The common reason they give is that the man cannot leave them for someone else after infecting them with HIV.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Agnes Banda’s story may somehow be different but she says when she was getting divorced, her husband told her not to mention that she was HIV positive – a move she says disadvantaged her.

Banda, 39, and a teacher at one of the schools in Lusaka says she got married in 2002.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

“We started co-habiting in 2000 when I was still in Western Province and in 2002, that’s when we got married officially. Before we got married there was a time I came to visit him from Kaoma and I found some capsules in one of the pockets of his clothes. I wasn’t familiar with them so I later asked him what they were for. He told me that he had some genital rashes, an STI (Sexually Transmitted Infection) and he was prescribed the medicine,” she says. “He went on to say that before he could take the capsules, he consulted another nurse and she said it was just a mere rash but I still wasn’t convinced, but we got married anyway.”home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

She says in 2004, her husband got very sick and lost a lot of weight.

“He was just like a moving skeleton. He used to have night sweats and at that time, he was doing nothing so I had to run around and look for money. He had insisted on going to the hospital alone. So I went for work and when I came back. he said ‘Aggie banipeza nili HIV positive’ (Aggie, they have found me HIV positive) but I think after seeing the fear in me, he withdrew the statement and said ‘Mwandi bani chita chabe advise kuyenda kupimisa VCT’ (no they have just advised me to go for VCT voluntary counsellig testing). home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kitSo I asked him if he had done VCT. He said ‘no’, then I asked why, the response I got was that because of his illness his immunity was low and could have mistook that for HIV. So he said that he would go when he got better. He was put on medication and he got better,” she says.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Banda says when her husband recovered, she reminded him to go for a test but he refused, saying that the virus could not survive in his blood.

“That was a wake-up call for me but I was scared I couldn’t go alone because I was thinking how I could receive the news if I was found positive. I feared to say if I go there and I am found positive, he could have accused me of infidelity. So life continued and I lived in fear,” she says.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

She says in October, 2006, fate caught up with her and she started feeling sick.
“It was during the elections and I was feeling like I had malaria. My legs were painful, very painful. I used to sit on the table verifying results and after I got money from the elections, I used it all on medication,” she says.

Banda says while she was sick, her husband left her and went to Malawi to do business.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

She says while he was in Malawi, her illness progressed and her health deteriorated.

“Even after using all the money, I started going to other clinics even government clinics but all in vain. Then one day I just thought of going to UTH, without a referral. The doctor saw me and saw the seriousness of my illness. He asked for a close relative since I had just gone there with a friend. At the hospital, they said there was need for either for a mother or husband to come,” she says.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Banda says since her husband was out of the country, she called her mother who found her critically ill.

She says her mother told her to tell the husband to come back from Malawi.

“He came back with some money which he spent on me and I appreciate that but after trying this and that nothing worked or improved until one day a certain doctor at UTH decided for me and the family. I was in no decision making position. I couldn’t walk. I was being lifted around and I believe that God spoke through that doctor,” she says.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Banda says the doctor decided that she does an HIV test because all the tests were done and nothing came out.

She says the test was done and it came out positive.

“I thank God that the test was done because if it was not for that, I would have been gone and forgotten. When the test was done, the CD4 count was initially low, it was 135. So I was immediately put on ARVs and within the shortest period of time, I started recovering,” she says.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Banda says when she started getting better, her husband started complaining about the money he had used on her.

“I thought he was giving me money out of love and he talked about it until it became a thorn in the bush. He complained that couldn’t I have gotten sick for a short time and gotten better. I couldn’t bear this any more so, I had to find a way to get back the money he spent on me which he accepted,” she says.

Banda says she got a loan and gave him K3 million and upon giving him the money, he told her that she should not expect him to buy anything at home or pay the rent until he declares profits.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Banda says things were not easy for her as she had to cope with her HIV status as well.

“I discovered immune boosters in his pockets… then the bank was deducting money from me and I was given full responsibility of the home. This went on for months and even before I could finish the loan…I had a lot of debts because of the loan, he said that we divorce,” she says.

She says her husband told her that he could not continue with her and if he had to build a house, her relatives would grab the house thinking they had used her money.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

“So that’s how we got divorced on 10th May 2008. On September 3, I took him to court and we got divorced officially but unfortunately, I wasn’t open about my status. I wasn’t open because I wasn’t counselled. We did not have any children together,” she says.

