It was hot, humid and sweaty and the airline had lost my luggage.  After filling out a few bureaucratic forms with a smiling Zambian face, I joined the bus of strangers – new recruits to Idasa’s Community of Practice for African communications practitioners who write about HIV/AIDS.  We were to spend two days together, at the start of a 4 year relationship.  The bus journey to the hotel was peppered with polite, get-to-know-you conversations…

Two days later, many hours of sharing stories and exploring how to build citizen action through media and communication work, we were no longer strangers.  The group sessions promoted discussion and deliberation about the role of citizens, and the role of journalists – and how these two overlapped for people in the room.  Questions shot around the room about how to wear two different hats, how to manage conflicts of interest, how to avoid being used for personal agendas, and make sure your journalistic skills are not exploited.

The discussions were thought provoking and relationships formed in a way that will encourage deeper engagement over the next four years.  The workshop included a session on how we should keep talking to each other, especially in between meetings, and for the duration of the 4 years.  Following their suggestions, a social networking hub was set up for participants to keep talking – and a googlemap was also used to plot participants work and partnerships across the continent.  See some of the interviews on video here.

- Samantha Fleming was an Idasa participant at the launch of Idasa’s Community of Practice -

Hier bin ich wieder – wie jedes Jahr. Euer AIDS-Teddy 2009.

Mein schönes weiches Fell hat dieses Jahr eine schokobraune Farbe. Ich trage ein hellbraunes Kapuzensweatshirt mit Bauchtasche aus einem weichen Teddystoff.

Natürlich ziert das Shirt wie immer eine große rote AIDS-Solidaritätsschleife, denn das ist mein Anliegen.

Ihr erhaltet mich wie immer gegen eine Spende ab 6 Euro bei Eurer AIDS-Hilfe  oder allen AIDS-Organisationen in Eurer Stadt oder in der Nähe, dort wo ihr wohnt.
Versand und weitere Infos über Aktionen auch bei www.marstoph.de .

Falls Ihr Fragen habt, können Euch die Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter dort sicher weiterhelfen. Eine Adressenliste findet Ihr auf der Seite mit den LINKS.

Wenn Ihr mehr über mich wissen wollt, dann schaut einfach mal auf meiner Webseite vorbei.

Für alle Fälle hier noch meine Email-Anschrift:

emailaidsteddy (at )mac.com

Vorig jaar hoorden 1079 inwoners van België dat ze seropositief zijn. Dat meldt het Wetenschappelijk Instituut voor Volksgezondheid. Bij de Belgen raken vooral homomannen besmet met HIV. In 2007 werden er 1057 nieuwe gevallen geteld.

Homo’s lopen vaker hiv op, De Standaard, 24.11.2009

BRUSSEL – Het aantal hiv-diagnoses bij homomannen blijft stijgen. In 2007 deed zich een stagnatie voor, maar de cijfers voor 2008 zijn minder hoopvol.

Vorig jaar kregen 1.079 mensen in ons land te horen dat ze besmet waren met hiv, het virus dat tot de ziekte aids kan leiden. Dat zijn drie nieuwe diagnoses per dag. Zo blijkt uit cijfers van het Wetenschappelijk Instituut voor Volksgezondheid, die vandaag verspreid worden.

Onrustwekkend is dat het aantal nieuwe diagnoses bij homomannen weer in stijgende lijn zit. ‘Dat is zo sinds 2001. Jaarlijks stijgt het aantal diagnoses in deze groep met 20 procent. Maar in 2007 zagen we een stagnatie en we hoopten dat die zou doorzetten. Dat blijkt nu niet het geval’, zegt Marleen Zoïle van Sensoa.

Van de 1.079 nieuwe diagnoses is maar in 763 gevallen informatie over geslacht, nationaliteit en overdrachtswijze bekend. Hiervan zijn er 363 diagnoses bij Belgen en 400 bij niet-Belgen. En onder de Belgen bevonden zich 245 mannen die besmet raakten door seksueel contact met een andere man. Dat is zeven op de tien.

Bij de niet-Belgen is er nog altijd het meest ‘overdracht’ via heteroseksuele contacten. ‘Maar ook hier is de overdracht tussen mannen in opmars’, aldus Zoïle.

Geregeld duiken horrorverhalen op over homomannen die bewust onveilig vrijen met een besmet persoon. ‘Er is zeker een kern die risico’s neemt’, zegt Marc Sergeant, bij Sensoa verantwoordelijk voor preventie bij homomannen. ‘Maar het gros is zich erg bewust van de noodzaak van veilig vrijen en doet dat ook.’

‘Alleen, hiv komt heel veel voor bij homomannen: we schatten dat 1 op de 20 besmet is. Bij hetero’s is dat maar 1 op de 20.000. Eén keer onveilig vrijen kan dus veel grotere gevolgen hebben als je homo bent.’

Sergeant merkt ook op dat homomannen zich veel vaker laten testen op hiv, en dat de preventie daar de jongste jaren op aangestuurd heeft. Dat kan ook een verklaring vormen voor de stijging.

‘Vroeg testen, en na elk onveilig contact, is erg belangrijk. Want mensen die pas besmet zijn, zijn zelf superbesmettelijk, omdat het aantal T4-cellen in hun bloed dan erg hoog is. We vermoeden dat veel besmettingen gebeuren door mensen die nog niet weten dat ze besmet zijn, en dat willen we vermijden.’

