AIDS 2010 Conference Report Now Online

Read about the important developments presented during AIDS 2010 in the recently released AIDS 2010 Conference Report.

[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

Straight Talk with Dr Zeda Rosenberg, CEO of the International Partnership for Microbicides

Via PlusNews Global

There were cheers and some tears at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna in July when delegates heard the news that a clinical trial in South Africa, had found a vaginal gel containing the antiretroviral drug, tenofovir, was 39 percent effective at reducing women's risk of contracting HIV during sex.

"There were tears from many people – tears of happiness that finally there is something we can work towards - and a lot of tears of sadness for all of the women whose lives have been lost waiting for a microbicide," Dr Zeda Rosenberg recalled at a recent meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, hosted by the International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM), a non-profit organization.

IPM is involved in coordinating and funding the long process of developing effective microbicides - products that women can apply vaginally to protect themselves against HIV - and making sure they reach the women in developing countries who most need them. Rosenberg, who has been working in the field of HIV prevention research for more than two decades and is CEO of IPM, talked to IRIN/PlusNews after the meeting.

QUESTION: What do you think is the likelihood that women will use a microbicide any more consistently than men use condoms?

ANSWER: Part of the issue with condoms is that although they're highly effective, many people put a large value on skin-to-skin contact and ... in long-term relationships it just seems that condoms aren't used as often because it's a trust issue, an issue of intimacy; and also, if everyone uses a condom all the time, women can't get pregnant.

So there really does need to be a method that women can use where they and their partners don't feel it reduces intimacy, allows for conception, and is culturally acceptable.

I think microbicides need to be marketed with the message: 'Condoms should be used', because you don't want a less effective microbicide replacing highly effective condoms. At some point there will be all of these partially effective methods that, when used together, will be highly effective.

Adherence was a challenge in the [South African] trial - those women who reported greater adherence had greater efficacy. [The investigators] also saw a drop-off in product use over the course of the study, which means you need something that's sustainable in the long term.

For more click here.

BE HEARD! - Presentations Now Available from AIDS 2010 Event

Condoms Aren’t Enough! 
Will Pills and Lubes Define the Future Of Sex? 
Click 'n Learn right here!

More than 100 of the world's top experts on human rights and HIV among sexual minorities led presentations and workshops in Vienna on July 17 at BE HEARD, an all-day conference event that addressed soaring global rates of HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM). The event preceded the launch of AIDS 2010, the XVIII International AIDS Conference (IAC) and had nearly 600 participants.

IRMA was an event sponsor and Steering Committee members Ian McGowan, Jorge Sanchez, Roger Tatoud and Jim Pickett led a 2-hour session with other top researchers including Drs.Gaudensia  Mutua, Jorge Saavedra and Patrick Wilson called "Condoms Aren’t Enough! Will Pills and Lubes Define the Future Of Sex? An Overview of New HIV Prevention Tools in Development."

Below are 5 of the presentations - please give each of them a click and learn. The first - directly below - begins with Dr. Mutua's talk - "Basic Concepts about AIDS Vaccine Research."

 

Hosted by the Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF), BE HEARD focused on challenges and solutions to achieving universal access to HIV-related prevention, care, treatment, and support services for sexual minority communities worldwide.

HOT - IRMA pics from AIDS 2010

IRMA at AIDS 2010

Please feel free to include your AIDS 2010 snapshots right on Picasa, or send them to rectalmicro@gmail.com and we will add them for you. We'd love to include them in our collection.

Activists Lobby for "Robin Hood" Levy

Via The Body

Now is the time to push for a micro-tax on all financial transactions to fund HIV prevention and care throughout the world, activists said this week at the 18th International AIDS Conference in Vienna.

The so-called "Robin Hood" tax of 0.005 percent would generate $33 billion annually worldwide, said Khalil Elouardighi of Coalition PLUS, an assembly of HIV advocacy groups.

"It acts like an invisible micro-withdrawal. Knowing that 97 percent of transactions are of a speculative nature, there will be no consequence on the real economy," noted Philippe Douste-Blazy, UN undersecretary-general for innovative financing for development.

One challenge is to ensure that receipts from such a tax are funneled to HIV/AIDS and not diverted to other needs, said Douste-Blazy, a former French foreign minister.