Banda says her husband was not supposed to divorce her because she tested positive in his home.

She suspected that her husband might have known because he was taking boosters.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

“Maybe if I had mentioned that I was positive at the time in court, the court could have told him to be maintaining me. He told me not to mention in the courts that I was positive. He brought me from Kaoma to Lusaka where life is expensive. I need help. I need a house and I am finding it difficult to work. My husband refused to go for a test because he used to say that it’s voluntary so he could not be forced,” she says.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Banda says she told her relatives about her status but he never mentioned anything to his.

She says at that time, she felt rejected and a misfit and that no one counted her as a person.

Banda says she used to feel as if people knew about her status.

“I received counselling from call centres and I accepted my status and I now talk about it openly. My CD4 count is now 820 as of January this year and I thank God for that. But I think he knew about his status and even when I was sick, he refused to go and get tested saying it was voluntary and that he would do it at his own time,” she says.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

She says she has now come to terms with her status and has accepted it.

Banda says she even has a club at the school where she teaches but finds it difficult to talk to the teachers.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

A No, I do not. First, prostate issues cause problems with the urinary system, not the bowels. Second, prostate cancer does not occur at age 19. According to the Jamaica Cancer Society, nearly all cases occur among the over-45s.

So why are you bleeding?

Well, statistically speaking, the likeliest reason for a young guy to bleed from the bottom is piles.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Piles (also known as haemorrhoids) are varicose veins in the rectum. This means that the veins are ‘bulging’ and are liable to bleed when under pressure.

Piles are extremely common. Experts think they are at least partly caused by a poor diet.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

If you do have piles, don’t be scared. Most people who get this condition do not have to undergo surgery. Very often, the disorder can be controlled by medication and diet.

I must stress that there could be other reasons why you have been bleeding. See a doc now. Good luck.

Q I am a 20-year-old woman. About two weeks ago, I had sex with my boyfriend. The condom fell off. He decided that he wanted to go ahead without the condom, but I disagreed. So he stayed inside for only about a minute or less. My period came a couple of days after that. Now I have an awful smelly discharge. What do you think I should do? Is it serious?home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

A On the night the condom fell off, you were absolutely right to insist that your boyfriend stop. However, it is a pity that he continued for around a minute.

Nevertheless, it does seem you are not pregnant, because you say that your menses arrived.

Now you have an offensive discharge. The first thing that occurs to me is this: When the condom came off, did it by any chance remain inside you? A ‘retained’ condom is a well-known cause of a smelly discharge.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

However, let us assume that you had both found the condom. In that case, the likeliest reason for that offensive discharge is a vaginal infection.

You may well have caught the infection during that brief minute of unprotected sex.

It is absolutely essential that you consult a doctor. She can examine you internally, take test samples from the region of your cervix, and reach a diagnosis.

Until you have seen the doc and been diagnosed, do not have sex.

Q I am a man in my early 20s. Around nine months ago, I was in a relationship with another man. I am not gay, but did it for financial reasons, which I know was wrong. What I am worried about is that I have recently failed a blood examination. So I am now wondering if I have contracted HIV. Do you think it was HIV which caused me to fail? But if I had HIV, would I have been seeing signs of it by now?home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

A Sorry to hear about your problems. But what I do not understand is this. What do you mean when you say that you ‘failed’ a blood test?

What blood test was it? And why did you have it done? If it was for HIV, I would have thought that whoever did the test would have told you so.

It seems clear that you should now go back to whoever conducted that blood examination and ask them to explain what sort of test it was. It may just have been a blood count for anaemia. Or possibly it was a ’sickling’ test.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

In the part of your email which I have not published, you told me precisely what you did with this other guy. I regret to say that this particular activity could have been enough to give you HIV if the other man was infected.

You should take an HIV test. The fact that you have not had any symptoms does not mean you are OK. Get this matter sorted out right away.

