God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

07/11/2010 • 12:29 pm Comments Off on POZ: Newly Discovered Antibody Kills Up to 91 Percent of HIV Strains

POZ: Newly Discovered Antibody Kills Up to 91 Percent of HIV Strains

U.S. government scientists have discovered three potent new antibodies, one of which can neutralize up to 91 percent of all HIV strains. These discoveries were published online July 8 in Science and were reported by The Wall Street Journal. Though the scientists acknowledge that their findings represent a hopeful step forward, they caution that it will take a lot of time and effort before they can be translated into something that will prevent or treat HIV infection.

Antibodies are a key element in the immune system that our body uses to defend itself from bacteria and viruses. Antibodies kill these microbes directly or flag the foreign invaders for destruction by other immune cells. Unfortunately, HIV’s outer surface is so easily changeable that antibodies—most of which can neutralize only a few strains—fail to keep it in check. This has made designing a vaccine, which works by provoking the body to produce antibodies, such a frustrating endeavor.

Following a string of failures in vaccine science, researchers have turned in recent years to a search for broadly neutralizing antibodies, which can kill multiple strains of HIV. Several have been identified, but none have been able to neutralize more than 40 percent of HIV strains, and all were quite difficult for the body to produce naturally.

The Wall Street Journal reports that, “The [new] antibodies were discovered in the cells of a 60-year-old African-American gay man, known in the scientific literature as Donor 45, whose body made the antibodies naturally. Researchers screened 25 million of his cells to find 12 that produced the antibodies.”

It’s not yet clear whether or how these new antibodies can be used to prevent and treat HIV. Researchers will focus on several possibilities. One approach entails giving the antibodies directly to people, specifically in cases to prevent transmission from mothers to their babies. Other approaches range from building traditional vaccines with the antibodies, to the developing gene therapies.
Whichever strategy is most promising, it will likely take some time before it is available. Gary Nabel, MD, PhD—one of the leaders of the studies and a director of the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland—told the Journal, “We’re going to be at this for a while” before any benefit is seen in the clinic.

Source: http://www.poz.com/rssredir/articles/HIV_neutralizing_antibody_761_18701.shtml

Filed under: HIV and AIDS, HIV Prevention, HIV Treatment, Medical and Research, , ,

07/09/2010 • 3:43 pm Comments Off on PlusNews Africa: Money no protection from HIV

PlusNews Africa: Money no protection from HIV

JOHANNESBURG, 6 July 2010 (PlusNews) – A new study has challenged widely held assumptions about income level in relation to HIV, finding that neither wealth nor poverty are reliable predictors of HIV infection in Africa.
Previously, the argument that poverty drove HIV epidemics was supported by the World Bank and UNAIDS, as well as less reliable authorities like former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who told the International AIDS Conference in Durban in 2000 that the disease was a partner with “poverty, suffering, social disadvantage and inequity”.
More recent research suggests that the reality is far more complex. For example, Botswana and South Africa, described as two of the wealthiest countries on the continent, also have among the highest rates of HIV infection.
Nevertheless, the idea that poverty fuels the spread of HIV has persisted as “a very dominant narrative”, according to Justin Parkhurst of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Parkhurst analyzed and compared data on HIV and wealth from demographic and health surveys in 12 sub-Saharan African countries with generalized epidemics (national prevalence rates higher than 1 percent); his findings are published in the July issue of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

He noted that in lower-income countries HIV prevalence tended to rise in tandem with wealth – in Uganda and Cote d’Ivoire, for example, women in the highest income bracket had the highest HIV prevalence.
In countries with a per capita gross domestic product higher than US$2,000, the link between wealth and prevalence was less clear.
Parkhurst also found that the relationship between wealth and HIV changed over time. A survey was conducted In Tanzania in 2003, and another in 2008; in the intervening five-year period, HIV prevalence declined among women in higher income brackets and rose among those in the lower income groups. Among men, prevalence stayed the same in the poorest group but was lower in all other groups, with the biggest declines in the highest income groups.
“HIV spreads through sexual behaviours, and these are social behaviours that change over time and are responsive to outside influences,” Parkhurst told IRIN/PlusNews. He compared the way HIV affected different social groups with the way tobacco use and obesity once affected mainly the rich, but were now bigger problems among the poor.

