“Reading the letters made me realize who they were,” Madeleine Fugate, 14, tells PEOPLE

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Global solidarity and resilient HIV services

The global HIV epidemic is not over and may be accelerating during the  COVID-19 pandemic, with a devastating impact on communities and countries. In 2019, there were still 38 million people living with HIV infection. One in five people living with HIV were not aware of their infection and one in 3 people receiving HIV treatment experienced disruption to the supply of HIV treatments, testing and prevention services, especially children and adolescents. In 2019, 690 000 people died from HIV-related causes and 1.7 million people were newly infected, with nearly 2 in three (62%) of these new infections occurring among key populations and their partners.

Despite significant efforts, progress in scaling up HIV services was already stalling before the COVID-19 pandemic. Slowing progress means the world will be missing the “90-90-90” targets for 2020, which were to ensure that: 90% of people living with HIV are aware of their status; 90% of people diagnosed with HIV are receiving treatment; and 90% of all people receiving treatment have achieved viral suppression. Missing these intermediate targets will make it even more difficult o achieve the end of AIDS by 2030.

The breakdown in essential HIV services due to COVID-19 threatens lives. COVID makes it difficult and dangerous for frontline health workers to deliver continuous, high quality HIV services to everyone who needs them. Sickness and restricted movement make it difficult for people living with HIV to access services. Economic disruption caused by COVID can make HIV services unaffordable or unobtainable. And the pandemic may interfere with supply chains and service delivery. For example, as of July 2020, one third of people on HIV treatment had experienced drug stockouts or interruptions in supplies. Supply disruptions such as these are devastating; a WHO and UNAIDS modeling study showed that six-month disruption in access to HIV medicines could lead to a doubling in AIDS-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 alone.

Now is the time for us to once again make a leap in our response to work together to end COVID-19 and get back on track to end HIV by 2030. On World AIDS Day 2020, WHO is calling on global leaders and citizens to rally for “global solidarity” to overcome the challenges posed by COVID-19 on the HIV response.  WHO has chosen to focus on “Global solidarity, resilient HIV services” as the WHO theme for World AIDS Day this year.

The key actions are:

1. Renew our fight to end HIV

   The global AIDS response has slowed down: it’s time now to invest, to innovate HIV services with broader health care and the pandemic response to get back on track to end HIV by 2030. Missing the global targets for HIV for 2020 should not be a setback but a renewed call to do better.

2. Use innovative HIV services to ensure continued HIV care.

   There are many new approaches countries are adopting to ensure HIV care during the pandemic. WHO has recommended multi-month prescriptions of HIV medicines to protect the health of people on HIV treatment and to reduce the burden on overburdened health services.

3. Engage and protect our nurses, midwives and community health workers

   We urge policymakers to ensure that frontline health workers, nurses, midwives and community health workers are engaged and protected when delivering services for HIV and COVID-19. 

4. Prioritize the vulnerable – youth and key populations
   We need to ensure that children, adolescents and members of key and vulnerable populations affected by HIV do not fall through the cracks of health care disruptions during COVID-19.  Key populations include people who use drugs, men who have sex with men, sex workers, transgender people and people in prisons that are disproportionately affected by HIV. 
   

Please join us for a webinar to celebrate World AIDS Day on 1 December 2020 from 13:00 to 14:30 Geneva time (Central European Time). The event will cover global efforts to ensure global solidarity and resilient HIV services, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The speakers will include:

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, World Health Organization (WHO)

Honourable Lizzy Nkosi, Minister of Health, The Kingdom of Eswatini

Mr Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Ms Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV (UNAIDS)

Dr J.V.R. Prasada Rao, Former Secretary of Health, India and Former SG’s Envoy for AIDS in in Asia and the Pacific

Dr Ren Minghui, Assistant Director-General, Universal Health Coverage/Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases, WHO

Dr Meg Doherty, Director, Global HIV, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections Programmes, WHO

Ms Cindy Amaiza, National Coordinator, Y+ Kenya

Ms Sasha Volgina, Programme Manager, Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+)

Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman, President, International AIDS Society (IAS)

Ms Erica Burton, Senior Advisor, International Council of Nurses (ICN)

Dr Alex Schneider, Founder, Life4me+

Mr Asghar Satti, National Coordinator, Association of People Living with HIV (APLHIV), Pakistan

