HIV in Gaza: “I know, so I am not afraid”

Fifty-year-old Um Mohammad, a mother of nine, has been living with HIV for 16 years in the Gaza Strip in the occupied Palestinian territory. She was nursing her baby girl when tests revealed she was HIV positive.

“We found out that I got the HIV while I was still breastfeeding my youngest. I got it from my husband,” she says. “I was scared for my baby girl, but thank God, it was not transmitted to her. I was so relieved.”

Um Mohammad spoke at a training workshop for journalists in Gaza organized by the UNDP Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People with financial support from the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund). The training aimed at reducing stigma and provided accurate messages and facts on HIV.

According to the Ministry of Health in the occupied Palestinian territory, the cumulative number of patients with HIV and AIDS since 1987 has reached 72 cases, although problems with under-reporting and HIV surveillance systems means that accurate statistics in the Arab region are difficult to come by.

This is particularly true in Gaza. Out of 29 known cases of people living with HIV recorded in the Gaza Strip as per available statistics, only eight people are still alive and currently receiving antiretroviral (ARV) treatment and support through the UNDP-managed Global Fund programme. In the occupied Palestinian territory as a whole, 21 people with advanced HIV are receiving treatment and 20 persons living with HIV are provided psychosocial support.

The programme also includes critical awareness-raising sessions and stigma reduction activities with a special focus on religious leaders, the media and legal aid professionals. More than 2,000 people in the occupied Palestinian territory have received critical HIV testing and counselling sessions, including Um Mohammad.

“Many people are not aware how of HIV is transmitted”, she explains. HIV is transmitted through unprotected sex, transfusion of contaminated blood or from the use of non-sterile injecting equipment.

“I know, so I am not afraid,” she says. “I am able to share with my children their food and utensils and I kiss them good night like every mother. I do the same with my neighbours and relatives.”

Um Mohammad’s husband died four months after he was diagnosed with AIDS and she was left to provide for her family. “I became the mother and father of my nine children,” she says. “I brought them up the best way I can.”

UNDP is the Principal Recipient for Global Fund programmes in a number of countries. In the occupied Palestinian territory, working closely with the Ministry of Health and UN agencies, the Global Fund-supported HIV-programme has significantly contributed to preventing the spread of HIV, as well as to providing treatment and care services to persons living with HIV and AIDS.

The Global Fund has committed US$11 million to the project over a five year period (2009-2013). Today, thanks to the initiative’s efforts, 22 non-governmental organizations are providing HIV and AIDS prevention, awareness and support services in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

“It is time now for our society to treat people living with HIV and AIDS like any person who has the right to live, work, learn and receive treatment when sick,” Um Mohammad says.

by Amar Bokhari, Reem Abu Shomar and Dania Darwish at the United Nations Development Programme (Link)

 All names in this article have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved

STAY UPDATED

or subscribe by email

Visit Well For Living
for well-being news and info or 

108 Delegates have died en route to Melbourne AIDS2014 summit on flight MH17

MORE than 100 AIDS activists, researchers and health workers bound for a major conference in Melbourne were on the Malaysia Airlines flight downed in the Ukraine.

It is believed that delegates to the 20th International AIDS Conference, due to begin on Sunday, will be informed today that 108 of their colleagues and family members died on MH17.

Stunned researchers, activists and development workers arriving at Melbourne Airport paid tribute to AIDS researcher Joep Lange and the other attendees believed killed aboard MH17.

Jonathan Quick, head of a not-for–profit medicine supply company working with the Global Fund and the US government in Africa and Latin America, described Professor Lange as a force for change in HIV/AIDS treatment.

“I remember meeting him back in the late 1990s. He was really driven at a time when there was not much going on in the way of treatment,” he said.

“This is a community in which individuals have moved mountains and it’s also a community that has had regular exposure to horrific loss.”

Mr Quick, who runs Management Sciences for Health, will introduce an address by former High Court judge Michael Kirby at the conference.

Activist and journalist Sean Strub, who runs the New York based POZ magazine, said the conference was shaken by the tragedy and by Professor Lange’s death.

“It’s going to be a very sombre week,’’ he said. “The struggle with the epidemic is bigger than any one individual but the collective loss of so many important people is one that is emotionally devastating.”

Kenyan development worker Perez Odera said she feared the tragedy would dissuade people from flying to conferences such as this.

“I just feel it is very, very unfortunate. It’s something we don’t have control over,’’ she said.

