Pride excess and risks

posted: 27/08/2010

Pride is a tempting party time of drink, drugs and sex. So what’s not to like? The crowds, scene atmosphere and all-out hedonism drive some of us past our limits. Our livers complain, there are comedowns, and if we ‘forget’ and don’t use condoms, we may end the weekend with HIV or some other STI, or pass something on.

How can we stay more in control?
We can all use tips and tricks.

Set yourself strict limits and party only on special occasions, so you might decide one night only over the weekend, and set a limit for how late you stay out, the types of drinks, how many, or what you do.

Be more choosy about the situations and people, where the temptations to excess may be too much for you to resist.

Take only so much money, and leave at a time you decided earlier.

Drop the shots and more risky drugs.

Ask friends to watch out for you and help you stick to your rules and limits.

Alternate drinking soft drinks with alcohol.

Choose other ways to enjoy the time with friends – a BBQ, picnic, walk or swim, galleries, shopping, movies or a show.

Abstinence, going on the wagon for a time, works for some.

You can look after yourself and those around you and  have a good time.

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.

Advice for Stranded Travellers

posted: 21/04/2010

Some people with HIV, stranded by the air travel chaos following the Icelandic volcano’s ash cloud, are running out of HIV medications. Here’s what to do.

It is very important to provide as much documentation as possible in order to limit the cost to you.

Stuck in the UK?
People with HIV stuck in the United Kingdom who are running out of HIV medication can approach HIV clinics in the UK for medication, but may be charged at the discretion of the clinic. Whether an individual is charged will depend on their country of residence.Find a clinic using NAM's database of services.

If you are from a country in the European Economic Area (European Union plus Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland) you will not be charged, if you produce your European Health Insurance card. If you cannot produce your card, you will be charged and issued with a receipt, and you can claim the cost when you return home. If you do not have this card, you can obtain one from your country's embassy in the United Kingdom, usually within 24 hours.

If you are stuck in the UK but from a country outside the EEA that has a reciprocal health agreement with the United Kingdom, you will not be charged if you can show your passport. Countries with reciprocal agreements 

If your stuck in the UK and your country of residence does NOT have a reciprocal health agreement with the UK, you will be charged.

Examples of help and BHIVA's advice

In London a number of National Health Service HIV clinics are issuing medication. At the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for example, individuals needing medication can obtain an appointment with an HIV doctor and will receive a prescription for two weeks’ worth of medication.

Policies may vary at other clinics, and British HIV Association chairman Dr Ian Williams is writing to all HIV doctors in the UK to ask them to be flexible if approached by patients who are not registered at their clinic.

In addition to the cost of drugs, some clinics may charge a fee for the consultation with a doctor.

Stuck outside the UK?
People with HIV from the UK who are stranded overseas can approach local HIV clinics or support organisations for help. You can search for organisations and clinics by country here.

What you pay will depend on the country where you are stuck. If you have the European Health Insurance card, you can use this throughout the European Economic Area to obtain whatever is freely available through the local health system. You will have to pay any local costs that would be normally met by local residents from their own pockets or health insurance, such as co-payments on medicines.

A similar situation applies for countries with reciprocal health agreements. You can check the list and find out what is freely available here  and find general advice for British citizens on health care abroad here.

Get an email/fax from your clinic

Your clinic in the UK should be able to provide a letter, by email or fax, to the foreign hospital detailing what treatment you are receiving and what drugs you need - in particular the correct dosages. Many HIV doctors may be away this week, attending the British HIV Association annual conference in Manchester. If you do not have contact details for other staff at your HIV clinic, you can find them here.

An NHS prescription is not valid overseas and you may need to obtain an appointment with a doctor in order to get a foreign prescription, but this will not be the case in all countries. In some countries it you can buy anti-retrovirals from a pharmacy without a prescription.

Source

Treatment Booklet Updated

posted: 18/03/2010

The latest issue of NAM’s booklet, anti-HIV drugs, is just out. It tells you about each of the drugs currently licensed for HIV treatment in the UK.
 

All the booklets in this series are free to people living with HIV in the UK, or can be ordered through the aidsmap online bookshop for £1.

You can read it online, or download the booklet as a pdf.

Colour HIV drugs chart - new edition

The new edition of their full colour HIV drugs chart (February 2010 edition) is also now available to download as a pdf.