Q I’m a 19-year-old female who has had two miscarriages, both at five months. I have a problem with my weight, which is 190 pounds. I want to lose about 30 pounds, but I’m really depressed about everything, including the two miscarriages, and being unemployed. I really need advice on how to start losing weight without getting depressed.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

A You have obviously had a bad time lately. Many people do not realise how stressful a miscarriage can be for a woman. To have two in succession is extremely distressing. You don’t say whether you are in a sexual relationship at the moment. But if you are, I would suggest that you use a good contraceptive method for a year or so, so that you are not exposed to the strain of a further pregnancy, plus the worry of wondering whether you might miscarry again. It is clear that you are quite depressed, so I urge you to see a doctor as soon as possible. home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kitIt is likely that she will put you on an antidepressant to help you get through this difficult time. On the point of losing weight, do not attempt to lose it quickly! Very strict dieting would probably make you even more depressed. Instead, a reasonable target would be to lose the 30 pounds over, say, the next two and a half years! That is a target of only one pound per month, which is achievable without making yourself miserable. A sensible free diet sheet is available at www.health24.com/dietnfood/weight.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Q Can one die from a heart attack during sex, as I have heard?

A Such things do occasionally happen in elderly people, particularly if they already have heart trouble. But if you are a young person, you really need not fret about this.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

The campaign launched to stop such practice must therefore be extremely commended. Unfortunately, there seems to be a paucity of alignment between the message aired out as portrayed in the radio adverts and the continuous reassurance given to persons found to be HIV positive during post-test counselling. home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kitFor instance, one of the campaign message aired out against sexual network is to the effect that; once one gets HIV, neither the patient nor the children can ever live a good life. It also expounds that; once either of the married couples (discordant couples put into consideration) or both become infected with HIV, then the children’s future is thwarted completely. First of all, isn’t this message undermining the counselling techniques used on people found to have acquired the virus?home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

The post-test counselling of a patient found to have the HIV virus is geared towards reassuring the victim that regardless of his/her HIV positive results, he/she can still live a good quality life, with good monitoring.

Secondly, have the proponents against sexual networks put into consideration the children who acquire the virus at birth? Are they aware that some of the children born with the virus in the 1990s are now adolescents, and some are young adults who require constant moral and psychological support? Describing HIV infection as an automatic avenue to hopelessness as portrayed in the aired messages in the media, may tantamount to stigmatisation of the HIV patients. In fact, such kind of message may be discriminatory in character, infringing on the patient’s constitutional right, not to be discriminated against as provided for by (Article 21 of the 1995 Constitution).home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

The campaign should come up with an appropriate message that strikes a balance between protecting the public health while preserving the human rights and dignity of people living with HIV. They should focus more on revitalising the marriage institution by encouraging couples to observe two major elements; one: Being available for one another and two: showing mutual respect for one another as husband and wife, since a big percentage of sexual networks do arise through search for new companionship.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

With due respect to those behind the campaign against sexual networks, the message, as it is being aired out currently, to a great extent, stigmatises HIV patients and increases social rejection, self condemnation and self pity.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

David was at the forefront of the barrage. Wide-eyed, young and naïve, I was mesmerized by his swagger and flamboyance. I vividly recall the butterflies in my stomach each time he, while tightly clasping my hand, marched me into queer night at La Luna or Saturday night at the City Nightclub.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Although roughly the same age, David was years ahead of me in terms of liberation and sophistication. One night, nestled on his old yellow couch, he insisted I sit through the history of gay cinema. After Tootsie and during The Rocky Horror Picture Show, he decided to talk numbers with me. His? 62.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

At that point in my gay evolution, he may as well have told me he his number was infinite. Although I had certainly racked up a modest handful of bedpost notches, mentally I may as well have lived in a nunnery. I was stunned and horrified. I panicked, convinced we were riddled with STDs. I stopped returning David’s calls the next day.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

The trepidation I felt then isn’t totally unlike the angst I feel now when I make mistakes of the sexual variety. Fear often drives us to—and through—our inevitable firsts. Soon after David’s declaration, I scheduled an appointment with my family doctor, thus beginning another major gay rite of passage.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

It felt like I sat in my doctor’s waiting room for hours; its pale pastel walls and stale décor only intensified my discomfort. Loud children squirmed in parents’ laps; their sneezing and coughing worsened my paranoia. When I finally saw my doctor face to face and explained why I needed a test, he scolded me—berating me at length and encouraging me not to. The last thing I wanted, he argued, was insurance companies deeming me “high risk,” because they’d surely penalize me for it.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

“Go home, I’m sure you’re fine,” he assured me.