Dr Robert Grant, a researcher from the Gladstone Institute at the University of California, said that on arriving in Melbourne he had heard reports Prof Lange had died.

He declined to say he was speaking about Prof Lange ahead of confirmation of the death, but said a senior colleague — thought to be the Dutch researcher — appeared to have perished.

“It’s incredible. He’s been a mentor to me and an incredible leader in this field. We have published together and I have relied on him for advice and guidance,” he said.

Another delegate, Jennifer Watt, who works for a pharmaceutical company in San Francisco, talked of Prof Lange‘s work in Africa.

“I have worked very closely with him in a number of clinical research projects. He’s very well known and a very passionate person. He’s the father of AIDS research in the developing world,’’ she said.

Another attendee, Houston based community worker Moise Arrah, said the news was devastating. “People were coming here for such a noble cause and then they lose their lives in such a tragedy.”

Prof Lange was a clinical researcher specialising in HIV therapy who served as the International AIDS Society president from 2002 to 2004.

His friend Dr Seema Yasmin, from the US Centers for Disease Control, said Prof Lange was a true humanitarian.

“What a HUGE loss to the world,” she tweeted. “Just learned that dear friend, amazing father to 5 girls and veteran AIDS researcher Joep Lange was on #MH17.”

Australia’s National AIDS Trust paid tribute to Prof Lange.

“Reports Joep Lange died in Malaysian plane crash today, with other scientists on way to AIDS_conference. Desperately sad news,” it said on Twitter.

American academic and AIDS activist Gregg Gonsalves tweeted that “Lots of AIDS researchers, activists, officials on downed Malaysia Airlines flight to Melbourne for Intl AIDS Conference.

“Joep Lange was a leading AIDS researcher and clinician and an activist at heart. Lost today too soon on Malaysian flight 019. RIP.”

A Geneva-based World Health Organisation media adviser, Glenn Thomas, is also believed to be among the dead.

Dr Haileyesus Getahun, coordinator of the WHO’s Global TB program, tweeted: “Saddened to learn that my friend and @WHO staff who was traveling to @AIDS_conference to Melbourne was on flight #MH17. RIP #Glenn Thomas”.

His colleague Dr Rachel Baggaley, of the WHO’s HIV Department, told Vox: “I’m just devastated. He’s a very close colleague whom I work with on a daily basis.

“He just had his birthday, he was going to plan all sorts of celebrations.”

Nicole Schiegg, a former Senior Advisor at USAID, tweeted: “I am still stunned. So sorry & thoughts are with Glenn’s extended @WHO family at this time.

“Glenn was a great guy & will be missed.”

Jennifer Yang, global health reporter at the Toronto Star, tweeted: “So saddened to hear about lovely, funny, whip-smart Glenn.”

Delegates Lucie van Mens, Martine de Schutter, Pim de Kuijer and Jacqueline van Tongeren were also reportedly on the flight.

Dr Van Mens, director of program development and support at the Female Health Company, had been involved in public health, focusing on prevention of STIs and HIV/AIDS, since 1995.

Ms Van Tongeren had worked in the field of HIV/Aids since 1986, and coordinated many HIV/AIDS- and health-related projects. She ran an art gallery in Amsterdam in the 1970s and 1980s and worked closely with Prof Lange.

Organisers of the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne are awaiting confirmation of how many delegates were aboard the Malaysian Airlines flight shot down over eastern Ukraine.

International Aids Society president-elect Chris Beyrer issued a brief statement outside the Melbourne Convention Centre, where the world’s leading HIV researchers and scientists, former US president Bill Clinton and philanthropist Bob Geldolf will gather for next week’s conference.

“The International AIDS Society today expressed its sincere sadness at receiving news that colleagues and friends en route to attend the 20th International AIDS Conference taking place in Melbourne, Australia, were on board the Malaysian Airlines MH17 flight that has crashed over Ukraine earlier today,” Mr Beyrer said.

“At this incredibly said and sensitive time the IAS stands with our international family and sends condolences to the loved ones of those who have been lost to this tragedy.

“The IAS is hearing unconfirmed reports that some of our friends and colleagues were on board the flight and if that is the case this is a truly sad day.

“The IAS has also heard reports that among the passengers was a former IAS President Joep Lange and if that is the case then the HIV/AIDS movement has truly lost a giant.”

UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibe tweeted: “My thoughts & prayers to families of those tragically lost on flight #MH17. Many passengers were enroute to #AIDS2014 here in #Melbourne.”

The IAS released a statement today confirming the death of a number of attendees to the 20th Annual AIDS Conference.

“The International AIDS Society (IAS) today expresses its sincere sadness at receiving news that a number of colleagues and friends en route to attend the 20th International AIDS Conference taking place in Melbourne, Australia, were on board the Malaysian Airlines MH17 flight that has crashed over Ukraine earlier today,’’ it said.

“At this incredibly sad and sensitive time the IAS stands with our international family and sends condolences to the loved ones of those who have been lost to this tragedy.”

Bill Clinton, Bob Geldof, Michel Sidibe , the executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Mark Dybul, Indonesian Health Minister Nafsiam Mboi, Swedish Ambassador for Global Health Anders Nordstrom are down as speakers at the conference.

STAY UPDATED

or subscribe by email

Visit Well For Living
for well-being news and info or 

MH17: HIV community mourns loss of pioneer researcher Joep Lange

The international AIDS community is mourning the deaths of researchers whose plane was shot down over Ukraine and who were travelling to Melbourne for a global AIDS conference.

The former International AIDS Society president Joep Lange and his partner and ArtAids board member Jacqueline van Tongeren have been confirmed as having been on the flight, while there are reports of others including a World Health Organization spokesman, Glenn Thomas.

298 people – 283 passengers including three infants and 15 crew – were killed on the Malaysia Airlines flight 17.

Global leaders mourned

David Cooper, director of the Kirby Institute at UNSW Australia, was a friend of Joep Lange. He received a call at 3am telling him that Lange and his partner were on the flight.

Professor Cooper said his colleague of 30 years had “an absolute commitment to HIV treatment and care in Asia and Africa”.

“Joep was absolutely committed to the development of affordable HIV treatments, particularly combination therapies, for use in resource-poor countries,” Professor Cooper said.

Professor Lange was a professor of medicine and head of the Department of Global Health at the Academic Medical Centre at the University of Amsterdam. He served as president of the International AIDS Society from 2002 to 2004.

In his 30 years of researching HIV, he led pivotal trials of antiretroviral therapy and published more than 350 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

“Another outstanding area of [Lange’s] contribution has been his pioneering role in exploring affordable and simple antiretroviral drug regimens for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in resource-poor settings,” Professor Cooper said.

“Both of these have been part of his dedication to increasing access to effective HIV treatment.  The joy in collaborating with Joep was that he would always bring a fresh view, a unique take on things, and he never accepted that something was impossible to achieve.”

More AIDS2014 delegates feared lost

Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has told reporters this morning: “A number of people who were travelling to Malaysia for an international AIDS conference were also on board”.

The Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was due to connect with a flight to Perth, before people travelled onto Melbourne, Reuters and others have reported.

UNAIDS director Michael Sidibe, who is already in Melbourne for the week-long 20th International Aids Conference, tweeted: “Many passengers were enroute to #AIDS2014 here in #Melbourne.”

The conference organisers, the International AIDS Society, released a statement expressing “sincere sadness” at the news of the M17 disaster:

At this incredibly sad and sensitive time the IAS stands with our international family and sends condolences to the loved ones of those who have been lost to this tragedy.

Story via The Conversation

STAY UPDATED

or subscribe by email

Visit Well For Living
for well-being news and info or 

Prominent HIV researcher Joep Lange was among the victims of flight MH17

Joep Lange, a prominent HIV researcher and former president of the International AIDS Society, was one of the victims of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

A professor of medicine and head of the department of global health at the University of Amsterdam, Lange had been involved in HIV treatment and research since 1983, just as the virus was emerging as a global health threat.

He was one of the key researchers behind several pivotal antiretroviral therapy trials, including projects involving the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of the virus, according to the Amsterdam Institute of Global Health and Development.

Lange was on his way to AIDS 2014, a global conference that will take place in Melbourne, Australia from July 20 to 25, at the time of death.

He was traveling with his wife, who has also died in the crash.

“Joep was a visionary amongst HIV researchers,” American HIV researcher Dr. Rick Elion told Vox. “He was acutely aware of the multiple dimensions of HIV spanning science to society and had a heart of gold. This is a huge loss for the field.”

“Joep was absolutely committed to the development of affordable HIV treatments, particularly combination therapies, for use in resource-poor countries,” David Cooper, a friend and fellow researcher told the Australian academic news website The Conversation.

“Another outstanding area of [Lange’s] contribution has been his pioneering role in exploring affordable and simple antiretroviral drug regimens for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in resource-poor settings,” Cooper said.

Other researchers and activists have died en route to the AIDS conference, though the death toll has not yet been confirmed.

Australian newspapers are reporting that as many as 108 conference participants may have been on the plane.

The International AIDS Society issued a statement on the losses:

The IAS today expresses its sincere sadness at receiving news that a number of colleagues and friends en route to attend the 20th International AIDS Conference taking place in Melbourne, Australia, were on board the Malaysian Airlines MH17 flight that has crashed over Ukraine earlier today.

At this incredibly sad and sensitive time the IAS stands with our international family and sends condolences to the loved ones of those who have been lost to this tragedy.

We also at LASS, recognise this incredible loss of some some of the worlds finest scientific HIV activists and send our sympathies and heartfelt sorrow to the families of those who died yesterday on flight MH17.

STAY UPDATED

or subscribe by email

Visit Well For Living
for well-being news and info or 

Call for better education on HIV after survey

There’s a call for teenagers to be given clearer education about HIV.

A third of 12 to 17-year-olds wrongly think they can’t catch HIV through unprotected sex.  A panel of nearly 1,000 were surveyed by the charity the MAC Aids Fund between May and June.

Figures from the survey also suggest nearly 90% of teenagers believe they are not at risk of contracting HIV in their lifetime.  When asked if they had ever spoken about the topic, 42% of the panel said they hadn’t.

37% per cent of respondents thought smoking or drinking alcohol would be a greater risk to their health compared to 27% who thought having unprotected sex could be detrimental.

The Departments for Education in England, Scotland and Wales say students must learn about sexually transmitted infections like HIV.  The government has said “As part of the new science GCSE, pupils will also be taught about sexually transmitted infections, which will include HIV for the first time.”

According to Public Health England, in the 10 years to 2012 the number of gay men aged between 15 and 24 who were newly diagnosed with the virus more than doubled from 198 to 443.  The number of cases of men and women in this age group has dropped slightly from 508 to 505.

Their latest figures out in June suggest this age group also had the highest rate of sexually transmitted disease, with the number of new cases on the rise.

Alex Sparrowhawk found out he was HIV positive when he was 24 after having unprotected sex.  He told BBC Newsbeat: “I was aware of HIV, and knew it was a virus and how to catch it.  “But I didn’t think it would happen to someone like me. I presumed it would happen to other people.

It wasn’t something I ever thought of.

He explained that after having unprotected sex he “had a constant cough and the GP couldn’t give me answers so I went to get HIV tested”. Alex said he “couldn’t take it in” when he found out he had the virus.

He added: “I was quite numb. I didn’t understand what it would mean to me.

“There have been times I’ve not felt my best mentally, when I’ve thought ‘Is this really happening to me?’ “I can’t change the past, so I don’t regret it in that sense.

“At the end of the day I just think I was unlucky. But that’s just why I just want to raise awareness because that’s what’s going to happen to someone else.”

Alex, who has set up a blog detailing his experiences, said he didn’t learn about HIV or Aids in school and warned: “What you need to know is HIV is just a virus – it doesn’t care if you are gay or straight, black or white, male or female. It can affect anyone.”

Story via BBC Newsbeat

STAY UPDATED

or subscribe by email

Visit Well For Living
for well-being news and info or 

10 things you need to know about the pill to prevent HIV

It’s been called, simultaneously, a medicine to “end the HIV epidemic” and a “party drug:” Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP for short, refers to a daily antiviral treatment that prevents HIV.

That’s right: People who don’t have the virus can take a pill a day to save themselves from getting infected.

Haven’t heard about PrEP? You’re probably not alone. The drug-maker, Gilead, doesn’t advertise Truvada (its brand name) for prevention, and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention only endorsed it this past May—two years after it hit the market.

Want to learn more about PrEP, (click here).

Going forward, however, you’ll be hearing a lot more. On Friday, the World Health Organization backed the antiviral, recommending all HIV-negative men who have sex with men consider taking it as part of a strategy to reduce the global incidence of the disease. But there’s a lot more to the story. Here’s what you need to know:

1) Public health officials aren’t recommending this pill for “all gay men,” despite what the headlines say

The pill is “for people who do not have HIV but who are at substantial risk of getting it,” according to CDC guidance. “At substantial risk” means you regularly have unprotected sex with partners of unknown HIV status. This can include men who have sex with men, heterosexual men and women, injection drug users, sex workers, and people in couples with an HIV-positive partner. In other words, not simply “all gay men.”

The latest headlines about Truvada were so misleading that the WHO had to issue a clarification noting that they support PrEP “as an additional choice”—again, not for all men who have sex with men.

“We know from surveillance that condom use is not as high as is necessary to control the epidemic”

2) Truvada is not a condom replacement

Public-health officials are not endorsing Truvada as an alternative to other forms of protection. “We are suggesting that for people who are already not using condoms, we have another option to help protect them from HIV infection,” says the CDC’s Dawn Smith, biomedical interventions implementation officer. “It’s part of being practical and realistic.” So the hope is that those who get prescriptions are folks who just aren’t using anything to protect themselves. “We know from our surveillance systems that condom use is not as high as is necessary to control the epidemic,” Smith added.

3) We don’t yet know exactly how the drug will be used in real life

Still, this public-health message hasn’t stopped some activists and AIDS campaigners from worrying aloud that the pill will undermine traditional advocacy messages about condoms—especially at a time when HIV infections are on the rise among gay men. And the truth is, we don’t yet know what kind of impact PrEP will have on people’s behaviour.

To find out, there are now “demonstration trials” being run around the world. These will look at how Truvada works outside of clinical trials, the impact of non-daily use of the drug, and whether the antiviral encourages more risky sexual behaviour or leads to an increase in other sexually-transmitted infections.

4) We do know Truvada only works effectively when taken every day

A three-year clinical trial of PrEP in HIV-negative men who have sex with men found that users got much more protection when they took the drug every day. Participants who took the drug less than half the time had a 50 percent reduction in HIV acquisition; daily users cut their risk by more than 90 percent. These results have been supported by other studies in a range of populations—from injection-drug users to heterosexual men and women. The trouble is, most people don’t take their medications as their doctors prescribe.

Drug-resistant strains of HIV have emerged when people with acute, undetected infection were given Truvada

5) Truvada can cause drug-resistant HIV infection

Drug-resistant strains of HIV have emerged when people with acute, undetected infection were given PrEP. This means they were positive when they started the medicine, but levels of the virus in their blood were hardly detectable because their infections were so new. They hadn’t made enough antibodies to show up in a test and so they were prescribed the drug anyway.

There’s some question about how serious this risk is for individuals and public health. For now, doctors are asked to confirm the HIV status of patients and to do follow-up and re-testing throughout treatment.

When asked how much of a concern drug resistance is, Smith of the CDC said, “We don’t know yet. That’s one of the things we’ll learn as the first few demonstration projects begin telling us.”

6) Besides that, it’s pretty safe

Though Truvada for the prevention of HIV was only licensed by the Food and Drug Administration in 2012, it was first authorized in 2004 to treat HIV positive patients. That’s right: the same drug used for these two purposes. Since it has been on the market as a treatment for over a decade—with very minimal side effects and harms—doctors are pretty confident in its safety profile for preventative use. There seem to be few side-effects with Truvada for prevention, the most common one being nausea.

People have been slinging the term ‘Truvada whore’ around, and the head of the aids healthcare foundation called the pill a ‘party drug’

7) “Truvada whores” are a thing

Because of the questions about whether PrEP will cause people to have risky sex and ditch condoms, there’s some related stigma in the gay community. People have even been slinging the term “Truvada whore” around, and the head of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation called Truvada a “party drug.” In response, one PrEP activist created a #TruvadaWhore t-shirt campaign to reclaim the word.

Many have pointed out that this divide parallels the early days of the birth control pill and suggestions that the medication would encourage promiscuity.

8) Uptake has been slow—but that’s not the full story

According to data from the drug maker Gilead, by March 2013 there were approximately 1,774 people in the US taking the drug. But it’s important to put this number in context. First of all, these findings were not published and peer-reviewed; they were presented at a scientific conference last year. When studied, we’ll have a better picture of the PrEP landscape and it may look quite different.  Secondly, Truvada has only been on the US market for prevention since 2012, a year after these numbers were gathered. It often takes decades for innovations to penetrate a market, especially in the conservative field of medicine.

9) The drug is expensive

Without insurance, Truvada can cost up to $14,000 a year, according to the CDC. But for most people, it is covered in their insurance programs and there’s only a co-pay. There are also medication assistance programs across the US for the uninsured that will cover the entire cost of the medication.

10)  HIV remains a socio-economic crisis around the world

Globally, men who have sex with men, prisoners, injection-drug users, and sex workers are still the groups most affected by HIV.

STAY UPDATED

or subscribe by email

Visit Well For Living
for well-being news and info or 

Will Corder: The Face of HIV

Image from “The Face of HIV” (Corder: 2014)
Image © Will Corder 2014 used with permission.

Will Corder is a photographer in Bournemouth who produces portraiture, fashion and documentary work as well as working on personal and commercial projects.

His photography journey so far has seen him work with fashion photographers including Cameron Mcnee and Michael Furlonger, and work for Top Model UK.  Will has also exhibited his solo work in Dorset and worked with local charities and organisations on collaborative projects.  Will has also had his work published in national press and magazines.

Of particular note, one of his more interesting projects is “The Face of HIV”, which is an ongoing project to raise awareness about HIV and the people that it affects.  Ignorance, stigma, silence and denial surround HIV and it’s something that needs to be addressed.  Since the ’80’s, HIV has gone from being a ‘gay’ disease which came with a death sentence, to a manageable condition which affects anyone – gay, straight, white, black, young and old.

This project features some remarkable people who have faced HIV and fought it, people who want to tell their story and educate others.

Will’s “The Face of HIV” series are remarkably similar in style to celebrated photographer David Bailey, who often presents black and white thematic photographs of the famous.  In Stardust (Bailey: 2014) David Bailey has captured: actors, writers, musicians, filmmakers, designers, models, artists and people encountered on his travels; many of them are already known to us.

Will has shifted individuals, victims of stigma and abuse simply because of a manageable health condition, into fine art.  We all too often see parades of red ribbons and of communities working together to fight stigma and the visual impact of the individual can sometimes be lost.  Will has brought you the individual, boldly displayed for you to see, not to scrutinise or guess their character but to show their innocence.  You couldn’t possibly judge these people as you have no terms of reference and this a practical demonstration why prejudice and stigma originate in the mind of the perpetrator.

In his YOU series (Hilterman: 2002 – 2013) Hans Hilterman accomplishes the same, stripping people to their very essence, with no makeup, jewellery, or other preference.  Corder presents his noteworthy individuals as a synonymity between the unexceptional characters of Hilterman’s YOU and the mahatma of fame from Bailey’s Stardust.

Despite it’s message and what it it stands for, you cannot see HIV within Corder’s The Face of HIV, no ghost, no trace.  Nor flower, not a seed nor symbols in it’s place.

A remarkable project, from a remarkable photographer.

Visit his portfolio at: http://www.willcorder.co.uk/or follow him on Twitter @will_corder

STAY UPDATED

or subscribe by email

Visit Well For Living
for well-being news and info or 

Update to this weeks events! & Family Day – Saturday

It’s with regret that our advertised event, a visit with Canon Gideon Byamugisha is postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.  However, we are planning for him to visit in September and we will do our best to ensure everyone who would like to meet him, has an opportunity to do so.

Rev Canon Dr Gideon B. Byamugisha is an ordained priest in the Anglican Church of Uganda. In 1992, he became the first African religious leader to openly declare his HIV-positive status. He has since devoted his life to an HIV / AIDS ministry which has taken him to over 40 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and many other parts of the world.

Canon Gideon asked us to relay, his apologies to everyone and asked for forgiveness for the inconvenience this may have caused.

HIV & Belief

Even though, Canon Gideon is unable to join us on this occasion, we are still running our HIV & Belief Session, tomorrow (Wednesday 9^th) between 1-4pm at LASS.  This session will explore issues about stigma, self-stigma, support for testing and condom use and reducing discrimination and prejudice.

Additionally, we are also running our “Audience With…” – A further opportunity for faith leaders and elders to meet us at LASS.  This is held on Thursday, (10^th July), the session will be of interest to people whose faith / belief plays an important role in their life also for those with an interest in the role that faith and belief have on people’s lives to help them cope or otherwise with a long term condition like HIV.

 Family, Faith & Football Day

As you can see, it’s a busy week for us and we can’t wait to kick back and enjoy the festivities this Saturday (12^th July) which is our annual “Family, Faith & Football Day”.  Our previous football days have been a huge success with many people coming along from all walks of life.  We have food, children’s entertainment, music, a bar (from 12:00) together with football all day (starting at 10:00am – Final at 4:30).  There will also be a range of health stalls so you can get information on TB, Hepititus, Diabetes, BMI and blood pressure checks and of course rapid HIV Testing!

So why not join us for some healthy fun, all day Saturday at the Emerald Centre, Gypsy Lane, Leicester. (Map)

STAY UPDATED

or subscribe by email

Visit Well For Living
for well-being news and info or 

How does Childhood Sexual Abuse affect HIV prevention?

Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) is a painful experience on many levels that can have a profound and devastating effect on later physiological, psychosocial and emotional development.

Childhood Sexual Abuse experiences can vary with respect to duration (multiple experiences with the same perpetrator), degree of force/coercion or degree of physical intrusion (from fondling to digital penetration to attempted or completed oral, anal or vaginal sex). The identity of the perpetrator–ranging from a stranger to a trusted figure or family member–may also impact the long-term consequences for individuals. To distinguish Child Sexual Abuse from exploratory sexual experimentation, the contact should be unwanted/coerced or there should be a clear power difference between the victim and perpetrator, often defined as the perpetrator being at least 5 years older than the victim.

People who experience childhood sexual abuse may feel powerless over their sexuality and sexual communication and decision-making as adults because they were not given the opportunity to make their own decisions about their sexuality as children or adolescents. As a result, they may engage in more high-risk sexual behaviour, be unable to refuse sexually aggressive partners and have less sexual satisfaction in relationships.

What seems to be common, is that people who come forward to report their abuse, only do so after the perpetrator has died or a number of other abuse survivors have come forward to present their case.  In high profile cases, this means victims of Jimmy Saville, Gary Glitter, Max Clifford, Rolf Harris, Chris Denning et al.  For more information on these investigations, search for Operation YewTree online.

The reality is much worse than what the papers are informing.  Child Sexual Abuse is more likely to occur in families under duress. Children are at risk of sexual abuse in families that experience stress, poverty, violence and substance abuse and whose parents and relatives have histories of child abuse.

Childhood Sexual Abuse can affect HIV risk because childhood and early adolescence are critical times in a person’s sexual, social and personal development, sexual abuse can distort survivors’ physical, mental and sexual images of themselves. These distortions, combined with coping mechanisms adopted to offset the trauma of abuse can lead abuse survivors into high-risk sexual and drug-using behaviours that increase the likelihood of HIV infection.

Childhood Sexual Abuse survivors may have difficulties forming attachments and long term relationships and may dissociate from their feelings, resulting in having multiple sexual partners, “one night stands” and short-term sexual relationships.  The effects of child sexual abuse may be different for adult men and women. Female survivors of abuse may have lower condom self-efficacy with partners, use condoms less frequently, exhibit more sexual passivity and attract or be attracted to overly controlling partners.  Male survivors of abuse may experience higher levels of eroticism, exhibit aggressive, hostile behaviour and victimize others.

Adults with child abuse histories may use dissociation and other coping efforts to avoid negative thoughts, emotions and memories associated with the abuse. One of the most common dissociation methods is alcohol and drug abuse. A study of men and women with a history of substance abuse found that 34% had experienced child sexual abuse.

More on historic Childhood Sexual Abuse

For years, there have been undercurrents on Twitter and other websites about a network of individuals who sexually abuse children.  It’s not a small network of people, it’s large and the organisation was called the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) between 1974 to 1984.  To research more for yourself, search #CSAInquiry or #PIE on Twitter or Google.

The Paedophile Information Exchange network was set up as a special interest group who’s stated aim was to “to alleviate suffering of many adults and children” by campaigning to abolish the age of consent thus legalising sex between adults and children. (Read More).  At the time, the Paedophile Information Exchange group was legal and sought to promote the rights of paedophiles by arguing that children had the right to indulge in their sexual feelings with adults, and argued the age of consent should be lowered to four years old, or abolished altogether.

Until recently, this story has been limited to activists and deemed ‘conspiracy’ because of the high volume of alleged abuse which has been reported by high profile celebrity’s and currently, alleged against politicians.

In October, 2012 ITV aired a documentary “Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile” (Available online here) which broke the story of Savile’s sexual abuse of young girls into the main stream media.  The programme contained several allegations by women who said that, as teenagers, they had been sexually abused by Savile, who had gained access to them through the television programmes he had presented.  Following the broadcast, many other people came forward to make allegations about Savile’s conduct towards young people, including sexual abuse that had taken place on BBC premises and in hospitals to which Savile had access.