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New research shows that electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) can help smokers quit smoking cigarettes, according to an editorial in JAMA by Nancy Rigotti, MD, director of the Tobacco Research and Treatment Center at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Nearly a half million Americans die each year from tobacco-related diseases such as lung cancer, heart attacks, strokes and emphysema, which makes smoking the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Most smokers want to stop, and more than half try to quit each year, but only five to seven percent are able to abstain long term. Using treatments approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) increases the likelihood of success, but many smokers who use these therapies still struggle to remain tobacco free, says Rigotti, who is also a professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Rigotti sees a promising role for e-cigarettes as a new option to help smokers quit. E-cigarettes are handheld devices filled with a liquid that usually contains nicotine and flavorings. The device heats the liquid to produce an aerosol that’s inhaled, or “vaped.” The devices appeal to smokers trying to quit because they mimic the experience of smoking while providing nicotine to avoid withdrawal symptoms.

Since e-cigarettes don’t burn tobacco, users don’t inhale toxin-filled smoke, as with conventional cigarettes. While not harmless, using e-cigarettes is likely far less dangerous than continuing to smoke conventional cigarettes. Skeptics note that e-cigarettes are not approved medicine for smoking cessation. Rigotti counters that there’s an urgent need for evidence showing that e-cigarettes are safe and effective at helping smokers quit.

In October, Rigotti and several colleagues published a review of 50 studies, which included 12,430 adult smokers, that evaluated e-cigarettes as smoking-cessation aids in the prestigious Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Overall, Rigotti and her coauthors found increasing evidence that e-cigarettes containing nicotine are more effective at helping smokers quit for at least six months than nicotine-replacement therapy (such as skin patches and chewing gum), nicotine-free e-cigarettes and behavioral counseling.

Rigotti’s editorial appears in an issue of JAMA that also features a new study of e-cigarettes, which found that abstinence from smoking after three months was higher among participants using the devices than those who only received counseling. “We need more randomized trials because there is still a lot we don’t know,” says Rigotti. In particular, she calls for studies of new-generation “pod-type” e-cigarettes (the JUUL brand is one example), which deliver nicotine faster and in higher doses than the older devices studied in the JAMA article. She also calls for comparing e-cigarettes with other FDA-approved smoking cessation medications and for more research on the health effects of long-term use of e-cigarettes.

For now, FDA-approved therapies should be the first choice for patients who need to stop smoking, says Rigotti. “But what do you say to a smoker who has tried those treatments and failed? Or who isn’t willing to try them?” In that case, Rigotti believes it’s reasonable to discuss the potential benefits and harms of e-cigarettes with the patient. “In the debate about e-cigarettes,” she says, “we need to remember that there are millions of smokers who need help and could benefit.”

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The United Methodist Global AIDS Committee has announced plans for a special service to commemorate World AIDS Day on Tuesday, December 1, 2020 at 1:00 PM CT. The worship service – held virtually – will be free and available to all online at Facebook.com/UMCglobalaidsfund and umc.org/en/content/world-aids-day-2020-worship.

NASHVILLE, TENN. (PRWEB) NOVEMBER 09, 2020

The United Methodist Global AIDS Committee has announced plans for a special service to commemorate World AIDS Day on Tuesday, December 1, 2020 at 1:00 PM CT. The worship service – held virtually – will be free and available to all online at Facebook.com/UMCglobalaidsfund and umc.org/en/content/world-aids-day-2020-worship.

The theme of the service will revolve around the theme of this year’s World AIDS Day – Global Solidarity, Shared Responsibility – and will feature a message from Bishop Julius Trimble of the Indiana Episcopal Area, chair of the Global AIDS Committee, music by Jorge Lockward of the United Methodist Church of the Village (New York, NY) and a testimony William Brawner, founder / executive director of the Haven Youth Center, who is living with HIV.

The worship service was conceived and designed by the Rev. Dr. Youngsook Charlene Kang (Vice-Chair of the UMGAC) with video production by United Methodist Communications.

World AIDS Day takes place on December 1 each year. The day serves as opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV and AIDS, to show support for people living with HIV or AIDS, and to commemorate those who have died from an AIDS-related illness. Founded in 1988, World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day.

