Posts tagged HIV

The Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) is a bit of a slouch at taking credit for its achievements. But those in the know appreciate that the world would be much poorer without ITM’s input, particularly in the fight against diseases like HIV and Ebola. Indeed, ITM has been making valuable contributions to global health for the last century. Veteran Kenyan journalist Wycliffe Muga recently interviewed Roeland Scholtalbers, the Head of Communications at ITM, on the research institution’s work in Africa.

Dr. Max Essex helped stop a plague. You can’t say that about many people, but you can say that about the Lasker Professor of Health Sciences at Harvard University. He has been involved with AIDS research since the beginning of the epidemic. He was one of the first researchers to hypothesize that a retrovirus was the cause of AIDS. His laboratory identified the envelope proteins of HIV commonly used for AIDS tests. He and his team conducted several breakthrough studies on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. His current work focuses on the use of antiretroviral drugs to treat and prevent HIV in adults.

As the home of some of the biggest mineral deposits known to mankind, it’s not a surprise that the sub region of southern Africa has alarming numbers of tuberculosis.  In this piece, Mozambique’s minister of health Nazira Karimo Vali Abdula writes of a new regional initiative to combat the disease.

Researchers have announced that a new clinical trial HVTN 702 to develop the world’s first vaccine against HIV has been launched in South Africa, across 14 sites. The clinical trial is the largest and most advanced study to be conducted in the country, and scientists are optimistic that the world’s first preventive HIV vaccine could soon be a reality. The trial, which is the first major HIV vaccine efficacy study in seven years could lead to a licensed HIV vaccine, a giant step in the fight against HIV/Aids.

In much of Africa, HIV is no longer the medieval plague it used to be. Which is not to say the virus still doesn’t pose a significant threat to the continent’s future. HIV is a wily fiend and our hard-earned gains can be quickly eroded if complacency slips in. Thankfully, as Kenyan HIV activist Jacqueline Wambui explains to Dr. Diana Wangari in this interview, science is helping keep the virus at bay by giving women greater control in the bedroom than they’ve traditionally had.

A court in Malawi has found Eric Aniva, a man paid to have sex with under-age girls guilty of engaging in harmful cultural practices in contravention of the country’s Gender Act. The HIV-positive man known as “fisi” or hyena confessed in July that he was paid to have sex with pubertal children as part of initiation rites, a revelation which caused an international outcry, prompting his arrest at President Peter Mutharika’s orders.

A team of UK scientists from five research institutions is optimistic that the world’s first HIV cure could soon be a reality after promising findings of a new treatment therapy that could kill all traces of the virus. The first patient of the study was treated with the therapy, which is a first-of-its-kind. The new therapy works by activating the dormant or sleeping HIV containing cells so they can be identified by the immune system. The immune system, which is boosted by two vaccines, attacks and kills the newly activated cells.

A Kenyan-based podcast, hosted by two strong and outspoken women, is breaking down misconceptions and claiming the space for women to talk about sex

South Africa has started implementing a major national HIV test and treat programme, a landmark development in combating HIV/Aids. Every HIV positive person will be put on treatment regardless of their CD4 count. Prior to this programme, only HIV positive people with a CD4 cell count below 500 were put on treatment.

In a rare case in football, Egyptian soccer club Ittihad of Alexandria has cancelled the contract of new signing, Cameroonian striker Samuel Nlend after medical tests allegedly revealed the player is HIV positive. The club reportedly posted Nled’s test results on their official website.