It didn’t stop there, since the ITV documentary, journalists, magazines and newspapers have consistently reported stories of child sex abuse, gradually gaining traction until it exploded in most newspapers last weekend.

Read those stories:

• http://www.theguardian.com/society/childprotection
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/search/?queryText=child+abuse
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/news/?q=child+abuse
• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?offset=0&size=50&sel=site&searchPhrase=%22child+sex+abuse%22&sort=recent&type=article&type=video&days=last365days
• Comprehensive coverage of Child Sexual Abuse news is available at http://www.exaronews.com/ (Twitter: @ExaroNews)

What’s next, and how can we cope?

Although dealing with child sexual abuse may seem like a daunting task for many HIV prevention programs, there are a variety of usable approaches to address abuse in adults.  Programs can: include questions on abuse during routine client screening, reassess clients over time, provide basic education on the effects of Childhood Sexual Abuse and offer referrals for substance abuse and mental health services.

People who are likely to interact with Childhood Sexual Abuse survivors such as medical and other health professionals, religious and peer counsellors, including alcohol, substance abuse and rape counsellors, and probation officers need to be educated on the effects of child sexual abuse and on sexual and drug risk behaviours. They also need training on how to recognize symptoms of child sexual abuse and how to address these issues or provide appropriate referrals for treatment.

We hope you find this knowledge, educational and informative. To be perfectly honest, we hope it makes you angry, angry enough to research Childhood Sexual Abuse for yourself and ensure that you stay up to date with the developments which are unfolding now before our very eyes and ears, on the news, in the newspapers and on the radio.

Many survivors of child abuse believe they have been let down by the system of child protection in the UK.  Thousands had nowhere to turn. Nobody listened and nobody helped.

In fact, one person tried.  His name was Geoffrey Dickens who was the Conservative MP for Huddersfield West.  Dickens gave Leon Brittan, (then home secretary) a dossier of allegations about an alleged paedophile ring among MPs (Read more about that here)

On Tuesday last week, Simon Danczuk, Labour MP for Rochdale, called on Lord Brittan to say what he knew about the allegations made by Dickens, who died in 1995. On Wednesday, Lord Brittan said he had asked Home Office officials to report back to him at the time if “action needed to be taken”, but did not recall having been contacted further. The Home Office said on Wednesday that it had conducted a review of the matter last year and found that the concerns raised by Dickens had been passed on to the appropriate authorities.

It is one of 114 Home Office files relating to allegations of child sex abuse that it has admitted have either been destroyed, lost or gone missing.  The disappearance of the files was not disclosed in the 2013 Home Office review. Mark Sedwill, the permanent secretary of the department, has promised to appoint an independent legal figure this week to determine whether the conclusions of last year’s review “remain sound”.

The missing Home Office files and the failure of previous police and local authority inquiries has meant that MPs from all the political parties have supported calls for an overarching national inquiry, A Child Sex Abuse Inquiry (or #CSAInquiry for short).

A petition is available online (http://change.org/ukabuseinquiry) asking Theresa May to establish a national inquiry into allegations of organised child abuse.  Please visit it, we owe it to the survivors. They expect nothing less.

READ MORE

• http://www.exaronews.com/content/child-sex-abuse-fernbridge-and-fairbank-exaro-story-thread
• http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/child-abuse-detectives-raid-labour-3740002
• http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5282/pressure-builds-in-parliament-to-address-child-sex-abuse-in-uk
• http://google-law.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/getting-to-bottom-of-paedophile.html?m=1
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10944652/Tory-MP-allegedly-found-with-child-porn-in-1980s-faced-no-charges-police-told.html
• http://www.scriptonitedaily.com/2013/12/18/uk-establishment-closes-ranks-as-organised-paedophile-network-leads-back-to-no-10/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORU5x-ryedU
• http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/elm-guest-house-investigation-former-senior-cabinet-minister-faces-rape-investigation-8723115.html
• https://www.ipce.info/host/radicase/chap11.htm
• http://msjenniferjames.blog.co.uk/2013/01/31/dpp-wanted-paedo-charges-lowered-to-protect-diplomat-transcription-15486714/
• http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/first-victim-of-elm-guest-house-1572073
• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2272253/Timebomb-Elm-Guest-House-Pop-stars-bishop-politician-appear-list-seized-police-investigating-child-abuse-London-hotel-1980s.html

 

STAY UPDATED

or subscribe by email

Visit Well For Living
for well-being news and info or