Researchers Secure $16 Million NIH Grant to Investigate Impact of HIV/AIDS on Women

The National Institutes of Health awarded $16 million that would allow Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Montefiore Medical Center researchers to continue work on the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), established in 1993. WIHS is a “multi-center, prospective, observational study” of HIV-infected women and women at high risk for HIV infection.

Chief aims of WIHS research include identifying natural immune factors in the female genital tract that protect against HIV, learning how HIV transfers from person to person on the cellular level, and discovering factors that predict successful HIV treatment. Another goal of WIHS research is to explore whether epigenetic changes that took place in the HIV provirus could present an opportunity to cure the virus.

According to Principal Investigator Dr. Kathy Anastos, understanding the long-term effects of HIV infection and treatment and identifying factors that predict a good response to treatment are essential since antiretroviral therapies had transformed HIV into a chronic condition for millions of HIV-infected people around the world. Anastos’s team recruited 800 of the 3,800 WIHS study participants and assembled a biorepository of more than 400,000 samples from participants. Some WIHS participants have seen Anastos for checkups every six months for 19 years.

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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Namibia Forced to Roll Back Free Condom Programme

According to a government report released July 30, the Namibian government has had to reduce its free condom supply due to a slowdown in donor funding. The government expects this move will impact the country’s fight against STDs.

The Ministry of Health and Social Services study demonstrated that the distribution of free condoms in Namibia fell from 25 million five years ago to 15 million throughout 2011–2012. Although the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria—one of the country’s primary donors—has reduced funding for the condoms, the ministry said that condom distribution already was “on a downward spiral.”

While international organizations have praised Namibia for its fight against TB and AIDS, the country currently is fighting an increasing rate of teenage pregnancies.

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.

TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!

Sex Education Program That Teaches Financial Consequences Wins Award

The “Parenting: It’s a Life” program, a sex education program used by many Iowa middle and high schools, will receive a 2013 Excellence in Program Awareness award on August 5 from the Virginia-based National Child Support Enforcement Association (NCSEA). Iowa State University’s Department of Human Development and Family Studies Department, the Iowa Department of Human Services Child Support Recovery Unit, and the Iowa Attorney General’s Office collaborated to develop the program.

Whereas traditional sex education classes addresses reproductive biology, contraception, and STDs, “Parenting: It’s a Life” focuses on the financial realities of teen pregnancy. Program Coordinator Kate Goudy-Haht explained that most teens did not realize that 40 percent of teen parents and their children lived in poverty or that raising a child through the age of 18 could cost more than $100,000.

Goudy-Haht stated the NCSEA award recognized the program’s strong partnerships with state agencies and Facebook and Web site outreach efforts with students and teachers. The program also created a monthly e-newsletter—sent mostly to family consumer science teachers, counselors, and health teachers—and distributes an informational poster to all Iowa middle and high schools.

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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Bacterial Vaginosis Is Associated with Higher Risk of Female-to-Male Transmission of HIV

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is an imbalance of naturally occurring vaginal micro-organisms caused by a decrease in normal helpful bacteria and an increase in harmful bacteria. BV increases women’s risks of acquiring HIV and other STDs as well as experiencing pre-term delivery. Also, HIV-infected women with BV might have higher levels and greater shedding of HIV from the cervix and vagina.

Craig R. Cohen, MD, MPH, professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues investigated the association between BV and HIV transmission in a study of 2,236 HIV-infected women from seven African countries and their uninfected male partners. The researchers controlled for sociodemographic factors, sexual behavior, male circumcision, sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy, and level of HIV in the blood of the HIV-infected women.

Results showed that risk of female-to-male HIV transmission was three times higher for HIV-infected women with BV than for HIV-infected women without BV. Researchers could not account for the result. The researchers acknowledged the need for more research to improve BV diagnosis, and treatment to improve women’s health and decrease HIV transmission, especially in areas such as sub-Saharan Africa, which has both the world’s highest HIV burden and a high BV incidence.

The full report, “Bacterial Vaginosis Associated with Increased Risk of Female-to-Male HIV-1 Transmission: A Prospective Cohort Analysis among African Couples,” was published in the journal PLoS Medicine (2012; 9(6): e1001251. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001251).

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.

TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!

Professors Explore End-of-Life Needs for HIV/AIDS Patients in Appalachian Region

A new two-year study, funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Nursing Research, will examine what services are lacking for residents of the Appalachian regions of Tennessee and Alabama who are dying from HIV/AIDS. According to Sadie Hutson, the project’s principal investigator, “End-of-life planning and care are especially critical in high-prevalence areas of the United States, such as Southern Appalachia; yet very little is known about the needs or the availability of end-of-life services for those in this region.”

The research team, which includes professors from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, will conduct one-on-one interviews with patients to assess conditions that affect end-of-life needs, such as lack of health services, poverty, unemployment, geographic hardships, insurance issues, and insufficient education. “This study is one of the first to investigate the contribution of the unique Appalachian culture and beliefs about end-of-life care in an area that has historically been underserved with regard to healthcare services,” Hutson said.

The $420,000 study hopes to develop a map that will pinpoint service locations and show disparities in the quantity, quality, and access to those locations. Future health strategies then could compare what services were needed—such as hospice care, specialized healthcare, and psychological services, among others—with what already existed. “This study will set the stage for developing and testing interventions aimed at increasing accessibility, cultural appropriateness, and acceptability and utilization of services, as well as increasing provider awareness of the particular needs of the population and its subgroups,” said Hutson.

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.

TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!

Charlize Theron Pledges Help in AIDS Fight

Actress Charlize Theron has pledged her support in the campaign against AIDS during a meeting with South African President Jacob Zuma.

Theron, an ambassador for the United Nations program on AIDS, met Zuma in Pretoria on Monday to discuss the fight against AIDS in South Africa and across the continent.

The South Africa-born actress says the world has the ability to usher in ‘‘an AIDS-free generation.’’ She says that the goal can become a reality with strong leadership like that displayed by Zuma.

According to UNAIDS, South Africa has reduced the number of new HIV infections by 12 percent in the last two years. Last year, more than 8 million HIV tests were done. However, South Africa wants citizens to get tested at least once a year.

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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12,000 Kumasi HIV/AIDS Patients Dying

Early in 2012, a section of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) that served 12,000 HIV/AIDS patients in Ghana’s Ashanti region closed for renovation. Hospital authorities stated the renovations were necessary to correct structural defects that allowed TB to spread among the hospital’s patients. Before closing the HIV section, KATH officials gave HIV-infected patients a four-month supply of antiretroviral therapy (ART), but made no other provisions to continue HIV care during the construction. Although officials expected renovations to be complete in four months, construction has stopped and the HIV section remains closed. The contractors reported that KATH claimed it had no funds to pay for the work.

The international nongovernmental organization The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, & Malaria originally supplied funding for the renovation, but KATH officials claimed that Ghana’s National Tuberculosis Programme has not released the funds to the hospital. It was not clear how many HIV-infected patients have died as a result of interruptions in HIV care and treatment. Displaced KATH patients who attempted to obtain HIV medications from other clinics or hospitals faced discrimination and stigmatization. Because Ghana’s government supplied ART to HIV-infected people, obtaining ART from pharmacies was very difficult. In an attempt to assist HIV patients, KATH pharmacists have resorted to distributing ART without prescriptions on the hospital grounds.

Hospital sources stated that KATH was taking steps to release funds to the contractor so construction could recommence.

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.

TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!