This blog by Laurie Edmiston first appeared on Huffington Post here .

The world got some inspiring news at last summer’s International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia: UNAIDS said we are positioned to see the end of the HIV epidemic by 2030. To achieve this goal, it proposed that by 2020, 90 per cent of people living with HIV globally should be diagnosed. Ninety per cent of those diagnosed should be receiving treatment, and 90 per cent of those on treatment should have a significantly reduced amount of virus in their blood, greatly improving the health of people living with HIV and reducing the risk of transmission.

Similar aspirations have … Read more →

This blog by Allison Carter first appeared on Huffington Post here .
More than half of all people living with HIV worldwide are women, and yet they continue to be under-represented in the HIV response. A recent Canadian study of women living with HIV aims to break this glass ceiling, shedding important light on what opportunities exist and what barriers persist towards closing the gap for women living with HIV, a highly underserved community both in Canada and around the world.

The study was published in the journal Health Care for Women International and was led by, with, and for women living with HIV, in collaboration with allied researchers, clinicians, … Read more →

Twenty years ago, when I was treating a patient who was HIV infected, I would have to advise them of personal considerations such as shortened life span, and risk of transmitting the virus to sexual partners or during childbirth. At the time, an HIV diagnosis was a drastically life-altering event.

Today, if a young woman with HIV infection comes to me for treatment, I can tell her she can live a full life through drug treatment – up to 75 years of age or beyond – and can raise a family. This enormous progress has a lot to do with the development of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), the game-changing … Read more →

This blog by Claire Holloway Wadhwani first appeared on Huffington Post here .
World AIDS Day: a time for us to celebrate the amazing progress being made in the global struggle against HIV/AIDS and a time to reflect on what could be done better.

This year there is much cause to celebrate. Great advances are being made in new treatment as prevention options and, thanks to global partnerships, affordable treatment is available to more communities than ever before.

Still, there are people being left behind.

In East African communities, where CAP/AIDS Network partners live and work, availability does not necessarily equal access. Even when testing and treatment is available and … Read more →

This blog by Hilary Elliott and Jenny Neal first appeared on Huffington Post here .

The AIDS pandemic has created gaps in the lives of grandmothers and grandchildren that will never be closed. In addition to the horrific loss of life which can never be reversed, the pandemic has destroyed traditional family structures for a whole generation in sub-Saharan Africa. Fifteen million children orphaned by AIDS have lost their mothers and fathers, their sense of family, and their place in the community. The pain is also felt by the grandparents who have lost their sons and daughters, often after caring for them during their sickness. In addition to their emotional … Read more →

In a recent study of ten low-income and middle-income countries, the prevalence of HIV in transgender women was found to be incredibly high, at nearly 18%. Transgender women who engage in sex work are especially vulnerable, and most in need of prevention, treatment, and care.

This World AIDS Day, if we truly want to close the gap, we must work together to put the needs of our most vulnerable communities at the forefront of the fight.

In the Dominican Republic, a small island nation situated in the Caribbean – the region with the second highest HIV prevalence in the world after sub-Saharan Africa – the Transgender and LGBT communities face … Read more →