Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • My husband is HIV-positive while I'm negative, but our love remains strong

    Public hospitals across Kenya offer Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PreP), pills for free to people who are HIV negative but are with HIV positive partners, as long as that person has an undetectable viral load. In Siaya County alone, 84,000 people are receiving the pills, which must be taken daily, and it has significantly reduced the HIV incidence there. Counseling and educational outreach are also part of the public health campaign to stop the spread of HIV to those without the virus and their future offspring.

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  • Sex workers in Uganda rally to end spread of HIV through condom distribution and sensitization

    The WOMAN ORGANISATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY (WONETHA) provides free condoms to sex workers in Uganda to end the spread of HIV. The group distributes about four to five million condoms to regional centers. Everyone can access the free condoms simply by request, without facing stigma or discrimination. The group also carries out “sensitization” campaigns that teach sex workers how to practice safe sex and feel empowered to require condom use among clients. They also work with health care systems to address discrimination and social stigmas that sex workers often face when seeking health care.

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  • Beating HIV through family, mentorship

    Pama Care is an initiative that coordinates HIV care within a family to address barriers to adherence to achieve viral suppression in children and adults. All HIV positive family members are put on the same medication schedule, which improves adherence, and given clinic appointments on the same day, which provides a better picture of family barriers and improves guidance and counseling. The government, backed financially by private companies, also pays a monthly stipend to patients who reach out to those having a hard time accepting their HIV status. This model has been successful across the country.

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  • Partner Notification services vital in HIV Control

    The Assisted Partner Notification Service is a World Health Organization-backed strategy that aims to reach out to sexual partners of people diagnosed with HIV to encourage them to get tested in an effort to contain the HIV pandemic. From May 2018 to September 2019, the notification service tested a total of 29,249 women, detecting 1,120 positive cases which then led the service to reach out to a number of male partners to continue to facilitate testing.

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  • Youths Distribute ARVs During Lockdown to Curb Human Immunodeficiency

    Volunteers around Kampala help people living with HIV – who often seek medical care far from their homes due to stigma - get their medications during COVID-19 lockdowns. The volunteers mainly use bicycles to deliver the medications and are assisted in reaching people in need by the patients’ doctors as well as community leaders, like members of parliament, who use social media platforms to advertise the services. A single volunteer, like Opio Kenneth, can deliver medications to five to ten clients a day. Another initiative, with several volunteers, has reached over 4,000 clients since 2020.

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  • Translating Portugal's Approach to Drugs and Addiction

    In the 20 years since Portugal decriminalized possession of personal amounts of all drugs, deaths from HIV and overdoses declined and more people take advantage of expanded drug treatment programs. Treating the country's addiction-related problems as a health concern rather than a crime has been embraced domestically and copied by other places, including most recently in the U.S. by Oregon. Portugal's experience serves in part as a cautionary tale about tailoring policies to local conditions and following through on ideals with clear, measurable approaches. Copying the program outright is not simple.

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  • Community Health Program Changing Health Narrative in Rural Areas

    In Kenya's Siaya County, community-selected individuals known as nyamrerwa are trained "to address healthcare issues of individuals and communities in their respective localities." The initiative is part of a larger strategy that is helping to localize care and empower community members to "take control and responsibility of their own health achievement efforts."

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  • Pandemic prompts changes to HIV testing and treatment across Arizona

    Amid the pandemic, doctors and case managers have had to introduce new ways to provide care for those with HIV. In Arizona, that has included an introduction of telehealth, drive-thru testings sites, and mobilizing a van to travels throughout neighborhoods.

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  • What the San Francisco Bay Area Can Teach Us About Fighting a Pandemic

    The San Francisco Bay Area has had fewer COVID-19 deaths than would be expected for such a densely populated area, largely by "drawing on resources and expertise that predated the coronavirus pandemic." Unlike other large cities, the Bay Area was able to quickly identify where hotspots may emerge, and initiate changes – such as allowing only one entrance to hospitals and not using traveling certified nursing assistants in multiple nursing homes. City health officials also increased outreach to at-risk minority neighborhoods, after seeing the virus disproportionately impacting these communities elsewhere.

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  • How a 1980s AIDS Support Group Changed The Internet Forever

    In the 1980s, a virtual messaging network, then known as bulletin board systems (BBSs), acted as a support group for many who were in search of peer support and reliable information as the AIDS epidemic spread. Although the site was a grassroots effort with little to no financial stability, it grew to 500 daily users and 100 messages posted per day.

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