More than 3,000 public health, medical, and AIDS community leaders will convene in Atlanta for the 2009 National HIV Prevention Conference (August 23-26), the only major U.S. conference to focus exclusively on HIV prevention. The meeting is co-sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and more than 40 other public and private agencies dedicated to fighting HIV and AIDS in the United States. Conference participants will include U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius; director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, Jeffrey Crowley; CDC Director Thomas Frieden; and basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson.

“This conference is a reminder that HIV prevention can and does save lives,” said Kevin Fenton, M.D., conference co-chair and director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. “However, the HIV crisis in America is far from over. Too many people remain at risk, and too few people have access to proven HIV prevention programs.”

It is estimated that prevention efforts have averted more than 350,000 HIV infections in the United States to date, and saved more than $125 billion in medical costs alone. Still, more than one million people in the United States are now living with HIV, and CDC’s latest estimates indicate that more than 56,000 Americans-one person every 9 ½ minutes-become infected with HIV each year. Gay and bisexual men of all races, African Americans, and Latinos are most severely affected by HIV.

Conference Sessions to Address Most Pressing Prevention Issues in the United States

More than 700 scientific studies will be presented at the conference, and plenary and other special sessions will focus on the most urgent HIV prevention issues in this country today.

Featured sessions and speakers include:

- Opening address by Earvin “Magic” Johnson (Aug. 23), chairman of The Magic Johnson Foundation, who will address the challenges of living with HIV, as well as common myths about HIV in the black community

- Plenary session (Aug. 24) and HIV/AIDS Community Discussion (Aug. 25) with Jeffrey Crowley, director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, who will discuss the Administration’s plans for developing a National HIV/AIDS Strategy

- Plenary session (Aug 24) with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and CDC Director Thomas Frieden to discuss the current Administration’s commitment to HIV prevention

- Plenary session on promising advances in HIV prevention science (Aug. 25) such as new behavioral interventions and potential biomedical approaches, including those that utilize antiretroviral treatment - both before exposure to the virus and to reduce transmissibility among those already infected

- Plenary session with members of Congress (Aug. 26) to discuss their perspectives on key legislative and policy issues affecting the lives of individuals living with HIV and the communities that are most deeply affected by the epidemic

Conference sessions will also examine societal factors that contribute to HIV risk and disease progression, including stigma, racism, discrimination, homophobia, poverty, homelessness, and limited access to health care.

“To make a significant impact in driving down HIV infection rates in the United States, it is essential that we address the full range of factors that place individuals at risk,” said Beverly Watts Davis, conference co-chair and senior policy advisor on substance abuse policy of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention at the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. “Societal factors such as substance abuse, mental health problems, and discrimination all contribute to the ongoing domestic HIV epidemic and must be incorporated into the nation’s HIV prevention response.”

In addition, since many populations with the highest rates of infection either do not recognize their risk or believe that HIV is no longer a serious health threat, conference sessions will address ways to combat HIV complacency, including efforts such as CDC’s recently-launched Act Against AIDS campaign - a five-year communication campaign to refocus national attention to the HIV epidemic in the United States.

Reaching the Populations at Greatest Risk

The conference will focus particular attention on the prevention needs of the hardest-hit populations - including gay and bisexual men of all races, African Americans, and Latinos. Men who have sex with men represent more than half of all new HIV infections estimated to occur in the United States each year, and are the only risk group in which new infections are increasing. There are continuing racial disparities in the U.S. HIV epidemic, with African Americans most severely and disproportionately affected, as well as ongoing disparities in infection rates among both blacks and Hispanics, compared to whites.

“As a nation, we’re at a critical crossroads in the fight against HIV,” said Richard Wolitski, Ph.D., conference co-chair and a deputy director of CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. “While existing prevention tools have had a significant impact on the epidemic, there remains an urgent need to expand the reach of proven prevention programs and to develop new prevention options. The future course of the U.S. HIV epidemic will depend on how effectively we address this challenge now.”

Source
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Although much work remains to be done, a United Nations global reporting system on HIV/AIDS has already yielded an “unequaled wealth of data” on progress toward meeting UN targets for responding to the global HIV epidemic. An update on the development of the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) global reporting system appears in a special supplement to JAIDS: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. JAIDS is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy.

