Tag Archive for "HIV/AIDS"

Posts Tagged HIV/AIDS

World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day, an annual event to raise awareness about the AIDS pandemic.

Millions of people are living with AIDS, and HIV continues to spread. Check out these sobering statistics from the World Health Organization, including AIDS deaths last year:

Socioeconomic factors play a huge role in who is exposed to HIV/AIDS and who has negative health risks. While no cure exists, treatment can make it possible to live with the disease. Yet the drugs are expensive and inaccessible to many people. Only 28% of Americans infected with HIV are being treated effectively, according to the CDC. The numbers are much worse in parts of the world where more people have less access to health care – 76% ...

Today is World AIDS Day, an annual event to raise awareness about the AIDS pandemic.

Millions of people are living with AIDS, and HIV continues to spread. Check out these sobering statistics from the World Health Organization, ...

By Jos Truitt • 12 years ago

Court overturns “Prostitution Pledge”

Yesterday a federal appeals court overturned a provision of the 2003 U.S. Global Leadership Act Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria which required US groups seeking funding for international HIV/AIDS work to pledge to denounce prostitution. The suit was originally filed by Alliance for Open Society International and Pathfinder International in 2005 after they both adopted policy statement opposing prostitution in order to keep receiving funds.

The court ruled the pledge violated the First Amendment. From the AP:

“Compelling speech as a condition of receiving a government benefit cannot be squared with the First Amendment,” the majority wrote. “The right to communicate freely on such matters of public concern lies at the heart of the First Amendment.”

Further, the appeals court says ...

By Lori Adelman • 12 years ago

Microbicide Gel That Prevents HIV Could Also Increase Sexual Pleasure!

Remember that awesome microbicide gel that was found to be 39% effective in reducing HIV but was facing funding difficulties? The gel contains the drug tenofovir, an antiretroviral drug used widely in the treatment of HIV, and is designed to be used vaginally both before and after penile-vaginal penetration. HIV and women’s groups were hailing its development as a big and positive step in the fight against the epidemic.

Well, it turns out that fighting HIV isn’t the only thing this gel is proving to be good at!

From the South Africa Press Association:

“Efforts to cut the risk of women contracting HIV could have an interesting side effect — sexual pleasure. This emerged…during a previous study involving another gel ...

By Lori Adelman • 13 years ago

Nearly Every Woman Living with HIV/AIDs in Brazil has Suffered Violence

Via Akimbo, a new report issued by the non-governmental organization Gestos highlights the disturbing link between HIV/AIDS and violence against women; according to the study, 97.5% of Brazilian women with HIV have suffered some type of violence throughout their lives, with 79.2% of cases occurring before the diagnosis of HIV.

The report examines the problem of violence and its relationship to HIV and AIDS in Brazil, Uruguay, Chile and Argentina as part of a larger report entitled “Two faces of one reality: Violence against women and the feminization of HIV / AIDS.”

It is estimated that of the 630,000 people infected with HIV in Brazil, 34.9% are female. Although fewer women than men have the virus, statistics released in the latest ...

By Chloe Angyal • 13 years ago

“I love my boo”

Last night on my home, I was delighted to see this ad on the subway. It’s a part of a campaign, launched yesterday by the NYC non-profit Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC). With messages like, “we’re proud of who we are and how we love” and “safer sex is one way we show our love,” the “I Love My Boo” campaign aims to raise the visibility of black and Latino gay men, especially those in relationships, and to address the homophobia that makes gay men more vulnerable to HIV infection. The ads will be appearing in 1000 subway cars and on 150 subway platforms in NYC this month.

According to the GMHC:

This campaign educates the community ...

By Chloe Angyal • 13 years ago

“I want to tell them that it’s okay to use contraception, but the Church says no.”

At Nicholas Kristof’s blog On the Ground, Amy Ernst writes about the connection between contraception, poverty, religion, women’s rights and health in Congo. Ernst is an American, and is in Congo working for an organization called COPERMA, which helps survivors of rape and war. In this post, she warns that while Congo’s HIV/AIDS rates are relatively low, they cannot stay thus when contraception remains largely unknown and unavailable.

The quote in the title of this post is from a Congolese Catholic priest, who admitted to Ernst that despite the Church’s teachings, he understands the desperate need for contraception in Congo. But because of the Church’s teachings, when women come to him asking for guidance on how to avoid having more ...

By Lori Adelman • 13 years ago

Respecting HIV-Positive Women, Regardless of their Pregnancy Status

This week, a new report found that “virtual elimination” of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in sub-Saharan African is possible by 2015.

The report cited two main factors in achieving this exciting health milestone: “significant progress” in increasing HIV-testing among pregnant mothers in the region, and more antiretroviral drugs that are therefore being administered to HIV-positive women to prevent transmission to their children.

This is great progress, and I’m thrilled with the news that fewer and fewer children are being born into this world already infected with a lifelong virus that would threaten their health and quality of life.

In the wake of the report’s findings, I also feel it’s important to call attention to the pervasive rights violations ...

This week, a new report found that “virtual elimination” of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in sub-Saharan African is possible by 2015.

The report cited two main factors in achieving this exciting health milestone: “significant ...

By Lori Adelman • 13 years ago

Beyond “Prevention vs. Treatment”

Aids PSA Topsy from Human Music & Sound Design on Vimeo.

Check out this breathtaking PSA for the Topsy AIDS foundation. The video documents an HIV+ woman named Selinah who agreed to be filmed every day for 90 days. In the video, Selinah is shown laying in bed looking sicker and sicker, but in fact the footage is being showed in reverse, and Selinah’s condition has been actually been drastically improving after receiving ARV treatment from a nurse associated with the Topsy AIDS foundation. The video is meant to demonstrate the effect that a treatment program can have on those battling the advanced effects of HIV/AIDS. The makers of the video go on to point out that ...

Aids PSA Topsy from Human Music & Sound Design on Vimeo.

Check out this breathtaking PSA for the Topsy AIDS foundation. The video documents an HIV+ woman named Selinah who agreed to be filmed every ...