AIDS - It's Not Over
More than 30 million people still live with HIV/AIDS: The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is working with partners worldwide at the forefront of ongoing research
Saturday 1 December is World AIDS Day 2012. Now in its 24th year, the event continues to raise awareness of the disease, how we can prevent it, and our efforts to treat and hopefully cure it. It also reminds us of the millions who have died from HIV-related illnesses.
The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is working towards a better future for people living with HIV and preventing as many new infections as possible.
Its work on HIV covers clinical research, social and anthropological research, mathematical modeling, intervention evaluation, health system analysis, cost-benefit and effectiveness analysis, work on the structural drivers which drive HIV infection and transmission, and much more.
The School is involved in several research projects and partnerships. These include:
- CREATE (Consortium to Respond Effectively to the AIDS TB Epidemic)
The Tropical Epidemiology Group is one of the consortium partners. It works on randomised trials of treatments, preventative measures and interventions. - ZAMBART Project
In association with the Lusaka University Teaching Hospital, Zambia. Studies look into TB prevention amongst HIV+ patients, a mission it shares with CREATE. - Sigma Research
Sigma Research is a social research group specialising in the social, behavioural and policy aspects of HIV. - STRIVE
STRIVE partners investigate social factors that block effective prevention and treatment – stigma, gender inequality and violence, poor livelihood options and problem drinking – and evaluate programmes that work to reduce vulnerability.
Watch STRIVE's video on the drivers of HIV and the gender inequalities that exist - PopART
This project combines a range of strategies, from house-to-house testing to anti-retroviral treatment, to impede the spread of HIV in Africa. - HARP (HPV In Africa Research Partnership)
HARP helps guide cervical cancer screening programs for women living with HIV in Africa. - aids2031
aids2031 is a consortium of partners who are looking at the global response to AIDS and recommending the best way forward until 2031, fifty years after AIDS was first reported. - SaME (Social and Mathematical Epidemiology Group)
SaME conducts social, epidemiological, economic and evaluation research to assess the impact of different approaches to HIV prevention and care. - MITU (The Mwanza Intervention Trials Unit)
This collaboration has carried out a series of groundbreaking studies on the epidemiology and control of HIV and other sexual health problems. - ALPHA network
Funded by the Wellcome Trust, this project runs comparative studies and meta-analyses on datasets from HIV studies in Africa.
School Director Peter Piot has had a long involvement in researching treatments and halting the spread of HIV.
He has worked on the development of potential vaccines, studying the relationship between poverty and AIDS, the disconnect between social and scientific responses, and the epidemiology of Africa.
Statistics
According to the latest data by AIDS charity Avert.
- In the USA, 1.2 million people are infected.
- In Africa, where the total number of cases is 22.9 million, more than 10% of adults in 9 countries are infected.
- Asia has 4.8 million cases, with half in India.
- Unlike the Caribbean (with its 1.5% infection rate), Latin America has deceptively low average infection rates (0.65%), but the rate is much higher amongst certain countries (such as Belize) and vulnerable groups (like gay men, sex workers and drug users).
- Europe offers a mixed picture, with high infection rates in Russia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe, compared to the rest of the continent, which are nonetheless threatened by complacency and rising infection rates.
Podcasts
- 30th Anniversary Of HIV-AIDS: Hope And Optimism
Professor Richard Hayes, head of Biostatistics at CREATE - Research Finds HIV-AIDS Discordant Couples Face Stigma
Dr Adam Bourne, Sigma research - HIV Prevention: Social Drivers Of Risk In Each Locality Must Be Addressed
Dr. Justin Parkhurst, STRIVE research - PopART: All Out War On AIDS in Africa
Professor Richard Hayes - Herpes/HIV treatment and breastfeeding’s effect on transmission rates
Philippe Mayaud, Chloe Thio and Hoosen Coovadia, HARP research
Video
- Watch STRIVE's graphical representation of the drivers of HIV and the gender inequalities that exist
Blog
Annie Holmes from the STRIVE Research Consortium – discusses the progress of their research on the London International Development Centre blog - www.lidcblog.wordpress.com.
Events
- AIDS Exhibition: 3 Dec 2012 - 28 Feb 2013, Keppel Street, London
A small exhibition about the work that the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine does in this field. - AIDS films: 3 Dec 2012, Keppel Street, London
A free screening of two short films that explore the work of the School in Burkina Faso and Tanzania.
(Image top: A Kenyan Girl Scout holding a poster showing Barack Obama and his wife taking an HIV Test on a visit to Kisumu, Western Kenya. Credit: Gemma Jones, Anthropologies of African Biosciences Research Group)
