CHICAGO – Traditions have to begin somewhere, and as this prevention-focused conference wrapped up its second meeting on Thursday, presentations continued one tradition began at its first meeting in 2014 and proposed a new one, recognizing work that both inform research and enable it possibilities to be realized. Tributes to Dr. Ward Cates by colleagues Dr. Mike Cohen and […]
CHICAGO – Kenya’s medical circumcision program launched early with ambition, charting circumcisions performed for 1.3 million men by the end of 2015, leaving evaluators asking what is and what will be the impact of this HIV prevention intervention on the epidemic? Through the lens of the clinical trials that showed that circumcision can reduce the risk […]
CHICAGO – Anne Philpott of the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development got curious as she scanned the program of this uniquely HIV-prevention oriented conference, and conducted a keyword search. She found: 996 references to PrEP (or Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis); 841 references to sex (including references to sexually transmitted infections); 219 references to ARV (or antiretroviral medicines that […]
CHICAGO – The last time she visited Africa, Sharon Hillier recounts, she met a local woman who was unimpressed with the work scientists had done so far to protect women living in low-resource settings, exposed to multiple risks. You need to get back to work and make something we can use, Hillier, a microbiologist at the University […]
CHICAGO – Presentations this morning highlighted efforts to reach female sex workers with data from studies in South Africa, Rwanda and Kenya that provided HIV self-testing, antiretroviral treatment, pre-exposure prophylactic use of antiretroviral drugs — PrEP — and other services. In a South Africa study looking at the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of engaging female sex workers […]
CHICAGO – While basic science discussed here lays the ground work for steps through laboratories and clinics that are hoped to lead eventually to lasting control of HIV, a starting session today explored the realities that, confronted immediately, will slow the pandemic’s momentum, and lower its toll. From the hardest hit countries in Africa to the […]
CHICAGO – As the quest of new biomedical tools and interventions to prevent HIV infection and illness continues, Science Speaks is in Chicago this week covering the HIV Research For Prevention — HIVR4P 2016 — Conference. The conference promises news of developments in HIV treatment as prevention, pre-exposure prophylaxis, circumcision (or, as they say here, TasP, […]
HIV
While plan will target 48 “hot spots” with services, and people at high risks with PrEP, will it change policies that fuel HIV? More details are […]
Tuberculosis
With the release of a “pre-final text” of updated guidelines for treatment of multidrug- and rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis, the World Health Organization made official substantial changes to […]
Research & Development
A trial to test the safety of, and immune response prompted by, the latest candidate for a vaccine to protect against Zika virus infection has begun […]
Policy
Drawing on previously published findings and on-the-ground interviews, a report from Planned Parenthood details damage to global health gains, including in closed programs, weakened civil society, […]