Vrijwel alle homo-horecabedrijven in Vlaanderen hebben het charter ‘Safe Sex Zone’ ondertekend, wat inhoudt dat condooms, glijmiddel en preventiebrochures er makkelijk te vinden zijn.

The following feature by writer Tina Rosenberg appeared in the Sunday New York Times magazine (about AIDS, and good luck finding many stories on that vitally important topic, by the way)…

We know that abstinence, sexual fidelity and consistent condom use all prevent the spread of H.I.V. But we do not yet know how to persuade people to act accordingly.

Then there is another way that H.I.V. infects: by injection with a hypodermic needle previously used by an infected person. Outside Africa, a huge part of the AIDS epidemic involves people who were infected this way. In Russia, 83 percent of infections in which the origin is known come from needle sharing. In Ukraine, the figure is 64 percent; Kazakhstan, 74 percent; Malaysia, 72 percent; Vietnam, 52 percent; China, 44 percent. Shared needles are also the primary transmission route for H.I.V. in parts of Asia. In the United States, needle-sharing directly accounts for more than 25 percent of AIDS cases.

Drug injectors don’t pass infection only among themselves. Through their sex partners, H.I.V. is spread into the general population. In many countries, the H.I.V. epidemic began among drug injectors. In Russia in 2000, for example, needle-sharing was directly responsible for more than 95 percent of all cases of H.I.V. infection. So virtually all those with H.I.V. in Russia can trace their infection to a shared needle not many generations back. Though it has been scorned as special treatment for a despised population, AIDS prevention for drug users is in fact crucial to preventing a wider epidemic.

Unlike with sexual transmission, there is a proven solution here: needle-exchange programs, which provide drug injectors with clean needles, usually in return for their used ones. Needle exchange is the cornerstone of an approach known as harm reduction: making drug use less deadly. Clean needles are both tool and lure, a way to introduce drug users to counseling, H.I.V. tests, AIDS treatment and rehabilitation, including access to opioid-substitution therapies like methadone.

As Rosenberg tells us, “needle exchange is AIDS prevention that works.”

However, as the Times also tells us here…

A bill working its way through Congress would lift a ban of more than 20 years on using federal money for needle exchange programs. But the bill would also ban federally financed exchanges from being within 1,000 feet of a school, park, library, college, video arcade or any place children might gather — a provision that would apply to a majority of the country’s approximately 200 exchanges.

“This 1,000-foot rule is simply instituting the ban in a different form,” said Rebecca Haag, executive director of the AIDS Action Council, an advocacy group based in Washington. “Clearly the intent of this rule is to nullify the lifting of the ban.”

Under a separate bill, all exchanges in Washington within the 1,000-foot perimeter would be barred from receiving city money as well as federal money.

And guess which utterly clueless Republican is behind this idea…

“Let’s protect these kids,” said Representative Jack Kingston, Republican of Georgia, who introduced the Washington bill. “They don’t need to be playing kickball in the playground and seeing people lined up for needle exchange.”

OWWWW!!! TEH STUPID!!!! IT BURNS US!!!!!!!

And of course, in Kingston’s Ward and June Cleaver World, the girls wear hoop skirts, the guys are all rebuilding the engine blocks on their ’57 Chevys, and they both surreptitiously rendezvous at Lookout Point at midnight to watch the submarine races.

Ugh (somehow I think that, if individuals were to come to a needle-exchange center, not necessarily each one would be highlighted by, say, ground-up glass on the blacktop of basketball courts surrounded by chain-link fences in typically urban settings, on a route traveled by school kids of course).

As noted here, President Obama proposed an increase in spending to combat AIDS (as has just about every other president in my memory, including Dubya, believe it or not, though with at least one “string” you’ll read about shortly), and Obama has also lifted the idiotic ban his predecessor placed on people with AIDS traveling to this country. However (as noted here), his FY2010 budget proposal retained the decades-old ban on federal funding for syringe exchange (though Congress passed legislation to lift the ban shortly after Obama’s budget was announced, as noted here – that body instituted the original ban in 1988, hence Kingston’s antics in trying to get it passed once more).

And as the Times Sunday article tells us…

The administration of George W. Bush made the policy more aggressive, pressuring United Nations agencies to retract their support for needle exchange and excise statements about its efficacy from their literature. (Today, U.N. agencies again recommend that needle exchange be part of H.I.V.-prevention services for drug users.)

Figures.

Rosenberg’s article also highlights the effectiveness of needle-exchange programs in Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand, among other regions. The biggest enemy to such programs, though, is the stigmatizing of needle users so manifestly on display in Kingston’s grotesquely stupid measure (as Rosenberg states, internationally financed groups can implement effective programs, but only governments can protect the rights of those populations who would stand to benefit, which, ultimately, includes all of us).

Vid lunch ringdes det från gatan och vi fick bud om att en kille var sjuk i hög feber sedan två dygn. Eftersom vi ändå skulle åt det hållet under eftermiddagen svängde vi förbi där för att skicka honom på klinik. Väl där visade det sig att det var två som var sjuka, vilket inte resulterade i något mer omvälvande än att vi skrev två namn på vår fina “remiss” och skickade dem till kliniken. Därmed var saken fixad och det jobb som återstod för vår del var att betala klinik-räkningen samt köpa ut mediciner från apoteket. Tänkte vi.

