HIV diagnoses in gay men 31% down in first half of 2017, compared with previous years; 40% drop in recent infections.

Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), has reported a steep drop in HIV diagnoses in gay and other men who have sex with men (MSM) in the last year, and particularly since the beginning of 2017. This is despite an equally notable increase in HIV testing, which took a sharp upward turn around March 2016, at the time the EPIC-NSW demonstration study of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) started in the state. The quarterly figures for HIV diagnoses reported in 2017 are the lowest since records began in 1985. Read More...

Tags: Testing, Australia, HIV Transmission

HVTN 705 vaccine study passes its "go" criteria: due to start this autumn.

A year ago, one of the biggest pieces of prevention news at the Durban International AIDS Conference was the announcement that a large HIV vaccine efficacy study would start in South Africa. HVTN 702, now running, is only the eighth human vaccine efficacy trial ever run in the history of the HIV epidemic and the first since 2009. Read More...

Tags: HIV Treatment, HIV Transmission, Vaccinations, International AIDS Conference

Everyone diagnosed with HIV should be offered the option to start treatment within seven days of diagnosis and everyone who feels ready should have the option to start treatment on the day of diagnosis, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended. The new guidance was issued on the opening day of the 9th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2017) in Paris.
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Tags: HIV Treatment, Treatment as Prevention, Living with HIV, International AIDS Conference

HIV transmission has reached a new record high of 244 cases in New Zealand in 2016. This follows a consistent upward trend that has been happening since 2011. Most of the cases 159 or 65% were amongst men who have sex with men with the majority 98 or 61.6% of these infections taking place within New Zealand. Amongst the Heterosexual population there were 42 new diagnoses with 11 of these infections being local.

For people not diagnosed and infected locally they may have been living with HIV for a period of time and have been engaged in care elsewhere and have just returned to New Zealand (from Australia or the UK for example) and their diagnosis is defined as “new” to New Zealand. We will always have these types of new diagnosis as people are allowed to migrate to NZ while living with HIV – which is a good thing. Read More...

Tags: HIV Transmission, Living with HIV, PrEP, Treatment as Prevention

No one understands the reality of living with HIV better than someone who experiences it every day. Peer Navigators - specially trained members of the community who are living with HIV - support others who are learning to cope with the daily challenges of living with HIV. Read More...

Tags: Living with HIV

Body Positive is celebrating the most significant development in the HIV world since the advent of effective combination therapy 20 years ago – people living with HIV who maintain undetectable viral loads through adherence to treatment can confidently declare to their sexual partners “I’m not infectious!”  Read More...

Tags: HIV Transmission, HIV Treatment, Adherence, Treatment as Prevention, Living with HIV