HIV treatment in First Nations communities in the global spotlight

The 21st International AIDS Conference kicks off in Durban on Monday.

Sixteen years ago, the HIV/AIDS pandemic on the continent was out of control.

The papal nuncio to South Africa, Archbishop Peter Wells, and the Archbishop of Durban, Cardinal Wilfred Napier were among those welcoming participants to the opening session of the three day pre-conference.

Almost a year ago, July 30, 2015, we released the National HIV/AIDS Strategy: Updated to 2020, which is our nation’s roadmap for a comprehensive response to HIV in the United States.

While some 17 million people are now on HIV therapy, another 20 million still are not. As a result, over a decade ago, the South African and U.S. governments forged an unprecedented partnership to address this scourge head-on.

Speaking at the IAC planning meeting in Harare yesterday, Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa, who will lead the Zimbabwe delegation, said the key message to the conference was prevention.

For instance, she said, there are now fewer than 5,000 cases of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in South Africa every year, down from an annual toll of about 80,000 annually in the years after the 2000 AIDS conference. In a letter posted on his foundation’s website in March of this year, he pushed back against critics of his record on HIV, repeating his assertion that a “virus can not cause a syndrome.”For those like Ndlovu, the shift in South Africa’s response to the HIV epidemic has saved and changed lives.”It is a normal life”.

But she says many people are still in denial and her job is far from over.

“So there are some visible changes that have occurred. that are making people feel a lot more positive”, Shisana said.

Professor Thumbi Ndung’u says while tremendous progress has been made in terms of treatment, the conference will likely tackle the latest developments in HIV prevention and cure strategies as well as socio-economic interventions to mitigate the effect of HIV in vulnerable communities. “As long as you take your treatment and follow what your doctors are telling you, everything will be OK”, she said. There are now more than 30 clinical studies under way around the world to investigate promising new vaccine candidates. Diagnosed with HIV in 2002, she received only vitamins as treatment at first. “We have so much more to do”.

A major topic will be the possibility of curing HIV – something that was widely regarded as science fiction in 2000. I was fortunate to attend and present my research.

“If they have sex with men five more years older than them then they are at risk of getting infected is higher”.

“The past four years have demonstrated both significant progress in the search for an HIV cure, and the importance of maintaining and expanding the pace of research in this dynamic and rapidly evolving field”, says IAS president Chris Beyrer.

To help with the process, she and colleagues have crafted a global strategy to move the research forward, now published in Nature Medicine.