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 prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV is taking center stage this week during USAID’s 5th Birthday campaign — and rightly so. Preventing mother to child transmission of HIV is one of the most critical, effective tools to helping kids reach their fifth birthdays.
Ambassador Eric Goosby and UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé have called for the elimination of pediatric HIV by 2015. Touted as one of the HIV prevention interventions with the most “bang for our buck” by the Copenhagen Consensus Center, there is significant momentum behind continuing scale up of mother to child transmission reduction programming towards elimination of mother to child transmission (MTCT).
But, current recommendations requiring a CD4 test before initiating some sort of ARV prophylaxis for HIV-infected pregnant women may not be the most effective way to prevent MTCT, fully treat the mother, and help kids reach their 5th birthdays.
We can move closer to the goal of eliminating pediatric HIV by 2015 by treating the mother, treating the baby, and continuing to treat the mother.
In 2011, only 45 percent of women had access to PMTCT services and many of those that did, couldn’t accurately complete antiretroviral (ARV) prophylaxis. In the best of circumstances, providing mono or dual therapy (Option A) or triple therapy through breast feeding (Option B) may be equally efficacious in preventing transmission of HIV to the baby. However, in the majority of countries hardest hit by the epidemic and lacking the necessary infrastructure, this likely is not the case.
In 2010, MSH helped the country of Malawi develop the B+ option – which calls for initiating triple therapy for life for all HIV infected women– regardless of CD4 count. The WHO recently released preliminary guidance supporting Option B+, but much more needs to be done to build an evidence base around Option B+, ensuring that countries can make accurate decisions about what PMTCT strategy to implement. Since developing this approach through our work in Malawi, MSH continues to be passionately committed to helping expand these ideas, where they make the most sense.
Management Sciences for Health (MSH) does not accept that pregnant women with less advanced HIV infection upon diagnosis should be put on antiretroviral prophylaxis only during pregnancy for the sole purpose of preventing HIV transmission to her unborn child. We support Dr. Chewe Luo’s, senior advisor on HIV and AIDS at UNICEF, call at the 16th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) plenary to start discussing MTCT in terms of maternal mortality.
We are fast approaching the 5th Birthday campaign Child Survival Call to Action events, and the 2015 goal of eliminating pediatric HIV. Big goals need game-changing ideas: it’s time to rethink the way we provide PMTCT services to the millions of women — and their kids — who need them.
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.