Conferences

AIDS 2018

The 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018) took place in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 23 to 27 July 2018.
Undetectable viral load & treatment as prevention

Zero transmissions mean zero risk – PARTNER 2 study results announced

The search for a cure

The kick that didn’t kill: first-ever randomised HIV cure study fails to eliminate infected cells

Heterosexual men

Adolescent girls’ male partners are not all much older, much wealthier ‘sugar daddies’

PrEP policies & guidelines

US doctors’ organisation endorses event-based PrEP for the first time

Sex workers

PrEP for female sex workers: non-judgemental attitudes and community involvement are keys to success

TB treatment

Dolutegravir-based ART effective and safe for HIV-positive people taking standard TB treatment

Side effects

Neuropsychiatric side-effects lead only 1 in 40 to drop dolutegravir, French study shows

Starting treatment

Starting treatment on the day of HIV diagnosis is acceptable and feasible for Thai patients

PrEP programmes & uptake

PrEP use taking off in Thailand and Vietnam

Harm reduction

People with HIV receiving methadone and HIV drugs spend less time with detectable viral load

Changing treatment

Studies show dolutegravir monotherapy is an unsafe switch option

Health problems & ageing

HIV infection is a risk factor for liver fat accumulation

Health problems & ageing

Diarrhoea continues to affect the quality of life of people with HIV in the modern treatment era

PrEP programmes & uptake

PrEP spreads across Africa – slowly

Young people

Young adults with life-long HIV have a higher risk of cancer

Sexually transmitted infections epidemiology

Increase in STIs in PrEP users is concentrated in a minority of men and is partly due to more STI screening

Contraception

Unintended pregnancies and desire for children: reproductive health needs of women living with HIV

PrEP programmes & uptake

Most adolescent PrEP users in US are young women

Undetectable viral load & treatment as prevention

Amsterdam 2018: the Undetectable conference

Pregnancy and vertical transmission

Dolutegravir brings faster viral suppression in late pregnancy

Behaviour change interventions

Digital innovations are promoting HIV testing and prevention to MSM in Asia

New & experimental HIV treatments

Doravirine maintains higher rate of virological suppression over darunavir/ritonavir though 96 weeks of follow-up

Changing treatment

Reduced dose darunavir/ritonavir effective and safe for people switching while virally suppressed

Treatment outcomes & life expectancy

Three-quarters of deaths of people with HIV in London are due to non-AIDS conditions

Hepatitis C treatment

Supervised drug consumption sites offer opportunities for HCV testing and treatment

Cardiovascular disease

HIV linked to higher risk of heart failure

Harm reduction

Series of HIV outbreaks in people who inject drugs shows that ‘complacency is the new problem’

PrEP programmes & uptake

HIV elimination in gay men: what is working?

Cancer

Kaposi's sarcoma remains a concern for people with HIV

Young people

Progress against HIV in young people lags behind as Africa's youth population grows

PrEP programmes & uptake

PrEP use linked to fewer new HIV infections in US states

Retention & linkage to care

HIV treatment services in African countries need to adapt to serve mobile and migrant populations

Undetectable viral load & treatment as prevention

Test and treat studies show high rates of HIV diagnosis, viral suppression

Finance & funding

Donor funding for HIV stalls, increasing pressure on high-burden countries to mobilise domestic resources

Retention & linkage to care

Universal test and treat greatly improves retention in care

Government, leadership & policy

Why are some countries slow to implement HIV treatment guidelines?

HIV & criminal law

World experts publish consensus statement on the science of HIV in the context of criminal law

HIV testing programmes & uptake

High uptake of HIV testing when self-tests are offered to outpatients in Malawi

PrEP science

Unprecedented hepatitis C infection rates seen in gay men in Amsterdam PrEP programme

Treatment simplification strategies

Dolutegravir dual therapy works well for first-time HIV treatment

PrEP science

PrEP does not lower feminising hormone level in transgender women

Global health targets

Rapid treatment initiation and less time with detectable HIV linked to falls in new HIV diagnoses in San Francisco and Melbourne

Treatment for women

Dolutegravir: update on infant neural tube defects from Botswana

HIV & criminal law

Criminalisation of HIV high on agenda at AIDS 2018

Treatment guidelines

Dolutegravir-based ART recommended for all – if reliable contraception is available

Starting treatment

Brazil confirms dolutegravir is the most effective drug for first-line HIV treatment

PrEP

On-demand dosing as effective as daily dosing in first year of French PrEP study

Undetectable viral load & treatment as prevention

The “Undetectable = Untransmittable” message goes global: I=I, N=N and B=B

The search for an HIV prevention vaccine

Will an HIV vaccine that protected two-thirds of monkeys do the same for humans?

Videos

aidsmapLIVE: AIDS 2018 special

1 November 2018

With British HIV Association secretary and HIV consultant, Dr Laura Waters; activist and founder of iwantPrEPnow, Greg Owen; HIV advocate and Salamander Trust Associate, Angelina Namiba; HIV activist and advocate, Mercy Ngulube; founder of cliniQ, Michelle Ross; and NAM aidsmap's Executive Director, Matthew Hodson.