And What a Year It’s Been

It’s been an interesting year in HIV science.  The folks over at The Body and Poz have chronicled the year nicely, so I’ll draw on their work to look specifically at women.

In the big picture, microbicides are still an elusive target: a trial using tenofovir vaginal gel was discontinued when it didn’t show effectiveness. Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis therapy proved a disappointment too, although research continues on both. That’s good, because women represent 50% of infections worldwide (60% in Sub-Saharan Africa). Women also experience disease progression at lower viral loads than men do – another thing to consider when looking at treatment recommendations. There’s still a lot to be done in terms of stigma, treatment access and social issues. Women struggle with convincing partners of the necessity for condoms, and violence runs through many relationships, increasing HIV and other health risks.

In Canada, the contentious issue of supervised injection sites came to a head with the Supreme Court Appeal regarding InSite. The Court ruled in September that InSite could remain open, as the health benefits outweighed the potential harms. Criminalization of HIV continues to be a difficult issue, and media portrayals don’t help. See Erin’s “The HIV Party Woman” for a great analysis. Just recently, we heard that a Canadian vaccine candidate will go to human safety trials in 2012- could this be a turning point?

At home in BC, the team at Oak Tree Clinic is exploring whether the HPV vaccine will help women with HIV-  a partnership with researchers in Uganda reaching beyond our borders. The STOP project forges on, seeking those who are undiagnosed. A trial of serodiscordant couples found that those who delayed treatment were more likely to transmit HIV to their partners, underlining the benefits of early treatment and reducing transmission that STOP embraces.

Here at PWN, we hit the milestone of 20 years of supporting women with HIV and educating the communities that work with them just how different HIV is for women. It’s been an honour and a privilege. 

I am deeply appreciative of the folks I work with in this field and passion, and know my coworkers at PWN feel the same. To everyone in our communities, all the best for the coming year. May we work together to address the many pieces of the HIV puzzle and improve the lives of all communities.

Janet 

Photo: nokhoog_buchachon / FreeDigitalPhotos.net