Rev. Dr. Kang states: “We as the United Methodist Global AIDS Committee are very pleased to host a World AIDS Day worship service for The United Methodist Church and ecumenical and interfaith communities.  I think it is very significant that every year on World AIDS Day we come together to build and raise awareness about HIV and AIDS and demonstrate global solidarity in response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic. In accordance with UNAIDS, the theme of this year’s World AIDS Day worship service is “Global solidarity, shared responsibility,” Indeed, we have the continued need for prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS, as well as mitigation against any stigma and discrimination.  I hope that we will be inspired and encouraged by this worship service so that we continue to work together to engage local churches and communities in HIV and AIDS education, advocacy and compassionate outreach.” 

World AIDS Day on December 1 brings together people from around the world to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS and demonstrate international solidarity in the face of the pandemic. The day is an opportunity for public and private partners to spread awareness about the status of the pandemic and encourage progress in HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care around the world. In 2020, the world’s attention has been focused by the COVID-19 pandemic on health and how pandemics affect lives and livelihoods. COVID-19 is showing once again how health is interlinked with other critical issues, such as reducing inequality, human rights, gender equality, social protection and economic growth.

For more information on The United Methodist Global AIDS Committee, please visit ttps://umgaf2014.wordpress.com and http://www.Facebook.com/UMCglobalaidsfund

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About the United Methodist Global AIDS Committee
The United Methodist Global AIDS Committee (UMGAC) provides resources and training to annual conferences and local churches, engaging them in HIV and AIDS education and advocacy. This work reduces stigma and provides greater opportunity for welcoming all people into the church. The committee, chaired by Bishop Julius Trimble, is comprised of members from the Council of Bishops, Division on Ministries with Young People, General Board of Church and Society, General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Communications and United Methodist Women.

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Perry N. Halkitis, dean of Biostatistics and Urban-Global Public Health in the Rutgers School of Public Health, will receive the Hyacinth Award from the Hyacinth Foundation, according to a press release.

The award, meant to honor those who have been advocating for people living with HIV, will be given to Halkitis at the Hyacinth Foundation’s 35th Anniversary Virtual Celebration next Saturday, according to the press release. He said he dedicates his award to the memory of five important people in his life that he lost to HIV during the first two decades of the epidemic.

“Receiving this award means the world to me,” Halkitis said. “I have been doing HIV behavioral research, education, advocacy (and) activism for almost all of my adult life.”

For three decades, Halkitis has researched the intersection between HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, drug abuse and mental health burden as well as the biological, behavioral, psychosocial and structural factors that predispose the LGBTQ population to these health disparities, among others, according to his website.

Halkitis’s work also focuses on translating this knowledge into interventions to reduce these disparities, such as delivering health care services to gay men within their communities, according to the Rutgers School of Public Health website. His work is being enacted in large urban centers in the U.S., including Newark, New Jersey.

Halkitis is the founder and director of the Center for Health, Identity, Behavior and Prevention Studies, a training site for the next generation of scholars seeking to improve the health of the LGTBQ community, according to the Rutgers School of Public Health website.

“People who are living with HIV are not just a vessel for HIV,” Halkitis said. “They are complex organisms who have complex lives, and so we have to attend to all aspects of their lives if we’re really going to help bring an end to AIDS, and also to prevent further infections.”

He said he has doubts that the U.S. can bring an end to AIDS by 2025 despite the federal administration’s efforts because medications alone are not enough, and discriminatory laws need to change due to their function in perpetuating HIV. Halkitis said he will continue to do work on HIV until the U.S. brings an end to the disease.

“I am dedicated to fighting this disease,” he said. “I am dedicated to fighting the discrimination that HIV positive people face. I am dedicated to advocating for policies that helped us to prevent the further spread of HIV. I think any good public health researcher, any strong public health researcher, has to also be an advocate and an activist because politics and public health are intimately tied to each other.”

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This World AIDS Day, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is announcing the timely theme – “AIDS: The Other Pandemic.” This new theme and corresponding logo serve as a reminder to the world that even in times of a new pandemic, HIV/AIDS remains one of the deadliest infectious diseases in history and must be kept high on the global public health agenda.

AHF welcomes everyone worldwide – organizations and individuals alike – to utilize the theme “AIDS: The Other Pandemic.” Feel free to access the high-resolution logos here!

Even though HIV/AIDS is treatable and preventable, 38 million people are still living with HIV worldwide. There are 1.7 million new infections annually, and an estimated 690,000 people still die from HIV/AIDS-related causes every year. Millions of people living with HIV/AIDS are still not accessing lifesaving treatment.

