Emily JudemJuly 18, 2012 12:33

Q&A: Testing a microbicide ring for HIV prevention

A study of a new vaginal ring containing the ARV dapivirine has been launched in Africa, marking a step forward in the development of HIV protection for and under control of women.

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Women who work for the Langa Action Community AIDS Program in Langa township, Cape Town, South Africa. (Tracy Jarrett/GlobalPost)

Dr. Zeda Rosenberg (below) has been CEO of International Partnerships for Microbicides (IPM) since its founding in 2002. IPM's mission is to prevent HIV transmission by accelerating the development and availability of safe and effective microbicides for use by women in developing countries. In June, IPM announced that an efficacy and safety study of a new vaginal ring containing the ARV dapivirine was underway in Africa. Dr. Rosenberg talks to GlobalPost about the ring, the theory behind it, and why it could be an important tool to empowering women and stemming the HIV epidemic in Africa.

Q: How long will this trial last?

A: The trial will last likely a total of three years. All of the women in our studies will receive product for a total of two years with a follow-up visit after that and it will likely take up to a year to enroll.

Q: Can you explain why it is so revolutionary for women in Africa?

A: We know that women are still at very high risk of HIV infection. Historically women have borne the brunt of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. They are more susceptible to infection than men during sex. And if you combine that with all of the issues surrounding women’s lives that may make them unable to negotiate condom use or other well-established HIV prevention tools, it means that women really need something that they have under their control. So the notion of a microbicide was that women can decide that they want to protect themselves and use a product themselves, rather than trying to get their male partner to use a condom or to accept the use of a female condom.

In Tanzania, HIV at a crossroads

John DonnellyJuly 17, 2012 06:00

IRINGA, Tanzania – President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have been telling the world that an AIDS-free generation is now possible because the tools to prevent HIV infection are at hand. Upcoming trials here will put their words to the test.

Emily JudemJuly 12, 2012 17:16

GAO: Major HIV/AIDS funding program improperly monitored

A government report finds many visits to island destinations, few to states receiving most funding.

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A pharmacist pours Truvada pills back into the bottle at Jack's Pharmacy on November 23, 2010 in San Anselmo, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has failed to oversee nearly half of all grant recipients under the Ryan White CARE Act, according to a government report released Wednesday.

John DonnellyJuly 12, 2012 11:14

Q&A with WHO’s TB chief: ‘We have to be bold’

Mario Raviglione has been the director of the World Health Organization’s Stop TB Department since 2003. He spoke with John Donnelly about the progress and frustrations with detection and treatment of Tuberculosis.

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Mario Raviglione (World Health Organization/Courtesy)

WASHINGTON, DC—Mario Raviglione has been the director of the World Health Organization’s Stop TB Department since 2003. He spoke with John Donnelly about his frustrations with detecting cases of multidrug-resistant TB as well as the slowness in the use of the GeneXpert machine, which can detect drug-resistant TB in two hours, compared to two months from older tests.

Q: With the International AIDS conference approaching, what should people know about TB and HIV-TB co-infection?

A: There has been much progress in addressing HIV-TB co-infection. Still, though, we are not there yet. Some countries are offering TB services to up to 90 percent of people who are co-infected with HIV. But other countries are reaching well under 50 percent.

Katherine L. RecordJuly 11, 2012 16:43

Op-Ed: In AIDS fight, a turning point or status quo?

Why the wall between the scientific advancements in AIDS treatment and the treatment itself needs to be broken down in order to truly achieve an "AIDS-free generation."

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Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) (C) speaks at a news conference for the launch of the Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus on Capitol Hill on September 15, 2011 in Washington, DC. The bi-partisan caucus has attracted approximately 50 members. (Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

Katherine L. Record (photo below) is a Senior Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Center for Health Law & Policy Innovation.

The US is pushing its patent laws on trade partners, forcing them to adopt the most robust and longest monopoly rights in the world. The result is a move away from the World Trade Organization’s safeguards against prohibitive pricing of lifesaving drugs in low-income nations, deferring any hope of an “AIDS-free generation.”