Douste-Blazy also serves as chair of UNITAID, a World Health Organization enterprise dedicated to expanding treatment for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria. France and 11 other countries have implemented a UNITAID funding mechanism in which a small tax on airline tickets helps to pay for treatment of HIV-positive pregnant women.

Countries adopting a micro-tax assessment would not be immune from existing donor obligations, said Christoph Benn of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

"We are not taking away any pressure from governments to provide additional resources from their development budgets: that is a given, that is our first request, that they increase their contributions," Benn said.

Activists feel this is the right time to advocate for the tax, given the upcoming Millennium Development Goals meeting in September and a G-20 gathering in November.

Please click here for more.

AIDS2010 for Dummies: An Entertaining Review

Via My Fabulous Disease, by Mark S. King

If you require a clinical overview of AIDS2010 in Vienna, or a review of the scientific data presented, boy are you reading the wrong blog. Please check out those articles on The Body, AIDS Map, or the AIDS2010 organization itself.

I’m more of a Charles Kuralt type of correspondent. If he had been gay. And HIV positive. And umm, an addict in recovery. I think you get the idea. The goal of my video blogs from Vienna was to introduce you to the people and programs that energized the conference, and the individual stories of participants from far-flung regions of the world. Beyond the headlines, I wanted you to get a feeling for the sights, sounds, and pure energy of the event.

So here’s a day-by-day breakdown of my video blog episodes, including the stories and interviews included in each. Each synopsis begins with a link to that day’s video blog.

For more click here.

New York Times Examines Questions Left Unanswered By Microbicide Trial

Via Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report

The New York Times examines a set of questions raised by news out of the International AIDS Conference-AIDS 2010 last week that a microbicide gel containing the antiretroviral (ARV) tenofovir used by women before and after sex helped reduce their risk of HIV infection by 39 percent.

"After more than a dozen microbicide failures, [the news of the trial] was a huge relief …," the newspaper writes, before noting researchers' questions regarding the amount of testing needed before the drug could win approval from regulators, the cost of the drug for poor countries and the potential for tenofovir-resistance from using the microbicide gel.

According to the newspaper, "The price of a dose could fall below that of a condom because the applicators are just molded plastic and, without patents restrictions, 'the Chinese could make them for half a penny,' [Principal investigator Salim Abdool Karim, professor of epidemiology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and Columbia University] said." Other questions, such as how to improve drug efficacy, would be dependent on what researchers find in future clinical trials. "A complex multination trial of several methods, including microbicide, is due to end in 2013, but a rapid new one may be designed as quickly as possible. … Globally, more than a million women a year die of AIDS, so speed is important," the newspaper writes.

The article explores still more questions raised by the trial – such as the viability of the microbicide gel offering protection against HIV transmission for gay men – and includes comments by Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Kevin Fenton, director of the AIDS division of the CDC; Catherine Hankins, chief scientific adviser for UNAIDS; as well as a microbicide researcher and HIV/AIDS advocate (McNeil, 7/26).

For more click here.

Gates Lays Out Approach to Reducing Financial Impact of AIDS Epidemic

Via Medscape, by Daniel M. Keller, PhD

In a plenary speech here at AIDS 2010: XVIII International AIDS Conference, Bill Gates, cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and nonexecutive chairman of Microsoft, opened by telling the audience that in these times of constrained national budgets and investments in global health, he is still an optimist about fighting AIDS. He cited recent progress, with 5 million people now receiving antiretroviral treatment worldwide, up from fewer than half a million only 6 years ago. The rate of new HIV infections has fallen by 17% since 2001, he said.


He attributed the progress to scientists, clinicians, community workers, advocates, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. During the past 20 years, more than 2 dozen antiretroviral drugs have been developed, many of which are now being made cheaply enough to serve developing nations, and regimens have been simplified, making it easier for people to adhere to them.

For more click here. 

 

'The business of public health': new research on financing of HIV programmes

Via AIDSMap, by Rebecca Hodes

At the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, a session on the financing of HIV programmes yielded important results about the long-term costs and health impacts of continued Global Fund financing of ART. John Stover, from the Futures Group, presented the findings of a model on the future financing required for Global Fund-supported cohorts of ART patients.

Stover explained: “The Global Fund provides grant funding to 140 countries, costing a total of about $11 billion so far. A large proportion of this money is spent on ART. By the end of 2009, the Global Fund was supporting 2.5 million people on ART. This is going to increase to 3.5 million by the end of 2011.”