After much pleading, he caved. I had blood drawn, went home, and my dreaded two-week wait began. It seemed like eight months before the nurse called to give me my result.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

What a difference time makes.

A couple of weeks ago, a familiar uneasiness consumed me as a comrade and I sauntered down Stark Street to the Men’s Wellness Clinic to get our now frequent, regular tests. We approached the clinic in a deluge of pounding rain, nervously evaluating our risk levels, discussing interesting strategic choices we’d recently made. To lighten the mood, my friend introduced us to the staff as lovers.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

“We’re desperately in love,” he said. “And we’re ready to take it to the next level.”

The dewy receptionist, incredibly friendly, played along.

“Really,” he insisted. “Look, we even dressed alike.” We had, albeit inadvertently.

After we procured our letters—you’re assigned letters (for rapid HIV tests) or numbers (full STD screenings), based on your testing preference—we examined the scene and took our seats on large leather couches in the back corner. Aside from a handful of new magazines, Garden State helped pass the time. Shockingly, my friend hadn’t ever seen it (“I only like blockbuster romantic comedies and porn!”), so the movie provided a nice distraction.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

I looked around the room, noticing how it contrasted with my earliest experiences. No screaming children. No ghastly pastels or floral prints. Instead, CAP offered serene, queer-friendly ambiance.

As I was called back, my anxiety arose and, once inside the room with the testing liaison, abruptly subsided. I used the poor soul as a de facto counselor, spilling all, sharing every sordid sexual detail, hoping he was happy to listen. Yeah, I totally let him put it inside me, but I made him pull out. Doesn’t that count for something?home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

“Well, we call it strategic positioning,” he told me.

Perfect. I was all about strategic positioning. And strategic maneuvering.

I jest, of course—the safer the better, people. I told my de facto counselor about how my family doctor argued against testing. He seethed. We were about the same age, so we talked about the olden days when an excruciating two-week wait was customary. He told me how a slightly impatient younger generation balks at a twenty-minute wait. I imagined my younger self thrilled by it. As I received the good news, I marveled at how much things change—and don’t.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

The device, which will prototypes of which will cost only $250 to build, can return a result in just 10 minutes. In contrast with the large machines currently used for HIV testing in most hospitals, large flow cytometers that cost “a hundred times more” than the inexpensive prototype, the use of lasers cuts down on cost and size:home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

The device works by measuring the reflection of a laser beam off a small sample of blood. Depending on the density of T-white blood cells, a key indicator for the presence and progress of HIV, the laser will scatter differently.

PARC is hopeful that if the device comes to market that it will “empower” doctors in poorer, more rural places heavily affected by AIDS. PARC isn’t the only company trying to simplify HIV testing either- a number of other companies are trying to develop and market handheld HIV testing devices:home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

(Peter) Kiesel is competing against a dozen other groups vying to fill the need for cheap, portable CD4 tests. Other technologies have been under development for years, including a half-dozen recent projects funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that include disposable CD4 tester kits as easy to use as a home pregnancy test. Kiesler’s laboratory-tested device is a couple of years behind these projects, some of which have been tested in the field in African countries.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

“Sixth Street is well-trafficked by many San Franciscans most vulnerable to HIV infection,” Barbara Kimport, interim CEO of SFAF, said in a statement. “By introducing HIV testing to places like 6th Street where HIV continues to be a major problem, we move one step closer to radically reducing new infections in San Francisco.”home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

HIV screening will be available each Friday at SFAF’s client services headquarters at 1 6th Street between 3 and 5 p.m. and at the agency’s needle exchange site at 117 6th Street between noon and 2 p.m.

New services on 6th Street include RNA and routine HIV antibody testing, as well as hepatitis C testing. As part of a comprehensive approach in neighborhoods with high HIV incidence, SFAF works collaboratively with local service providers including the South of Market Health Center, Tom Waddell Health Clinic, Tenderloin Health, and the ISIS Clinic at San Francisco General Hospital.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

The new testing services are being promoted on a large billboard directly across the street from SFAF’s offices. That effort is a part of a new collaboration between the agency and the “Greater Than AIDS” campaign, a national movement to mobilize hard-hit communities in response to AIDS, with a focus on reaching African Americans.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

For more information, visit www.sfaf.org.

