HIV Prevention Revolution among the Samburu People.

06/12/2019

Up to dates

13/08/2019

Potential Drug Could Complement The HIV Anti-Retroviral Therapy

Venereology

Ananya Sen 12/08/2019

Although the potential new drug could complement the current HIV anti-retroviral therapy (ART) medications; it may also be possible that it could lead to HIV remission without a lifetime of taking ART medications. Study discovering a new potential medication; that works with an HIV-infected person’s own body to further suppress the ever present but silent virus that available HIV treatmentsare unable to combat.

The HIV virus gets integrated into the infected person’s genetic coding and establishes a constant dormant infection, creating a big treatment challenge. Because of this, current ART medications fail to cure the virus and when someone stops the drug, the virus almost always begins to multiply and wreak havoc. Drug resistanceis also a public health issue with the ART medications. Although the potential new drug could complement the current HIV anti-retroviral therapy medications; it may also be possible that it could lead to HIV remission without a lifetime of taking ART medications.

HIV anti-retroviral therapy

The HIV virus gets integrated into the infected person’s genetic coding; and establishes a constant dormant infection, creating a big treatment challenge. Because of this, current ART medicationsfail to cure the virus and when someone stops the drug, the virus almost always begins to multiply and wreak havoc. Drug resistance is also a public health issue with the ART medications. Being able to induce a sustained HIV remission free of ART is an important goal for HIV treatment.

The study showing that human BRD4 protein and its associating machinery can be harnessing to the suppress dormant HIV. The study findings are exciting because they not only improve our understanding of the biology of HIV epigenetic regulation; they also present a promising approach for the development of probes and/or therapeutic agents for PLWHA into remission.

02/08/2019

The differences between the use of PrEP & PEP.

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05/11/2018

New HIV drug (Gammora) created by Israel researchers has passed its 1st human clinical trial. At end of the trial, it was discovered that the drug, created by Zion Medical, an Israel biotech company has proves to cure HIV virus.

08/08/2018

Kenya inches closer to developing HIV vaccine.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel after scientists at Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) announced that they are about to develop an HIV vaccine that is safe, effective and affordable with 50% efficacy in the next two years.
The scientists’ efforts have generated excitement and now researchers are working round the clock to improve the efficacy of the soon-to-be-unveiled drug to above 50% in the hope of providing HIV protection to six million people in the next 20 years.
Subsequently, numerous partners have committed to funding the study in the belief that in the next two years, mankind could rejoice with the projection that if the efficacy is improved to 70%, then 28 million people could enjoy HIV protection.
The study also tests a new idea for HIV prevention unlike traditional vaccine studies where researchers gave clients a vaccine and waited to see if their bodies will make antibodies against the disease. In this one, researchers will be skipping a step and just give people the antibodies directly through an infusion, also known as an IV or a drip.
This is the first study testing whether the antibody can prevent HIV infections in people. Currently, trials are being conducted in Kenya at KEMRI/CDC, Kisumu and are in phase III of the clinical trials.
Other tests are being done in Uhambo and Imbokodo both in South Africa. The first phase of the Clinical Trials lasts for 12-18 months, phase II runs for 2 years, phase IIb goes for 2-5 years while phase III lasts for 3-4 years.
These trials seek to establish whether both neutralising/non-neutralising antibodies can be tweaked to provide a reasonable vaccine in high-risk regions. This will then set the stage for the entire design overcoming HIV diversity (the Mosaic vaccine).

04/08/2018

Don't be cheated that HIV can be cured!
HIV virus can be suppressed into undetectable level where it remains dormant but not cured.

08/07/2018

Experimental HIV vaccine may neutralize “DOZENS” of strains of the virus by sending antibodies to attack a 'spike' that binds to the cells the virus infects.

A new experimental HIV vaccine may prevent infection from dozens of strains of the virus thus, HIV break through is real New research has revealed.
The vaccine creates antibodies that attack a vulnerable site of the virus, neutralizing many strains of it, according to researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Institutes of Health.
Current treatments for HIV require patients to take several different drugs that control the virus from multiplying and spreading.
But, if successful, this would be the first vaccine available that protects people from contracting HIV.
Worldwide, more than 35 million people are infected with HIV, in Kenya the figure rose to 1.6 million persons by 2015. This is the virus that leads to the potential deadly disease AIDS.
Once a person contracts HIV, the virus sets about attacking and destroying immune cells that normally protect the body from infection.
Understanding of how to control HIV, a disease whose death rate has plummeted since its peak in the early 1980s, has increased over the last several years.
You can get or transmit HIV only through specific activities, most commonly through s*xual behaviors and needle or syringe use.
The FDA has approved more than two dozen antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV infection.
Doctors recommend taking a combination or 'cocktail' of at least two of the antiretroviral therapy, or ART, these drugs can't cure HIV, but the medications can extend lifespans and reduce the risk of transmission.
'NIH scientists have used their detailed knowledge of the structure of HIV to find an unusual site of vulnerability on the virus and design a novel and potentially powerful vaccine,' said NIAID Director Dr Anthony Fauci.

