hiv Archivi - The Gayly Mirror

PHILADELPHIA – the film about AIDS and Gay Love that shook the world.

1Dec

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Culture, Society

PHILADELPHIA – the film about AIDS and Gay Love that shook the world.

Maybe too few young LGBT+ friends know, remember or have even ever watched this movie, but Philadelphia was and still is one of the first movies that opened the eyes of the world on the stigma of AIDS, Homosexuality and the gay community. On this World Aids Day I am willing to take you back in time, to when in 1993 (Europe saw it in 1994) Philadelphia (the movie) was released in the cinemas across the USA, touching the hearts of so many people, and talking about a very harsh, too often unspoken, issue: HIV stigma and homosexuality. It is a movie that is hard to face, especially in some scenes, and because of the language used in it: but it is part of the real world that LGBT+ and HIV+ people had to face in those years. A movie that I remember having watched several times and different...

UK: the NHS announces a game-changing HIV treatment injected just six times a year for all patients.

18Nov

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Health, News, Society

UK: the NHS announces a game-changing HIV treatment injected just six times a year for all patients.

A new long-lasting injectable treatment is approved for use in the United Kingdom, and this could really improve the lives of those living with HIV. Could this be called a “liberation” from the daily tablet(s) treatment HIV patients are used to so far? Just today, in the UK, the NHS has been given the go-ahead to roll out injections taken every two months to manage the virus: results for this research were announced back in December 2020 here. The new treatment approved by England and Wales’ National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Scottish Medicines Consortium today, is a combination of two jabs taken every two months: this could actually help to ease the emotional burden of having to take daily tablets (1 to 4 generally) and something like 13,000 people w...

World AIDS Day – HIV treatments, vaccine and Covid-19 Pandemic.

1Dec

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Health, News

World AIDS Day – HIV treatments, vaccine and Covid-19 Pandemic.

Covid-19 Pandemic has put all HIV patients in serious risks and slowed down all testings and treatments. According to UNAIDS: The lockdowns and border closures imposed to stop COVID-19 are impacting both the production of antiretroviral medicines and their distribution, potentially leading to increases in their cost and to supply issues. Recent modelling has estimated that a six-month complete disruption in HIV treatment could lead to more than 500,000 additional deaths from AIDS-related illnesses. If services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV were similarly halted for six months, the estimated increases in new child HIV infections would be 162% in Malawi, 139% in Uganda, 106% in Zimbabwe and 83% in Mozambique. The global experience of tackling HIV can help info...

PrEP – What you need is a correct information – Pt.2

22May

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Health, Lifestyle

PrEP – What you need is a correct information – Pt.2

Life is too short to have no care for you! Our journey into the world of PrEP continues with the help of Pietro, an expert at the Milan Checkpoint PrEP counter. We had left ourselves in Pt.1 with many questions and answers and now let's continue from here. What is its correct use for a prophylaxis that works? For PrEP to work, correct adherence is required, i.e.: taking suggested doses according to the established schedule, otherwise, the concentration of the drug in your mucous membranes is not sufficient to give effective protection from HIV. Depending on personal needs and lifestyles, it is possible to take PrEP every day, or only in view of sexual intercourse, with different dosages. Over time, it is possible to change the intake timing, or even stop the cure for a period of tim...

PrEP: what you need is a correct information – Pt.1

19May

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Health, Lifestyle

PrEP: what you need is a correct information – Pt.1

There is still a long way to go when it comes to correct information about PrEP: this dark shade on it puts us in the risk of falling into mistakes and harming our-selves even more in the attempt of taking care of us. We had a chat with Pietro Vinti, responsible manager of the PrEP desk of the Milan Checkpoint - an association which offers medical and psychological support - to whom we asked a series of questions about PrEP we received from our readers. What does PrEP Mean? PrEP stands for Pre Exposure Prophylaxis. It means that by taking a specific drug before a risky sexual relationship, for example sex without condom, you can prevent the transmission of the HIV virus. The drug used was born to keep the virus under control in people who already live with HIV, but in many years of obse...

6May

By alcoachNo Comments

closeUp, Health

HIV. Did you get tested?

HIV is just one of the many viruses you are likely to catch whenever you have unprotected sex. No matter if it's full sex or just oral nor if you're straight or non-straight, a top or a bottom, a man or a woman: safer sex doesn't mean you can't get infected. Don't panic, though! It's not as bad as it sounds - as long as you get regularly tested. A healthy human body is pretty unlikely to catch HIV. A human body with high levels of alcohol and drugs is a whole other thing. These substances remarkably weaken the immune system, making it much easier for infections (of all types) to spread. Before continuing to read, you'd better be aware that I did not try to "sweeten the pill" in this post. At first, when you get HIV, you feel just nothing. In most cases, something happens after a whil...

Turkmenistan: young gay man brutally beaten because he was gay and HIV positive.

14Apr

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, News

Turkmenistan: young gay man brutally beaten because he was gay and HIV positive.

Turkmenistan is not a country for gay people, and we already knew it. Life in Turkmenistan is extremely hard and threatening for the LGBT+ community, as gay and bisexual men can face up to two years of prison and where society is still living with a strong anti-gay and anti-queer feeling. This, anyhow, does not justify the horrific experience lived by a 23-year-old gay man, beaten by police, simply because he was HIV positive. Maskat - this is the name of this young boy - spoke anonymously to RadioFreeEurope and told his story to all listeners on line in that moment. Last December, Maksat visited a local HIV centre trying to access antiretroviral therapy. Nurses at the centre asked him to take a blood test and to return two days later, but when he went back to the centre, he foun...

Adam Castillejo is the second person in the world to be cured of HIV.

10Mar

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Health, Lifestyle, News

Adam Castillejo is the second person in the world to be cured of HIV.

The second person in the world to be cured of HIV publicly revealed his identity for the first time. We are talking about Adam Castillejo, 40, from London, who reportedly recovered from HIV following a stem cell treatment for cancer, according to BBC. Adam joins the Berlin patient who was declared cured of the virus in 2011, three years after undergoing a similar treatment. Adam Castillejo said: "By publicly revealing my identity and my story, I hope to help improve people's understanding of the science and HIV generally. I want to thank all those who have supported me on this journey, particularly my medical team at Hammersmith Hospital without whom I would not be here today." Venezuela-born Castillejo contracted HIV a year after moving to London in 2003. Unfortunately, in 2012 he w...