The key objective of Stover’s study was to answer the question: “How much funding is required to maintain support for these 2.5 million ART patients for as long as they need treatment? And what is the impact of providing this support?”

For more click here.

Final Notes From Vienna: The Magic of the Global Village, and the Destiny of Change

Via The Body, by Carole Treston

My intention on my last day in Vienna was to stop in the Global Village for an hour and then cut out and do some sightseeing. Well ... I stayed there four hours and saw a lot. It's great to go to an international AIDS conference -- the energy, the diversity, the solidarity and the possibilities and evidence for change are awesome and the Global Village embodies that. It is a large exhibit hall, adjoining the conference, where people with HIV, affected communities, NGOs, activists and health agencies interact with scientists, physicians, government and civil leaders. It is a place to learn and for many to express themselves, to interact with opinion leaders in a more comfortable space, or there are places to just chill out and catch up. It was great -- there were booths from NGOs from around the globe. (I learned it was free for non-profits -- there is no exhibitor fee -- hope that holds in the United States in 2012.) There were booths from Act-UP Paris to China Youth Network to the International Union of Sex Workers to Housing Works! There were dance performances by Youth ("stomp stomp clap clap -- HIV -- take responsibility") and art work and video showings and special sessions where plenary speakers met with small groups of people for in-depth discussions and spots where you could buy little handmade crafts (mostly from African NGOs) and a little place for tea. It went on and on. It's a space full of life and creativity and diversity.

I sat and watched a documentary The Lazarus Effect produced by HBO about patients in Zambia. First interviewed about their hopes and dreams before ARVs were available and then again when the film makers, Lance Bags and Spike Jonze returned two months later after ARVs. The changes were astounding. Not everyone survived and the stories are still heartbreaking -- but remarkable change happened. To see the video go to www.joinred.com/splash.htm.

Please click here for more.

Gay Men Don't Engage in Riskier Sex When Taking AIDS Pills, CDC Study Says

Via CDC, by Simeon Bennett
Gay and bisexual men didn’t have riskier sex or suffer serious side effects while using Gilead Sciences Inc.’s Viread in a study of whether taking pills to prevent HIV infection would loosen inhibitions or harm health.

Gay and bisexual men who took a daily pill -- either Viread or a placebo -- were no more likely to take greater sexual risks on the assumption they were protected than those who didn’t take one, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna today. The study also compared the rate of side effects between those who received Viread and those who got a placebo, and found no significant difference.

The study supports efforts to test whether drugs approved to treat AIDS patients can also be used to prevent infections in the first place. That theory, called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, was partially validated this week when a vaginal gel containing Viread was shown to reduce infections by 39 percent among women in South Africa.

Click the full study, click here.

Scientists Say A Gel Can Slow HIV Spread

Via NPR, by Ira Flatow
Scientists and policymakers are packing up their posters and PowerPoint presentations and heading home from the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria.

Today is the last day of the week-long meeting, which featured speeches from Bill Clinton and Bill Gates. Some good news was presented at the meeting. The number of people receiving drugs to treat HIV infections is up. And a promising development for controlling HIV transmission was talked about, a new gel that women can use that can help dramatically slow the spread of the virus.

Scientists also shared some new insight in how HIV infections get started and what happens in the body in just the minutes after exposure to the virus.

For audio and transcript click here.

The CAPRISA 004 by Ida Jooste (“Gabi’s Gift”)

The top news story of the Vienna 2010 AIDS conference was the encouraging results from the CAPRISA 004 study, showing that a tenofovir microbicide gel provided 39% protection against HIV.

In 2007 Gabi Nxele volunteered to be a participant in the study to test the efficacy of the gel for the prevention of HIV infection in women. This is the story of Gabi's Gift - from rural South Africa for all the women of the world.

New evidence shows better healthcare for gay men equals better HIV outcomes for general population

via Fridae.com, by Laurindo Garcia

A decline in HIV prevalence among the general population has been achieved through improvements to HIV prevention and treatment services for gay men, and other men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM). Fridae's Laurindo Garcia reports from Vienna.

This new, compelling data, was presented on Saturday in Vienna, Austria by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health and Human Rights.

Analyses from four countries - Malawi, Peru, Thailand and Ukraine – demonstrated that when HIV among MSM was properly addressed through adequate services and treatment, the broader community benefited dramatically. Statistical models from all four countries showed a downturn in general prevalence of HIV after targeted interventions addressed the specific needs of gay men and MSM.

