Clean Needles Provided to Reduce Disease in Drug Users

Syracuse-based AIDS Community Resources says its needle-exchange program, which uses a van to visit areas where drug users are known to congregate, has provided syringes for 90 people a week since January.

A $320,000 grant from the state Department of Health funds the program in response to what DOH sees as a health threat in Onondaga County. The DOH’s AIDS Institute estimates that NEPs have cut the rate of new HIV infections by 50 percent to 75 percent. ACR called a news conference on May 29 in Syracuse to promote the outreach.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Community Heads Off Planned Needle-Exchange Program

Although a nonprofit serving HIV-positive Long Islanders identified Freeport’s need for a needle-exchange program (NEP), community opposition will keep the group out of the village.

The Lindenhurst-based Long Island Minority AIDS Coalition (LIMAC) deliberated placing a van at the intersection of North Main Street and Brooklyn Avenue for drug injectors to exchange used needles for clean ones.

LIMAC Exchange Director Tina Wolf maintains the coalition targeted Freeport as an area where it could “have the most impact.” She said NEPs help halt HIV transmission by disposing of used needles, and that LIMAC refers users to treatment programs and other services. The New York health department’s Community Need Index lists Freeport’s ZIP code as one of Nassau County’s most needy, considering factors including AIDS cases, drug use, and teen pregnancy statistics.

However, residents learned of the plan and complained to LIMAC and village officials that the van would draw crime to the area. “Drug dealers are going to come because they’ve got their customers and they’ve got their needles,” said resident Pat Rowen. Other residents, like Anthony Miller, saw the benefit of the program, but agreed the matter should have come “before the board [of trustees] first.”

Village officials insisted they had not been sufficiently consulted about LIMAC’s planned Freeport presence, and they questioned the coalition’s right to station a van in a high-traffic area without a permit. Freeport Mayor Andrew Hardwick noted the coalition never approached him regarding such a permit, which he considered “a blatant sign of disrespect.”

Even though Wolf said local approval is not always necessary to set up van programs, LIMAC Executive Director Rabia Aziz said the coalition “will not go into any community that is not supportive of the service, nor should we.”

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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'Take Your Meds:' Text Messages Get Results

The first large-scale US study of its kind found that text messages were an effective way to encourage people with chronic diseases to stick to their drug regimens.

Researchers at OptumHealth - a division of UnitedHealth Group - in Eden Prairie, Minn., looked at nearly 600 participants with employer-sponsored health insurance as well as seniors enrolled in Medicare. They found a treatment adherence rate of 85 percent for patients receiving text messages, compared with 77 percent for other forms of reminders. Among patients with diabetes, adherence was 91 percent for those who got text reminders versus 82 percent for those who did not.

Text message reminders are used to help people with complex illnesses like HIV keep to their medication schedules. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, almost 70 percent of medication-related hospital admissions occur when patients do not stick to their regimens, costing $100 billion annually.

“Text messages and emerging technologies offer new opportunities to educate and engage patients so they can improve their health and ultimately rein in their health costs,” said study leader Kalee Foreman.

The study, “Impact of a Text Messaging Pilot Program on Patient Medication Adherence,” was published in Clinical Therapeutics (2012;34(5):1084-1091).

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Myanmar's Health System on Life Support

Doctors Without Borders (DWB) says that 120,000 HIV-positive Myanmar residents meet World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, but only one-third are receiving the drugs.

During the nearly half-a-century of military rule that officially ended last year, Myanmar’s governing junta spent heavily on armed forces and had one of Southeast Asia’s largest armies. But it spent just $12 per capita on public health in 2009, according to WHO. And only $1 of that amount came from the government; the rest came from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and patients. That low figure was matched only by the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo.

Now newly diagnosed HIV patients at a Yangon clinic are being told to return for treatment when they are sicker, as ARVs are being given only to those in advanced stages of illness. Medications to fight TB and malaria also are in short supply.

In response, more patients are turning to NGOs. After the junta banned them from public hospitals, NGOs ran what amounted to a parallel health service. Now they are calling for closer cooperation with the government. “We need to start thinking about a long-term health system where we can all work together,” said Peter Paul de Groote, DWB’s head of mission.

Reformist President Thein Sein said he has quadrupled the nation’s health care budget for 2012-13. Mike Toole, adviser to the 3MDG Fund, a consortium of international donors to Myanmar, said this “is a good start, but it’s coming from a very low base.” Even given “massive investment,” he said, “it would probably take at least 20 years, and possibly 30, to catch up with Thailand.”