Istället blev det så att vi fick bud om att en av grabbarna remitterats vidare till sjukhus eftersom han hade relapsing fever. Så då var det bara att åka till kliniken, hämta grabben och ta honom till sjukhus.

När vi väl fått pojken inskriven och i en säng så var det första vi såg pojken som låg i sängen bredvid. Eftersom vi har en hel del erfarenhet av både gatukillar och sjukhus tog det inte många sekunder att göra bedömningen att där låg en ensam, sjuk gatukille utan att få behandling. (Det får man inte om man inte har någon anhörig som sköter det praktiska som att hämta provsvaren från lab.) Så vi skakade liv i honom och frågade alla de klassiska frågorna man frågar en gatukille och då vi hade bedömt situationen rätt så resulterade det ganska snabbt i att vi klev in på läkarexpeditionen och helt plötsligt hade två sjuka grabbar att ta hand om.

Vid grabb nummer två’s säng så stod två plastkassar på golvet. Som vi först trodde tillhörde honom men som han inte hade en aning om vem som ägde. Efter ett par timmar dök ägaren upp. En liten, avmagrad pojke med hud som såg ut som om den försökte flagna bort.

Och vi försökte verkligen stålsätta oss och inte involvera oss i någon fler. Det gick åt skogen bara efter ett par minuter.

Pojken var tretton år gammal, men i storlek som en sexåring ungefär. Inget annat än skinn och ben. Båda hans föräldrar var HIV-positiva så när han föddes blev även han HIV-positiv. Och nu är hans immunförsvar helt utslaget och han har utvecklat AIDS. Hans föräldrar är döda sedan länge och hans övriga släktingar ville inte ha något med honom att göra eftersom han är sjuk och “ändå ska dö”. Han bodde på gatan ett tag men sedan tog några vänliga själar hand om honom, så han fick bo hos dem och äta resterna som blir kvar när de har ätit (vilket visade sig innebära bröd och marmelad). Måste sköta allt själv som har med sjukdomstillståndet att göra*. Måste strida med läkarna, gå till sjukhuset själv, tala för sig.
“Finns det någon möjlighet att jag kan få någon typ av hjälp?” undrade han modigt men försiktigt med mycket trött blick.

Eftersom han inte hade kunnat äta på två dygn då han bara kräkts (det var därför han var på sjukhuset idag) och vi ändå skulle tillbaka till “vår” klinik med grabb nr 2 som blivit utskriven fastän han var väldigt sjuk och inte fått någon behandling, så bestämde vi att han skulle följa med och få ligga där över natten för att få vätska intravenöst. (Han hade redan blivit ordinerad det men för att det var fullt på sjukhuset hade de sagt att han skulle gå någon annanstans).

Så kom vi tillbaka på kliniken där vid nio på kvällen, med en liten mager pojke och en gatukille som var så sjuk att han inte kunde gå. Pojken med AIDS blev inlagd där då vi lyckades charma en till en början mycket vresig läkare som helst ville sova. Den andre pojken hade relapsing fever även han, så för hans del bar det iväg tillbaka till sjukhuset han just kom ifrån.

Klockan elva på kvällen kom vi hem till slut, tack vare att en frisk kille från gatan ställde upp som “nattsköterska” för dem på sjukhuset och ser till så att de har vad de behöver.

Vi är härdade och det krävs mycket innan vi blir känslosamma. Att se denna lilla späda dödssjuka trettonåring som är helt övergiven och lämnad åt sitt öde gjorde dock att alla våra “professionella” fasader föll.

“Det är inte direkt nån som orkar lära känna mig eftersom jag ändå ska dö snart”

*i Etiopien är ARV (HIV-bromsmediciner) subventionerade och delas därmed ut kostandsfritt.

A group of mainly doctors from Berlin visited HOPE Cape Town today and it was very good to engage with them in a discussion about the situation here in South Africa and what it means to them in Germany. I hope once again to make it very clear that the HIV problem is not a charity matter but that it is in the interest of the people living in Europe  to avoid the building up of a resistant HIV strain here in South Africa or in East Europe.
The global village does not allow anymore for a kind of separation: with poverty it still is possible, with a virus it is getting more and more difficult and the panic with which people react to certain flu’s in the last year, be it the bird flu or now the swine flu could give an indication what would happen if a real resistant heterosexual HI virus would hit Europe and the rest of the so-called first world. Not sure about the “first” then anymore. And looking at TB with the multi- and extreme resistant TB strains, we have an idea how fast it can go in this direction.

Once again it was obvious how different the situation is in Europe and in South Africa – and as with all group talks, we learned from each other. And I am sure they go back as good ambassadors for the situation here in Southern Africa while still enjoying the beauty of this fabulous continent.

A gathering with a service at a family home ended this day which also saw a lot of preparation for tomorrow and the coming days.

Vandaag is Het Roze Huis gestart met de verkoop van zelfgebreide sjaals in de Stadsfeestzaal. De accessoires maken deel uit van het project Knitting Against Aids.

Bekijk de foto’s hier.

Vanaf vandaag, tot maandag 30 november, is het Take Care Week. Die staat in het teken van de strijd tegen hiv en aids. 1 december is Wereldaidsdag.

Persbericht Sensoa: Take Care Week van start!

