Friday 27 February 2015

Don't forget about PEP (CROI Day 4)

AFAO Health Promotion Officer, Sean Slavin, blogs live from CROI 2015:

Amidst all the excitement at ‪#‎CROI2015‬ about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a session this afternoon on post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) - 'PEP: Remember Me?' - was an important reminder that this prevention technology should not be forgotten.

Hepatitis C: "Mission accomplished"? (CROI 2015 Day 4)

AFAO Health Promotion Officer, Sean Slavin, blogs live from CROI 2015:

A cure for hepatitis C? "Mission accomplished" is the message from ‪#‎CROI2015‬, as a range of new drugs demonstrate high efficacy with minimal side effects. A number of these have been approved for use in the US.

Implementation, however, is in its infancy and there are currently significant cost barriers with the drug manufacturers struggling to demonstrate cost effectiveness at current prices.In recent weeks competitive bidding began in the US between rival manufacturers and prices are expected to fall as more agents come onto the market.

Thursday 26 February 2015

HIV and lung cancer: smoking is a greater risk than HIV (CROI 2015 Day 3)

AFAO Health Promotion Officer, Sean Slavin, blogs live from CROI 2015:
 
In a session today at ‪#‎CROI2015‬ on cancer and HIV, lung cancer was highlighted as one of the most prevalent among people with HIV.

PrEP and women: low adherance highlights stigma and gender inequality (CROI 2015 Day 2)

AFAO Health Promotion Officer, Sean Slavin, blogs live from CROI 2015:

One of the most interesting papers at ‪#‎CROI2015‬ today was about the failure of Tenofovir gel as PrEP for women in the South African FACTS 001 trial. This study, among young, poor women showed that adherence is indeed a challenge and not necessarily because of any failure of the participants.

Good news on PrEP for gay men (CROI 2015 Day 1)

The annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2015) is being held in Seatle from 23-26 February. AFAO Health Promotion Officer Sean Slavin  is blogging live from Seattle, reflecting on some of the key highlights: