Shipping Out!

The AIDSTanzania team is leaving the country! This year our in-country team consists of six students: Erin, Danny B., Carrie, Rhiannon, Melissa, and team leader Marigene. Except for trip veteran Marigene, this is everyone’s first AIDSTanzania trip, and I think I speak for all of us when I say: we are SO STOKED!

With our yellow fever vaccinations, visas, and full-to-the-brim carry-ons at the ready, we’re departing from DC on Monday evening and will be spending — if I accounted for the time difference correctly — 9.5 million hours in flight. We’ll be stopping over in Frankfurt and then in Addis Ababa before finally landing at Kilimanjaro airport. Once in Tanzania we’ll be traveling to Arusha where we’ll be staying and working in the community. There we will be distributing the educational booklets we created, hosting an HIV testing day, collaborating with students from the local university, and participating in a host of other programs and activities.

I know I for one can’t WAIT to see what this trip holds for us. Stay tuned to hear what happens!

– Rhiannon

Glowing Cats are Resistant to Feline AIDS

KITTEH?!

Read the full article here.

Smelly socks tested in Tanzania as way to prevent malaria

Um, what? That’s right: “Previous lab studies have shown that smelly socks work well in attracting mosquitoes,” and now doctors are pioneering a way to use these smelly socks to lure malaria-ridden socks into a traps where they become contaminated with poison and die. Read the whole article here.

Here’s hoping it works.

Two studies show that drugs used to treat AIDS can prevent HIV infection

Two studies announced Wednesday, July 13 show Gilead Science Inc.’s Truvada pill helped prevent the spread of the AIDS virus between heterosexual couples in Africa. The drug is already used to treat people with HIV.

Read the whole article here.

Why Aren’t More Americans Getting Screened for HIV?

In the 30 years since the discovery of HIV/AIDS, much advancement has been made. New drugs ensure that people with HIV are living longer, more symptom-free lives. One area in which we are still lacking, however, is in testing. Says Dr. Patrick Sullivan, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, “One of the problems we still have is a very basic one: We’ve had a test for HIV since 1985, and yet we still haven’t taken full advantage of that tool.”

Read the full article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/23/hiv-screening_n_882467.html.

States cut back efforts to provide drugs for HIV, AIDS

“Cash-strapped states are scaling back efforts to provide life-saving medicines to HIV patients.”

In this article, Shefali S. Kulkarni somewhat frighteningly explains that in an effort to save money, some states are changing eligibility, cutting back on waiting lists, and decreasing the availability of antiretrovial drugs for AIDS patients. This means that thousands of people cannot get the drugs they need.

Experts say this plan may save money now but will ultimately backfire, because patients with access to antiretroviral drugs are better able to manage the disease and may even be less infectious, thus lowering costs in the long run.

30 Years In, We Are Still Learning From AIDS

This article highlights the importance of looking back at the early days of AIDS in the US. In these days, there was a plethora of discrimination and ignorance surrounding AIDS.

Today, “one of the most daunting challenges is to stay vigilant until AIDS is at last conquered. Consider that it has been almost a quarter century since federal health officials confidently predicted that a vaccine would be available in the late 1980s — a promise that has yet to be fulfilled.”

Tanzania Albinos Murdered Or Raped As AIDS “Cure”

Read the full article here.

Rising HIV rates in DC is Cause for Concern

DC released its latest HIV/AIDS numbers this month, and they’re high enough to cause alarm among the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, ABC 7 reports. This group came to Capitol Hill to support a bill called HR 1964. The bill would provide funding for massive testing, treatment and education for people with AIDS. In Washington, D.C. 81 percent of the people who have AIDS are black.

A Black Leaders Support HIV/AIDS Bill As DC Releases Latest Numbers

The good news is that more people are living longer with HIV and taking precautions not to spread the disease, and more people are getting tested. But the rising number of people in DC living with HIV, 3 percent of the adult population, is considered an epidemic by the CDC.

Kenya acts to stem cross-border HIV spread

Read the full article here.

Kenyans march in a procession in Eldoret town to mark the World Aids Day on December 1, 2009. Kenya’s fight against the spread of HIV/Aids among people crossing into its borders is on course, a new report by a regional body says. Photo/JARED NYATAYA