2020 HIV Targets Won’t Be Met As COVID-19 Blows HIV Progress Away

A new report by UNAIDS shows remarkable, but highly unequal, progress, notably in expanding access to antiretroviral therapy. According to the report, the global HIV targets set for 2020 will not be reached because the achievements have not been shared equally within and between countries, HealthTimes  The report, Seizing the moment, warns that even the gains made could be lost and progress further stalled if we fail to act. It highlights just how urgent it is for countries to double down and act with greater urgency to reach the millions…

Read More

Anna Sango Joins Global Network of People Living With HIV

TRAILBLAZING and young HIV advocate, Anna Sango has joined the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) as the PLHIV Stigma Index advocacy officer. By Michael Gwarisa As an advocacy officer, Anna will be working closely with the team in providing technical assistance to countries implementing the PLHIV Stigma Index. She will focus on providing assistance to countries on how to turn the results of the PLHIV Stigma Index into advocacy actions. Commenting on her appointment, Anna said she was ready and rearing to go and she would give…

Read More

CDC Intensifies Cervical Cancer Screening and Treatment In Zimbabwe

THE Center for Diseases Control (CDC) has scaled up Cervical Cancer and treatment in Zimbabwe in a bid to reduce the high mortality and morbidity associated with the disease  in  Zimbabwe. By Michael Gwarisa According to official statistics from the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC), Cervical Cancer kills not less than 2000 women annually and majority of affected women are women living with HIV. In its 2019 Annual report, CDC Zimbabwe 2019 said HIV remains an important risk factor for cervical cancer, with HIV-positive women 4-5 times more…

Read More

COVID-19 disrupts access to SRHR for Zim’s LGBTI Community

LESBIAN, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people may be particularly vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic according to a paper by the United Nations titled COVID-19 and the human rights of LGBTI people. Amongst the LGBTI community are people living with compromised immune systems, including some persons living with HIV/AIDS who also face a greater risk fromCOVID-19. However, the community continues to face massive stigma and discrimination at the hands of health workers and society. With the coming in of the COVID-19, and given an overloaded health system in Zimbabwe,…

Read More

Condomless sex sufficient to pass on hepatitis C between men

INVESTIGATIONS have concluded that  Hepatitis C transmission during anal sex can take place without bleeding, trauma or sharing of injecting equipment and exposure to semen. HealthTimes The  intensive investigations  are well documented in the  United States report in the journal PLOS ONE where  ten cases of recent hepatitis C infection in eight gay men living with HIV were conducted. The study was designed to investigate whether blood exposure is necessary for hepatitis C transmission during anal intercourse or if the virus can be passed on through condomless anal intercourse without…

Read More

New UNAIDS Report Raise Concerns Over Human Rights Abuse For Persons Living With HIV, Key Populations & Health Workers During COVID-19 Pandemic

A new report published by the United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) has noted high incidences of human rights abuse for health workers, persons living with HIV and key populations at high risk of HIV infection since the pandemic was reported in several countries. By Michael Gwarisa The report, “Rights in a pandemic – Lockdowns, rights and lessons from HIV in the early response to COVID-19″   is a snapshot in time, focusing on the very early days of the pandemic, from February till mid-May 2020, drawing attention to…

Read More

First Woman May Be Cured of HIV Without a Bone Marrow Transplant

Loreen Willenberg is part of a group of elite controllers whose HIV appears to be locked away where it can’t produce new virus. A California woman may be the first person to be cured of HIV without a bone marrow transplant, according to a recent report in Nature. More than 60 other so-called elite controllers, who have unusually potent immune responses to HIV, were found to have their virus sequestered in parts of their genome where it is unable to replicate. HealthTimes The unusual case involves Loreen Willenberg, who acquired…

Read More

Dapirivirine Ring Not Substitute For Other HIV Prevention Methods- Dr Mgodi

Dr Nyaradzo Mgodi MBChB, MMed, Investigator of Record, HPTN-084 Zimbabwe – University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences Clinical Trials Research Centre, and HPTN Executive Committee Member

THE Dapirivirine Vaginal Ring, a new effective HIV prevention tool for women, is not a substitute for existing  HIV prevention methods but rather an innovation to expand prevention options for women, Dr Nyaradzo Mgodi an HIV expert and histopathologist   has said. By Michael Gwarisa Speaking during a Twitter Question and Answer session that was organized by HealthTimes, Dr Mgodi said women need safe and effective biomedical HIV prevention strategies for use throughout their lives and the Dapirivirine ring presented women with such an opportunity. Studies of other HIV prevention…

Read More

HealthTimes To Host Live Twitter Q&A To Unpack The Dapirivine Ring, A Groundbreaking HIV Prevention Tool For Women

HEALTHTIMES, Zimbabwe’s leading online health news publication will this Thursday, August 2020 host an hour-long conversation to discuss and unpack the Dapirivine Vaginal Ring, a tool meant to reduce the risk of HIV infection in women. By Patricia Mashiri The Question and Answer (Q&A) will start at 11:00 in the morning and end at 12:00 pm and will be hosted on HealthTimes twitter platform @healthtimeszim. The live twitter Q&A is set to give citizens and women in general an opportunity to interact with Dr Nyaradzo Mgodi, an expert in HIV…

Read More

Kwava Nemhete Inodzivirira Munhukadzi Kuti Asabata Hutachiona Hwe HIV

MAIZVIZIVA here kuti kwava nemhete inodzivirira munhukadzi kuti asabatire utachiona hweHIV kubva kumunhurume? Mhete iyi inosunga utachiona mbira dzakondo kuti shwee, zvekuti hapana kupukunyuka kubva mungetani idzi. NaCatherine Murombedzi Muchirungu mhete iyi inonzi Depiravine ring, yakagadzirwa nemushonga unogadzira mapiritsi ema ARV. Vazhinji vanga vaine dambudziko rekunwa mapiritsi ekudzivirira HIV anonzi pachirungu PrEP. Mushonga we PrEP uyu unodziirira vaya vanoita bonde rangarisina dziviriro yemakondomu, naizvozvo vanoita kunwa ari mapiritsi. Mhete itsva Mhete iyi inosunga utachiona mbira dzakondo, kuisa ngetani utachiona huchiri pamusuwo chaipo. Mhete iyi haipfekwe munzeve, muchigunwe kana paguvhu, inopfekwa…

Read More