2016

Pharmac funds new HIV drug in New Zealand - Dolutegravir (Tivicay)

11 10 16 Categories: Media Release | Medical

Body Positive is thankful to Pharmac for adding Dolutegravir (Tivicay) to its list of Anti-Retroviral for the treatment of HIV effective November 1st 2016. Dolutegravir is a relatively new drug which was approved by Medsafe in 2014. Read More...

Tags: HIV Treatment, Living with HIV

No new HIV infections seen in San Francisco's Strut PrEP programme

16 08 16 Categories: Medical

Study with 1200 clients on PrEP and no HIV infections to date

A community-based sexual health clinic in San Francisco has offered nurse-led pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) services to more than 1200 clients and has seen no HIV infections to date, according to a presentation last month at the 21st International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2016) in Durban, South Africa. Read More...

Tags: Study, PrEP, Treatment as Prevention

Efavirenz appears to be associated with elevated suicide risk in START trial

16 08 16 Categories: Medical

efavirenz had an increased risk of suicidal and self-injuring behaviour

Participants in the START treatment-timing trial who took antiretroviral regimens containing efavirenz had an increased risk of suicidal and self-injuring behaviour than those not using efavirenz, though the number of events was small and the effect was mainly seen among people with a prior psychiatric diagnosis, according to research presented at the 21st International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2016) last month in Durban, South Africa. Read More...

Tags: Study, HIV Treatment, Living with HIV

Still no transmissions seen from people with an undetectable viral load in PARTNER study

21 07 16 Categories: Medical

PARTNER Study - still zero transmissions

Odds of seeing a transmission now even lower, but more data still needed on gay men, say researchers

The PARTNER study, which two years ago created headlines by establishing that the chance of an HIV-positive person with an undetectable viral load transmitting their virus was very low and quite possibly zero, released new data at the 21st International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2016) that further refined this estimate. Read More...

Tags: Study, HIV Transmission, Treatment as Prevention

$38 Million to Pharmac

06 05 16 Categories: Media Release

Body Positive applauds the recent injection of much needed funds into Pharmac to improve access to medications. New Zealand has fallen behind international standards in relation to the care of HIV and these additional funds provide an opportunity to move back to a world class health system and provide people with modern choices in the treatment of HIV. Read More...

New Health Navigator at Body Positive - Sally Cartwright

23 02 16 Categories: General

Body Positive is delighted to welcome Sally Cartwright to the team in the new position of Health Navigator. This is a new project that was made possible through seed funding from the NZAF and ongoing funding from the ViiV Positive Action fund in the UK.

Sally will work with members of the community who are living with and at risk of HIV to identify their needs and aspirations, and then link and co-ordinate access to health care and other support services. Sally is a reliable and stable resource and contact for clients as they move through the health system and access support services. Sally’s role is especially important in assisting people through their initial HIV diagnosis. Read More...

Tags: Living with HIV

Nominations now open for next PLDI Workshop Weekend

19 01 16 Categories: General

We are calling for nominations for the next Who Am I As A Leader? workshop for 18-20 March 2016 to be held in Queensland, Australia.

What is PLDI?
The Positive Leadership Development Institute (PLDI) Australia offers people living with HIV an opportunity to identify and develop their leadership and resilience skills.
Read More...

Tags: Volunteers

Personalised app responds to unique health needs of HIV-affected groups

19 01 16 Categories: General

A global team of medical researchers from NZ and the UK are developing a transformative health app to help support positive health changes in people living with HIV.

Between January and September 2016, researchers will recruit PLHIV to participate in an online survey. User feedback pooled from the survey will help the research team understand key issues faced by PLHIV so they can be integrated into the final app design. There’s no obligation, but all interested parties affected by HIV who wish to contribute to the app design can register at www.mpowr.life/project Read More...

Tags: Study