Access to medicines and treatment

Access to medicines and treatment features

• 

  PrEP wars: debating pre-exposure prophylaxis in the gay community

  Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) was approved in the US in July, following trials showing its efficacy in preventing sexual transmission of HIV. But, as Gus Cairns finds out, it...

  From:  HIV treatment update

• 

  Point-of-care (POC) diagnostics are essential to achieving an AIDS-free generation and improving outcomes in HIV-exposed children

  This edition reviews recent evidence on point-of-care testing, on tests in development, and looks at experience of optimising performance of dried blood spot sampling....

  From:  HIV & AIDS treatment in practice

• 

  The bottom line in clinical care: The new BHIVA standards

  Gus Cairns summarises this important new document. ...

  From:  HIV treatment update

• 

  "How are we going to have a baby? I’m positive and you’re not"

  Joanna Moss of the African Health Policy Network (AHPN) looks at conception and fertility guidelines and services for people living with HIV in the UK. ...

  From:  HIV treatment update

• 

  The generic generation

  In the next few years, some of the most widely used HIV drugs will come off patent in the UK. Gus Cairns asks: what are the...

  From:  HIV treatment update

• 

  Hillary Clinton pledges money for vulnerable minorities, reproductive rights, AIDS-free families

  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received a relatively warm reception yesterday at the 19th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington DC, as she supported the...

  From:  News

• 

  Switching drugs for cost reasons – the patient experience

  In April 2011, the London Specialised Commissioning Group (LSCG), which funds HIV treatment in the capital, issued a new set of messages to clinics on HIV drug...

  From:  HIV treatment update

• 

  Will the world pay up to end HIV? Global AIDS funding

  We are at a critical point in the history of the HIV epidemic. We potentially have the tools to end it but, asks guest writer Laura...

  From:  HIV treatment update

• 

  Overhauling health: NHS reform, HIV and patient power

  The HTU guide to the NHS reforms, how they’ll affect you and how you can make the most of them. By Gus Cairns....

  From:  HIV treatment update

• 

  Barriers to care: immigration removal centres and HIV

  Evidence has shown that a series of failings in immigration removal centres (IRCs) has compromised the continuity of care for people with HIV. Guest writer Daniel Lombard investigates. ...

  From:  HIV treatment update

Access to medicines and treatment news from aidsmap

• Movement for global access to hepatitis C treatment building momentum

  Access to hepatitis C treatment in low- and middle-income countries is being restricted by the high cost of interferon and a lack of commitment to treating the disease, leading to a growing gap between the prospects of patients in ...

  09 May 2013 | Keith Alcorn

• Blackmail, violence and stigma restrict access to sexual health services for gay men, Global Health and Rights Study reports

  The Global Forum for MSM and HIV has released an analysis of its 2012 Global Men’s Health and Rights Study (GMHRS) concentrating on young men under 30 who have sex with men (MSM), complementing the full report which came out ...

  01 May 2013 | Gus Cairns

• Are we underestimating the proportion of virally-suppressed patients in the US?

  Several presentations at the recent 20th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Atlanta suggest that previous estimates of the proportion of people with HIV in the USA who are on antiretroviral therapy (ART) and with an undetectable viral ...

  15 March 2013 | Gus Cairns

• Second-line NRTI-sparing regimen proves equally effective for resource-limited settings

  A second-line antiretroviral regimen of lopinavir/ritonavir (Kaletra/Aluvia) and raltegravir (Isentress) proved just as effective as a regimen containing lopinavir/ritonavir and two or three nucleoside or nucleotide analogues in large study conducted in Australia, Africa, Latin America and Asia, researchers ...

  07 March 2013 | Keith Alcorn

• Continuing cotrimoxazole in children on ART reduces the risk of hospitalisation

  Children on ART for more than two years who continued taking daily cotrimoxazole had significantly fewer hospitalisations for malaria as well as for non-malarial infections (notably pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis), compared to children who stopped this treatment, researchers from Uganda ...

  06 March 2013 | Carole Leach-Lemens

• HIV treatment for children is safe and highly effective without laboratory monitoring in large African trial

  Children did just as well on antiretroviral therapy without routine laboratory monitoring of CD4 cell counts or drug side-effects as those who received regular monitoring during four years of follow-up, researchers from Uganda and Zimbabwe reported on 5 March ...