Wealthier people were often harder hit early in an HIV epidemic, probably because of their broader social and sexual networks. “Over time, the wealthy tend to be more educated [about HIV risk] and more likely to think about their future health,” said Parkhurst.
However, these trends are by no means universal and the patterns for men and women differ. In Swaziland, for example, which has the highest HIV prevalence of all the countries Parkhurst looked at, there was little evidence of a link between household wealth and individual prevalence.
Know your epidemic
Parkhurst’s findings have implications for one-size-fits-all prevention campaigns that do not take into account the complex and changing ways in which wealth, education level and gender can affect risk-taking behaviours.

“We need to educate people [about HIV] in a way that’s relevant to their context,” he said. “It’s about letting local actors to find out what’s going to work best. If we try to work out the solution from London … it’s unlikely to work.”

Parkhurst said “bottom-up” HIV prevention initiatives targeting the specific lifestyles and risk behaviours of a community were more likely to work. This approach is already catching on, with UNAIDS urging countries to “know your epidemic” and design prevention programmes accordingly.
“Health practitioners know they have to diagnose a problem before they can treat it,” he said. “I think the international community is starting to recognize the importance of addressing structural drivers of HIV, not just broadly, but to look at the specifics for specific communities.”

Source: http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=89746

Filed under: HIV and AIDS, HIV Prevention, Politics and Society, Society and living environment, , , ,

07/08/2010 • 3:38 pm Comments Off on POZ: HIV Stem Cell Therapy in Mice Is Successful

POZ: HIV Stem Cell Therapy in Mice Is Successful

Source: http://www.poz.com/rssredir/articles/hiv_zincfinger_sangamo_761_18693.shtml

Researchers are reporting that a new method for altering the genes of immune cells to make them resistant to HIV infection was a success in mice. The study was published online on July 2 in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
The new type of therapy, which treats stem cells with engineered zinc-finger nucleases, is designed to help the body grow new CD4 cells that don’t carry one of the key coreceptors—CCR5—that HIV requires to enter and infect a cell. In this experiment, Nathalia Holt, PhD, from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles, and her colleagues compared two groups of mice that are bred to have a human immune system. The first group was given untreated stem cells. The second group received a batch of zinc-finger-treated cells.
Holt’s team found that the treated stem cells multiplied rapidly in the mice and were highly resistant to HIV infection. By comparison, the untreated cells did not spawn HIV-resistant cells, and the mice who receive the untreated cells experienced HIV-related CD4 cell losses, indicative of disease progression.
Sangamo BioSciences is developing this therapy, and small exploratory studies of zinc-finger therapy are already taking place in humans.

Filed under: HIV and AIDS, Medical and Research, , , , ,

07/05/2010 • 11:50 pm Comments Off on 05.07.2010 New website

05.07.2010 New website

Creating a new website is always a bigger story.. chosing the right features, the right functionality. We are re-designing in the moment our HOPE Cape Town website and lots of work will go into every detail. Checking all the information, adding new ones, chosing the right pictures.. it is amazing what one has to consider to get it right at the end. And whether we get it right or not, that our supporters will decide – they have to like it and to find the information easily they want to know about.

So today another meeting on the new website – and an interview with the “Domradio” in Cologne – not about HIV and AIDS but about the soccer world cup and the perception of Germans in South Africa. One can feel that the world cup draws to an end, more requests came in on interviews for the coming week and the topic is always the same: What has this soccer world cup brought to the ordinary people of South Africa? We know that FIFA got their share on proceeds, that SJB could promote himself in many ways (and advertising himself as a good candidate for the Nobel Peace Price) – but what is the ordinary person thinking? What will be the legacy – and the debt for the future of South Africa? What does it mean for the fight against HIV and AIDS?