Vanaf vandaag is het officieel de Take Care Week. De affiches hangen overal in het holebilandschap, en hopelijk doet jouw favoriete zaak, vereniging of fuif ook mee! Koop de TAKE CARE-armband, koop een lintje, leg je klein geld in de collectebus,… Allemaal voor het Geef om Aidsfonds.  Neem zeker eens een kijkje op de kalender op www.takecareweek.be om te weten welke zaken, verenigingen en fuiven er mee doen!

Ga je deze week al shoppen in Antwerpen om je familie en vrienden te voorzien van schitterende kerstcadeau’s? Dan kan een bezoekje aan het shoppingcenter de Stadsfeestzaal, gelegen op de Meir, niet ontbreken. Daar kan je deze week (en enkel deze week!) tussen 400 originele handgemaakte sjaals snuffelen, waarvan de opbrengst integraal naar het goede doel gaat! Meer info over Knitting Against Aids vind je eveneens op www.takecareweek.be .

At 18, Rebekka Armstrong became a Playboy Playmate. It was her dream.

Three years later, her doctor told her she had HIV. Her dream started to crumble and her body physically started to break down.

Armstrong’s message to students at Towson University touched on her success with Playboy, her struggle with HIV, the empowerment she now feels after overcoming her fears and an emphasis to students on safe sex.

I’ve decided to tell this story through Armstrong’s quotes. There were so many and I feel like her words describe here experience more powerfully than my own.

Living the dream

“I felt like when people knew my Playboy status that meant I needed to rock their world.”

Confirmed diagnosis: She was HIV+

“I was 22 years old. They gave me two years to live.”

‘When [the doctor] told me that I was HIV positive, I lost it. The only thing I knew about HIV was death.’

“I was terrified of people not wanting to be around me.”

“I drank and I used drugs to self-medicate.”

Sick in hospital, wasting away. “I weighed 80 lbs.”

Spiked fevers, night sweats, cramping in abdomen, diarrhea, vomiting.

“I had eight spinal taps in four days.”

Collapsed at a club in Texas. “My pancreas is rupturing form DDI.” This was her second experimental prescription, not FDA approved.

“I decided, I’m going to take my life.”

She washed down a box full of narcotics with tequila and drove into a wall near Panga Canyon.

“I was in coma for three days. Everything hurt, black charcoal was coming out of me.”

The reality of HIV/AIDS

“This is one of the many faces of AIDS. I highly doubt you’d be walking through campus and say ‘That bitch got AIDS.”

“Every hour of every day, those aged 13-24, two of you are infected.”

“We are all human beings and we make mistakes, but we don’t have to.”

“AIDS is a tricky little bastard. It works around the drug.”

Epiphany: She wanted to make a difference

“’I’m Rebekka Armstrong and I have AIDS.’ Those are probably the most empowering word I’ve ever said.”

“I will help save the life of another woman.”

“I want to make a difference and I want to prevent kids from getting this.”

“I got a web page, started writing…visited my old high school, doing real grass root stuff.”

“I’m on a journey. This is my path so I gotta make the most of it.”

When asked who she contracted the disease from, her answer: “I infected me.”

“By putting on a funny face and laughing and putting on a good vibe, it’s saving my life.”

“As far as my future is concerned, I’m definitely going to be around for it.”

Encouraging safe sex

“I think I am more open than your grandmother to talk about sex.”

“Being that sex is an important topic in college, I want people to see the repercussions of not having safe sex.”

“It only takes one time to make a decision to have unprotected sex.”

“Take the time to protect yourself. You are worth it. One of these could have saved my life.” Holding up a condom.

Bronx, NY

Remembrance, Honor and Hope Ceremony
11AM to 3PM
Monsignor Del Valle Square at So. Blvd.  163rd St.
(alternate rain space: 953 Southern Blvd., Suite 201) _____________________________________________________________________________
Brooklyn, NY

World AIDS Day Interfaith service
(St Augustine Church, 116 6th Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn) (7pm)
Join others who are taking a spiritual and physical journey through AIDS.
There will be music by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Manhattan,
and on display will be a collection of paintings titled, “Preparation Series”.

World AIDS Day Event
Coney Island Cathedral, 2816 Mermaid Ave, in Brooklyn. Dec. 1st, 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.,
Sponsored by Amethyst Women’s Project and
National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS of NYC.
For more information contact Nicole or Eric at 718-333-2067

__________________________________________________________________________
Manhattan, NY

December 1, 2009Do You Know What Today Is? If Not………..
Find Out At These Locations!!

125th Street in front of the State OfficeBuilding on Adam Clayton Powell Blvd.
116th Street and 3rd Avenue 42nd Street 7th Avenue at TimesSquare
14th Street at Union Square Park
City Hall Park Tuesday December 1, 2009 12:00pm to 4:00pmItx02bc;s
Time To Remember….. For More Information Call(212) 828-6141
____________________________________________________________________________

OUT OF THE DARKNESS
Candlelight Vigil Begins at 6:00 pmTrinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan

164 West 100th Street – (at Amsterdam Avenue)
Candlelight Procession to Broadway UCC Church2504 Broadway (at 93rd Street)
Time of Reflection and Reading of Names of Those We Have Lost to AIDS Begins at 6:30 pm

World AIDS Day Gathering Begins at 7:00 pm
Wheelchair accessible and ASL interpreted.Refreshments served following the gathering.
For more information, call (212) 367-1016 or write to krishnas@gmhc.org

Co-Sponsors:  American Run for the End of AIDS,
Broadway United Church of Christ, Gay Men’s Health Crisis,
International AIDS Prevention Initiative, Keith Haring Foundation,
LIFEbeat:  Music Industry Fights AIDS,
Trinity Lutheran Church

To download event flyers go to
www.haevents.org

______________________________________________________________________________

City Hall Park — 24 Hour Reading of Names of those we have lost in the Struggle
For a 24-hour period beginning on December 1, 2009, activists, volunteers
and those living with HIV and AIDS will read names continually at City Hall
in lower Manhattan to memorialize loved ones, to raise awareness about the twin crises
of HIV/AIDS and homelessness, and remind the world that AIDS is not over.