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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WHO Agrees to Address Research on Neglected Diseases

The World Health Organization agreed Saturday to meet later this year to address inequities in research and funding for some of the developing world’s deadliest diseases. Member countries will review an expert panel’s recommendations for a binding convention addressing neglected tropical diseases, TB, and others under-represented in research.

Earlier, the WHO decision-making body - the World Health Assembly - met in Geneva and produced the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi). It asks WHO Director-General Margaret Chan to “hold an open-ended member states meeting in order to analyze the report and the feasibility of the recommendations.”

The DNDi asks governments and the private sector to increase health research funding for diseases more greatly affecting developing countries, calls for a “global binding instrument” granting developing countries access to needed drugs and technologies, and suggests member countries commit 0.01 percent of their GDP to fund the work.

Michelle Childs, policy director of Doctors Without Borders’ (DWB) access campaign, was “disappointed” there was not an immediate move toward a research and development convention; however, she noted countries’ agreement to formalize consideration of the recommendations and report to WHO by January.

DWB maintains that existing resources are cost-prohibitive and fail to meet the needs of developing countries, such as more effective treatments for drug-resistant TB, pediatric versions of HIV medicines, and vaccines not requiring refrigeration.

“At this time of financial crisis,” said DNDi spokesperson Jean-Francois Alesandrini, “strong public commitment is needed to ensure new and adapted medical tools are made available, at an affordable price to neglected patients in developing countries.”

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Ukraine's Sex Industry Bets on Euro 2012

Ukraine’s sex workers are counting on the country hosting the Euro 2012 soccer championship to bring in clients and cash. Concurrently, however, AIDS advocates are issuing stark reminders that the nation has the highest HIV infection rate in Eastern Europe.

Hundreds of thousands of fans are expected for the games, which begin June 8 in Warsaw, Poland, and end in Kiev, Ukraine’s capital. According to the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, Ukraine is home to between 52,000 and 83,000 sex workers - 11,000 in Kiev alone. Other eastern Ukraine tournament venues in Donetsk and Kharviv have some 3,000 sex workers, while Lviv is home to nearly 2,500.

UNAIDS reports upwards of 350,000 Ukrainians age 15 and over are HIV-positive. Further, a 2011 study by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance asserts that 24 percent of prostitutes in Kiev and 38 percent of those in Donetsk are HIV-positive.

One Ukrainian sex website claims Kiev prostitutes are even attempting to gain a competitive edge by studying the histories of participating nations, as well as the basics of soccer. Although Kiev prostitutes and brothels contacted by Agence France Presse said they realize the risks and use condoms, only 60 percent rule out unprotected sex. Others, as many as 22 percent according to 2010 survey data, are willing to forgo condom use for an added fee.

Fearing a rise in sex tourism related to Euro 2012, Ukrainian feminist group FEMEN is waging a campaign saying “Ukraine is not a brothel.”

European soccer’s governing body, UEFA, also has launched a campaign championing condom use. “Show HIV and AIDS the red card. The HIV virus doesn’t play fair, so you have to,” says the campaign.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Advocates Say HIV/AIDS Funding Cuts Could Set Back Progress

More than a decade of efforts to improve HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in Massachusetts could be jeopardized by funding cuts, advocates warn.

HIV-related programming in the state has been reduced by 13 percent since 2008. Gov. Deval Patrick and lawmakers in both houses have proposed flat-funding HIV/AIDS services in the next fiscal year. In addition, the federal government plans to cut by half its $9 million in grants to Massachusetts over five years, said Kevin Cranston, director of the infectious-disease bureau at the state Department of Public Health.

“We have reasons to be concerned the success we’ve seen in reducing new cases of HIV might be reversed if our prevention, care, and resources continue to be impacted,” said Cranston, noting that community-based providers already are coping with dwindling support from other sources.

The state saw new HIV infections drop by 45 percent during the last decade, from 1,179 in 2000 to 648 in 2010. HIV/AIDS-related deaths in the same period declined by a third. Cranston said those with the disease are living longer thanks to treatment advances, about two-thirds of HIV-positive state residents are older than 45.

Rebecca Haag of the AIDS Action Committee is calling on state legislators to boost funding from $32.1 million to $33.4 million this year. “Why would you not invest in a system that has demonstrated that you’re actually reducing the burden in other parts of the budget?” asked Haag, AAC’s president and CEO.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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