How many times have you started to have a conversation with someone about Hepatitis C only to have it blow up in your face? Have you ever heard someone say something about Hep C that didn't seem quite right to you? You were probably right something was amiss. A discussion about Hepatitis C can...
As per Wikipedia, the definition of a stigma is as follows: "Stigma is a word that originally means a "sign", "point", or "branding mark"." Wikipedia goes on to call stigma "A badge of shame, a physical mark of infamy or disgrace." Damn that w...
Recently, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) issued a statement that all Baby Boomers should be tested for Hepatitis C. The question often comes up as to why this particular segment of people is so vulnerable. What does being born between 1945 and 1965 have to do with Hepatitis C? What was di...
Buyer Beware! There are several snake oil salesmen out there who are claiming to have cured their own Hepatitis C with herbs, supplements and parking lot gravel. Okay, maybe not the parking lot gravel but it might as well be. What you need to remember is that there are two different types of...
Most every adult woman (and an occasional man) has enjoyed a manicure and a pedicure at a nail salon or spa. That 30 minute pedicure can be so relaxing but are you aware of the danger lurking in that nail salon? Although few individuals recognize the medical risks associated with this common pr...
The use of condoms among the youth has reached 53 per cent within the last 12 months, according to the latest demographic health census report.
The 2010 demographic health census also shows that HIV infection rate has stagnated at three percent from 10 per cent since 2000.
Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, the coordinator of HIV and STI's care and treatment department at Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC), says this is due to various awareness campaigns around the country.
He said the youth suffered less HIV infections than older people.
"People ranging between 38 and 40 years are more vulnerable than the youth because normally, married people practise unprotected sex more than the youth who have understood the dangers of HIV/AIDS and adopted the use of condoms," Nsanzimana explained.
He further revealed that despite 10,000 Rwandans dying of AIDS each year, its mortality rate has decreased by up to 87 percent while antiretroviral use risen to 94 percent.
Antiretroviral drugs are distributed free of charge to patients and are available at the nearest health centres.
The report further shows that mother-to-child infection has also decreased from five per cent to one percent, but according to Nsanzimana, this would be eradicated in the next three years.
"The rate of infection in major towns is bigger than in (rural) provinces. In Kigali, the percentage of infected people has risen to seven percent (which is) over three times that of rural areas as other provinces have an average rate of two percent," Nsanzimana said.
He assured that much was being done to gradually stamp out the pandemic.
"We plan to go to all cells and test people for free and teach them about HIV/AIDS. We particularly encourage women to test before they get engaged to their partners," he said, in reference to the ongoing voluntary HIV tests in Kigali.
The exercise is presently taking place in Gatenga area of Kicukiro District.
Eric Rusingiza, 25, one of those who underwent HIV test yesterday, said: "It is not good to live without knowing your sero status. I saw others being tested and decided to do so as well.
It is not necessarily that people get tested because they have had sex; there are many other causes of infection apart from that".
Speaking to The New Times, the president of Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Rwanda, Beatrice Kagoyire, revealed that her organisation has over 1,480 associations with 80,816 members around the country.
"When someone joins any of the associations, it is easy for us to assist him or her, and it helps to overcome despair because you meet others and you share experiences. When you are alone, you feel lonely which may lead to an early death," she noted.
Please sign the ATC Salvage Therapy Petition Join us in asking Congressman Alcee Hastings and Congresswomen Maxine Waters to send a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter to Anthony Fauci, Director of NIAID, asking for the federal facilitation of apricitabine (ATC). ATC is a phase III nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) that has been shown to be safe and effective in treating people with HIV. It works against viruses that are resistant to several other nukes and could ...
Researchers from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the University of Massachusetts Medical School announced today at CROI2013 the discovery of the first infant functionally cured of HIV. The baby, a female now two and a half years old, received 3 HIV medications when brought to the hospital at 30 hours old. Viral load tests were performed during the first few weeks that showed a rapidly decreasing viral load which reached ...
At the 19th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington D.C., the CDC reported that only 1 out of 4 HIV patients in the U.S. have HIV under control, which is defined as complete viral suppression. Warning bells should be ringing in the scientific and HIV advocacy communities. While much progress has been made in the last three decades in the treatment of HIV, tens of thousands of people living with HIV (PLWH) are currently struggling to construct viable treat...
Paige Rawl is 17 and HIV positive, but while her life has been shaped by HIV it isn't ruled by it. When Paige Rawl starts her senior year at Indianapolis’s Herron High School next month, she'll be cheer captain and a member of the student government and prom committee. This summer, the 17-year-old held down a part-time job at Hollister, hawking the popular Southern California-inspired clothing brand. The all-American girl — who happens to be HIV positive. Paige was in...
The HIV community has been abuzz with the August FDA approval of what had been termed “the Quad”, the second one-pill-once-a-day combination antiretroviral drug. Marketed by Gilead under the name Stribild, the drug contains two NRTIs (tenofovir and emtricitabine), an integrase inhibitor (elvitegravir) and an integrase booster (cobicistat) and is approved for use in treatment naïve patients with either drug resistant or wild type virus. In comparison to Atripla, the first...

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for SUSTIVA® (efavirenz), including dosing recommendations for...

California and other states would be pressured to amend or repeal criminal laws that single out HIV-positive people under a bipartisan bill co-authored and introduced this week by Rep. Barbara...
Mission Statement
At HIV Haven we wish to provide our readers with vital cutting edge information to help expand HIV knowledge and promote activism, particularly that which works towards an end to the HIV pandemic. It is our desire to bring to you the scientific, medical and social advances that given the appropriate attention and support, could change the course of the HIV pandemic, lessen the devastating effects of HIV and AIDS, better the quality and quantity of life for people living with HIV and even yield an eventual end to the HIV pandemic. We also provide the basics of HIV transmission and treatment.
We will focus on issues such as innovative drug development, strategic activist campaigns, HIV relationships and novel HIV and HIV cure research. We also will bring you advances in Hepatitis C (HCV), a common HIV co-infection. Whether you are living with HIV/AIDS, HIV and HCV, love someone who is, are an activist, advocate, researcher, physician or just an interested party, we hope here at HIV Haven we can help you find what you are looking for.