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As Zimbabwe makes strides on HIV/AIDS, LGBTQ+ people left behind

As Zimbabwe makes strides on HIV/AIDS, LGBTQ+ people left behind

AS a gay man in Zimbabwe, Admore braced himself for a hostile reception from medical staff when he went for an HIV test at a city-run clinic in Harare five years ago. His worries proved justified. "When I (said) I was gay ... they gave each other that look that made me feel they thought I was not normal," said Admore, who asked to use a pseudonym to protect his identity. Despite such uncomfortable dealings with health workers, Admore - who tested positive - has been able to access life-saving antiretroviral treatment (ART). But his experience helps explain why LGBTQ+…
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Antibiotic resistance causes more deaths than malaria and HIV/Aids combined. What Africa is doing to fight this silent epidemic

Antibiotic resistance causes more deaths than malaria and HIV/Aids combined. What Africa is doing to fight this silent epidemic

EACH year antimicrobial resistance – the ability of microbes to survive agents designed to kill them – claims more lives than malaria and HIV/Aids combined. Africa bears the brunt of this development, which thrives on inequality and poverty. Nadine Dreyer asked Tom Nyirenda, a research scientist with over 27 years’ experience in infectious diseases, what health organisations on the continent are doing to fight this threat to medical progress. TOM NYIRENDA, Extraordinary Senior Lecture in the Department of Global Health, Stellenbosch University What is antimicrobial resistance? Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no…
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COVID-19 took toll on AIDS fight, UNAIDS chief says

COVID-19 took toll on AIDS fight, UNAIDS chief says

JULIE STEENHUYSEN NEW infections and deaths from HIV/AIDS may increase as the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted prevention measures, said UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima in an interview airing on Wednesday at the Reuters Next conference. Byanyima, who is also United Nations under-secretary-general, said that during the first pandemic phase in particular, fewer people opted to be tested and some dropped out of treatment because of long lines at clinics or other public safety measures that impeded access to prevention measures. "We do expect that in the coming years, we might see more deaths, we might see more new infections as…
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Are COVID-19 vaccines safe for people living with HIV?

Are COVID-19 vaccines safe for people living with HIV?

RACHEL SAVAGE AS the first COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out around the world, HIV/AIDS experts and advocates have sought to reassure those living with HIV that they can safely get the coronavirus vaccination. Some countries have recommended that HIV-positive people should be given priority for vaccination against COVID-19 once the most at-risk groups - the elderly and frontline healthcare workers - have received their shots. Germany has said HIV-positive people will be included in a third tier of priority patients - along with the over-60s, people with conditions such as heart, kidney and liver disease, and those working in key…
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Diabetes targets would cost more but the impact would be worth it: here’s how

Diabetes targets would cost more but the impact would be worth it: here’s how

SETTING global health targets, which is often done by multinational organisations, such as the United Nations or World Health Organisation (WHO), is commonly used to improve health outcomes. For example, the United Nations target to improve access to treatment for HIV has resulted in many more people receiving the treatment that they need, which has saved lives. JUSTINE INA DAVIES, Professor of Global Health, Institute for Applied Research, University of Birmingham DAVID FLOOD, Research Fellow, University of Michigan JENNIFER MANNE-GOEHLER, Research Fellow in Medicine, Harvard University SANJAY BASU, Director of Research, Center for Primary Care, Harvard Medical School Now, the…
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Pioneering AIDS researcher and doctor Joseph Sonnabend, 1933-2021

Pioneering AIDS researcher and doctor Joseph Sonnabend, 1933-2021

HUGO GREENHALGH PIONEERING AIDS researcher Joseph Sonnabend, one of the first doctors to warn of the emergence of a new virus in the late 1970s, has died at the age of 88 in a London hospital. Sonnabend first noticed the rise in the number of similar illnesses among his gay male patients at a private sexual health clinic he had founded in Greenwich Village in downtown New York. But his warning in 1979 went unheeded. "I wrote to the city health department, asking, 'Are people reporting this? Am I the only one seeing this? Is there something going in the…
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‘AIDS Patient Zero was not African’

‘AIDS Patient Zero was not African’

HUGO GREENHALGH AS World Health Organization scientists comb the Chinese city of Wuhan for the first cases of the coronavirus, a Canadian infectious disease expert believes he has found the source of another pandemic, HIV/AIDS, more than a century earlier. In a revised edition of his 2011 book "The Origin of AIDS", published last month, Jacques Pepin questions the "cut hunter" theory that the blood of a chimpanzee likely infected someone with the simian variant of HIV in Cameroon in the early 20th century. He now believes it is likely that the first instance of the zoonotic transmission of the…
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African scientists on the rise

African scientists on the rise

SETH ONYANGO AFRICAN scientists are staking a claim at the world’s scientific high table, generating cutting-edge breakthroughs in the fight against malaria, HIV/AIDS, maternal health and TB and boosting agricultural productivity. Despite little global spotlight − at home where it matters, as well as overseas – African scientists are creating home-grown solutions to some of the world’s biggest maladies. The World Bank has released a report indicating that despite an increase, Africa’s contributions to the world’s research remains at a measly 1.1 per cent. But there are caveats. One is that the research that IS created is extremely wide-reaching, showing…
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How COVID-19 measures have affected food safety in East Africa

How COVID-19 measures have affected food safety in East Africa

FOODBORNE diseases are thought to impose a health burden on society comparable to the “big three”: malaria, HIV/AIDs and tuberculosis. FLORENCE MUTUA, Scientist, International Livestock Research Institute DELIA GRACE, Professor Food Safety Systems at the Natural Resources Institute (UK) and contributing scientist ILRI, International Livestock Research Institute ERASTUS KANG'ETHE, Professor, University of Nairobi Common foodborne diseases affect tens of millions of people every year. They include salmonellosis, which causes stomach upsets, norovirus, which can cause severe vomiting and diarrhoea, and listeriosis, which can cause severe infections of the bloodstream and brain. Children and people with weak immune systems are affected…
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Ending HIV in children is way off target: where to focus action now

Ending HIV in children is way off target: where to focus action now

WORLD leaders have recently, under the auspices of the United Nations, renewed their commitment to ending AIDS. The new phase offers much-needed hope for the future, provided the commitments made are fulfilled. KAYMARLIN GOVENDER, Research Director at The Health Economics and HIV and AIDS Research Division (HEARD), University of KwaZulu-Natal LINDA-GAIL BEKKER, Professor of medicine and deputy director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town The adopted political declaration and its recommendations offer strategies for ending mother-to-child transmission of HIV and paediatric AIDS. They also address inequalities faced…
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