The UNGASS system provides “a good indication of the overall progress in the global response to HIV”-including whether the world community is on track to meet the UN’s ambitious timetable for turning the tide in the fight against HIV. Guest editors of the special supplement are Deborah Rugg, PhD, of The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Michel Carel, PhD, of Free University Brussels, and Hein Marais, an Independent Writer in Johannesburg, South Africa.

UNGASS Process a ‘Catalyst’ for Development of National HIV Monitoring Systems

The 11 articles in the supplement provide a look into the development of the UNGASS global reporting system, being implemented as part of the 2001 UNGASS Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. The UNGASS system provides a framework for biennial Country Progress Reports, which will be used to assess attainment of the UN’s Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 6: halting and reversing the HIV epidemic by 2015.

As of 2008, the UNGASS system included data from 147 countries-through the first three rounds of reporting, response rates increased from 54 to 77 percent. The reports have provided unprecedented data on patterns of HIV epidemics, behaviours related to the spread or control of HIV, and progress in implementing programmes essential to meeting the MDG 6 targets.

Several articles present preliminary analyses of data on the global response to the HIV epidemic. At this point-midway to the 2015 deadline for MDG 6-the data show “limited progress” in most areas:

- Only about 40 percent of young men and women worldwide know how to protect themselves from acquiring HIV (compared to a 2010 target of 95 percent).

- Programmes to prevent transmission of HIV from mothers to infants reach only 33 percent of those in need (target 80 percent).

- Rates of new infections in infants born to HIV-positive mothers have decreased by only 25 percent (target 50 percent)

- The 2010 goal for financial investment in AIDS responses-$10 billion-has been met. However, there are concerns about the sustainability of this response, given the global economic recession.

The UNGASS HIV monitoring system also appears to make progress toward another key goal: for countries to “achieve ownership” of the national HIV reporting process. “Countries have come to regard the UNGASS process as more than a reporting exercise at the UN General Assembly,” Dr. Rugg and her co-editors write. They believe the UNGASS system has promoted “public accountability” in confronting the HIV epidemic.

Although the establishment of a global HIV reporting and monitoring system is a major accomplishment, many complex issues remain to be addressed. The data collected so far suggest that HIV prevention and treatment programmes will need to be “dramatically scaled up” if worldwide goals are to be met. Yet, as evidenced by the papers in the JAIDS supplement, ” The reporting system has provided a catalyst for the development of national systems for monitoring and evaluating HIV programmes and for guiding more effective, efficient, and sustainable responses to the HIV epidemic,” Dr. Rugg and colleagues conclude.

About JAIDS

JAIDS: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes is the trusted, interdisciplinary resource for HIV- and AIDS-related information with a strong focus on basic science, clinical science, and epidemiology. Co-edited by the foremost leaders in clinical virology, molecular biology, and epidemiology, JAIDS publishes vital information on the advances in diagnosis and treatment of HIV infections, as well as the latest research in the development of therapeutics and vaccine approaches. This ground-breaking journal brings together rigorously peer-reviewed articles, reviews of current research, results of clinical trials, and epidemiologic reports from around the world.

Source
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

The global theme of World AIDS Day (1 December 2009) - ‘universal access and human rights’ - draws attention to the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners’ (RACGP) emphasis on the importance GPs have in providing people with HIV infection with the tools to live a healthy life.

“High quality general practice care is important for people living with HIV infection. GPs are often the first port of call for people with HIV infection and GPs have an important role in the prevention of HIV and the provision of care and support of Australians living with HIV,” said Dr Chris Mitchell, RACGP President.

“The majority of infectious diseases in the community worldwide are treated by general practitioners.

“As treatments improve for HIV infection, general practitioners around the world are more involved with disease management.

“HIV disease affects many systems of the body, requires long term monitoring and long term psychosocial support: all characteristics of conditions ideally suited to the primary care setting.

“Australian GPs have been involved in the diagnosis and management of HIV infection since the beginning of the epidemic in Australia and continue to play a leading role.

