Category: HIV/AIDS

More MSF Videos from the 2012 HIV/AIDS Conference

by ihsection, posted in HIV/AIDS, Information and Social Media

Here are some more videos from MSF from the 2012 HIV/AIDS conference that I thought might be of interest to our readers.


Middle-income countries are increasingly taking measures to overcome the patents that price drugs out of reach.


The challenges but also promising initiatives that could facilitate the development of affordable medical tools adapted to the needs of patients in resource-limited settings.


Addressing HIV vulnerability of irregular Zimbabwean cross-border migrants in South Africa. MSF at the 2012 International AIDS Conference.


Participants will leave this workshop with a better understanding on use of second-line ART in RLS, including the complex intersections between chronic HIV infection, long-term antiretroviral drug exposure and chronic-degenerative co-morbidities, and the latest scientific evidence on the use of ART as HIV prevention.

MSF Videos on HIV/AIDS Treatment

by ihsection, posted in HIV/AIDS, Information and Social Media

Below are a series of videos from MSF on different aspects of HIV/AIDS treatment.


A first-of-its-kind study released today by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) maps progress across 23 countries on HIV treatment strategies, tools and policies needed to increase treatment scale-up. The results show that governments have made improvements to get better antiretroviral treatment (ART) to more people, but implementation of innovative community-based strategies is lagging in some countries.


Despite the fact that the benefits of virological treatment monitoring are well established and that routine viral load testing is the standard of care in rich countries, access to viral load testing in resource-limited settings remains limited or non-existent. A number of cost-reducing strategies and implementation challenges must now be addressed so that virological monitoring can become the norm for all patients on ART. This will be important to prevent the development of drug resistance and preserve the use of first-line ART. This session presents the challenges and promise of scale-up of virological monitoring from a patient, health system, and market perspective. The session will be of interest to donors, policy makers, civil society representatives, and implementing organizations.


As HIV treatment is scaled up in developing countries, the lack of access to viral load monitoring—routine in wealthy countries—must be addressed. Increased access to viral load monitoring can help people stay on antiretroviral combinations as long as possible, and help stave off resistance.

Protests at the International AIDS Conference

by ihsection, posted in HIV/AIDS, Information and Social Media

Though this is a little late, it made headlines, so I thought it would be worthwhile to post it.


AIDS activists, such as HealthGAP, Global Fund Advocates Network, and Stop AIDS Campaign UK, and treatment providers, including MSF, took over a panel discussion on the future of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria at the International AIDS Conference. The groups protested against efforts to cap funding for countries rather than continue to accept ambitious grant proposals from countries hit hardest by the AIDS epidemic.


MSF joined thousands of protesters at the International AIDS Conference in Washington DC, calling for governments and pharmaceutical companies to halt policies and practices that hamper access to medicines.