HIV information: where to go

Getting the best care can involve not only finding good HIV treatment providers but also gaining confidence in understanding and questioning medical treatment yourself. There are a number of treatment information sources available in the UK. Those mentioned here are some of the best-known. To find out more about anything listed in this Factsheet use the phone list at the end. NAM recommends readers to seek treatment advice from more than one source, and to discuss all your decisions with your doctor.

Information from NAM

NAM’s treatment education programme includes:

• These treatment Factsheets.A new range of basic information resources about HIV are in preparation.
• A monthly newsletter, HIV Treatment Update
• A series of booklets, including Adherence, Anti-HIV drugs, Cinical trials, HIV and children, HIV and hepatitis, HIV and mental health, HIV and sex, HIV and TB, HIV and women, HIV drug resistance, HIV  therapy, Nutrition, Stigma, Side-effect (in preparation, January 2009) and Viral load and CD4.
• A website on the key aspects of HIV with first-hand accounts from people with the virus called http://namlife.org
• Regular Information Forums with an expert speaker held in London
• The HIV & AIDS Treatments Directory, a comprehensive guide to HIV treatments
• Criminal HIV Transmission, which looks at the legal and medical background to prosecutions for reckless HIV transmission in the UK
• A website, http://www.aidsmap.com

Leaflets

The Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) and HIV i-Base publish a number of booklets and leaflets. You can find out what is currently available by visiting their websites, http://www.tht.org.uk/ and www.i-base.info

Magazines

African Eye is a magazine for HIV-positive Africans. Positive Nationis a quarterly HIV magazine with information on treatment. The periodic publication +ve also has information about HIV treatment.

i-Base produce HIV Treatment Bulletin.

Helplines

 i-Base have a treatment phone line that is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 12 noon to 4pm. It can be contacted on 0808 800 6013.

THT Direct provides information on HIV and referals. You can call THT Direct on 0845 1221 200 between 10am and 10pm on Monday to Friday, and from 12 noon to 6pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Internet

The internet provides access to an enormous amount of treatments information from online medical journals to mailing lists which act as global electronic discussion groups, for example on haemophilia, treatment activism or treatment side-effects.

www.aegis.com

The most extensive collection of links on AIDS, with searchable electronic versions of many newsletters and a vast catalogue of news stories, plus discussion forums.

www.aidsonline.com

An influential medical journal sponsored by the International AIDS Society, with free access to abstracts, which provide a summary of the key findings of research. Full text access only available to subscribers.

www.aidsmap.com

NAM's website. On this site you can find original, daily news on  developments in the world of HIV.  The site also includes completely searchable databases of HIV treatment and care, worldwide HIV organisation listings, and one of the most comprehensive ranges of patient information available on the web.

www.amfar.org

A good searchable treatment database excellent news and analysis and a nice simple design.

www.avert.org

AVERT is an international HIV and AIDS charity based in the UK, with the aim of AVERTing HIV and AIDS worldwide.

www.clinicaloptions.com/hiv

A site targeted at HIV medical professionals.

http://www.healthtalkonline.org/other_conditions/HIV

Healthtalkonline  is a unique public access website containing video clips of interviews in which 50 people describe their experience of HIV. 

 www.hivandhepatitis.com

This site concentrates on news and conference reports, largely targeted at medical professionals.

http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/InSite

The electronic version of the AIDS Knowledge Base, a textbook developed by physicians at San Francisco General Hospital. The site also contains databases on trials, drug interactions and side effects, as well as news stories and a library of reports on prevention issues.

http://www.iasociety.org

Website of the International AIDS Society which includes daily news. The site also makes available abstracts of conferences organised by the International AIDS Society including the International AIDS Conference.

www.medscape.com/hiv-aidshome

Another site designed to provide doctors with continuing medical education on HIV. The site also provides daily news and conference coverage.

www.namlife.org

A new website from NAM about living with HIV. Whether you have been recently diagnosed, have lived with HIV for a while, know someone who is, or just want to find out more then this site will have something valuable for you.  This is a space where you can find out answers to some of the questions you might have and read about other people's experiences of living with HIV.

www.thebody.com

An extensive collection of articles from HIV newsletters and other publications around the world, and an exclusive “Ask the Experts” forum for you to put questions to the leading doctors.

 www.unaids.com

United Nations AIDS Programme - information about the activities of the programme, access to policy documents and records of UNAIDS-sponsored interventions; statistics on the global epidemic.