“New management challenges arise everyday as people with HIV live longer, thanks to new treatments. We are now encountering people in their 60s and 70s who have been living with HIV infection for years.

“GPs have witnessed the evolution of HIV disease from life threatening infection to a chronic disease that can and should be managed in a primary care setting.

“We’re here for the long haul and we will continue to help prevent and diagnose HIV infection and support all of our community members living and affected by the HIV epidemic, which is all of us,” said Dr Mitchell.

Source
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners

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Post Of Zambia Examines Toll Of HIV/AIDS On Country

The Post of Zambia examines the findings of a recent report revealing “the devastating effects” the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Zambia is having on the country’s ability to meet the U.N. Millennium Development Goals. The article also looks at the relationship between HIV/AIDS and nutrition, maternal health and education (Chackwe, 9/21).

Ugandan Government Works To Attract Medical Workers

The Ugandan government will soon begin centralizing the recruitment of medical workers in an effort to improve health services and reduce health worker shortages, Health Minister Stephen Mallinga announced Wednesday, the New Vision/allAfrica.com reports (Edyegu, 9/18).

Science Insider Blog Features Interview With U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator

Science magazine’s “Science Insider” blog interviewed Eric Goosby before his official swearing-in ceremony last week as the Global AIDS Coordinator and Ambassador-at-Large for the U.S. government. The interview covers several topics, including his plans for PEPFAR, targeting the demographic of the HIV epidemic and funding ideas (9/18).

Carson Speech Published By AllAfrica.com

allAfrica.com published a transcript of Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Johnnie Carson’s recent speech at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. The Obama administration “will also continue to maintain our historical focus on health issues with a particular emphasis on public health and the strengthening of African delivery systems to provide the kinds of access, treatment and prevention that remain essential for progress in most other areas,” Carson said (9/17).

AP/Washington Post Examines South African Health Care Reform Efforts

South Africa’s “governing African National Congress party wants to pass universal health insurance before President Jacob Zuma’s first term ends in five years,” and most people in the country “believe the plan will pass,” the Associated Press/Washington Post reports. The article includes quotes from a public forum addressing the country’s health care system and notes that questions remain about how reform “could be funded and whether it would fix the troubled health system in South Africa, which has an estimated 5.5 million people living with HIV - the highest total of any country” (Bryson, 9/17).

African Countries Use Text Messages To Report Local Drug Shortages

PlusNews/IRIN examines how a program launched earlier this year in Kenya, Uganda, Malawi and Zambia is helping people to use text messages to report shortages of “essential medicines to treat common diseases such as malaria, pneumonia, diarrhoea, HIV and tuberculosis” at their local clinics or hospital pharmacies. “Stock-outs often mean that poor patients, who cannot afford to travel to other health facilities or to buy drugs from the private sector, simply go without, risking serious health consequences,” the news service writes (9/17).

This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org.

© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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Uganda’s Health Ministry announced Monday it has ordered investigations into whether the deaths of 17 patients living with HIV in Northern Uganda were caused by their inability to get antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, the AP/mlive.com reports. According to Zainab Akol, manager of the ministry’s HIV/AIDS control program, the ministry is exploring “whether apart from the lack of ARVs, another disease like malaria or any epidemic could have contributed to the deaths,” according to the news service.

The article examines assertions that Uganda is exepriencing a shortage of antiretrovirals. Akol “attributed the shortage of antiretroviral drugs to a sharp increase this year in the number of AIDS patients,” after a countrywide testing campaign identified 100,000 addition HIV-positive people. “The number of HIV/AIDS patients increased yet money provided by donors to buy the drugs did not increase,” said Akol.

The article includes comments by Stephen Watiti of Uganda’s National Forum of People Living with HIV-AIDS Network, who “said his group has also received reports about the 17 HIV patients dying in northern Uganda and is investigating whether patients in other areas of the country are affected.” Watiti commented that some government health centers has stopped providing antiretrovirals to HIV-positive patients and that treatment interruption “could expose Uganda to ‘an explosion of a new HIV epidemic that is predominantly drug resistant’” (Olukya, 7/27).

This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org.

© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.