Wednesday, May 23, 2007 |
In this issue: |
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HIV Edmonton Welcomes SIHA Summer Student
HIV Edmonton would like to welcome Richelle Walsh, our Students International Health Association (SIHA) summer student for this year. For the months of May and August, Richelle will be facilitating workshops with SIHA's "Think Positive. Test Negative." Educational Program and working in the HIV Edmonton office. In June, Richelle is traveling to Guyana as a volunteer with Youth Challenge International, where she will volunteer as an HIV/AIDS Educator.
SIHA is a student group with a long history at the University of Alberta. It is a non-profit registered charity that offers free presentations on HIV/AIDS and STIs to high school-aged students. Trained volunteers give presentations, fundraise, and raise awareness about HIV/AIDS throughout the University campus and the community of Edmonton. SIHA also includes an international project sector where volunteers travel to Tanzania and engage in HIV/AIDS education and regional-specific issues.
If you are interested in booking a presentation from SIHA or if you are a U of A student interested in volunteering, please contact siha_localprojects@yahoo.ca. For more information about SIHA go to www.siha.ca. For more information about Youth Challenge International go to www.yci.org
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AIDS Back in Spotlight(Bill Dunphy, The Hamilton Spectator) When Hamilton police roused Johnson Aziga from the bed of his Bay Street North home on Aug. 30, 2003, it marked a rude awakening not just for the soft-voiced civil servant, but also for the young woman he'd charmed into sharing that bed six months earlier. The 32-year-old woman awoke to find police handcuffing her lover and charging him with sexually assaulting two other women. Police told her that Aziga had assaulted those women by having unprotected sex with them without telling them he was HIV-positive. In the two decades since the height of the AIDS "epidemic" in North America, the development of powerful anti-viral drugs and combination drug therapies that have greatly increased the lifespan of HIV positive people, many have lost sight of just how deadly the virus can be.>> Click Here
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Sexual Practices Shifting, San Francisco. Studies Find(The Body Pro, San Francisco Chronicle) A homegrown version of HIV prevention known as "serosorting" has increased dramatically among gay men in San Francisco, according to a newly published survey providing a snapshot of the evolving epidemic a quarter-century after it appeared. Serosorting is choosing to have unprotected anal intercourse only with partners of the same HIV status -- uninfected men having sex only with HIV-negatives, while infected men seek out only HIV-positive partners. The practice evolved in the gay community without the kind of institutional support given to programs encouraging condom use and reducing the number of sexual partners.>> Click Here
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HIV Prevention That Goes Beyond A, B and C(The Body Pro) Despite efforts to prevent the spread of HIV with the "ABC" (Abstain, Be faithful, use Condoms) approach, the pandemic rages on. Recognizing the limitations of traditional HIV prevention methods, researchers and advocates are delving deeper into the alphabet. "We will add one more 'C' for circumcision," says Gita Ramjee, Ph.D., of the South African Medical Research Council. "We will add 'D' for diaphragm, 'E' for pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis, 'F' for female controlled microbicides, 'G' for genital tract infection control, 'H' for herpes simplex virus suppression, and 'I' for immunity by vaccines." Read this article for a discussion of some innovative HIV prevention strategies.>> Click Here
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About 13M Injection Drug Users Worldwide Need Access to HIV Prevention, Treatment Services(Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report) About 13 million injection drug users worldwide are in need of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services in order to control the spread of the disease, UNAIDS said on Monday in a statement released at the 18th Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm in Warsaw, Poland, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports. Prasada Rao, UNAIDS Asia Pacific regional director, on Sunday said that injection drug use is estimated to account for about one-third of new HIV cases outside sub-Saharan Africa, but only 8% of IDUs worldwide have access to HIV prevention services (AP/International Herald Tribune, 5/14). According to UNAIDS, injection drug use is a major mode of HIV transmission in Southeast Asia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. In addition, drug use is emerging as a new source of HIV transmission in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania, UNAIDS said. According to Rao, about "10% of all new HIV infections worldwide are attributable to injection drug use. If you exclude Africa, that figure rises to 30%." In addition, access to antiretroviral therapy is "unacceptably low" among IDUs because of a "lack of information, exclusion and widespread stigma and discrimination," according to UNAIDS. >> Click Here
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Early Treatment With Three Classes of Antiretrovirals Quickly Reduces Viral Loads, Study Says(Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report) Early treatment with a combination therapy that contains three classes of antiretroviral drugs can reduce viral loads quickly -- raising the possibility that HIV can be eliminated in people with already low viral loads following aggressive treatment with new drug classes -- according to study published in the June 15 issue of the Journal of Infectious Disease, Bloomberg reports. Anthony Fauci, director of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and colleagues followed seven HIV-positive people for 3.5 to 4.5 years, measuring the number of resting CD4+ T cells in which HIV remained throughout treatment. The study found that early treatment with the three-drug combination therapy reduced the number of infected resting T cells by 50% every 4.6 months. Based on the results, the researchers estimated that 7.7 years of the combination therapy could all but eliminate HIV among people who began treatment early.>> Click Here