“COVID-19 has stolen the headlines and devastated communities worldwide, but we must not forget the pandemic that has been raging for more than 30 years and still affects millions of people globally,” said Terri Ford, AHF Chief of Global Advocacy and Policy. “It’s absolutely vital that world leaders also keep their attention on HIV this World AIDS Day and beyond—and campaigns like ‘AIDS: The Other Pandemic’ are just one way to urge them to keep the promise on AIDS.”

The global AIDS response still consistently falls short each year by up to $6 billion of what is needed to sufficiently fund efforts around the world – this gap will likely widen futher with the COVID-19 pandemic. Government donors must give their fair share to improve on and continue HIV prevention efforts and ensure everyone who needs it has equitable access to lifesaving care and treatment.

“Even though we have made great strides in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa and around the world, we still have a long way to go,” added Dr. Penninah Iutung, AHF’s Africa Bureau Chief. “It is simply unacceptable that people living with HIV in many parts of the world still struggle to get free or affordable testing and antiretroviral therapy. Condoms are even hard to come by in many countries, though they are the most effective way to stop HIV transmission and extremely cost effective. Whether rich or poor, everyone deserves the ability to obtain lifesaving medicines, including generic drugs, regardless of their economic standing. As there is still no HIV vaccine on the horizon, guaranteeing prevention and treatment for all is the only way we’ll bring the virus under control and eventually end this pandemic.”

On World AIDS Day 2020, AHF will be hosting a multitude of virtual and a few social-distanced live events. Be sure to be on the lookout and join us to help ensure the world never forgets “AIDS: The Other Pandemic.”

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Related Fitch Ratings Content: Introducing the Fitch Analytical Comparative Tool (FACT) D-Trend for U.S. State Demographic and Economic Analysis (Description and User Guide)

Fitch Ratings-New York-29 October 2020: Fitch Ratings has launched a new tool, D-Trend, an addition to the FACT suite of tools that is used to analyze US state demographic and economic trends. The tool can also help assess the relative impact of the coronavirus pandemic on key state indicators.

In its new report Introducing the Fitch Analytical Comparative Tool (FACT) D-Trend for U.S. State Demographic and Economic Analysis, Fitch details the functionality of D-Trend, which is separate from a credit rating, and compares relative historical performance of states across key demographic and economic indicators such as state population, aging, GDP, unemployment and household income. Results range between ‘1’ (Highly Favorable) and ‘5’ (Highly Unfavorable).

D-Trend utilizes a mix of data with different release frequencies. Data are either annual for indicators such as population and aging, which, in this version of D-Trend, represent final 2019 levels, or monthly for indicators such as employment and unemployment, which reflect recent 2020 levels, thus factoring in pandemic effects on those indicators. Subsequent releases of D-Trend will allow the user to gauge the relative impact of the pandemic, and other factors, on nine key state indicators.

Both the absolute levels and the trends in demographic and economic indicators are key to evaluating a state’s economic health. D-Trend effectively combines an evaluation of each into an overall composite measure.

The chart below illustrates the relative performance of the states for the 10 years ending 2019, providing a prepandemic baseline. For employment and unemployment, two of the factors most affected by coronavirus, the relative performance is also shown using recently available data.

A relative measure designed to track and synthesize demographic and economic trends. Select specific indicator using the drop-down menu to compare relative indicator performance over the past 10-years. Factors include population, aging, GDP, employment, unemployment rate, household income (MHI), poverty rate, home prices, educational attainment and a composite measure that combines all factors. These charts show the relative momentum (rate of improvement or deterioration) over the past 10 years. Considering a range of different horizons, and current indicator level, provides important additional context that should be considered when gauging demographic and economic health. For additional views, including shorter and longer time periods, absolute indicator level, and an overall evaluation that incorporates all of these elements, download the D-Trend Excel-based tool for US states, available on Fitch Connect. Also available is the associated descriptive report/user’s guide, which provides more detail on the D-Trend methodology, including proper interpretation of the output and limitations of the framework.

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This past week, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission that oversees and finances transit in the San Francisco/Bay Area region voted 12-1 to pass a telecommute mandate to address greenhouse gas emissions and traffic congestion. The policy mandates that employers with more than 25 employees allow 60 percent of their staff to telework on any given day if the type of work they do can be done remotely.