Sisters’ video project seeks materials
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are collecting video of Sister performances and appearances over the last 30 years and are seeking any archival material. The group is digitizing this material onto external hard drives for future preservation. So far, said Sister Vicious Power Hungry Bitch, the group has digitized approximately 50 hours of material from the 1980s and 1990s.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

If people have any material, they are asked to contact Sister Vicious. The Sisters can accept VHS, Hi8, DVD, and other formats. Materials can be home movies of Sister events people may have attended or more professionally produced material. Originals will be returned to owners after the material is added to the Sisters’ library. The group has until the end of April to complete the project.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Infectious syphilis rose 45 percent in the city last year, with far greater increases among women – a group whose reported cases, while still small, barely registered until recently.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

“It is very disturbing to see these outbreaks among women,” said Jo Valentine, chief of syphilis elimination and STD disparities at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Local health officials have tamped down a handful of similar eruptions around the country in the last few years, Valentine said. But a 34 percent cut in state HIV funding for the city beginning July 1 – some of the money is already gone – could hamper efforts in Philadelphia, home to more than half the HIV patients in Pennsylvania.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

The $2 million was used for HIV testing and prevention in minority communities, which have the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases nationwide. It would have covered tests for an estimated 8,000 people next year, and prevention and risk-reduction services for 4,000.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

All state-funded support groups aimed at prevention have already ceased to operate.

Danielle M. Parks leads a five-week risk-reduction program for heterosexual black women. The health educator’s final session of SISTA – Sisters Informing Sisters about Topics on AIDS, which reached 136 women last year – was two weeks ago.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

“These women need this,” Parks said, because otherwise “they are going to continue life as usual.”

During her last group, she told students about women who had recently tested positive for HIV. One was a 43-year-old Latina whose husband of 16 years, it turned out, had been aware of his infection for three years but did not know how to tell his wife. Another was a 36-year-old African American mother of three with private insurance and a college degree.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

“It doesn’t matter if you have been in a relationship for three months or 30 months,” Parks told them. “Just having sex with someone who is African American puts you at higher risk, because the rates within the community are so high.”

Syphilis is spread through skin-to-skin sexual contact and thus is more infectious than HIV, which is passed in bodily fluids. But they follow similar patterns, and tactics employed to prevent one often do the same for the other. Testing is considered the prime strategy.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

“When people learn their status and it is positive, their behavior changes,” said David S. Metzger, an HIV prevention researcher at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Even if the test is negative, he said, “just the consideration of infection helps people to practice safer behaviors.”

STD rates are driven in part by an economic downturn that is leaving more people without insurance. And some women who are already living on the edge are more likely to barter with their bodies.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

“People will have sex in order to stay in an apartment or house, basically survival sex,” Metzger said.

Then there’s fading memory. AIDS is no longer a death sentence, and as syphilis declined through the 1990s and the early 2000s, risky behaviors have increased, experts say. This is especially true for heterosexuals, who typically do not consider themselves to be in danger.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Blacks are eight times as likely as whites to be found to have primary and secondary syphilis, the key infectious stages; Latinos are four times as likely, according to the CDC.

Men are five times as likely to be infected as women. The category “men who have sex with men” (MSM), which reflects behavior rather than self-identity, accounts for roughly two-thirds of cases here and nationally.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Rates in all groups had risen through 2008, the most recent year for which national data are available.

The biggest jump in Philadelphia’s 2009 statistics is based on the smallest numbers: women ages 15 to 29 went from five cases to 23. But those are key childbearing years, and infection during pregnancy can cause congenital syphilis.

“A single case is tragic,” said Lenore Asbel, an infectious disease specialist in the Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s STD clinic.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Ms. George’s first child died at 13 months, likely due to HIV infection, and the Lesotho Ministry of Health is working to ensure that her second baby is not born with HIV as well.

In 2007, the Government, with help from UNICEF and other partners, initiated a massive effort to improve the country’s Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) services. To succeed, they needed to ensure that every clinic in the country could provide HIV testing and treatment.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Lesotho leads the way

Lesotho became one of the first countries in the region to allow nurses to administer anti-retroviral (ARV) treatments, which greatly expanded access to these critical interventions in the remote areas of the country where fewer doctors are available.

