunt of the sting has been felt more deeply by grandmothers who have watched, most times helplessly, how their children have succumbed to the killer disease. Even though some grandmothers have fallen victim themselves, most have trodden the blighted path in caring for their children or grandchildren many times single-handedly. go
What is it like to live with HIV/Aids in prison
From www.monitor.co.ug
He came to The Aids Support Organisation (TASO) in Mulago dressed in the conspicuous yellow uniform for inmates. Even for his 57 years, Geoffrey Byaruhanga looked rather frail. Not that the Prisons Service warders subjected him to hard labour at the Murchison Bay Prisons hospital, no. He is just in tougher environs where, even thought the meals may be ‘regular’, they might not be palatable and nutritious enough for a person living with HIV/Aids. go
The injectable contraceptive that could double the risk of women contracting HIV
From www.monitor.co.ug
A popularly contraceptive could double the risk of contracting HIV among users as well as increase chances of transmitting it to their partners. According to a report in The Lancet, a study in seven sub Saharan African countries indicated a higher infection rate among women using the hormonal contraceptive administered by injection every three months. go
Elderly need services on HIV and Aids
From www.monitor.co.ug
Elderly persons living with HIV and Aids have been left out when it comes to programmes that address the issues concerning the disease and yet many of these people are still sexually active. go
The long way home: HIV testing and late presentation
Much of this year’s European AIDS Conference (Belgrade, Serbia, 12 – 15 October 2011) has been a heady mix of hardcore treatment science and treatment advocacy. This is perhaps best demonstrated by the prominent role played by the European AIDS … more
Stockouts: a major threat to HIV treatment in Europe
KC Ian Hodgson reports from last week’s European AIDS Conference (12 - 15 October, 2011) on the growing problem of antiretroviral stockouts. more
Alcohol and risky sex: breaking the link
From www.aidstar-one.com
According to the World Health Organization, alcohol use is the world’s third largest risk factor for disease and disability. Only child malnutrition and unprotected sex are responsible for more ill health globally. Alcohol contributes to a wide range of health harms, including injury, liver disease and cancer. But only recently has alcohol’s role in the transmission of HIV begun to be recognized and measured, and interventions developed to address it. go
In the absence of antiretrovirals, people living with HIV opt for herbs
In the absence of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, people living with HIV in Uganda are seeking other ways to delay the onset of AIDS or to treat opportunistic infections, a trend that is worrying health campaigners. more
German Ambassador calls for joint efforts to tackle HIV in Uganda
The German Ambassador Duexmann Dietclaws has called for joint efforts in the fight against HIV and Aids if lives are to be saved in Uganda. more
Treatment as prevention: the role of communities
KC Ian Hodgson, reporting from the 2011 European AIDS Conference in Belgrade, discusses the involvement of communities in biomedical prevention trials. more
Bill Gates India scheme ‘spared 100,000 from HIV’
From www.bbc.co.uk
About 100,000 people in India may have escaped HIV infection over five years because of a scheme funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a study by the Lancet suggests. The Avahan project was launched in 2003 in six states which had the highest rate of HIV in India at the time.
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NGO embarks on HIV awareness campaign in villages
The Lutheran World Federation, an international nongovernmental organization based in the eastern Uganda District of Katakwi, has embarked on a massive grass root campaign to sensitize communities on HIV. more
Clergy get cars for HIV fight
From www.monitor.co.ug
The Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) has donated six new double cabin pick-up trucks to religious denominations, to enable them implement the second phase of the HIV/Aids programme amongst their flock go