Come by City Hall Park on December 1, any time day or night, to join in reading the names
of those you have lost to HIV/AIDS.
Go to www.Housingworks.org/worldaidsday for more information
and to submit a name of a loved one to memorialize.
______________________________________________________________________________

TAKE THE LEAD…. STOP AIDS – KEEP THE PROMISE
4:00 pm – 7:30 pm

National WORLD AIDS DAY event at the New York Public Library – Harlem Branch.
New York Public Library – Harlem Branch
9 West 24th Street
New York, New York 10027
To download event flyers go to
www.haevents.org

______________________________________________________________________________

“Interfaith service in commemoration of World AIDS Day (in Spanish)”
United Methodist Church of the Village, 7th Ave, corner of 13th Street in Manhattan,
5:30 pm. Sponsored by the Latino Commission on AIDS.Para información llame al 212-675-3288

______________________________________________________________________________

1 de Diciembre Dia Mundial del SIDA
La Iglesia del Village,Una Iglesia Metodista Unida Progresistal
201 W de la Calle 13 (Esquina con la 7a Ave.), New York, NY
5:30 PM Vigilia, 6:00 PM Servicio Interreligioso
______________________________________________________________________________

QUEENS, NY

“STOP AIDS, KEEP THE PROMISE:  UNIVERSAL ACCESS  HUMAN RIGHTS”
9:30 am – 5:00 pm

94-20 Guy R. Brewer Blvd.
Jamaica, NY 11451
*** Free and Confidential HIV/AIDS Testing  STD/STI will be provided by ACQC’s Education
Co-Factors Departments in Health Services Center in RM 1F01, 1st Floor ***
For directions and all information contact Robert Steptoe or Melissa Robertson
@ Queens HIV CARE Network, 718.739.2525
Or, contact Sharon Hawkins, Manager of Health Services Center,
Room 1F01, at York College – 718-262-2050

To download event flyers go to
http://nycfia.org/id34.html

A resource, resourceful stories, and a solution that lies in government hands . . .

Dziwani Knowledge Centre for Health Afya Mzuri

This is an aptly named centre at Afya Mzuri because it is an invaluable resource for anyone who needs to know more about the health issues that are critical here. That includes people living with HIV, students, doctors, researchers, government and nongovernment staffers — and journalists.

The six computers in the research room are open to members of the public who register for free and become members. Here, you will find access to countless databases and sites from which you can download reports and other information that help inform policy and the public.

In addition you can read works on health issues — including in Braille — and see informational and training videos on the three computers in the Multi-media room.

The centre even has a reading corner for children — in itself material for an enlightening story of how information affecting the duration and quality of life are made accessible to the youngest consumers of health services.

Free membership  gets you on the email list for e-bulletin, a daily email update that includes articles from daily local papers and postings from selected Internet sites. Journalists interested in covering health and looking for story leads should subscribe by writing to:

resourcecentre@afyamzuri.org.zm

The Heroines of Majengo

Masuzyo Chakwe of the Post has written a fascinating and eloquent story about apparently HIV-resistant women in the Kenya slum Majengo, a place, as she puts it that may not mean much to most people, “but to some medical researchers . . . rings with hope.”

” . . . it does not even look close to a medical haven,” she writes, “not with its lacing of rusted shacks and haphazardly arranged mud-bricked huts, its open-air makret, salons, hawkers pitching second-hand clothes and women selling sex for the equivalent of pennies . . .”

But she points out, the place has attracted attention since 1986, when some of those women, in spite of multiple exposures to the virus that leads to AIDS, were found to have remained free of HIV.

Scientists studying these women hope to find information that will help them to find a vaccine against HIV, the best hope to containing the epidemic that continues to spread faster than efforts to treat it.

It is a study that has seen setbacks, but those, too have informed scientists who are seeking information on the factors that might lead to resistance to the virus.

This exceedingly well-put together article goes beyond Majengo, though, describing efforts to identify a vaccine in Zambia, which, with a prevalence of the virus of more than 14 percent, could play an important role in solving the puzzle of this ongoing public health crisis.

HealthWriterZambia does wish the article didn’t use the word “prostitutes,” to describe women such as Hidaya, who, according to the story, supported her three children by selling sex since her huband  became sick from AIDS.

The word “prostitute” sums up these women’s identities on the basis of their circumstances, and for that reason is on this site’s Bad Word List. The headline could have used the word “heroine” to characterise women who in spite of having few resources, could provide an answer to questions that have boggled researchers for more than a quarter century.

A plague that robs orphans of their culture . . .

This moving story from Irin Plus News shows what you can do to show the rippling impact of AIDS epidemic when you think beyond the obvious and ask questions. This story identifies a neglected need among orphaned children, and another way that a public health threat takes a toll on the strength of a society.