But despite such efforts, major challenges remain, including the fact that many women, like Ms. George, are likely to make only one clinic visit. home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

This is a typical problem for many health systems in Africa. Though ARV drugs can increase the chances that a baby is born free of the virus, providing HIV-positive mothers with the treatment is not easy, especially in remote areas. The combination of distance, lack of transport and poverty prevents many women from making regular antenatal care visits. Such factors also lead many women to drop out of the PMTCT programmes, and to deliver their babies at home without the presence of trained medical professionals.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

In a country such as Lesotho, where one in four people is living with HIV, that one antenatal visit has become all the more critical.

Keeping mother and child healthy

Innovative prevention methods are also making a huge difference. The Lesotho Government has designed a minimum package for expectant mothers like Ms. George that includes the most effective ARV drugs and antibiotics needed to keep them, and their children, healthy. When they leave the clinic, these women are also provided with clear instructions on what medicines they need to take – and when – and what medicines they need to give to their babies after their birth.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

In an effort to expand this public health innovation ever further, UNICEF and WHO have created a colour-coded take-home box that will be rolled out to five countries in eastern and southern Africa, Lesotho included, by July. Instead of the nurses having to pack the medicines all in small pill bags, this new ‘Mother to Baby Pack’ clearly separates the ARV drugs and the antibiotics according to when they need to be taken. home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

“We had to take advantage of the first antenatal visit,” said UNICEF HIV and Maternal Health Expert Blandinah Motaung. “In case a woman delivers at home, she will have that package with her.”

A dramatic drop in infections

With the new regimen of ARV treatments, and the efforts to facilitate women in taking these medicines at home, health experts expect the number of babies born with HIV in Lesotho to drop dramatically. home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

“The expectation is that with better adherence to the treatment and more focus on helping mothers to exclusively breastfeed for six months, we can further reduce the transmission rate to less than five per cent,” said Ms. Motaung.

Take home medicine

After her check-up, Ms. George listened carefully to Marethabile Lelia, the clinic nurse, give instructions on the medicines that she would be carrying home, and a mother-to-mother counsellor reiterated the importance of sticking to her treatment.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Although Ms. George has another appointment scheduled at the clinic, Ms. Lelia doesn’t expect to see her until she returns with a six-week-old for the baby’s first round of immunizations and first HIV test – children are again tested at 12, and then 18 months.

As she prepared for her five-hour walk home, Ms. George clung to her medicines, understanding clearly they represented her best hope of ensuring that her baby would escape infection and grow up healthy.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

This lack of specifics was reminiscent of the head-in-the-sand speeches delivered by the administration of his predecessor Thabo Mbeki. Despite recent progress in some facets of the national HIV program and successfully reversing the domestic course (and discourse) on HIV/AIDS since taking office, the administration needs to continue to lower the rate of new infections and find the human and financial resources to treat millions of infected South Africans.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

A Decade of Ignominy
When Mandela left Robben Island twenty years ago, HIV prevalence in South Africa was just over 4 percent and life expectancy was sixty years. As president of South Africa, Mandela instituted progressive HIV policies, including a comprehensive “AIDS Plan,” but a failure of leadership and lack of national and provincial capacity undermined efforts. By the late 1990s, progressive policy was replaced by nearly a decade of political missteps, controversies, misinformation, and hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths. These included a costly, flawed play–which never opened–intended to educate the public about HIV/AIDS, promotion by government officials of a toxic industrial solvent to treat HIV, and refusal to provide infected pregnant mothers with AZT and nevirapine (proven anti-HIV drugs) to prevent transmission of HIV to newborns. home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

The era culminated with President Mbeki’s public questioning of HIV/AIDS science; his health minister’s promotion of garlic, beetroot, and lemons instead of anti-HIV drugs; and government refusal to provide HIV treatment to sick patients until 2004, when threatened by legal action from activists such as the Treatment Action Campaign.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Looking Ahead
South Africa is the front line in the global battle against HIV, the regional epicenter of tuberculosis, and the largest beneficiary of U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) funds–approximately $1.5 billion to date. And despite the fact that at its peak in 2001 more than 20 percent of South African adults were infected with HIV and life expectancy fell to forty-one years, the government for years obfuscated, obstructed, and dithered about the domestic HIV crisis. As a result, many died or were needlessly infected. Nonetheless, a turnaround has been slowly building since 2004, and in its first year the new administration has rolled out more progressive policies and aggressive programs.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Making the announcement early this year national government spokesperson Themba Maseko explained that it was in line with the plan to see all South Africans tested for HIV and Aids.
“All public health facilities, fixed and mobile, will be equipped to offer HIV testing and to provide antiretroviral therapy (ART),” he said at the time.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

