Blog

Anton Pozniak, IAS President I was treating a woman named Cindy who had just immigrated to the United Kingdom from a country where tuberculosis (TB) is endemic. She had started her first job as a nanny for two children. She came to me coughing up blood, experiencing chest pain and with a high fever. We diagnosed her with TB. She also tested HIV positive. When her employers found out, they fired her and, at the same time, her boyfriend left her. Within weeks, Cindy’s whole life was turned upsi...

The 26th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2019) has just concluded in Seattle, Washington, United States. International AIDS Society (IAS) Members made dozens of presentations at the meeting. Here are a few of the stories that had attendees and the media talking. Second HIV “cure” reported Until now, researchers have not been able to duplicate the cure for HIV infection that Timothy Ray Brown (the “Berlin Patient”) experienced after receiving a bone marrow trans...

By Judy Chang, IAS Member and Executive Director of the International Network of People Who Use Drugs “In a marketplace of experiences, the privileged inevitably have more platforms from which to narrate, and the marginalised are often spoken for within agendas which are not their own.” Alison Phipps 2016, p. 5-6, Sussex University I am a feminist. I am a woman who uses drugs. Up until recently, these identities have been mutually exclusive, having rarely been held together in the same co...

In contexts where key populations are criminalized, those implementing key population programmes are often at risk of arrest and violence for their work. The risk is multiplied when implementers themselves are also members of key populations. In this IASONEVOICE, we diverge from our usual format to share personal stories that cannot be safely attributed to the individuals interviewed. These stories were shared with the IAS by the USAID- and PEPFAR-supported LINKAGES project. In our joint efforts...

By Chris Beyrer, IAS Past President Every year, in dozens of countries in every region of the world, people living with HIV are prosecuted for HIV non-disclosure, perceived HIV exposure or, in rare cases, allegedly knowing transmission of the virus. Some of these prosecutions are based on HIV-specific laws while others use general laws, such as assault and battery. Civil society advocates and public health experts have long decried these laws and prosecutions as a human rights violation: they ...

By Mercy Ngulube, IAS Member and youth activist I never thought I would ever live a life where I was an openly HIV-positive activist. However, if we are serious about addressing the HIV epidemic, we need to equip the next generation of activists to take on the battles that must be won. If we are being truthful, young activists lack economic empowerment. Asking young people to add value, use their time and skills in return for "exposure" is no longer good enough. Allowing young people to take o...

By Anton Pozniak and Brenda Crabtree, IAS 2019 Co-chairs Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in the Latin American and Caribbean region are striding forward, with Mexico leading on many fronts. Since August 2010, Mexico City has legalized same-sex marriage and many states in the country are also moving forward with this. More recently, the law for fundamental spousal rights is also being recognized as applying to same-sex couples. Just a decade ago, however, this would have bee...