If you are interested in solutions . . .
This New York Times article on needle-exchange programs gives a good explanation of how “harm reduction” works — and how the best effectiveness of this politically sensitive approach will lie in the hands of governments. As Zambia’s Mid-term report on the country’s AIDS strategy  — which recommends revisiting laws against homosexual sex and penalties for drug use — indicates, the importance of realistic, practical approaches is beginning to be recognized here.

I’m just returning from the Global Forum for Health Research meeting in Havana, Cuba. The theme of this year’s meeting was “Innovating for the Health of All.” As a veteran of the biotechnology industry I thought I knew something about innovation. After all, innovation has been the engine behind the emergence of biotechnology worldwide from a cottage industry in the late 1970s to a vital force for improving health care and building national wealth. But I encountered a new and puzzling use of the term innovation, in the form of “social innovation” to address global health needs.

To understand social innovation in the context of global health, I spoke with Rakgadi Mohlahlane, a senior researcher at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, whose focus is HIV medical education in Africa. She described one of the problems that she is passionate about addressing: how can one design programs for HIV therapy for residents of remote African villages? In South Africa, it is estimated that 5.2 million individuals are living with HIV among a population of 27 million people. The country has one of the world’s largest HIV treatment programs with about 5 million people taking antiretroviral (ARV) therapy, but it primarily reaches urban residents and has not penetrated into more remote, isolated settings.

Why does this problem require “social innovation?” Providing ARVs isn’t just a matter of sending pills along with instructions for use. First, the knowledge that someone is HIV-positive is profoundly transforming for the individual, for their family, and for their community contacts. And while testing is an essential first step in controlling the epidemic, it’s a step approached fearfully and is often avoided by individuals who may be HIV-positive. Infection is still a cause for social opprobrium, which is perhaps even more intense in small communities where it is difficult to find the refuge of anonymity. Second, there is an intense need for culturally appropriate medical education—on the value of knowing one’s HIV status, on the complex management of this disease, and on the appropriate precautions for both HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals. Third, implementation plans have to take into account the dearth of medical professionals who can provide oversight of patients to stay on chronic therapies or make adjustments to regimens. ARVs can have serious side effects; regimens can be complicated; and poor compliance can result in the development of drug resistance. How do you effectively support a patient in an isolated village of 600 people who must take a chronic therapy for the rest of his or her life?

Think of the challenge of developing an HIV testing and treatment program for a rural and scientifically unsophisticated community in Africa. And then multiply by the tens of neglected diseases and hundreds of different community, religious, and social contexts around the globe. And that’s how I came to understand the need for social innovation in the context of global health.

– David Cook is the Vice President of Business Development at BIO Ventures for Global Health.

 Balakrishna (30), a gay was raped by eight other homosexual men, after which he has contracted the HIV. Instead of losing hope, Balakrsihna has become a ray of hope for several other HIV positive people. He is spreading AIDS awareness and helping HIV positive people get treatment.

On February 18, 2006, at around 7.30 pm, Balakrishna was waiting for a bus at Jalahalli Cross, after visiting a friend. “An auto stopped by me and the driver and another man asked me to get in. I refused saying that I will go by bus. But they pulled me in and took me to a forest in Hesaraghatta. Three bikes too followed and there I was raped by the men. Looking at my behaviour they might have known that I was gay,” he said.

Balakrishna was raped and beaten by the eight men form 8 pm to 6 am and then thrown away. “They forced me to have oral sex and anal sex with them. When I relented they beat me and burned me with cigarette butts. They also poured liquor on me. The insult and physical torture was so much that I pray that no one goes through such a thing,” he said. At around six in the morning, the men threw him in the jungle and sped away.

“I walked to the road and managed to reach Rajmahal hospital in RMV extention, where I was admitted for one and half months. The bleeding went on for more than a month,” he said.

Three months after the incident, Balakrishna went for a HIV test, and was tested positive. “A month before the rape, I had donated blood and had undergone a HIV test too, but then I had tested negative. I was also careful to always use a condom. I am sure I got HIV from the rapists,” he said.

Though Balakrishna’s world came crashing down, he did not lose hope. “If you contarct HIV, it doesn’t mean that you have no life. Instead of brooding and locking up yourself, you have to come out and live a life. Brooding will take you to death. Instead it is better to come out and make use to the opportunities that life gives,” he said.

He had faced ridicule from people, but his family stood by him. “My neighbours ridiculed me. People in the gay community too used to go far from me. But my family stood by me and fought with the neighbours. Now they are fine and are friendly with me. In fact many come to me to clear the doubts on HIV and AIDS,” he said.

Balakrishna, who had lost his job in a cafeteria of a BPO after his employees got to know that he was gay joined Sangama, a NGO working for sexual minorities and went on to become the Executive Director of Sadhane, a NGO which works for HIV positive people. “I create awareness on AIDS, and work for HIV positive people. I take them to hospitals and see that go for check ups regularly. I also work for the HIV positive people in Bowring Hospital,” he said.

AIDS is germ warfare, a video produced by the Strecker Group proof that the AIDS virus and pandemic was actually predicted years ago by a world-famous virologist, among others. They found that top scientists writing in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization were actually requesting that AIDS-like viruses be created to study the affects on humans. In fact, the Streckers unearthed thousands of documents all supporting the man-made origin of AIDS.