In just two weeks, the International AIDS Society (IAS) convenes in Washington, DC, bringing HIV professionals from around the world to our nation’s capital. New developments in the field will surely spur lively meetings – from vaccines to cures to oral prophylactics. Even standard antiretroviral treatment (ART) is stirring new excitement; it alone slows the spread of HIV, allowing providers to curb transmission just by treating patients. The fight against AIDS is now at a “turning point” – science is closer than ever to transitioning HIV from a deadly to chronic disease and, for the first time, curbing the epidemic.

Yet test-tube discoveries are not immediately relevant to people living with or at risk for HIV. The real question for the IAS this summer is practical rather than academic: can scientific breakthroughs be applied in the field?

Zimbabwe: A country left behind on AIDS surges ahead

Farai Mutsaka and John DonnellyJuly 11, 2012 06:00

DUFUYA — Zimbabwe was largely left behind by the US government in the AIDS fight when it was left off the "focus country" list. Instead, Zimbabwe relies on its own well-mapped network of community health workers who fan out daily across the country to make sure the country’s AIDS patients receive care. Evidence is emerging that the model works.

Tracy JarrettJuly 10, 2012 10:59

A Daughter's Journey, Part VI: Reflection and Closure

Tracy Jarrett takes an extraordinary journey to learn about the disease that took her mother's life and forever changed her own. Here's what she learned.

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(Emily Judem/GlobalPost)

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — “Let’s hope they show up,” the doctor said, as I waited in the patient examination room at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital’s Perinatal HIV Research Unit.

It was exactly where I had been sitting 10 days earlier, the day I arrived in South Africa. I’d returned to the unit to speak with a HIV-positive mother and daughter. They were already 30 minutes late.

“Do you think they will come?” I asked the doctor.

She shook her head, with a disappointed look on her face. The pair had only agreed to speak with me if I promised not to take pictures or use their names, and now it looked like they may not speak with me at all.

Fifteen minutes later, a petite young woman walked through the door. A knit hat, which matched her periwinkle eye shadow, covered her short hair and framed her thin face.

Charlie FeinbergJuly 9, 2012 17:40

HIV/AIDS: A turning point in coverage?

Newsrooms have been bustling with discussion of HIV/AIDS this week, as the United States prepares to host the International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC.

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Blocks of The Aids Memorial Quilt are displayed in Washington, DC. (Shaun Heasley/Getty Images)

Newsrooms have been bustling with discussion of HIV/AIDS this week, as the United States prepares to host the International AIDS Conference for the first time in more than 20 years. Coverage of HIV/AIDS has swept across the country in the past few days, bringing light to a topic that the media has often kept in the dark.

Here are some recent articles.

Emily JudemJuly 5, 2012 18:02

Five interesting places to get an HIV test

You no longer have to go to a clinic or a hospital to get an HIV test. Here’s a list of five other interesting places you can go.

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A worker passes out flyers for free HIV testing outside a Walgreens pharmacy in Times Square on June 27, 2012 in New York City. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Sick of awkward small talk with your hair dresser? Bored waiting in that long line to get your license renewed? Tired of the dance floor? Take a break, and get tested.

Tracy JarrettJuly 6, 2012 06:21

A Daughter's Journey, Part V: Mothers2Mothers in Cape Town

Tracy Jarrett takes an extraordinary journey to learn about the disease that took her mother's life and forever changed her own. In Cape Town, she finds Mothers2Mothers, a program that hires HIV-positive mothers to mentor other HIV-positive mothers.

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(Emily Judem/GlobalPost)

CAPE TOWN — Maletsatsi Mbayi sat behind her desk taking notes in a log that tracks patient visits, pregnancy plans, and whether or not the patients who are expectant mothers are receiving treatment. She welcomed me with a warm smile. Her hair was braided and pinned up, her glasses slid partially down her nose, and her white uniform was perfectly ironed. Right away, Mbayi began describing her duties as a mentor mother at the Mothers2Mothers room in the Mowbray Maternity Hospital, and rattling off facts and statistics about HIV with confidence and charisma. I interrupted her. “I want to hear about you,” I told her. “I want to know your story, and how you started working for Mothers2Mothers.”