Tonight Maitri goes red in honor of World AIDS Day
Today we join partners across the city and globe in observance of World AIDS Day, to unite in our fight against HIV, to support and respect people living with the disease, to remember those who have died from an AIDS-related illness, and to lift up their partners, families and friends they left behind.
AIDS has touched every corner of society across boundaries of income, race, gender, and nationality. More than 35 million people have died of HIV or AIDS since 1984, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in history. Globally, in 2018 there were an estimated 37.9 million people who have the virus.
But we’ve come a long way in the fight. HIV is a now a manageable chronic disease and AIDS-related deaths have been reduced by more than 56% since the peak in 2004.
Life expectancy used to be between 10-12 years of life after diagnosis. Today, people are living longer after diagnosis with a life expectancy well into the 70s.
How did we get here?
We now know that a big part of treatment is prevention, and not just safe sex practices. Today, prevention efforts also focus on medication adherence, the PEP and PrEP medications, and needle exchange programs. These options are proven to decrease the chances of HIV transmission.
People with HIV who take HIV medicine as prescribed, keep an undetectable viral load (or stay virally suppressed) have effectively no risk of transmitting HIV to their HIV-negative sexual partners, according to the CDC.
Though we’ve made many advances, the stigma surrounding HIV continues. Stigma prevents us from seeking evaluation, treatment, disclosing the diagnosis to those most likely to provide support and following treatment guidelines. Health related stigma can destroy human dignity. This is each of our responsibilities.
The following local organizations work tirelessly in response to the epidemic. These community partners provide patient-centered care, fight to reduce stigma and discrimination, and to improve access to testing, prevention and treatment.
· Allies for Health and Wellbeing
· Central Outreach and Wellness
Regardless of your status, if you are looking for more information about including medical marijuana in your treatment plan, we welcome you to contact us for a private consultation with a Maitri pharmacist.
Resources
http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet
https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/msm/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/msm/bmsm.html
https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/statistics/overview/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/racialethnic/africanamericans/index.html
Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis PREP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR8-3uAuZGo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR8-3uAuZGo
Getting to undetectable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCudOrlw5BA
https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/risk/art/cdc-hiv-art-viral-suppression.pdf
HIV Risk Reduction Tool
https://wwwn.cdc.gov/hivrisk/#
The right way to use a condom:
https://www.cdc.gov/condomeffectiveness/male-condom-use.html
Aids Free Allegheny
https://www.aidsfreepittsburgh.org/about.php