Clinics and HIV support groups
If you work in a clinic or support group in the UK, you can order these booklets for free for your clients and patients. Get in touch with Rose for details on 020 7840 0060 or by emailing her.

For the experts - HIV Treatment Directory
The new edition of the HIV Treatments Directory (28th edition) is also now available.
 

A complete reference guide to HIV treatment and medical aspects of HIV, with A to Z listings and an intuitive layout. Comprehensive information, and details of published research covering topics including:
• starting and changing treatment
• A to Z of antiretroviral drugs
• women's health issues
• drug resistance
• drug interactions and pharmacokinetics
• HIV and genetics
• side-effects
• the immune system and HIV
• prevention of mother-to-child transmission
Plus a full-colour drug chart and CD-ROM.
 

To order your copy, please visit NAM's webshop 
 

People's price

It costs professionals a few pence under £65 but people with HIV can buy it for £12.95 – it’s free but this is the cost of special delivery for this large, heavy book.

The Treatments Directory is excellent but has much more information than most people with HIV want. George House Trust has a copy you can use in our reception area.

HIV Drugs Patent Pool

posted: 18/12/2009

An international agreement to pool drug patents for HIV treatments has just been launched, putting even more pressure on drug companies to give up their monopoly rights to HIV drugs. The idea is to make low cost treatment far more widely available in poorer countries.
 

Unitaid, an international drug purchasing facility, voted for the pool in Geneva this week. It was welcomed by campaigners and the British government, which has strongly backed the idea.
 

Campaigners say millions of lives could be saved by drug companies giving up their patent rights to allow anti-HIV drugs to be produced cheaply by generic manufacturers. It would also allow different companies' drugs to be combined in simple-to-take multi-drug combination pills for people in the developing world.
 

The rich multi-national patent-holding drug companies would get a royalty in exchange while keeping their exclusive 20-year patent rights in wealthy countries.
 

'Victory' for developing world
"The Unitaid decision is a huge victory for those in need of HIV treatment around the world," Diarmaid McDonald, the co-ordinator of the umbrella group Stop Aids, said. "It will help to break down the patent barriers which stop people getting the drugs they need to stay alive. Unitaid and the UK government should be commended for their leadership on this." McDonald said the focus "now shifts to the big drug companies", adding: "It will test the sincerity of their rhetoric on helping the most vulnerable in our world."
 

People Campaigning

A grass roots campaign is asking people to email the ten leading drug multi-nationals with HIV patents to ask them to take the patent pool plunge.

Drug companies divided
"Companies like Gilead and Merck showed real leadership within the industry by speaking positively of the patent pool – they must now go beyond words and contribute their patents to the pool. The pressure will be on others within the industry to follow or to explain why they are willing to turn their backs on an initiative with such huge potential to save lives."
 

A small number of companies have so far shown a willingness to discuss flexibility over their patents, but the British firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) – a leading manufacturer of HIV drugs – is not interested.
Andrew Witty, GSK’s chief executive, said this summer that he had reservations and believed the company's price cuts and other initiatives would produce better results.
 

GSK under more pressure
McDonald said there had been meetings with GSK, but stressed that the company was a long way from committing to any involvement. "They have come up with lengthy questions and hesitations and concerns about the patent pool and have been less than co-operative in how they have engaged with the Unitaid task force," he added. "The pressure is going to increase on GSK to justify their rationale for walking away from an initiative which could save millions of lives."

Treatment at the crossroads
The international development minister, Mike Foster, applauded the board's decision. "The international community is at a crossroads in meeting the demand for HIV treatment," he said. "Last year, 2.7 million people were newly infected with HIV and 2 million people died from Aids – the need to make effective HIV medicines affordable for developing countries has never been greater. The Unitaid patent pool could be a key means of addressing the treatment crisis."
 

The UK is a founder member of Unitaid, along with Chile, Brazil, Norway and France. Much of its funding comes from a tax on airlines.
 

Michelle Childs, the policy director at Médecins Sans Frontières, the volunteer doctors organisation that pioneered the use of HIV drugs in the developing world, said the pool would be judged by its outcome. "We've been encouraged by the positive responses from a number of companies to our campaign in support of the pool," she said.
 

"Now that the pool has been given a green light, patent holders need to move from expressions of general support to firm and formal license commitments. We urge them to do so. This needs to happen fast as the clock is ticking for millions of patients."
 

Source

Unitaid report