*'This elegant study is a potentially important step forward in the ongoing quest to develop a safe and effective HIV vaccines'*

22/06/2018

Mind you, the statistics has already shown that the newly HIV prevention drug PrEP is really being abused. This will be a mess for the young generations coming up. Take care and now your HIV status.

26/04/2018

HIV/AIDs breakthrough is still understudy and one day the cure of this pandemic will be found.

A team of scientists from Trinity College Dublin has identified the mechanism that enables HIV to evade the immune system, paving the way for a new curative treatment

18/04/2018

The Kenya Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (KENPHIA)

WHAT IS KENPHIA?
KENPHIA is a nationwide HIV survey to assess HIV prevention, care and treatment in Kenya.

KENPHIA will help the government, its partners and the public to know:

how many people are currently infected with HIV how many people have new infections, and
how many people with HIV are on effective treatment.
This information will help the government and its partners provide the right programs and resources to the people most in need of services.

There is no charge for any of the services provided.

ABOUT KENPHIA
The Kenya Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (KENPHIA) is a Government of Kenya survey on HIV that is being led by the Ministry of Health (MOH).

KENPHIA will determine the state of health of the Kenyan population and the number of people living with HIV. To do this, the survey will interview approximately 36,000 randomly selected individuals across 47 counties in Kenya and collect lab samples to determine their HIV status, as well as: Syphilis
Hepatitis B, Nutritional status among minors and pregnant women.

KENPHIA IS FOR YOU
KENPHIA is a national survey primarily about HIV. The survey is in the interest of the nation and requires the support of everyone. KENPHIA is for me, you, our families and community.

KENPHIA is for Kenyans and by Kenyans for the benefit of our nation.

WHY KENPHIA?
HIV is a disease that has impacted our families and communities, and is affect- ing the lives of many people that we know. It is important that we clearly understand what the HIV epidemic looks like in Kenya today.

KENPHIA will help us know how many people in Kenya have HIV and need health services.
The survey will provide the Ministry of Health with information to improve the quality of HIV treatment and other services, so that Kenya can move towards an HIV-free generation.
Your participation will help your entire community by providing the Ministry of Health with valued information that will be used to develop more effective programs to fight HIV and improve the health of Kenyans.

CAN ANY PERSON BE PART OF THE SURVEY?
If your household is randomly selected to be part of the survey, you can take part if you are between the ages of 0-64.
If you are aged 0-9, your parent/guardian must give permission for you to take part in the survey.
If you are aged 10-17, you and your parent/guardian must give permission for you to take part in the survey.
If you are aged 18 or older, you must give your permission to take part.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE INFORMATION I GIVE?
The information you give, including the results of your HIV test, is private.
The information will be used for the survey and will not be used for anything else.
Your information will not be shared with other people in your community.
Your name will not be included in the results of the study.
If you are between the ages of 10-14, the results of your HIV test will be given to you and your parent/guardian. You do not have to receive the results if you do not want to, your parent/guardian can receive them for you.
If you are between the ages of 15-17 you can choose to have the results of your HIV test given to you alone or with your parent/guardian.
If you are aged 18 or older, you will be given your test results.
In all cases, you will receive your results on the same day.

HOW IS THE HIV TEST DONE?
The HIV testing is done by collecting a small amount of blood from your arm.
The staff are trained to take this sample.
There may be some feeling of discomfort or pain, however, this will be minimized as much as possible by the trained survey staff.

DO I HAVE TO TAKE PART IN THE SURVEY?
Participation is voluntary. Being part of the survey will help you, your family and Kenya.
If you and your family take part in the survey, each family member will learn about his or her HIV status.
You and your family will also be given information about prevention, care and treatment of HIV.
By being part of the survey you can say what you think about the services you have received.
This information will help to improve health services for all people in Kenya.

