UK government expresses support for HIV Commission plan to end new HIV cases by 2030

Senior government ministers have backed a plan developed by an independent group, the HIV Commission, to eliminate HIV transmission in England over the next decade. At a launch event this morning, health secretary Matt Hancock committed to reducing new cases by 80% by 2025 and to less than 100 a year by 2030. These goals are achievable, he said.

How PrEP users decide whether to use condoms

While over 80% of anal sex among pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) users in Amsterdam was covered by PrEP alone, condoms and PrEP were used for nearly one in five anal sex acts with casual partners. Those who opted to use condoms did so in situations of perceived vulnerability to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections and in instances when they did not want to talk about using PrEP with sexual partners. These findings are from the Amsterdam PrEP (AMPrEP) demonstration project.

Glasgow outreach service shows the feasibility of PrEP for people who inject drugs

A proactive, outreach-based service for people who inject drugs has successfully delivered the HIV prevention medication PrEP in the midst of Glasgow’s HIV outbreak, Dr Ceilidh Grimshaw of Sandyford told the virtual British HIV Association (BHIVA) conference last week.

It’s possible to end HIV epidemics among people who inject drugs in low- and middle-income countries

HIV incidence is below 0.1% per year among people who inject drugs in a large Vietnamese city, Professor Don Des Jarlais and colleagues report in the December issue of AIDS. They say the data clearly demonstrate that it is possible to achieve very low HIV incidence – ‘to end an HIV epidemic’ – among people who inject drugs in a middle-income country.

Respiratory problems and bronchitis more common in people with HIV

There are higher rates of poor respiratory health in people ageing with HIV than in carefully matched HIV-negative people, with symptoms strongly associated with worse mental health and quality of life. Professor Caroline Sabin presented these data from the POPPY study to the virtual BHIVA conference.

UK: Black people less likely to be engaged in HIV care, with more cases of viral rebound

There are ethnic disparities in relation to two key indicators of the quality of HIV care, but there are no differences in viral suppression within a year of starting treatment, Dr Rageshri Dhairyawan told the BHIVA conference. Although the differences are not large, dealing with them is necessary if the UK is to end the HIV epidemic without leaving anyone behind.

Almost one in ten HIV PrEP users report buying antibiotics for STI prevention, raising concerns over potential antibiotic resistance

An online community survey conducted in the UK shows that 9% of HIV PrEP users are buying antibiotics to prevent themselves from getting STIs. The survey results from 2019 were published in the Sexually Transmitted Infections journal.

Very poor knowledge of HIV among staff at major London hospitals

Knowledge of HIV transmission, ‘Undetectable = Untransmittable’ (U=U) and infection control is limited among nurses and other staff working on general hospital wards, Moses Shongwe of Barts Health NHS Trust told the BHIVA conference. HIV-related stigma, particularly in healthcare settings, is a significant barrier to people accessing care, he said.

How should we care for older people with HIV?

As people living with HIV are living into old age, clinicians are developing new models of care. Dr Tom Levett and colleagues in Brighton, England, have recently described a combined HIV and geriatrics clinic – the Silver Clinic – that was designed to meet the needs of such patients by combining HIV care with geriatric care.

Almost half of HIV diagnoses in Europe are late, with serious impact on health outcomes

Almost half of HIV diagnoses in Europe are among people whose immune systems have already been seriously weakened by HIV, an international team of investigators report in BMC Infectious Diseases. Just under half a million people, half of them in Russia, are estimated to have received a late HIV diagnosis between 2010 and 2016.

HIV is an independent risk factor for smoking-related cancers, especially in women

New research provides compelling evidence that infection with HIV is an independent risk factor for developing smoking-related cancers. Published in AIDS, the study’s findings are especially important because they compared cancer risk between closely matched individuals with and without HIV who were enrolled in long-standing cohort studies. Women with HIV appeared to have an especially high risk of developing a smoking-related cancer.

Top 10 HIV clinical developments of 2020 | TheBodyPro

In this exclusive series of articles, David Alain Wohl, M.D., calls attention to ten developments that have tremendous short-term implications for our day-to-day efforts to improve HIV prevention, treatment, patient care, and policy in the US, and analyses each development with his trademark wit and clinical savvy.

South Africa: ‘Welcome Back Service’ aims to help people get back on HIV treatment | Spotlight

While South Africa is doing well on some of the UNAIDS HIV targets for 2020, one target we are set to miss is ensuring that 90% of people diagnosed with HIV are on antiretroviral therapy. Partly in response to this problem, the ‘Welcome back’ campaign started by Doctors without Borders aims to make it easier for people who have stopped taking treatment to restart.

IPM’s dapivirine ring for women’s HIV prevention receives WHO prequalification | International Partnership for Microbicides

World Health Organization (WHO) prequalification brings the dapivirine vaginal ring another step closer to introduction, pending country approvals. This designation from WHO confirms that the ring meets global standards for quality, safety and efficacy.

UNAIDS calls on countries to step up global action and proposes bold new HIV targets for 2025 | UNAIDS

As COVID-19 pushes the AIDS response even further off track and the 2020 targets are missed, UNAIDS is urging countries to learn from the lessons of underinvesting in health and to step up global action to end AIDS and other pandemics

NYC’s leather daddy HIV czar is going to the CDC – and advocates nationwide are thrilled | TheBody

Demetre Daskalakis, M.D., who led New York City through seven years of bold programmes that made the city’s HIV rates plunge, will take his prevention vision national starting 21 December.