| From: |
Adeyemo Gabriel [ profile ] |
| Subject: |
Can we keep up our progress on AIDS?
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| Sent: |
Jan 21st, 2011 - 19:03:59 |
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Date: 14 January 2011
Source:* CNN*
AUTHOR: Phill Wilson
http://www.cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/01/14/wilson.aids.anniversary/index.html
Back then, most people died in six to 12 months from horrible diseases like
Kaposi's sarcoma, a skin cancer normally found in older men of Semitic
descent; pneunocystis carinii pneumonia, a fungal infection in the lungs;
cryptococcal meningitis, which causes the lining of your brain to swell; or
toxoplasmosis: You got that from cat feces, and it turned your brain to
Swiss cheese.
There were no treatments, really. A "long-time survivor" was someone who
lived 18 months. I was 24 then. In April, I will celebrate my 54th birthday.
I almost didn't make it. In 1996, my doctor at Kaiser Permanente in Los
Angeles called my mother in Chicago to tell her that if she wanted to see me
alive again, she should fly to Los Angeles immediately. They had given me
less than 24 hours to live. I was in a coma in the ICU. I eventually came
out of that crisis, and my doctor prescribed something brand new: a
three-drug regimen, commonly referred to as "the cocktail." I recovered from
that crisis and went on to found the Black AIDS Institute, an organization I
still lead.
What a difference three decades can make. We have gone from no drugs to a
few very toxic drugs that didn't really work to more than 25 antiretroviral
drugs used to treat HIV. The new drugs are highly effective, and the side
effects are much reduced. And the breakthroughs continue. Last year,
scientists identified three new HIV antibodies that might contribute to the
development of a vaccine. A gel that women can apply before sex, known as a
vaginal microbicide, demonstrated efficacy in a clinical trial in South
Africa, and research released last month indicates that some
antiretrovirals, when taken as prophylactics, can prevent HIV infection.
Also last year, Congress passed and President Obama signed health care
reform legislation that protects people with HIV from being discriminated
against in getting health insurance, eliminates lifetime caps on health
insurance coverage and expands access to prescription drugs. And finally, we
have a national AIDS strategy that if properly implemented could
dramatically reduce new infections, increase the number of people who know
their HIV status and increase the number of people in appropriate care and
treatment.
Click the above link to read more of these articles.
--
Many Thanks
Yours' in Prevention Science
Adeyemo Damilare Gabriel
Regional Focal Point - West Africa
Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AID
+234-80-6798-7317 | gabriel (at) gyca.org
www.gyca.org | www.tigweb.org
......*****he who pays the piper, calls the tune*****.........
GYCA is a youth-led global network of more than 4,500 young leaders and
adult allies working on youth and HIV/AIDS in 150 countries world-wide.
GYCA's mission is to empower young leaders with the skills, knowledge,
resources and opportunities they need to scale up HIV/AIDS interventions
amongst their peers.
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