With the majority of jobs in the region being in tech, this means much of the workforce will be able to achieve this goal with large tech companies already moving to a permanent remote work plan post-COVID — like tech giants Facebook and Twitter. And for many companies this makes sense from a business perspective — lower overhead costs without the inflated Bay Area real estate prices and higher employee retention with the ability to work from anywhere. 

But the mayors of San Francisco and San Jose are not so happy. They are among several politicians opposed to the plan due to a drop in revenue from commuters coming to their cities on a daily basis for work. They feign concern for low-wage service workers, but it’s really that these cities’ revenue sources have come to solely rely on workers coming to their downtowns every day.

Transportation in the region accounts for 40 percent of the Bay Area’s greenhouse gas emissions, which the MTC’s Plan Bay Area attempts to curb through various initiatives like the new remote work policy, as well as improvements in transit and building affordable housing near transit. 

Pre-COVID, the Bay Area had the 3rd worst daily commute in the nation and a 62 percent higher cost of living than the rest of the country. The latest tech boom over the past decade that brought millions of new workers to the Bay Area from around the globe saw a rise in super commuters — who commute 90 minutes or more each way to work — as housing prices within Bay Area cities rose far beyond the range of anyone without a high-paying tech job. 

During the period of shelter-in-place that began in March, the Bay Area saw major reductions in air pollutants due to lack of traffic: a 16 percent drop in particulate matter and carbon monoxide, 20 percent in nitrogen dioxide, and 29 percent in black carbon.

Since the state has been struggling to stay on track to meet its goal of reducing GHGs to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, you would think this new opportunity to keep cars off the roads would be a welcome silver lining to our new way of working. 

This remote work mandate makes sense from a climate-protection standpoint. It’s a ‘low-hanging fruit’ policy that’s essentially already been implemented due to the pandemic. Most companies, including the agency I work for, seamlessly transitioned to work-from-home when the shelter-in-place began.

Of course, many are struggling with remote work now, due to the added burden of children to care for during work hours or a lack of space in crowded housing. But all these issues could be alleviated long term with an expansion of coworking spaces, truly affordable housing, and assistance for parents with young children. 

On the issue of low-wage service workers losing their jobs in downtown areas due to the lack of a daily influx of office workers, this could also be addressed through job training in other areas.  But under capitalism the market rules, and when one industry declines, it is up to those workers to find a way forward, which for most generally means a downward spiral into poverty. Under socialism, where a job would be a constitutional right, these workers would be retrained in a new field at no cost to the worker. 

With climate change unfolding and the need to shift to renewables and restore the ecosystem, on top of a chronic shortage of doctors, nurses and teachers, there should be plenty of opportunities for employment in new fields. But that’s not the role of the capitalist government. Instead the government allows corporations to determine what job opportunities exist and where. And when an industry collapses or relocates to another country, it leaves cities like Detroit in shambles without the ability to shift its economy. That could be the future of the Bay Area, where governments hedged their bets on Big Tech allowing for a mono-economy to emerge, which now may collapse as tech workers move to more affordable areas, potentially transforming downtown areas into ghost towns. 

This is why the local city leaders are protesting the new remote work mandate and throwing up their hands claiming that this new climate-friendly way of working is impossible. It is not that it isn’t achievable since the majority of companies are already proving it as a viable way forward. But the system itself, the way society is organized, is what makes it impossible. 

COVID-19 and the unprecedented wildfire season have already driven huge numbers to flee the Bay Area for safer, more affordable places to live. The writing is on the wall,  the shift to a future of remote work is already happening, regardless of protest from city leaders. Under the current system, the aftermath will surely negatively impact the already vulnerable service sector, while remote work will improve the quality of life of many others, all the while widening the class divide that is already so extreme in the Bay Area. But in the fight against climate change, shifting how we work is a step in the right direction. We just need a new system — with a socialist planned economy — that makes the shift equitable for all. 

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The European Medicines Agency has approved an injection of AIDS treatment, which sets a precedent for changing the lives of millions of people with HIV, or those known as “seropositive”.The treatment mixes two antiretrovirals, and it can be given to the patient once every month or two, instead of taking daily pills to contain the disease, the agency said in a statement.

The Foundation indicated that these two antagonists are the “first” that are found to have a “long-term” effect through injection.She stated that “patients will receive intramuscular injections once every month or two instead of daily medication pills,” according to “France Press”.

The agency’s recommendation to allow this treatment to be marketed must obtain approval from the European Commission, in order for it to be put on the market in the EU’s 27 countries.