PARTICIPATE IN KENPHIA AND GET FREE COUNSELING AND TESTING FOR HIV, HEPATITIS B, AND SYPHILIS IN THE PRIVACY OF YOUR HOME.
Trained and certified KENPHIA staff will give free HIV testing and counseling to all participants.
Testing for hepatitis B and syphilis will also be done for pre-selected participants.
KENPHIA will bring health services to your doorstep at no cost.
You will get test results for HIV, and for those pre-selected, hepatitis B and syphilis test results on the same day. All of this will be done in the privacy and comfort of your home.
If you choose to participate;
You will have the chance to learn about your health that same day.
If you test positive for HIV, syphilis or Hepatitis B, you will be referred for care at the nearest health facility.
If you are HIV positive, getting tested and treated early will allow you to live a longer and healthier life.

IF LIVING WITH HIV, KENPHIA WILL MEASURE YOUR VIRAL LOAD.
With your permission, we will provide additional testing if you test positive for HIV. These additional tests will bring out more information about your health that will help connect you to important HIV treatment.

The KENPHIA team will measure your HIV viral load, which is the amount of HIV in your blood.
KENPHIA staff will then provide referral forms to connect you to nearby care and treatment facilities with your permission.
With your permission, KENPHIA staff will make sure results for your HIV viral load are sent to the nearest health facility of your choice.
If you already know you are HIV-positive, you can also get these tests for free so that your doctor monitors how you are doing.

PARTICIPATION IN KENPHIA IS EASY.
KENPHIA field team will visit approximately 20,000 households that were randomly selected from all across Kenya.
The KENPHIA teams will include nurses, laboratory technicians and interviewers.
All KENPHIA field team members will carry identification and will be dressed in KENPHIA labeled clothing.
If your household is selected to participate in the KENPHIA survey, the field team will visit your household. All men, women, and children in your household are encouraged to participate by responding to questions and getting tested voluntarily.
MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF ALL AGES CAN PARTICIPATE IN THE SURVEY REGARDLESS OF THEIR HIV STATUS.
Before completing a questionnaire and conducting the HIV tests, permission will be obtained from all participants. With your permission, KENPHIA team will test your children too.
This survey wants to hear from young people too so that the MOH can improve youth-friendly services to help them stay healthy.
Although the survey will cover all parts of Kenya, it will only include the selected households.
Some selected households will have people living with HIV but other households may not include any people living with HIV.
All adults and individuals aged between 15 – 64 years in selected households will be asked to take part in the survey.
Children aged 0-14 years, with permission from parents/guardians will also take part in the survey. Though not all households selected will have their children participate in the survey.

KENPHIA WILL MAINTAIN STRICT CONFIDENTIALITY.
Your answers and test results are confidential. KENPHIA survey teams are specially trained to keep your information private and confidential.
You will be given an ID number and your name will be kept separate from your answers to the questions.
Only people working on the survey will have access to the information collected during the survey.
The KENPHIA visit to your home is private. The KENPHIA team will not tell anyone what you say during the survey. They will not tell anyone your test results.
You can choose the location where you speak with survey staff.
You can also choose to skip any question or stop the survey at any time. Nothing bad will happen if you do not participate or stop the survey.

12/04/2018

Hon. John Kj Kiarie, MP Dagoretti South Constituency, taking a HIV test this morning at LVCT Health’s HQ clinic in Hurlingham. “I am urging Kenyans to attach HIV testing to their birthdays and start every year on a clean bill of health. If you test HIV negative, you work hard to maintain that status until your next birthday. If you test HIV positive, you set a target of achieving undetectable viral load by your next birthday.”
This a move on towards the fight and prevention of HIV/AIDS in Kenya.

04/03/2018

https://one2oneke.wordpress.com/2018/03/01/is-your-relationship-exposing-you-to-hiv/

IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP EXPOSING YOU TO HIV?
By one2onekenya

Often, We assume HIV is a disease that affects the promiscuous or less educated individuals. On the contrary, HIV and other infections affect ordinary people like you and I. It’s in the church, at the office, in the government and in the neighborhood. Sadly, there was a time when education on HIV was everywhere and people took care of themselves. Now that we have ARVs (PEP & PrEP included) and people are no longer suffering as they used to, we’ve become more careless, brushing shoulder’s with infections and subsequent death. This behavior not withstanding the tons of information bloggers like Ruth Syovata pour on how to protect ourselves.
The kind of relationship you have with your intimacy partner could be putting you at the risk of contracting HIV. Here are five types of common relationship situations that make you a high risk individual:

