Sexual Health

This article previously appeared on the CATIE website here. Une version française est disponible ici. Studies have shown that HIV-positive people who are engaged in regular healthcare, are on treatment and have an ongoing undetectable viral load do not pass HIV to their sexual partners. This is great news! If I am HIV-positive how can I make this work for me? Talk to your doctor about treatment and an undetectable viral load as a prevention strategy. Before depending on this strategy,

Terrence Higgins Trust has partnered with Alzheimer Scotland to offer a course on Sexual Health and Dementia (for course details see bottom of post) in our new Learning Centre. Sexual health needs might not be the first thing you think of when it comes to supporting people with dementia. But sexual health is important for everyone. Here are a few reasons why we at Terrence Higgins Trust Scotland and Alzheimer Scotland felt it was important to create a course on Sexual Health and Dementia. 1.

"And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?"  Genesis 4:9 The world is different now and we should all be afraid. The new President of the United States is passing so many Executive Orders, it's surprising he doesn't get carpal tunnel syndrome from all those majestic strokes of the pen. His administration is not concerned with facts or with people, rather the man and his minions are concerned with looking good to a handful of f

The vast majority of people taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the UK have an accurate knowledge of their current viral load (VL) level, investigators report in HIV Medicine. Overall, 96% of people who told researchers their viral load was undetectable had a clinic-recorded viral load below 50 copies/ml, with 99% having a viral load below 1000 copies/ml. “The accuracy of reporting an undetectable VL [viral load] by HIV-positive individuals on ART is directly relevant to their HIV

"Withholding information on the assumption that it will be misused is not only misguided, it is unethical." Like most PositiveLite.com readers, I’ve been following the undetectable = untransmittable saga with interest. I was thrilled to read about the new statement from CATIE, which endorses this clear message. This ground-breaking change comes directly from the efforts of people living with HIV themselves. It represents a fine example of the profound work of people living with HIV and illu

During another successful National HIV Testing Week I’ve spoken to a lot of different people about my own experiences of testing, and the one test that altered my life forever. I’m now seven years into my journey with HIV and with World AIDS Day 2016 approaching I’ve been thinking about the remarkable changes that have happened during that time. Seven years ago I was told I would need to start medication immediately, I was diagnosed ‘late’ and even though it was only five or six mon

While gay men’s use of drugs in sexual contexts is often portrayed as deviant, extreme and unconnected with the sentimental norms of stable relationships, ethnographic research in France suggests that many young gay men’s practices of drug use are entangled with the search for love and a willingness to build emotional bonds with other men. “The suffering and loneliness that follow romantic breakups can trigger uncontrolled drug use while feelings of ‘love fusion’ between ‘slam

This article previously appeared at FS Magazine, here. It’s been 35 years since the first cases of AIDS were reported. In that time we have seen millions die from the virus. In the late 1980s the UK government rolled out the ‘Tombstone’ adverts – a campaign to drive fear about just how deadly the virus was. In the mid 1990s a breakthrough in medication meant that HIV changed from being a ‘death sentence’ to becoming manageable. Today, HIV treatment means that HIV need no longer

 The science of treatment and prevention has much to inspire agencies delivering needed services to people living with, and at risk of, HIV.  We know that there are significant health benefits for people with HIV to begin treatment as soon as possible after diagnosis. Early treatment with good adherence in order to maintain an undetectable viral load allows an HIV-positive person to live a long and healthy life. A ground-breaking study called START (Strategic Timing of Antiretroviral Trea

A message from Laurie Edmiston, executive director, CATIE: As we head into World AIDS Day, I am today asking for your assistance in taking a step that could help to greatly enhance our country’s response to HIV. You may have heard about the Canadian Consensus Statement on the Health and Prevention Benefits of HIV Antiretroviral Medications and HIV Testing. Essentially, the Canadian Consensus Statement, or CCS (for short), declares the importance of certain principles and app

As HIV-positive individuals are living longer lives, more and more people today are in relationships where only one of the two people has HIV (an HIV-serodiscordant relationship). As many as 16,000 HIV-positive people in Canada may be in serodiscordant relationships. While there has been research on living with HIV, far less is known about the issues faced by serodiscordant couples. This newsletter provides an update on Positive Plus One - a national, mixed-methods study of serodiscordant cou

This article by Stuart Haggas previously appeared at FS Magazine, here. It’s been 35 years since the New York Times reported on a ‘rare cancer seen in 41 homosexuals’ – an article from the summer of 1981 that’s considered the first major news story about HIV/AIDS. A generation of gay men have since grown up with condoms and safer sex campaigns a familiar part of everyday life. Recent studies show an increase in unprotected sex among HIV-negative gay men. Why are some of us ditch

The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network announced this week that a coalition has been formed comprising community members of various backgrounds united to fight unjust criminalization of HIV non-disclosure. The issue has long been a thorn in the side of HIV advocates frustrated at the number of people living with HIV who are being prosecuted and jailed, sometimes where there was no chance of transmission taking place, for not disclosing their HIV status to their sexual partners. The Canadian justi

Thanks to effective treatment, far more people with HIV are living into their 60s, 70s and beyond. So all that talk you hear of an “aging population” also applies to HIV. In fact, UNAIDS estimates that roughly one-third of HIV-positive adults in high-income countries are 50 years and older. A growing number of agencies across the country are stepping up to offer services that meet the needs of people who are aging with HIV. Here are just a few: Workshop Series: Planning for the Long Term

“It may be hard for some to understand, but far from feeling like a victim, I feel blessed. Sure, I would rather there was no such thing as HIV but there is and one day I contracted it. That's mine. It's a part of my life and it informs my life in ways that I love. From adversity, opportunity.” Those words come from a column I wrote some time ago about the first anniversary of my HIV diagnosis and the reasons why I found it something to celebrate and not to mourn. I find it a bit hard to