Day three of international conference in Sydney. Lack of doctors in patient care. Oversight in care for women with HIV/AIDS
Day three of international conference in Sydney. Lack of doctors in patient care. Oversight in care for women with HIV/AIDS.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned than just 28 percent of people with HIV around the world receive antiretroviral drugs. The World Bank, through Debrework Zewdie, director of the institution’s program against AIDS, estimates that there is a large shortage of doctors, especially in African and Asian countries where the epidemic is fierce.
Within the framework of the 4th Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention being held in Sydney, Australia, experts of several nationalities are analyzing new problems arising in the fight against AIDS and are presenting innovations with regard to improved treatments for people living with HIV/AIDS.
One of the main concerns in the fight against HIV/AIDS is the emergence of new cases of AIDS in view of which, according to Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, we are getting lost in numbers. According to data given by the US speaker, in 2004 there were 300 thousand people from underdeveloped countries receiving antiretrovirals. At present there are 2.2 millions people with access.
Women: vulnerable and neglected
The female sex represents just under half of the people who have contracted HIV/AIDS, i.e. 17 million 700 thousand of the estimated 40 million people. Most of these can be found in Africa.
Under the perspective of the latest studies, women are more likely to get the infection as HIV transmission from man to woman is much more effective than from woman to man since women have a larger mucous surface area than men.
However, existing treatments have not been adapted for the female sex, which requires other types of medication in situations such as pregnancy and in view of the different side effects that they suffer due to hormones.
Circumcision and gene therapy, new hopes
Several studies have provided figures that indicate that HIV/AIDS transmission has decreased thanks to circumcision. Researcher Robert Bailey, from the University of Illinois, presented data obtained in his studies in Africa and the United States, which indicate that thanks to circumcision, HIV transmission from men to women was reduced by 60 percent.
Also, other studies present gene therapy as a new hope in anti-HIV treatment. This therapy is based on inhibiting genes to block disease processes. Dr. John Rossi, molecular biologist from City of Hope´s Beckman Research Institute, indicated that they have found three small gene inhibitors based upon ribonucleic acid, which together with viral proteins and cells that interact with HIV will be a powerful inhibitory combination for HIV that will soon begin to be put into practise.
Within the framework of this conference, results of new forms of HIV treatment will continue to be presented, such as replacement therapies among injection drug users and novel mechanisms of action of HIV-inhibitory drugs. Problems faced by the international community in the fight against AIDS will also be analyzed.
Terra