1. Sleeping with a Married Man or Woman.

Okay, let’s address the proverbial elephant in the room. Your sugar mama told you that her husband died. You have no way of confirming that but let’s assume he really did die. What was the cause? An accident, cancer, murder or maybe it was HIV…it’s had to tell isn’t it? In addition, you don’t know if you’re the only Ben10 she has. There could be more of you and that puts you at a very high risk of contracting HIV, because you’re probably sharing her with others who are infected or maybe she was already infected before you met and you don’t know how many others were there before you.
Let’s move on to married men. Maybe he told you he is not having s*x with his wife because he hates her and they’re only together because of the kids. Okay…I don’t have to tell you that’s a big fat lie, but I have to tell you, he is sleeping with his wife, because they spend every night together… and you don’t know her status. Neither do you know who else she is sleeping with. You may be thinking it is a safe love triangle but it could be a rectangle, a parallelogram, or even an endless circle of people sleeping with people and diseases circling back.
In a nutshell, when you are in a relationship with an older married or widowed person, you have limited information. All you know is what your partner tells you, which is mostly false information. Moreover, you’re afraid of being seeing with them and the chances of you walking to a VCT center are rare.

2. Being in an Open Relationship.

Open relationships have become common over time. They work in a polyamorous manner based on a “don’t ask don’t tell” arrangement. If you’re in an open relationship with someone, it means both of you are free to have other relations with other people. Your other relations with these other people are also likely to be open. That brings the number of people involved in the open relationship to roughly 6 or a minimum of 4. Back to “don’t tell don’t ask”, you may know the status of the immediate people you’re sleeping with but you do not know the status of the people they are sleeping with. You are also not about to ask them for these details because such questions complicate the relationship, making it ‘awkward’. This puts you at risk of contracting HIV borrowed from your partner’s partners.

3.Cheating On Your Partner.

Cheating is not an easy affair. You face constant fear of getting caught. As a result, you may forget to take necessary precaution. One of the most common ways of preventing infections is by using protection. However, you do not want your main chic or wife to find the extra condoms in your coat or bag. If you’re married, you may also face the fear of walking into a shop to ask for condoms, since you haven’t done so in ages.

4. Having an Unfaithful Partner.

A cheating partner brings a lot of things home. Guilt gifts, arguments, heartbreaks and diseases. You may be taking all the necessary precautions to keep yourself safe but your partner is not, what are the risks? You probably know their promiscuous behavior and you’ve accepted that they will never change. This however means you’ve accepted the possibility of contracting and living with HIV. When you turn a blind eye on your partner’s promiscuity, you’re not only endangering your life but also the future of your children.

5. Having Sexual Flings.

A fling sounds, like a fresh, modern term. Well, it’s not. Previously it used to be “friends with benefits”. Right before that we had, “lovers with no strings attached”. All these terms describe people who have not committed to a relationship but want to enjoy s*x or intimacy. They probably look for each other when their s*xual needs become unbearable. It sounds simple, unlike relationships which are full of arguments and responsibilities. They are however as risky as open relationships. The sheer lack of responsibility for a fling’s feelings and health increases the chances of infections. There is also the possibility of sharing your fling with other people, who could be infected.
Having s*x with someone whose status you don’t know
Never ever have s*x with people whose HIV status is undisclosed to you. That’s the golden rule. Whether you use protection or not, s*x is an emotional affair and a lot of things could go wrong. You could run out of protection, or it could burst. People who look healthy may not always be healthy. Besides, we’ve all heard cases of bitter individuals who keep lists of people they’ve infected and a target to reach. You could be a victim, if you’re too trusting.
One night stands
Finally, the mother of all careless “fun”. You pick up a random stranger at the bar, because you’re young, wild and free…or because you’re nursing a heartbreak. All you want is an adventurous night of fun, but it could be more than that. One night stands are careless. You’re obviously not going to interrogate the stranger. Hard questions like “do you know your status” kill the vibe as Ruth Syovata puts it. All you’re required to do is get a room and smash it, then either leave or get rid of the one night stand before daylight. If you’re into this kind of stuff, just make sure the strangers leave nothing more than their scent as they leave in the ungodly wee hours.
In a nutshell, s*x is a fun game, but the fun needs to be regulated. Humans without control are like broken taps… because water is wonderful and important, until it becomes uncontrollable. A minute of fun could turn into a lifetime of pain, if you do not take the necessary precaution. The solution is simple, abstinence, protection and faithfulness. Most importantly however, do not have s*x with people whose status you do not know.
Call or Text us on 1190 (toll free) for more on Relationships, how to protect yourself and counselling.

By Alex Alexander
Inspired By UrbanArt 254

Often, we assume HIV is a disease that affects the promiscuous or less educated individuals. On the contrary, HIV and other infections affect ordinary people like you and I. It’s in the church, at …