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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...
Maltese nun helps AIDS victims in Zambia.
As Sr Catherine Farrugia flicked through a newspaper on her flight to Malta, an article outlining the numerous power cuts affecting the islands caught her eye.
“Not here too,” she thought with a smile, explaining that stretches of Zambia, where she carries out missionary work, are also subject to frequent power cuts: “With the difference that each power cut can sometimes last up to three entire days.”
After 38 years of living in Zambia, southern Africa, power outages are just one of the many daily challenges the 68-year-old nun faces as part of her work.
Zambia has one of the world’s most devastating HIV and AIDS epidemics. An estimated 980,000 currently live with HIV.
Around 45,000 people die per year as a result of AIDS, while 690,000 children are orphaned due to the disease.
A qualified nurse, Sr Catherine runs an HIV/AIDS programme at the Tugwashanye Home Base Centre in the compounds of Monze and Manungu, on the outskirts of the capital city Lusaka.
She administers blood tests and tends to the physical and emotional needs of those afflicted with HIV/AIDS. She is assisted by two counsellors and 30 Zambian caregivers who look after the bedridden.
“They are less busy now, as the number of bedridden patients has decreased during the past few years thanks to the effectiveness of antiretroviral treatment,” Sr Catherine says.
Since childhood, Sr Catherine cultivated a desire to work in mission lands. Her resolve was further strengthened upon watching a documentary about the Jesuits.
She admired their selflessness and unfailing courage, despite the hardships and obstacles they faced.
In April 1965, she departed for Italy to join the Sisters of Charity of St Bartolomea Capitanio and St Vincenza Gerosa of Lovere.
“I left the island without really having the opportunity of getting to know my parents. I don’t regret it though, as I found myself when I was among the needy.”
Sr Catherine was sent to Zambia in 1974 where she was faced with the sordid state of affairs on her very first day at the hospital.
A mother had just brought her malnourished child to the hospital. Nothing could be done to save the girl and she passed away a few hours after being admitted.
The woman draped her dead daughter over her shoulders and set off on the long walk back to her village.
“The image of a mother carrying her child’s body back to her community left a huge impact on me. And unfortunately, it is a sight that I still encounter.”
The Sisters of Charity conduct workshops to sensitise the locals with respect to sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS prevention, with the aim of promoting behavioural change.
They also teach them to report human rights abuses.
Child rape is very common in Zambia. This is fuelled by the “virgin cure” myth, where many believe that engaging in sexual intercourse with a child will cure them of AIDS.
“We work hard to dispel such myths. Some also entertain the idea that praying will cure them so they stop the treatment.
“It’s very hard to change their mindset – the women are eager to learn but the men are very stubborn,” she says
“Together with the Zambian government, the headmen and the police, we strive to abolish traditional rituals, such as the practice where a widow is left completely destitute as her dead husband’s relatives seize all her possessions.
“We are seeing improvements. Most of the abuse has decreased as a result of law enforcement. Antiretroviral treatment greatly improves their quality of life.
“But we’re worried – some donors are no longer supplying free treatment.
“Funds are decreasing. If they stop altogether, our work will be undone and we’ll go back to witnessing pain and rampant dying.”
A classical music soiree will be held on September 1 at St Andrew’s Scots Church, Old Bakery Street, Valletta. The event starts at 7 p.m. Entrance is free and refreshments will be served. Sr Catherine will be present and all donations will go towards her work in Zambia and also to Dar Theresa Spinelli, a refuge for vulnerable women and children.
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.
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