  05 March 2013 | Keith Alcorn

• Hospital exposure the source of XDR-TB infections, underlining the need for adequate infection control

  Numerous hospital transmissions – rather than a single source – fuelled the outbreak of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) at Tugela Ferry, South Africa, in 2005-06, research published in the online edition of the Journal of Infectious Diseases shows. Epidemiological ...

  30 January 2013 | Michael Carter

• Huge differences in HIV mortality rates in US according to race, social and economic status

  New US research has revealed enormous differences in HIV mortality rates between patients according to their race and social and economic status. Published in the online edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine, the study showed that mortality rates ...

  19 October 2012 | Michael Carter

• From today, HIV treatment is free for all who need it in England

  The removal of charges for undocumented migrants and non-UK citizens accessing HIV treatment and care in England comes into effect today. From now on, HIV treatment will be provided free of charge to all who need it, regardless of ...

  01 October 2012 | Roger Pebody

• US youth, heterosexual men and African Americans losing out on HIV treatment benefits

  A new study presented at the 19th International AIDS Conference shows that young people, African Americans, and heterosexual men have particularly low rates of retention in care and viral suppression and that there are also inequalities between cities. A previous study published ...

  08 August 2012 | Gus Cairns

More news

Access to medicines and treatment news selected from other sources

• U.S. Pushing To End Cheap Drugs For Poorest Nations

  The Obama administration is seeking to curb efforts to exempt the world's poorest countries from expansive trade rules that would substantially increase the price of life-saving medicine and other products.

  1 hour ago | Huffington Post

• Recent Advances in the Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C Threaten to Leave Some Parts of the World Behind

  A scenario may develop where hepatitis C is largely eradicated from the developing world but exits in large pockets in developing countries.

  1 hour ago | Medscape (requires registration)

• Access to medicines in Europe: The EU cannot save banks while sacrificing people’s health

  Austerity policies are having a profound impact on the ability of many European public health systems to provide many of the necessary biomedical products for their citizens and residents.

  20 May 2013 | European Public Health Association

• Citizens in poor EU states can't afford medicines, health promoters say

  One of the global financial crisis' consequences has been the lack of access to treatment for millions of Europeans. According to health promoters, alternative solutions to the problem may be the way forward.

  20 May 2013 | Euractiv

• India: Patents and precedents

  Pharmaceutical companies fear that the battle raging in India over patents will inspire other countries to change their laws.

  16 May 2013 | Financial Times

• Malaria and HIV Spike as Greece Cuts Healthcare Spending

  Greece's budgetary ax fell unduly hard on its healthcare sector, which was slated to grow at around 4 percent annually, but which has instead been jolted by a series of wage freezes, firings, and drug rationing programs.

  16 May 2013 | The Atlantic

• Ukraine: New Breakthrough for Incurably Ill

  Ukraine’s cabinet of ministers’ approval of new regulations on access to pain medicines will dramatically expand healthcare services for patients with incurable illnesses and reduce unnecessary suffering, Human Rights Watch said today.

  15 May 2013 | Human Rights Watch Health

• Queen's Speech signals a new Immigration Bill is on its way

  Today we learned that Government is preparing a new Immigration Bill - despite ministers' acknowledgement that much of the detail behind the headlines is still missing. One aspect may be further restrictions on migrants' use of the NHS.

  08 May 2013 | Migrants' Rights Network

• NAT comment on the Queen's speech and the impact it could have on people living with HIV

  NAT (National AIDS Trust) responds to the announcement in the Queen's Speech today that migrants will face further restrictions to accessing NHS services. The Government has provided no evidence of the 'health tourism' which the restrictions on migrant access to the NHS outlined in today's Queen's Speech are meant to address. 

  08 May 2013 | NAT press release

• HIV Patients in Georgia are Drowning. Will the State Do the Right Thing?

  With the nation hurdling towards January 1, 2014, when some important parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) kick in, individual states are frantically scrambling to get ready — or digging in their heels in stubbornness that could have serious consequences for their residents. Georgia is one of several states that has refused Medicaid expansion, a decision that represents serious risks to its most low-income, vulnerable residents, especially the population of people living with HIV and AIDS.

  07 May 2013 | Care 2

More news