But stakeholders and Aids activists said the programme could create confusion and cause people, in particular those from rural areas, to stay away from clinics for fear of being told that they were HIV positive.
Although recognising the benefits of the actual testing itself, the National Association of People Living with HIV and Aids (Napwa) said the danger was implementing the programme at a time when people did not know their options.
“We support the programme but we are wary of the fact that our people on the ground and in rural areas won’t know their human rights, and will allow themselves to be tested even if they do not want to be,” the organisation’s national director Nkululeko Nxesi said.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

He explained that the programme had an opt-out option, where people could refuse to be tested. “Unless government quickly scales up the human rights education that should have preceded this, it could create more panic and havoc than good,” he said.
Mthatha Olive Leaf Foundation co-ordinator Ayanda Nqiwa, whose work puts her in the middle of the rural, uneducated and poverty- stricken Nyandeni folk, said the programme would promote discrimination and would keep people away from clinics.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

She said: “The mere mention of the test will scare them off. They will not think to ask if they can get treated without being tested, and so rather than risk the negative results they will stay away, get worse and die at home.”
The Democratic Alliance’s provincial health spokesperson Pine Pienaar agreed that the HTC had good intentions, but said the policies around it were unclear. “To avoid confusion there should be boards at all centres explaining that they could opt out,” he said.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Buffalo City’s South African National Civic Organisation’s spokesperson, Bantwini Deliwe, said the test should be offered only to those who would benefit from knowing their status.
Rev Lulama Ntshingwa of the Eastern Cape Aids Council said the HTC campaign would encourage people to disclose their status and would help those who are negative to stay that way. — By NTANDO MAKHUBU, Health Reporter, ntandom@dispatch.co.zahome hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

“The target of the HCT (HIV counselling and testing) campaign is to test up to 15 million people by June 2011,” cabinet spokesman Themba Maseko told journalists.
“All public health facilities, fixed and mobile, will be equipped to offer HIV testing and to provide ART’s (antiretroviral therapy).”home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

An estimated 5.7 million of 48 million South Africans are HIV positive, according to the UN AIDS agency, with South Africa now boasting the world’s largest treatment programme after years of failure to roll out life-saving drugs.
The new plan, to meet a target of providing anti-AIDS drugs to 80 percent of South Africans in need of treatment, will be launched on April 15.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Today, despite the progress made in research, about 60 per cent of HIV-infected patients are still not treated.

“I’m very furious,” said the 2008 Nobel Prize of Medicine winner. “I’m furious also to see that people are discriminated (against).”

The self-described “scientist-activist” also lamented that “we will not reach the (global) objective of universal access to treatment by 2010″.

In Singapore’s case, “the stigma, the fact that they (people) have to pay everything, it’s the worst condition for stimulating people to be tested and treated”, said Professor Barre-Sinoussi.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Free testing, free treatment

Prof Barre-Sinoussi, who was at the Biopolis last week to share her latest research findings on natural protection against Aids, said she was initially impressed with Singapore’s “wonderful facilities”. “Then, I rebalanced my positive view,” she said.

Singapore’s proportion of new HIV cases – there were 456 in 2008 and 423 in 2007 – to the general population is “a little more” compared to France, said the research director. Throw in “stigma and discrimination” – the No 1 barrier to tackling HIV/Aids – and the figures are probably under-reported, she said.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

“Coming from a country (France) where everything is free, this is difficult to accept,” she added.

“HIV, like cancer, is a very severe deadly disease and should be considered as 100 per cent free for patients,” she stressed.

When contacted, the Ministry of Health (MOH) agreed that the stigma of HIV was “still prevalent” here.

It is working to encourage greater acceptance of people with HIV. home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

But MOH pointed out that unlike France, where the state-funded healthcare system “means a higher tax burden”, Singapore’s approach of “heavy Government subsidies and co-payment” allowed for affordable healthcare without heavy taxes.

