Search HIV Conference Papers

posted: 18/04/2011

The Global Forum on Men who have Sex with Men and HIV (MSMGF) have produced a useful searchable online catalogue of all the papers presented at the last International AIDS Conference, held in Vienna - AIDS 2010 - concerning men who have sex with men (MSM) including transgender people.
 

Searchable catalogue of conference abstracts - you can search by global region, sub-populations (groups affected), and themes.
Here’s the list of search categories to make it easier to find what is available.
 

Sub-population (affected groups)
• Bisexual / MSMW
• Ethnic Minorities
• Incarcerated Individuals
• LGBT
• Migrant, Immigrant
• MSM
• Older Sexual Minorities
• People Living with HIV
• People Who Use Drugs
• Rural Populations
• Sex Workers
• Transgender
• Youth
HIV issues
• Access to Services
• Care & Treatment
• Condom Use
• Education
• Epidemiology
• Government AIDS Programs
• HIV & AIDS
• Prevention Interventions (ARV-Based)
• Prevention Interventions (Behavioural)
• Prevention Interventions (General)
• Resilience
• Risk Factors
• Testing
Cross-Cutting Themes / Issues
• Advocacy
• Capacity-Building Assistance
• Civil Society
• Funding
• Gender
• Health (Non-HIV)
• Human Rights
• Mental Health
• Policy and Legislation
• Recreational Drugs
• Religion
• Research
• Self-Identification
• Sexuality
• Sexually Transmitted Infections
• Stigma / Discrimination
• Structural Interventions
• Tools & Trainings
• Violence
 

Searchable catalogue of conference abstracts

International HIV Sidelines Gay Men

posted: 07/03/2011

Every two years the world’s biggest HIV conference faces criticism for sidelining the needs of gay men, sex workers, transgender people, and injecting drug users. The International AIDS Society conference visited Vienna in 2010, around 25,000 people attended, but it still grossly under-represented four groups most at risk for HIV infection.

A detailed study by the Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF), confirms the long-held suspicions and criticism of this neglect, and calls for change.

The International AIDS Society may be part of the problem, but it can solve it.

Shame of stigma and discrimination
Stigma and discrimination against marginalised and unpopular groups affected by HIV is unprofessional and brings shame on the International AIDS Society.

The 2010 conference programme seriously neglected key needs. There is little exclusive time and exposure given to the four groups, and the four groups are often ignored even in general studies.  

• Only 6.6% of the abstracts of studies were only concerned with gay and bi men / MSM, 5.7% targeted only people who use drugs, 3.5% looked only at sex workers, and 0.6% solely considered transgender people.
• Only 3.8% of ordinary conference sessions exclusively focused on gay and bi men / MSM, 5.1% on IDU people, 2.5% on sex workers and 0% on transgender people.
• Just 3.7% of all workshops exclusively focused on gay and bi men / MSM, 6.4% on people who use drugs, and 0% on sex workers and 0% on transgender people.
• Out of over 4,500 abstracts sent in for selection and publicity, only 558 even mentioned MSM, only 442 mentioned IDU, just 338 mentioned sex workers, and a bare 134 mentioned transgender people.
• Only 2.6% of all sessions in the entire conference programme exclusively focused on MSM, 4.5% exclusively focused on IDU, 3.0% on sex workers and 1.1% on transgender people.

The percentage of all sessions at the conference exclusively focused on the four marginalised groups was 2.6% for MSM, 1.1% for transgender people, 3% for sex workers and 4.5% for people who use drugs.

Research shows these four populations are at higher risk for HIV than the general population in nearly every country where reliable data exist.

Compare tiny conference gestures with actual needs

• MSM represent more than a quarter of HIV infections in Latin America and the Caribbean
• People who inject drugs are more than half of HIV infections in Eastern Europe
• Up to half of all sex workers across Sub-Saharan Africa have HIV
• Transgender people in El Salvador, Indonesia and India have HIV rates as high as 25%, 35%, and 42% respectively.

"Abysmal representation reinforces discrimination and invisibility"

“While the International AIDS Society turns a blind eye, HIV rates among these populations continue to climb around the world,” said Dr. George Ayala, Executive Officer of the MSMGF.

“The IAC is the world’s most important opportunity for international exchange and collaboration on HIV and AIDS. Such abysmal representation of most-at-risk groups only serves to reinforce the invisibility, discrimination and disregard that drive the epidemic among these communities.”

“Ostensibly, the IAC offers chances for local healthcare providers to learn ways to improve their services, provides channels for advocates to engage in dialogue with powerful decision-makers, and creates opportunities for community members to shape global funding and research agendas,” said Dr. Mohan Sundararaj, Policy Associate at the MSMGF. “This really is a phenomenal platform, but how useful can it be when those who need it most are locked out?”

Calls for change
The report recommends steps to make the Conference programme fairer, based on the numbers of people affected . These include involving the communities affected in the conference planning.

“The International AIDS Conference has unparalleled potential to impact the global AIDS epidemic,” said Dr. Ayala. “It is incumbent upon the organizers to ensure that the IAC becomes a vehicle for change, shifting the global landscape so that funding, research and programs are directed to those who need them most. Right now it’s part of the problem.”

Source The Global Forum on MSM & HIV

Read the full report Coverage of Four Key Populations at the 2010 International AIDS Conference: Implications for Leadership and Accountability in the Global AIDS Response February 2011

The Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) is an expanding network of AIDS organizations, MSM networks, and advocates committed to ensuring robust coverage of and equitable access to effective HIV prevention, care, treatment, and support services tailored to the needs of gay men and other MSM. Guided by a Steering Committee of 20 members from 18 countries situated mainly in the Global South, and with administrative and fiscal support from AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), the MSMGF works to promote MSM health and human rights worldwide through advocacy, information exchange, knowledge production, networking, and capacity building.

