This month sees the publication of the tenth anniversary edition of AIDS Treatment Update, the HIV treatment newsletter which NAM has been publishing every month since 1992. The anniversary coincides with NAM winning patient information awards from THT and the British Medical Association.
Launched in late 1992, what editor Anna Poppa describes as “the dark days of HIV therapy,” ATU has sought to provide independent information on HIV treatments. In the early years this included information on the (unsuccessful), use of single drugs to try and control HIV and treatment for opportunistic infections. Since 1996, much of the content has been devoted to the use of HAART, but at all times Anna Poppa emphasises that ATU “didn’t seek to airbrush over scientific facts, and respected our readers’ intelligence.” Articles from ATU have been reprinted in HIV treatment newsletters around the world and translated into several languages.
The model of patient information which was established by ATU’s founding editor, Edward King, has enabled ATU’s readers and subscribers (which currently number 7,700) to keep up-to-date with key developments in HIV therapy and participate in decisions about their HIV care and treatment. The reliability of ATU’s content is ensured by its medical advisory panel, the membership of which is in the main unaltered from the early editions and comprises some of the UK’s most experienced HIV doctors.
For information about subscribing to ATU and for details of NAM’s other publications click here. ATU is available free of charge to people personally affected by HIV.