“Like all other patients, HIV/Aids patients have access to subsidised … care,” said MOH. Patients here can use Medisave and Medifund.

HIV prevalance among Singapore residents is “similar” to other developed nations, said MOH. home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

It was about 0.1 to 0.2 per cent last year, while UNAIDS 2008 figures showed France’s HIV prevalence at 0.4 per cent.

MOH said it had “expected” that more HIV-infected people would be discovered as MOH encouraged testing. Over half of 2008’s new cases had late-stage HIV infection.

But what is the cost to the economy when young people who should be working die, asked Prof Barre-Sinoussi, suggesting that Singapore conduct studies to determine the cost. “The answer (in similar studies) was clearly in favour of access to free treatment,” she said.

Action for Aids’ executive director Lionel Lee said free treatment subjects the healthcare system to abuses and “may not translate to long-term economic benefits” because of the side effects of HIV medication.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

At an HIV research meeting this week, boffins from the World Health Organisation revived a mathematical model that shows that if we test everyone in Africa for HIV once a year and give everyone who tests positive expensive drugs right away and for the rest of their lives, we’ll wipe out new HIV infections within seven years. That’s because HIV is passed on most easily when there’s lots of virus in the infected person’s blood and body fluids. Antiretroviral medicines cut the “viral load” (the amount of virus in the body), so they make it more difficult to pass on HIV. Ergo, more treatment means fewer new infections.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Sadly, it’s not that simple. For one thing, HIV is most infectious in the few months after a person is first infected. Even if everyone got tested annually, we’d miss most of these new infections. Second, people’s viral load spikes upwards if they get another sexually transmitted infection (STI), or if they stop taking their medicine because the clinic runs out of stock, the meds make them feel sick, or they went on a three-day bender and forgot their pills. Interrupting treatment also allows the virus to develop resistance to drugs, and that leads to more spikes in viral load. Most importantly, antiretrovirals keep you alive and well enough to be out there meeting new sex partners. That’s a good thing, obviously, but it also means that people who have HIV are going to have more chances to pass it on during those times when their viral load is spiky.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

There’s more. In countries like the UK where treatment has been available for over a decade, Aids has virtually disappeared. HIV, unfortunately, has not. A few years after antiretrovirals became widely available, new infections among gay men in the UK began to rise. We’ve seen the same thing in Australia, the United States and practically everywhere else we have data. One reason for that is that gay men use condoms less now than they did when HIV = Aids = a horrible death. Now, though, HIV = a pill every day. Boring, but not the end of the world, unless you’re the taxpayer picking up the tab for it or the epidemiologist worrying that drug-resistant strains of HIV will reignite Aids.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

On top of that, many people assume that if the person they’re having sex with is infected, they’ll be on meds and so not very infectious. Which may be true if they’re not in that early peak of infectiousness, have taken all their pills diligently, and don’t have another STI. Though since condom use is dropping across the board, other STI rates are soaring. In short, more people living with HIV, combined with more unprotected sex is outweighing the effects of lower viral load in places where the population is well informed, HIV testing is actively promoted, and treatment has been free and universally available. But in Africa it will be different.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Our computer model assumes every African will get tested for HIV every year, everyone who tests positive will start taking antiretrovirals immediately and 98 out of 100 will never miss a dose. On top of that, though gay men in rich countries use condoms far less now than they did before we had antiretrovirals, we assume that heterosexuals in Africa are going to use them more once the most visible and frightening face of Aids disappears.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

On the strength of this model, which bears as much relation to reality as an MP’s expense claim, we are going to hail expanded HIV treatment in Africa as the new answer to prevention. A triumph of optimism over common sense.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation/Magic Johnson Testing America Tour arrived in Columbia on Wednesday and is offering free tests to anyone who is interested for two days this week.

The tests are given in their new state-of-the-art mobile facility that can be found at Lewis Scott Court in Eastover from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Thursday.

The six month tour, that will span 48 states when completed, hopes to provide awareness about the importance of testing in addition to the free testing facility.

The South Carolina HIV/AIDS Council has teamed up with the AHF to provide local support.

According to a report done in 2007 by the Centers for Disease Control, South Carolina is home to over 14,000 residents infected with AIDS.  That’s 1.4 percent of the national total.

Source: midlandsconnect.com