Terrence Higgins Trust with Age Concern & Help the Aged is launching a survey today to find out the needs and concerns of people living with HIV who are aged over 50.

The findings of the research, titled 50Plus, will be made available to services for both older people, and people with HIV, to help them develop appropriate support. Online and paper questionnaires will be distributed and can be filled in until January 4th, when the survey closes.

The questionnaire asks a series of questions about the participant’s life, hopes and concerns. It’s completely anonymous and there is a prize draw for two people, randomly drawn, who will each get £100 of shopping vouchers.

Lisa Power, Head of Policy at Terrence Higgins Trust said “Currently, we know we could be doing more for people over 50 with HIV, whether someone is newly diagnosed or has been living with the virus for decades. People need support in various ways and we want to ensure that service changes are based on the genuine needs of people over 50 with HIV, not on someone’s best guess. We hope to get as many people as possible filling the survey in.”

The research is funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and is being managed by MBARC (incorporting Michael Bell Associates), who have a track record of research for people with HIV, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people and people seeking asylum.

To find out more, please visit here.

If you’d like to participate, go straight here.

Source
Terrence Higgins Trust

Theratechnologies (TSX:TH) announced that results from a pooled analysis from both its Phase 3 clinical trials evaluating tesamorelin for the treatment of excess abdominal fat in HIV-infected patients with lipodystrophy were presented as a poster (Poster number: #BPD2/1) at the 12th European AIDS Conference/EACS in Cologne, Germany. This Poster will also be presented as part of a “Best Poster” discussion on Friday. In addition, as part of its disease awareness program, Theratechnologies will also sponsor a symposium entitled “Lipohypertrophy: Beyond Body Image”, which will be held tomorrow morning at the Conference.

The poster outlined pooled data from both Phase 3 clinical trials and demonstrated that treatment with 2 mg tesamorelin daily for 26 weeks resulted in:

- Significant visceral adipose tissue (”VAT”) decrease in tesamorelin-treated patients after 26 weeks of treatment (-13.1 more or less 21.1% p less than 0.001 vs. placebo);

- No clinically significant changes in limb fat (0.2 more or less 13.2%, p=0.001 vs. placebo) and in abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (”SAT”) (0.7 more or less 15.5%, p=0.08 vs. placebo);

- Significant decrease in triglycerides (-0.4 more or less 1.6 mmol/L, p less than 0.001 vs. placebo).

At Week 52, improvements in VAT and triglycerides observed at Week 26 were sustained in the group of patients who received tesamorelin over 52 weeks (-17.5 more or less 23.3% and -0.5 more or less 2.0 mmol/L, respectively, p less than 0.001 vs. baseline). Patients who were switched from tesamorelin to placebo treatment at Week 26, per the study design, regained VAT at Week 52 (0.3 more or less 26.3%, p=0.18 vs. baseline). No clinically important changes in glucose parameters were observed after treatment with tesamorelin at both Weeks 26 and 52.

The poster presented is now available on Theratechnologies’ website at http://www.theratech.com

About HIV-Associated Lipodystrophy

Several factors including the antiretroviral drug regimen and the virus itself are thought to contribute to HIV-associated lipodystrophy, which is characterized by body composition changes, dyslipidemia and glucose intolerance. The changes in body composition include excess abdominal fat accumulation. There is currently no approved treatment available for the excess abdominal fat related to HIV-associated lipodystrophy, a condition that can stigmatize patients and discourage HIV treatment adherence.

Source
Theratechnologies

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“HIV/AIDS has literally become a state of emergency in the [b]lack community and our leaders, organizations and institutions can no longer afford to remain silent,” Lisa Fager Bediako, project coordinator for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s ACT! Against AIDS Leadership Initiative, writes in the Florida Courier. She continues, “Over the past three years that I have been involved in HIV/AIDS prevention and advocacy, one thing has become apparent: the crucial need for expanded dialogue about HIV/AIDS within the [b]lack community.” Bediako writes, “In order to reach a larger audience, we need to have hard conversations, creative outreach and committed support from leadership organizations and media outlets,” concluding, “We cannot afford to ebb and flow our conversations of HIV/AIDS while this preventable disease continues to devastate our community” (Bediako, 7/10).

This information was reprinted from dailyreports.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily U.S. HIV/AIDS Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at dailyreports.kff.org.

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

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HHS this week will issue proposed regulations to remove HIV from the list of “communicable diseases of public health significance,” effectively lifting the ban on HIV-positive foreign residents from entering the country, Newsday reports (Reddy, 6/29). Last year, then-President George W. Bush signed into law a provision to remove HIV from the HHS list, the Washington Post’s blog, “44,” reports. The proposed rule has to be published in the Federal Register, and then undergo a 45-day comment period before becoming finalized (Hsu, 6/29).

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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Black women in Washington, D.C., have higher rates of AIDS and other chronic health conditions such as Washington Post reports. According to the study - which is based on CDC and federal population data - the incidence of AIDS cases for black women is 176 per 100,000, higher than that of any other group of women in the district. Lack of education, poverty, unemployment, stress, and inadequate living conditions and health care coverage contribute to black women’s poorer health, the study finds (Fears, Washington Post, 6/10).

This information was reprinted from dailyreports.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily U.S. HIV/AIDS Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at dailyreports.kff.org.

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