The agency indicated that the combination of the two anti-retroviral drugs “Rilpivirin” and “Capotegravir”, which will be sold under the names of “Recampase” and “Vocabria”, helps in “preventing the ability of the virus to reproduce.”

The number of people living with AIDS in the world reached 38 million in 2019, including 2.3 million in Europe, according to the World Health Organization.This disease has no cure yet, but antiretrovirals can control virus progression and contribute to avoiding transmission.

These were the details of the news A new treatment for AIDS by injection for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new.

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IN 1985, WHEN Jesse Milan Jr. was in his late 20s, no one from his Philadelphia church attended his partner’s funeral. Not because they refused, but because Milan didn’t invite them. Doing so would have required him to say what he felt uncomfortable sharing: He loved a man who had HIV. He is a man who has HIV.

“This is never going to happen to me again,” Milan vowed to himself at the funeral, regarding the loneliness he felt because he didn’t draw close his church family at one of the most painful moments of his life.

Milan is now the president and CEO of AIDS United, an organization fighting the HIV epidemic in the U.S. He is adamant that no one in the HIV community be isolated from the love and support they need. “People living with HIV,” said Milan, “have a longing to belong. A longing to be cared for and a longing to not be silent or secret.”

A lifelong Episcopalian, Milan grew up in a congregation in the Diocese of Kansas, following the example of his mother and father in serving their spiritual home and, in times of need, allowing their siblings in Christ to serve them. Milan kept this mutuality in mind when he enrolled at Princeton University and, struggling to transition from public school and homesick for his church, joined the Episcopal Church at Princeton. It was, Milan told Sojourners, “an anchor, a port to tap into on a regular basis whenever I needed it.”

Helping communities live

FOR MANY PEOPLE today, the closest we get to understanding the impact of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s and early ’90s is through stage and screen portrayals such as Pose, Angels in America, and Rent. For others, the memories and losses of that time are vivid and unforgettable.

For instance, Jesse Peel, a gay psychiatrist and community organizer, documented in his journals the avoidance and terror of HIV that overtook his home city, Atlanta, and the nation. As many people rapidly contracted and died of the disease, doctors struggled to understand what was happening and many nurses refused to bring meals into the hospital rooms of the stricken, Peel wrote in documents he donated to a collection at Emory University. By 1994, AIDS was the leading cause of death for Americans age 25 to 44. It killed more than 350,000 people in the country between 1981 and 1995.

“I think the experience of people who are of a certain age will always be colored by our experience of the death and the dying,” said Milan. “Today, I sense that [younger] people’s commitment to HIV/AIDS work is more about the rights and the inequalities that are manifested in HIV and AIDS. They have a broad lens about where human rights need to advance, and that broad lens includes the trans community and all others.”

In the early years of the epidemic, many pastors and religious people publicly denounced and turned their backs on HIV-positive people. Others embraced those who were suffering, opening care programs and advocating for government funding. Reminding the nation’s leaders of their responsibility to the HIV community is a job that’s been done by many Christians and is a significant part of AIDS United’s history and present work.

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Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is an RNA-based infection responsible for a chronic and potentially life-threatening condition called acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS.

In humans, the virus works by infecting and destroying a type of white blood cell called a helper T cell (or T lymphocyte). This interferes with a person’s immune system, decreasing their ability to fight infection while increasing their risk of developing cancer. What’s more, the destruction of these lymphocytes can directly affect the body by causing swelling and tissue damage.

The virus itself is rather fragile and easily broken down by oxygen and sunlight, limiting its spread to direct transmission, often through invasive contact with infected fluids. This means most people who are HIV positive acquired the virus when particles directly entered their own blood stream through broken skin, such as during via sexual intercourse or contaminated medical instruments.

All in all, there are two versions of this virus, referred to as HIV-1 and HIV-2. While similar in structure and makeup, HIV-1 is behind 95 percent of cases, with HIV-2 mostly found among West African demographics.

According to the World Health Organisation, roughly 75 million individuals have been infected since the first recorded cases. Half of those have since passed away as a result, though mortality has been decreasing since 2006 thanks to improved treatments prolonging lives.

Can HIV be cured?

HIV’s fragility also makes it susceptible to high mutation rates. This means that upon infection, replicating virus particles quickly develop into a variety of strains, which the immune system struggles to keep track of.