The breakthrough announcement was made by researcher Chris Beyrer, MD in the lead-up to the start of the 2010 International AIDS Conference. Beyrer’s survey was part of an investigation into the global HIV epidemic among MSM, supported by the World Bank.

Read the rest.

“Gay Day” at AIDS2010 in Vienna - courtesy of Mark King

"My Fabulous Disease" - a delicious video blog by IRMA pal Mark King,  is posting daily from AIDS 2010, and this entry takes you to the Global Forum on MSM and HIV's ("Gay Day") pre-conference in Vienna. Workshops on aging, the role of HIV+ gay men in leadership, rectal microbicides, and interviews with advocates from around the world are included.



IRMA led a 2-hour session on new prevention technologies at this event - we will be sharing slides later. IRMA chair Jim Pickett is interviewed in this video.

World's Largest Conference on Health and Rights of Gay Men [co-sponsored by IRMA] to Address Worsening Global AIDS Crisis

Press Release

[IRMA is an event sponsor and Steering Committee members Ian McGowan, Jorge Sanchez, Roger Tatoud and Jim Pickett are leading a 2-hour session with other top researchers called "Condoms Aren’t Enough! Will Pills and Lubes Define the Future Of Sex? An Overview of New HIV Prevention Tools in Development." Thanks to IRMA, interpretation services will be available in a number of languages for select sessions.]

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe and 

US Congresswoman Barbara Lee to join 

Global Fund Executive Director Michel Kazatchkine, 

Research Experts and Activists 

in Vienna for Day-Long Event

More than 100 of the world's top experts on human rights and HIV among sexual minorities will lead presentations and workshops in Vienna on July 17 at BE HEARD, an all-day conference event to address soaring global rates of HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM). BE HEARD is the largest gathering to focus on the disproportionate impact of HIV among gay men. The event will precede the launch of AIDS 2010, the XVIII International AIDS Conference (IAC).

Hosted by the Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF), BE HEARD will focus on challenges and solutions to achieving universal access to HIV-related prevention, care, treatment, and support services for sexual minority communities worldwide. The event comes at a time when MSM in low- and middle-income countries are 19 times more likely to be infected with HIV than the general population, yet only one in five has access to the HIV prevention, care and treatment services they need.

"MSM have been at disproportionately high risk of HIV infection since the epidemic started," said George Ayala, Executive Officer of the MSMGF. "Yet our issues remain severely underrepresented at the international level. As prevalence rates among MSM are surpassing 30 percent in countries rich and poor alike, there is no time to waste. BE HEARD is one of very few dedicated venues to focus on this staggering crisis."

The day will feature work by activists from around the world, as well as plenary speeches from UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe, US Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Global Fund Executive Director Michel Kazatchkine, and AIDS-Free World Co-Director Stephen Lewis, among others. The program will highlight a wide array of the most pressing health and human rights issues facing sexual minorities today, including the criminalization of homosexuality, new biomedical approaches to HIV prevention, and the spread of HIV among men who have sex with men in low- and middle-income countries.

Click here for the program.

BE HEARD is the largest event of its kind, with over 600 attendees from more than 100 countries. The attendance of activists from low- and middle-income countries has been a high priority for the organizers, reflected by an extensive scholarship program for participants from the global south. Due in part to this scholarship program, more than 50 percent of registered attendees will be traveling to the conference from low- and middle-income countries.

The MSMGF launched the biennial event in 2004 as a "pre-conference" to the International AIDS Conference in response to concerns that MSM health and human rights issues are often ignored at local and international levels.
"We are disappointed that such neglect remains reflected in the program of this year's International AIDS Conference," Ayala said.

"Only 2 percent of all scheduled sessions specifically address the needs of MSM. BE HEARD aims to counter this invisibility and silence."

The event will run from 8:30AM to 6:00PM on Saturday, July 17, at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. A 7:30PM reception will follow at Heuriger Fuhrgassl-Huber (Ottakringer st 222-224, 1160 Wien 1160 Vienna), hosted by the Office of the Mayor of Vienna. MSMGF will also hold a 1:30PM press conference on July 20 at IAC Press Conference Room 1 that will address the current state of health and human rights of sexual minorities worldwide, including a discussion of selected findings from BE HEARD.