HIV Microbicide Success

posted: 20/07/2010

A vaginal microbicide gel containing the anti-HIV drug tenofovir (Viread) reduces the risk to women of HIV infection by 39%, results of a study show. This is the most hopeful news in the years long search for something that women can use to protect themselves from HIV risk. There was a recent flurry of hope about another microbicide which showed some signs of working but further study showed it wasn't good enough.

Women who used this new gel more reliably, during four out of the last five times they had had sex saw their risk of HIV infection reduced by 54%. The microbicide also had another useful sexual health benefit, halving the risk of infection with genital herpes.
 

Other reports about this microbicide explain that women must apply the gel 12 hours before sex and once again as soon afterwards as possible.

There is more work to be done before this microbicide can supplied publicly, but this was a top-notch scientific study, a randomised, placebo-controlled trial – called CAPRISA 004 – in South Africa. 889 HIV-negative women were randomly divided into two groups, one was given the tenofovir-containing gel and the other group was also given gel that looked exactly like the first but without any tenofovir in it. No-one (neither women nor the clinic staff) knew who was getting what. Both groups of women got advice about safer sex and free condoms. The women were monitored for two and a half years.
 

Results from the study will be officially presented to the AIDS 2010 conference in Vienna today, but they have already generated a lot of excitement.
“This is an important day,” said Yasmin Halima, director of the Global Campaign for Microbicides. “We now have evidence that a vaginal gel can help prevent HIV. This is good news for women, good news for the field and a good day for science.”
 

Next Steps

To stimulate and prioritise rapid action, WHO and UNAIDS announced that they will convene an expert consultation in August with women’s health and HIV prevention advocates, scientists, microbicide research teams and product developers, and public health experts to discuss the next steps with the product.

A webcast of this session and interviews are available on the Kaiser Family Foundation website

More information from NAM/aidsmap.com

Image - Prof. Quarraisha Abdool Karim, Associate Scientific Director of CAPRISA, explains how to use an applicator with gel       from blogs.timeslive.co.za

AIDS Conference e-newsletter

posted: 12/07/2010

Sign up now for the latest news on HIV from the 18th International AIDS Conference. This major international conference opens in Vienna, Austria, on Sunday 18 July, with more than 20,000 people. This conference happens every two years and is the first place for news of the most important developments – news about progress on microbicides is expected, which is important for women. There will be much more to find out on every HIV topic under the sun.

Daily e-newsletter

NAM / aidsmap have a daily email newsletter you can sign up for now.

The conference promises interesting and varied presentations and sessions, covering a broad range of subjects in the HIV field, including new treatment, prevention and practice research.

Rights Here, Rights Now

This year's theme is ‘Rights Here, Right Now’, and the conference will have a big focus on human rights, and especially the need for science and evidence based policies for injecting drug use and HIV prevention which respect human rights.

Microbicide News

This conference will also feature keenly awaited results from the first major efficacy study of a microbicide that uses an antiretroviral drug to prevent HIV infection in women.

NAM’s team of writers will report all the conference news you need in the conference news pages of aidsmap.com every day, with links to abstracts and webcasts where these are available. During the conference NAM will send an email summary bulletin each day, presenting a round-up of news, with links to full news reports and webcasts. Sign up now for the daily conference email.
 

Laws Should Not Worsen HIV

posted: 02/07/2010

The ‘Vienna Declaration’  sounds like a half-forgotten piece of school history, but it is brand new and all about ending laws and policy across the world that cause HIV harm. The UN has at the same time set up a brand new Global Commission on HIV and the Law  to deal with some of the toughest issues in HIV. Laws and policies across the world are making the HIV epidemic worse and causing harm to many people. Anti-gay, anti-sex-worker, anti-drug, anti-HIV sex and transmission laws and policies are all the UN Commission’s new battle-ground.
 

If you agree that the law should not criminalise drug users because this makes the HIV epidemic far worse and causes more harm than good, you are invited to sign the Vienna Declaration. The Vienna Declaration is a call from the international scientific community to countries across the world (including the UK) to face the facts and recognise that the so-called 'War on Drugs' isn't working, and causes far more harm than good, particularly in the fight against HIV.

It asks the UN and countries to update drug policy and laws to end this HIV harm, discrimination against people's human rights, and to remove the legal and other barriers to effective HIV prevention, treatment and care.
You can read and sign the Vienna Declaration here  and facebook and twitter it from there
 

Why is the Declaration from Vienna? Well, the International AIDS Conference opens in Vienna in Austria later this month.

This conference is the largest HIV conference, and is held every two years, and is the one where big HIV news on treatments and almost everything else is revealed. 

New - Global Commission on HIV and the Law
The Global Commission on HIV and the Law was set up last month – the secretary general of the UN said “I urge all countries to remove punitive laws, policies and practices that hamper the AIDS response … . Successful AIDS responses do not punish people; they protect them … . We must ensure that AIDS responses are based on evidence, not ideology, and reach those most in need and most affected.”

The Commission has a challenging job – its job is to produce practical steps, based on evidence and that support human rights, that will reduce HIV transmission caused by laws and policies. So it will focus its efforts on ending laws that criminalise HIV transmission and exposure, illicit drug use, sex work, and same sex relationships. Global Commission on HIV and the Law
 

HIV and the Law is part of the Law on Trial  season at Birkbeck College this weekend, and Matthew Weait, a long-time ally of George House Trust and who works at Birkbeck as a senior law lecturer, writes about how the law should not worsen HIV discrimination and stigma, and if laws do this they do not deserve our support.