Patients taking a brand new type of HIV drug have shown a quick reduction in the number of viruses circulating in their bloodstream, according to early data from a clinical trial that is to be announced at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto later this week.
But as Carolyn Abraham reports in today's Globe, there's both good news and bad news in the decades-long fight against the killer pandemic. The good news is that this new HIV drug appears to be 'very potent'. The bad news is that a separate study released Sunday found that adding a fourth drug, abacavir, is no better than the current triple-drug cocktail for treating patients newly diagnosed with HIV.
So what's the prognosis for the international battle against AIDS?
More than 31,000 scientists, advocates, health workers, exhibitors, people with HIV/AIDS and journalists from 170 countries are discussing those very issues this week in Toronto at the 16th International AIDS conference.
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Earlier today Ron Rosenes, Vice Chair, AIDS 2006 Toronto, joined us on-line to take questions from the readers of globeandmail.com. The questions and answers are at the bottom of this page.
Ron is a former teacher and entrepreneur who has been living with HIV/AIDS for close to 25 years.
Since his retirement from the workforce in 1991, he has reinvented himself as a volunteer and advocate for the rights of people living with HIV. Through his work on the boards of such organizations as the AIDS Committee of Toronto, the Canadian Treatment Action Council, the Sherbourne Health Centre and the AIDS 2006 Toronto Local Host, Ron has sought to improve access to care, treatment and support for people living with HIV. He attributes his own success in co-existing with his virus to the early adoption of complementary therapies such as traditional Chinese medicine and a seven-year yoga practice in addition to the standard regimen of HIV antiretroviral drugs.
Ron's community awards include: AIDS Committee of Toronto, 10-year Volunteer Award, ACT Top10 Walkers Award, Metropolitan Community Church Hero, Ontario AIDS Network Honour Roll, Queen's Jubilee Gold Medal.
Editor's Note: globeandmail.com editors will read and allow or reject each question/comment. Comments/questions may be edited for length or clarity. HTML is not allowed. We will not publish questions/comments that include personal attacks on Globe journalists or participants in these discussions, that make false or unsubstantiated allegations, that purport to quote people or reports where the purported quote or fact cannot be easily verified, or questions/comments that include vulgar language or libellous statements. Preference will be given to readers who submit questions/comments using their full name and home town, rather than a pseudonym.
Jim Sheppard, Executive Editor, globeandmail.com: Welcome, Mr. Rosenes, and thank you for joining us today on globeandmail.com. I'd like to start by asking you to paint the big picture for us. What are the key goals of this conference? What would you like to see happen?
Ron Rosenes: Personally, I would like to see a collective effort to make good on the theme of the conference, "Time to Deliver."
This means that it's time to turn words into actions on several fronts.
In the area of prevention, we know what needs to be done.
We need to deliver effective education and prevention messages to discrete groups that are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS.
We need to target messages to women and youth, to intravenous drug users and to men who have sex with men, to our First Nations People and to people who have been incarcerated or reentering society.
In the area of foreign aid, we would like to see our government take a leadership role in meeting a commitment to spend 0.7% of GDP on AIDS and in the realm of debt forgiveness.
We can afford it.
It's time to deliver on funding access to the cheaper medications that are now available for developing countries.
And it's time to do so without attaching strings that value abstinence more highly than the available technology of condoms both male and female. Or strings that prevent funding from being given to groups that counsel sex trade workers or reproductive health.
As my friend and colleague Louise Binder says: "These strings are ropes around women's necks."