Associated with drug use and sexuality in the early 1980s, authorities were slow to invest in research and medications. Today a variety of pharmaceuticals impede the virus’s ability to replicate and infect new cells. While there isn’t as yet a cure, antiviral pills have been found to protect the vast majority of patients and make it possible for those infected to reduce the number of viral particles in their body to the point of no detection.

Multiple recent studies have shown that in these cases, HIV transmission through sex is effectively zero, and as a result, many patients today can live long, healthy and sexually-fulfilling lives.

Where did HIV come from?

The virus and AIDS came to public attention in the 1980s, though given hindsight and examination of medical records and tissue cultures, examples of the infection have been found as far back as the 1950s.

Similarities between HIV and retroviruses found in chimpanzees suggest a jump between species occurred some time in recent history, most likely as the result of resorting to the consumption of chimps as bushmeat.

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New York/IBNS: “The struggle to beat AIDS is inseparable from the struggle for women’s rights and from the struggle against all forms of discrimination”. This is the message from Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS, on Zero Discrimination Day, which falls on Sunday March 1. The theme of this year’s Day is the fight against discrimination faced by women and girls, and the organization aims to raise awareness, mobilize action, and promote equality.

Time for change

Discrimination against women and girls occurs in many different forms, across the world. These include laws that limit women’s sexual and reproductive rights, criminalize people for their gender identity or sexual orientation, or for transmitting HIV.

UNAIDS has outlined several societal changes that need to take place, to end discrimination and help in the fight against AIDS.

These include ensuring equal participation of women in political life, uphold human rights for women, and guaranteeing them economic justice, which includes ending the ongoing gender pay gap.

Violence against women must end, and laws that protect women form violence must be put in place and respected, with policies to support and protect survivors of violence.

Health care must be available, without any stigma, discrimination or barriers, and care for women must respect their autonomy, with guaranteed sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Any age of consent for health services should be lifted, and married women should not need the permission of their spouse to access care.

UNAIDS also calls for free education for all, and an end to the large gender gap which still exists in access to education, and a response to climate change that takes into account the fact that women are disproportionately affected, and are particularly vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence during climate-related emergencies.

This is personal

Byanyima, who has lost family members to AIDS, said that it can only be beaten if the international community takes on social and economic injustices faced by women and girls, and spurs scientific innovation to help those living with the disease.

“Both my own family experience, and our collective experience at the United Nations, have highlighted the same key lesson: the struggle to beat AIDS is inseparable from the struggle for women’s rights and from the struggle against all forms of discrimination”.

AIDS is the biggest killer of women aged 15-49. For UNAIDS, gender-based violence, inequality and insecurity must end, and women and girls must have equal access to education, health and employment, if AIDS is to be beaten by 2030.

In addition, society must be transformed so that there are no second-class citizens, and everyone’s human rights are respected, said the UNAIDS chief.

“AIDS cannot be beaten while marginalized communities (such as the LGBTQI community, people who inject drugs and sex workers) live in fear of the state or of socially sanctioned violence and abuse”, said Byanyima.

The post Fighting discrimination against women is key to beating AIDS appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

“[The virus] … may have already spread to five continents (North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Australia). In this period, between 100,000 and 300,000 people could have already been infected.”

“The virus has proliferated in parts of Asia, Europe, and the Middle East in recent days, with the death toll rising in Iran, infections in South Korea passing 1,200, and the first suspected case recorded in Latin America.”

Which statement is about AIDS and which is about the coronavirus?

There’s something out there. It’s dangerous and percolating, spreading, infecting, and frightening. Health officials are scrambling to figure out the root cause of the virus, how it is transmitted, how to stop the death toll from rising, and what populations can do to protect themselves from becoming sick. Isolation of the sick is suggested, with some of the recommendations discriminatory. Who is patient zero? The U.S. government initially drags its feet, the president is dismissive of it, and experts fear that health are professionals and the administration are not prepared to deal with the consequences.

Are we talking about the onset of the AIDS epidemic or the coronavirus?

For the record, the first quote is about AIDS, the second about the coronavirus.

With AIDS, the initial reports about the spread of a mysterious disease began in the early 1980s, and it proliferated quickly, fatally, but not at first indiscriminately. Misinformation and fear were the hallmarks of its ominous arrival in the United States. People who were suspected of being sick or, more harshly, gay people who were assumed to be carrying the disease were labeled like deadly pariahs. There were calls to quarantine those who were ill. It was decimating populations with its potency. Health care workers treating the mysterious illness donned hazmat uniforms, bodysuits, and masks.

