Although people with serious mental illness tend to be less sexually active, they have a higher risk of sexual behaviour Kampala, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | People who have or are at a risk of HIV and who are vulnerable to mental health conditions often face other significant individual, structural, …
Read More »Newly discovered HIV variant found to be highly infectious and severe
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Newly published research from the Netherlands has revealed the existence of a more transmissible and damaging variant of HIV, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said on Monday. The new strain, called the VB variant, damages the immune system, weakening people’s ability to …
Read More »Facing colliding epidemics of HIV, TB, COVID-19
BroadReach Group health experts want vaccinations sites to be multipurpose on a variety of illnesses | THE INDEPENDENT | As Africa works to get back on track to meet its UNAIDS HIV prevention and care targets, healthcare organisations like the BroadReach Group are partnering with governments and donors to find …
Read More »HIV response in Africa
Ending the inequalities driving the AIDS epidemic requires progressive people-centred approaches | AMIRA ELFADIL, WINNIE BYANYIMA AND PETER SANDS | On December 01, the African Union (AU) Commission, UNAIDS and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria join the rest of the world to commemorate World AIDS Day …
Read More »Uganda strives to consolidate gains in HIV/AIDS fight amid COVID-19
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda is striving to consolidate the gains in the fight against HIV/AIDS despite the impact of COVID-19, a senior health official said on Wednesday. “COVID-19 did not spare the National HIV and AIDS Response. However, there was a 41 percent decline in HIV testing and …
Read More »Byanyima unpacks the knock-on effects of COVID-19 on HIV/AIDS
The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened global inequities. The world’s poor have borne the brunt of national lockdowns and will struggle to recover and poorer countries have been unable to rollout comprehensive vaccination campaigns because of a grossly unequal distribution of vaccines. On top of this COVID-19 has also derailed progress …
Read More »New report finds stark inequalities in access to HIV treatment among young people
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Efforts towards ending AIDS among children, adolescents and young women have stalled as none of the targets for 2020 were met, the final report from the Start Free, Stay Free, AIDS-Free campaign by UNAIDS has revealed. The report shows that the total number of children …
Read More »Persons living with HIV need priority vaccination for Covid-19 irrespective of age
HIV positive should be given special consideration in COVID-19 vaccination Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Experts in the medical field have called for the inclusion of People Living with HIV (PLHIV) on the list of people to be considered first for COVID-19 vaccination as countries prioritize those that are at …
Read More »Three vaccine assumptions for 2021
Realistic assumptions for policymakers to build into their vaccination planning | SWEE KHENG KHOR | Vaccinating the world against COVID-19 is one of mankind’s most critical non-wartime efforts ever. Many countries have developed ambitious, politically sensitive, and carefully sequenced vaccination plans, but executing them successfully will be a challenge. To …
Read More »Fighting HIV/AIDs
Discrimination and stigma still a challenge Kampala, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | Every year on December 1, the world marks World AIDs Day. In Uganda, it has happened for close to the 37 years, but HIV remains of one the country’sheaviest burden among infectious diseases causing both death and long-term …
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