icon- folder.gif   Conference Reports for NATAP  
 
  4th IAS (Intl AIDS Society) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention
Sydney, Australia
22-25 July 2007
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Aussie mum tells of life with HIV at Sydney Conference Opening Session
 
 
  By Lucinda Carter
http://www.abc.net.au
 
More than 5,000 delegates from 130 countries are in Sydney this week to attend the fourth annual International AIDS Society conference.
 
Of note today BMS held a press meeting to tell people about their "Secure The Future" plans. For 8 years BMS has spent much money in Africa developing an infrastructure for care and treatment. Besides providing support for care & treatment, the program developed an infrastructure like in the USA that provided support programs for patients including patient support programs. They announced today they would provide these programs to other developing countries where it is needed such as in Asia. I think they will open a website and make presentations regarding this at future conferences.
 

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Delegates from across the Asia-Pacific assemble for the Third Ministerial Meeting on HIV/AIDS, as part of the International AIDS Society conference in Sydney. (AAP: Paul Miller)
 
The conference is looking at the latest drugs, treatment, research and funding of HIV programs around the world, focusing on the HIV/AIDS pandemic affecting many developing countries.
 
Australian woman 'Sarah W' is speaking at the conference, and has a very personal perspective on the global pandemic.
 
She was diagnosed with HIV 22 years ago at the age of 17 after contracting the virus through a contaminated blood transfusion.
 
At the time doctors gave her a limited life expectancy and she was given no hope for a future. But with the development of powerful anti-retroviral drugs, Sarah has done what many considered impossible and lived with HIV.
 
"At that age, at 17, it's completely terrifying," she said.
 
"You're only a kid who has their whole life ahead of them, and all their hopes and dreams that anyone might have.
 
"Then to have an enormous question mark popped on top of that, as to how you're going to achieve all of those things within five years, or will you ever get the chance, it was like having your future ripped out from under you."
 
In 1985, Australian doctors did not have many treatment options for HIV/AIDS patients. Sarah says some of the first drugs she was given to fight the virus actually reduced her quality of life.
 
"It made me so ill," she said.
 
"I had gone from being otherwise healthy on the outside, and on the inside to a degree, but ended up being completely sick and headachy and whatnot all the time and could not function as a normal person."
 
But the development of powerful anti-retroviral drugs means Sarah has defied predictions and is living a normal life.
 
"I have been completely healthy," she said.
 
"I have been so healthy that I've had two children, both of which are negative, and I have a brilliant relationship with my doctors."
 
What sets Sarah's treatment apart from that of millions of other HIV/AIDS sufferers, however, is the fact she lives in Australia.
 
Global Fund to Fight AIDS executive director Michel Kazatchkine, anti-retroviral drugs and quality health care are not available to millions of HIV-positive people world wide.
 
"Right now in 2007, more than 2.2 million people are receiving these drugs, which means an average coverage of approximately 30 per cent of the overall needs in the developing world," he said.
 
"It is lower in Asia, 15 to 18 per cent, so there is lots of progress to be made."
 
Professor Kazatchkine is speaking at this week's International AIDS Society conference, and says AIDS deaths could be completely eliminated if all patients had access to modern drugs.
 
He says beating HIV/AIDS and funding aid programs in developing countries needs to become an international priority.
 
"The world will have to come together and find a new model," he said.
 
"One concept is that health is considered as a human right, which is something that is a concept firmly established in Europe, but a concept that is not accepted by all countries."
 
Sarah W agrees that a healthy life is a future all HIV patients should be able to look forward to, like she is.
 
"I'm going to be here for a good while, it's best if I start living it," she said.
 
"It's not a dress rehearsal, we're here to make the best of everything, and everything is there to be taken.
 
"So I'm really excited about my future."