Meanwhile, the US government was telling everyone that a green monkey in Africa bit some native and started AIDS. As their research continued, it became obvious from the documentation that the virus itself was not only created as requested, but actually deployed, and now threatens the existence of mankind because it does what it was designed to do: cause cancer in humans via a contagious virus. Eventually, the Streckers came to realize everything the government, the so-called AIDS experts and media were telling the public was not only misleading, but out and out lies. . . .

(We have to admit that the quality of this video is poor, but you have to realise it was taped on VHS in 1987)

Partial results of Thabo Mbeki’s beetroot response to the South African AIDS epidemic are out. Life expectancy in South Africa declined between 1990-2007 (from 62 to 50). It is expected to decline even further over the next few years. Read more about this here.

It is worth noting that the new South African administration took an about-turn from Mbeki’s bizarre AIDS policy, as was articulated by his health minister. The South African Ministry of Health has on its website an HIV and AIDS and STI strategic plan designed to tackle the HIV problem. Over 5 million South Africans, out of a total population of 49.3 million, are infected.

HIV is not to blame for the ills, figuratively or literally, of developing world health systems, and funding for AIDS programs can’t take a hit in favor of other health threats.

That’s the take-home message of a statement issued last week from 87 civil society, research and other health groups from more than two dozen groups around the world. The statement condemns the notion that donor countries should siphon funding from global HIV programs to address other health problems in resource-poor countries.

“The neglect of health systems in general, and particular health challenges such as tuberculosis and diarrhea, is not a recent phenomenon and certainly cannot be attributed to one disease that is obsessively touted as the culprit-namely, HIV,” the statement reads.

The proclamation—titled “HIV is not over-funded: Health is under-funded”—rejects the notion that other health threats can or should be addressed by pitting AIDS funding against other needs, such as child and maternal health.

“This competition is completely irrational,” Paula Akugizbwe, of the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa, said at a press conference in Cape Town last week.

“We cannot keep shuffling our scanty resources from one disease to another and expect to see lasting change,” said Akugizbwe, a key player in organizing the statement. “Health, a vital requirement for stable societies and socio-economic development, needs to be prioritized and funded appropriately. But this cannot be at the expense of HIV, which underpins so many other health challenges.”

As the statement says: “More resources for health overall are desperately needed – not only for the humanitarian and health systems benefit, but also to lessen the destabilizing impact of poor public health on socio-economic progress, particularly in low-income countries.”

It continues: “Shifting funding from HIV will not fill the yawning gaps in resources for health – this move is a cheap diversionary tactic that offers no genuine or long-lasting solutions for health systems. What is required is a shift in political will to prioritize and invest vigorously in health. Until this happens, neglect and dysfunction will continue to pervade health systems irrespective of what specific health needs we focus upon.”

 Read the full statement and see the list of endorsers by clicking below.

HIV Is Not Over-Funded Health Is Under-Funded_19 11 09

One of our greatest struggle as people living with HIV is how the media represents us. Most times we are either victims or threats. Those limited and distorted views of HIV fuel stigma and discrimination.

Because of this PozFem UK – our national positive women network- has put a lot of effort in preparing us to deal with the media. We have had several trainings that focused on public speaking, delivering key messages and engaging with the media. In one of our last meetings we talked a lot about how we could be more proactive and more visible. One of our dreams is to have a group interview in which we could tell our stories,  and also speak about of how we have developed into a group of activists. We really would like to highlight how the struggle for PLHIV to be accepted as equal and valued members of our communities, is part of a larger battle for equity, equality, and human rights.

With World AIDS Day coming on the First of December we are getting quite a few requests to be interviewed, but I have still failed to seduce a journalist in this idea of a group interview. Anyhow, I have received  some requests for individual interviews and I disseminated them among PozFem members.

Last week I put one of PozFem  coordinators, L, in contact with a female journalist – a freelancer- who initially seemed really sympathetic. I gave L our guidelines on how to carry on interviews safely and effectively and I encouraged her to go ahead with it,  but to be cautious, and really think through what she wanted to put across. On Friday she called me really distressed because the journalist had somehow convinced her to give her a picture of her and her partner and now wanted to sell the story with the picture to The Mirror! L was really distressed, she regretted having given her picture and she was sure it wasn’t her wish for that kind of tabloid to manipulate her story. She was particularly worried because  she had recently moved house as a consequence  of AIDS related hate crime, and she was really frighten of this happening again and of the consequences on her children and family. I called the journalist and somehow I managed to talk her out of it. L was really upset since she really wanted her story to be out, she was determined to challenge the myths and stereotypes around this virus,  so she was really disappointed when it proved impossible.

To win peoples minds and hearts so that they feel able to show support and solidarity to those of us who live with HIV it is crucial to engage  with the mainstream media, however this is a real challenge, because we need to also protect ourselves and those we love. What can be done? How can we do it?

Rzadko mi się zdarza recenzować naraz zarówno książkę jak i film, ale tym razem ułatwiło mi to zadanie. Po lekturze powieści Maupina byłem usatysfakcjonowany gdzieś tak na 80%. Obejrzenie koszmarnie złego, nudnego i bezsensownego filmidła z Robinem Williamsem (to ten spec od ról nauczycieli i przewodników życiowych) automatycznie poprawiło ocenę książki.