We had a president and government that were disinterested, dismissive, and disoriented. Only after repeated warnings from health officials and activists did the Johnny-come-lately administration start to pay attention and take action, and in many cases and for many victims and their partners, families, and friends, it proved to be way too little and far too late.

Does this sound familiar or eerily reminiscent?

During his “everything is great” press conference this week about how the government will address the coronavirus, Donald Trump made the situation sound as if a few people have minor cases of a cold or flu and added alarming flashes of humor.

He went on to talk about how Democrats were ruining the stock market, the primary debates, and other nonsensical nothingness that had nothing to do with the somber issue at hand. When asked to explain the paltry $2.5 billion his administration is requesting to combat any outbreak of the coronavirus, he seemed to make a joke out of the whole thing, enlisting his childish terms of “Crazy” Nancy and “Crying” Chuck, belittling them for addressing this situation thoughtfully with their request of a robust and urgent $6.5 billion.

Then on Thursday, he said the coronavirus would disappear because a miracle would happen. How do you respond to something like that? Just another joke to Trump.

That’s what the Reagan administration did when it was first questioned about AIDS — make it a gag. During a press conference with Ronald Reagan’s press secretary Larry Speakes, Lester Kinsolving, a political talk radio host in Baltimore, became the first White House correspondent to ask questions about the deadly epidemic. That was in 1982, before HIV had been identified as the cause, and Kinsolving kept asking questions until President Reagan finally acknowledged the disease in 1985, by which time 5,000 people had died. When he asked the questions, Speakes made little of the crisis but made a big deal about poking fun at the journalist, at one point joking that Kinsolving had an “abiding interest in the disease” because he was “a fairy.”

“Crazy.” “Crying.” “Fairy.” Seriously?

It seems belittling nicknames and not taking life-and-death situations earnestly are a common denominator for the Reagan and Trump administrations. And Trump’s obfuscating about the coronavirus, his unwieldy explanations, and his contradictions of his own health experts might be more dangerous than the actual disease, according to many health professionals. What also is causing jitters is putting Vice President Mike Pence in charge of managing the government’s response to the coronavirus. Trump proclaimed that Pence led some kind of miraculous (maybe that’s where Trump got “miracle” from) health care program while he was governor of Indiana.

As we all know and heard, if Pence treats the coronavirus like he did HIV, then we’re sunk. First, he’s no doctor or medical expert, so as the coronavirus “czar” (although Trump doesn’t like that word, perhaps because Russian czars weren’t as strong as Russian autocrats), he has no background leading a bunch of doctors and scientists who are trying to save lives. And now all these medical professionals, including Presidential Medal of Freedom winner Anthony Fauci, must report to him if they want to say anything in the media? Does this not sound reminiscent of how China handled communications about the disease?

Will Pence even understand what they’re communicating to him? And remember, he will then take their vital information, soften it up considerably, make sure it doesn’t “piss off the boss,” and then report back to Trump that “everything is fine.” Maybe that’s what happened Thursday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said to Pence, “Danger, warning, imminent,” and Pence took a Trump Sharpie, crossed those words out, and wrote “miracle.”

Pence apparently didn’t listen to his own health professionals in Indiana when he brazenly slashed the state’s health care budget and, because of “moral” objections, delayed a needle exchange program, allowing HIV infections to soar. Again, it was a joke to him; at least that’s what Yale epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves, who conducted the research linking the Indiana HIV outbreak to Pence’s policies, tweeted. He said the decision to name Pence the “Corona Czar” “speaks to a lack of seriousness by the White House” and that Pence “totally botched HIV outbreak in Indiana.”

The similarities are stark between Reagan’s amiable response to AIDS and Trump’s blithe reaction to the coronavirus. They both lackadaisically nodded at the impending health threat, addressed it publicly for the first time with inappropriate comments and witticisms, and originally earmarked measly sums of money that were woefully inadequate to fight off a global menace of a lethal virus.

“It’s not so much a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness,” said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the head of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC.

The same statement could have been made in the early 1980s about AIDS, and it never was. God help us this time moving forward, and let’s hope the miracle in this case is that the government can actually do something to stem the coronavirus at the start, which would be far more than it did at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.

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