News from aidsmap
Community networks playing a central role in ensuring access to HIV treatment during India’s COVID-19 lockdown
Special report on the community response in one of the world’s strictest lockdowns. The National Coalition of People Living with HIV (NCPI+) has helped over 45,000 people living with HIV to have their antiretroviral therapy delivered at home.
COVID-19 in Barcelona: first cases in people living with HIV reported
The first cases of COVID-19 identified in people living with HIV in Barcelona’s main hospital do not differ from the rest of the population in symptoms or clinical course, offering some reassurance that HIV does not place people at higher risk of severe illness.
The human stories behind the treat-all policy in eSwatini
While policy makers may have decided that HIV treatment should be offered without delay to everyone who tests HIV positive, individual patients may have other priorities and may need time before committing to antiretroviral therapy (ART), Dr Shona Horter of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and colleagues warn in Medical Anthropology and in two other recently published articles.
Hepatitis C spreading through same networks and practices in HIV-positive and HIV-negative gay and bisexual men in England
Gay and bisexual men who acquire hepatitis C infection while using pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention are part of the same sexual networks and have the same risk factors as HIV-positive men who acquire hepatitis C, a study of men in London reports in the Journal of Viral Hepatitis.
Group therapy helps people with HIV quit smoking in the long term
Targeted group therapy more than doubles the chances of long-term smoking cessation among people living with HIV, researchers from the United States report in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. Quit rates were examined an average of three years after the initial smoking cessation intervention and showed that 10% of individuals randomised to take part in group therapy and 4% of individuals in the control group had stopped smoking.
Cardiovascular disease in people living with HIV in Africa under-studied, prevention neglected
The impact of cardiovascular disease in people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa is under-studied and more information is needed on how to manage its risks, researchers report in the journal Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases.
aidsmapCHAT
We've launched a new series of broadcasts, aidsmapCHAT. The series will keep you up to date with news and information for people living with HIV from around the world, including updates on COVID-19.
aidsmapCHAT is hosted by NAM's Susan Cole and Matthew Hodson. This week's guests are Anton Pozniak, President of the International AIDS Society; Georgina Caswell, Head of Programmes at the Global Network of People Living with HIV; and Bisi Alimi, Executive Director of the Bisi Alimi Foundation, which advocates for the rights of LGBT people in Nigeria.
Join us at 6pm (UK time) on Thursday 23 April on aidsmap's Twitter and Facebook pages.
Editors' picks from other sources
Planted in sickness, Derek Jarman’s garden still gives joy | New York Times
The British filmmaker, who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1994, found solace in gardening during a public health crisis.
Doctors press FDA to let more gay men donate blood | New York Times
More than 500 doctors, researchers and public health specialists are calling on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to eliminate constraints on blood donations by gay and bisexual men, saying the agency did not go far enough when it relaxed its restrictions earlier this month.
EATG rapid assessment: COVID-19 crisis’ impact on people living with HIV and on communities most affected by HIV | EATG
This rapid assessment aims to document in a structured manner the perceptions of people living with and affected by HIV and that of organisations providing services to affected communities about the way in which COVID-19 impacts their health, wellbeing and access to HIV related prevention, treatment and care.
Poland: country’s Criminal Code amended to increase sentencing in cases of HIV exposure | HIV Justice Network
This week, Polish President Andrzej Duda signed a law amending the country’s Criminal Code. Its content, coupled with other measures to combat COVID-19, was originally intended to create better conditions for overcoming the crisis. However, despite this, it, without any justification or prior approval, also included a number of provisions regarding the intensification of the criminalisation of HIV.
Sexual health & HIV policy EUROBulletin
The March edition of the EUROBulletin is available to read online. The bulletin includes a special section on COVID-19, HIV and sexual and reproductive health, and rights. This edition's eFeature interview is with Gennady Roshchupkin, the Community Health Systems Co-ordinator for ECOM (Eurasian Coalition on Health, Rights, Gender and Sexual Diversity), who we spoke to about supporting PrEP in eastern Europe and central Asia.