W powieści Armisteada Maupina znajdujemy dwa rdzenie. Pierwszy to fabuła – prosta, przewidywalna, nieco manieryczna, w gruncie rzeczy mało interesująca. Ot, słynny radiowiec zaczyna nocne rozmowy z 14-latkiem, który przez całe dzieciństwo był sprzedawany przez swoich rodziców pedofilom obojga płci, filmowany, zaś filmy te sprzedawano. Chłopak napisał o tym książkę. Opis brzmi drastycznie, w rzeczywistości jednak wątek jest nudny jak moje kalesony i trzeba sporej dozy silnej woli, żeby nie zacząć przerzucać kartek dalej.

Drugi rdzeń jest majstersztykiem. Opisuje bowiem linearnie historię wielkiej miłości (i równie wielkiego jej upadku) czterdziestoletniego Gabriela Noone’a do dwudziestoletniego Jessa. Patrzymy na kolejne osiem lat ich życia. Typowość układu starszy-młodszy rozbijają dwie rzeczy. Po pierwsze młodszy Jess jest nosicielem HIV i w pewnym momencie o mało co nie wyniósł się z tego świata. To dość drastycznie zmieniło jego nastawienie do życia, związku i swojej przyszłości. Gabriel Noone był jego jedyną podporą – bez względu na to, czy weźmiemy pod uwagę (bezpieczny) seks, zarabianie na życie czy też podawanie basenu podczas stadium prawie terminalnego.
Po drugie, Gabriel Noone w swoim związku z Jessem znajdywał preteksty, inspiracje i pomysły do swoich kolejnych radiowych opowieści; wysysał z niego intensywne emocje i przerabiał artystycznie. Słuchowiska przyniosły mu sławę, pieniądze i poważanie. Nie ma tu zatem jednoznacznego przepływu wyłącznie pozytywnych zdarzeń czy emocji – obaj przez ten czas wyciągali ze swojego związku coś, czego potrzebowali. A potem nagle pękło i pięćdziesięcioletni Noone probuje zrozumieć, dlaczego tak się stało.

Książka Armisteada Maupina to nie tylko opis ale i dogłębna wiwisekcja umysłu starzejącego się geja. Dowiemy się z niej, w jaki sposób zmieniają się priorytety, na czym polega niebezpieczeństwo poczucia bycia zbędnym, w jaki sposób zmienia się postrzeganie świata (a właściwie dwóch światów – hetero- i homoseksualnego). Mamy poczucie, że uczestniczymy w powstawaniu ogólnej idei na czym ma polegać sens życia po pięćdziesiątce. Ze strony Jessa zaś widzimy szybką naukę czym jest życie, na czym polegać może związek z kimś znacznie starszym od siebie; jakie są jego zalety, wady i ograniczenia.

I w tym wymiarze powieść Maupina jest wybitna. W polskiej literaturze praktycznie nie ma odpowiednika, jeśli pominiemy bełkotliwe “Milczenie” Stryjkowskiego.

A film? Otóż film skupił się na opisywanej na początku fabule, której treść można streścić w kilku zdaniach. Nie podam zakończenia, bo o ile już po kwadransie oglądania filmu znamy finał, to zepsułbym przyjemność czytania powieści. W niej bowiem, gdy wątek 14-latka staje się uzupełniający, nie przeszkadza zanadto. W scenariuszu staje się totalnym gniotem ze słabym aktorstwem (Williams gra dwiema minami, włócząc się w kufajce i czapce z kąta w kąt; dobra jest w zasadzie tylko Toni Collette, która autentycznie straszy i przeraża), zerem fabuły, brakiem jakiegokolwiek zaskoczenia i drewnianym Jessem (Bobby Cannavale), który w filmach może służyć wyłącznie jako element ozdobny, dekoracja, coś w rodzaju paprotki w kącie. Film jest autentycznie beznadziejny i co gorsza psuje do cna przyjemność i chęć przeczytania powieści Maupina. Dlatego werdykt brzmi:

1. “Nocnego słuchacza” z Robinem Williamsem absolutnie nie wolno oglądać…
2. …jak już musisz, bo czujesz, że twoje życie od tego zależy: NIE PRZED przeczytaniem książki…
3. …która jest rzeczą wartościową i wartą poznania.

Armistead Maupin ”Nocny słuchacz”, Wydawnictwo Literackie 2009

Patrick Stettner “Nocny słuchacz“, Hart Sharp Entertainment / Miramax Films

A novidade é que pela primeira vez a proposta envolve o combate simultâneo das duas doenças. “Queremos tratar o ser humano. A mulher será atendida pelo mesmo profissional e no mesmo lugar”, disse a assessora de HIV da Ops para a região, Bertha Gómez.

Trabalhando as parcerias já existentes com os países, as organizações esperam diminuir a transmissão vertical do HIV para menos de 2% e a da sífilis congênita para menos de 0,5 casos por 1000 nascidos vivos. Para chegar a esses resultados a proposta inclui melhorar o atendimento pré-natal e os sistemas de informação, além de integrar os sistemas de atenção primária

“Também são fundamentais a divulgação da imprensa e a participação comunitária”, completou o especialista em saúde da Unicef Peru, Mario Tavera,

Atualmente apenas 46% das mulheres grávidas na região são testadas para o HIV e, pouco mais da metade (54%) das que descobrem que têm o vírus faz tratamento para impedir que o filho seja infectado. O resultado: estima-se que, na América Latina e no Caribe, a cada ano 6 mil crianças tornam-se soropositivo e mais de 450 mil adquirem sífilis.

Fábio Serrato/Agência de Notícias da Aids – 21.11.2009