Filed under: General, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Politics and Society, Reflection, Society and living environment, , , , , ,

07/05/2010 • 10:52 am 2

Global Commission on Law & HIV/AIDS

Press release of UNAIDS:

Launch of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law:
“Addressing punitive laws and human rights violations blocking effective AIDS responses”

Geneva, 24 June 2010 – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with the support of the UNAIDS Secretariat, launched the Global Commission on HIV and the Law today. The Commission’s aim is to increase understanding of the impact of the legal environment on national HIV responses. Its aim is to focus on how laws and law enforcement can support, rather than block, effective HIV responses.
The Global Commission on HIV and the Law brings together world-renowned public leaders from many walks of life and regions. Experts on law, public health, human rights, and HIV will support the Commissions’ work. Commissioners will gather and share evidence about the extent of the impact of law and law enforcement on the lives of people living with HIV and those most vulnerable to HIV. They will make recommendations on how the law can better support universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. Regional hearings, a key innovation, will provide a space in which those most directly affected by HIV-related laws can share their experiences with policy makers. This direct interaction is critical. It has long been recognized that the law is a critical part of any HIV response, whether it be formal or traditional law, law enforcement or access to justice. All of these can help determine whether people living with or affected by HIV can access services, protect themselves from HIV, and live fulfilling lives grounded in human dignity.
Nearly 30 years into the epidemic, however, there are many countries in which negative legal environments undermine HIV responses and punish, rather than protect, people in need. Where the law does not advance justice, it stalls progress. Laws that inappropriately criminalize HIV transmission or exposure can discourage people from getting tested for HIV or revealing their HIV positive status. Laws which criminalize men who have sex with men, transgender people, drug-users, and/or sex workers can make it difficult to provide essential HIV prevention or treatment services to people at high risk of HIV infection. In some countries, laws and law enforcement fail to protect women from rape inside and outside marriage – thus increasing women’s vulnerability to HIV.
At the same time, there are also many examples where the law has had a positive impact on the lives of people living with or vulnerable to HIV. The law has protected the right to treatment, the right to be free from HIV-related discrimination in the workplace, in schools and in military services; and has protected the rights of prisoners to have access to HIV prevention services. Where the law has guaranteed women equal inheritance and property rights, it has reduced the impact of HIV on women, children, families and communities.
With more than four million people on life-saving treatment and a seventeen per cent decrease in new infections between 2001 and 2008, there is hope that the HIV epidemic is at a turning
point. To reach country’s own universal access targets and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), persistent barriers like punitive laws and human rights violations will need to be overcome.
UNDP Administrator Helen Clark believes that the next generation of HIV responses must focus on improving legal, regulatory, and social environments to advance human rights and gender equality goals. “Some 106 countries still report having laws and policies present significant obstacles to effective HIV responses. We need environments which protect and promote the human rights of those who are most vulnerable to HIV infection and to the impact of HIV, and of those living with HIV/AIDS,” Helen Clark said.
Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director has made removing punitive laws a priority area for UNAIDS. “The time has come for the HIV response to respond to the voice of the voiceless,” he said. “We must stand shoulder to shoulder with people who are living with HIV and who are most at risk. By transforming negative legal environments, we can help tomorrow’s leaders achieve an AIDS-free generation.”
The Global Commission on HIV and the Law is being supported by a broad range of partners and stakeholders, including donors such as the Ford Foundation and AusAID. Murray Proctor, Australia’s Ambassador on HIV, expressed strong support for the Commission and the work it is tasked to do. “We commend UNDP and the UNAIDS programme for courageously taking this work forward, and we welcome the opportunity to contribute and support.”
The Commission’s work will take place over an 18 month period –mobilizing communities across the globe and promoting public dialogue on how to make the law work for an effective response to HIV. The findings and recommendations of the Commission will be announced in December 2011.
For more information contact:
Adam Rogers | Geneva | Senior Strategic Communications Advisor |tel. +41 22 917 85 41| adam.rogers@undp.org
Natalie Amar| New York | Commission Secretariat |tel. +41 22 917 85 41| natalie.amar@undp.org
Saya Oka | UNAIDS | Geneva | Communications Officer |tel. +41 22 791 1697| okas@unaids.org
UNDP is the UN’s global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners.
UNAIDS: Leveraging the AIDS response, UNAIDS works to build political action and to promote the rights all of people for better results for global health and development. Globally, it sets policy and is the source of HIV-related data. In countries, UNAIDS brings together the resources of the UNAIDS Secretariat and 10 UN system organizations for coordinated and accountable efforts to unite the world against AIDS. http://www.unaids.org

http://data.unaids.org/pub/PressRelease/2010/20100624_pr_lawcom_en.pdf

Filed under: General, HIV and AIDS, Politics and Society, , , , ,

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