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Experimental HIV Vaccines Likely Will Offer Limited Immunity, Might Delay Onset of AIDS(Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report) Many of the most promising experimental HIV vaccines in development will offer only limited immunity against the virus but might delay the onset of AIDS, Anthony Fauci, director of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Margaret Johnston of NIAID write in a New England Journal of Medicine commentary, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. The commentary was published ahead of HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, which is May 18.Although the first generation of HIV vaccines likely will not prevent HIV infection, they might protect HIV-positive people's immune systems from the "worst ravages" of the disease and delay the onset of AIDS, according to AFP/Yahoo! News. The vaccines also are potential tools for public health authorities trying to contain the HIV/AIDS pandemic because vaccines can potentially reduce viral loads in HIV-positive people, therefore reducing their ability to transmit the virus to others (Daly, AFP/Yahoo! News, 5/16). >> Click Here
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Australian Prime Minister Howard Preparing Plan That Could Tighten Regulations Concerning HIV-Positive Immigrants(Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report) Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Friday said he is preparing a plan that would tighten regulations concerning HIV-positive immigrants seeking to enter the country, the West Australian reports. The plan could prevent HIV-positive people from entering Australia or track their movements throughout the country, according to the Australian (King, West Australian, 5/12). Howard last month in a radio interview said his "initial reaction is no" to a question of whether HIV-positive people should be permitted to immigrate to the country, although he said he needed "more counsel" on the issue. He said, "I think we should have the most stringent possible conditions in relation to that nationwide, and I know the health minister is concerned about that and is examining ways of tightening things up." >> Click Here
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Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS Announces Recipients of Inaugural Awards to Create HIV-Themed Programming(Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report) Montego Bay, Jamaica – The Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS (CBMP), a growing coalition of 43 Caribbean media houses from 23 countries, today announced the first group of awards to help spur new programming about HIV/AIDS. The CBMP Project Awards Program aims to underwrite the development and production of original local television and radio programming on HIV/AIDS and related issues in the Caribbean. The programming will be made available rights-free to broadcast companies across the region as part of the CBMP’s regular distribution of quarterly programming packages for its broadcast membership. The 2006 CBMP Project Awards will involve celebrities, youth, musical artists and representatives of vulnerable communities in creating innovative pieces about HIV/AIDS for radio and TV broadcast. >> Click Here
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HIV Edmonton AGMHIV Edmonton announces our ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING: June 18, 2007 at 6:30 PM in the Boardroom at HIV Edmonton Suite 300, 11456 Jasper Avenue The main entrance to our building closes at 5:30pm. To enter the building, please press 300 on the keypad to the right of the door and we will gladly let you in. Become a member of HIV Edmonton! HIV Edmonton is a community based organization that aspires to be accountable to the communities we serve. Our staff and volunteers provide resources and education promoting prevention; outreach and support to those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS; and actively fosters awareness and education around barriers like stigma and discrimination and their impact on community health and wellness. HIV Edmonton is currently involved in linking communities around HIV/AIDS and all that it impacts. Being a member of HIV Edmonton gives you an opportunity to get involved in this exciting work through volunteering, sponsoring, donating resources and voting at our Annual General Meeting. Click Here
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EDMONTON PRIDE 2007
HIV Edmonton is all about community development and recognizing those members of community whose efforts and selflessness have contributed greatly to our spirit and mosaic. It is to this end that HIV Edmonton is pleased to announce our sponsorship of the 2007 Annual Pride Awards being held at Edmonton City Hall on Friday, June 15th at 7:00 PM. HIV Edmonton is also proud to announce the creation of the HIV Edmonton Youth Leadership Award that is to be awarded at the Annual Pride Awards to a youth or person who has worked and/or volunteered with the LGBTQ youth community. The Youth Leadership Award includes a $300.00 bursery for education. For more information on Pride Week events, please click below. Please watch this page for other events HIV Edmonton will be involved in during Pride 2007. Click Here
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Drag Dinner Theatre & Dance
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