On Talking to Your HIV Meds, and Listening to Your Body

On Talking to Your HIV Meds, and Listening to Your Body
Part of the Series Other Sides of HIV: People Taking HIV Meds Share Stories About Side Effects

By Shana Cozad

I was diagnosed positive in 1994. I was infected in 1993. I resisted taking HIV meds, at first. It took a few years for me to want to take them. To give a little background on that: My dad was a pediatrician, a hematology oncologist. Growing up, I was like his tail. I followed him everywhere, and went with him every Sunday when he would make rounds at the children's hospital. I would see children sick, and children with leukemia and all different sorts of cancers.
In his private complaints on our drives there and back home, my father would sometimes talk about how medicine is just one huge experiment -- that the doctors and pharmaceutical companies wish that they had the right answer for every patient, every time, but they don't. He expressed a lot of frustration that sometimes what worked for one child would not work for another child, and seeing children die was very, very painful.

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HIV Treatments: A History of Scientific Advance

HIV Treatments: A History of Scientific Advance

following a historical course from "no therapy" to "monotherapy" and now to "combination therapy." This book excerpt provides a historical overview of advances in the monitoring of treatment progress and the emergence of combination therapy.

he introduction of antiviral medications used in combination is among the most important advances in the history of HIV/AIDS treatment. By using more than one drug at a time, combination therapy is able to "pin down" HIV from more than one angle, so that even if one drug fails, another can continue to suppress viral replication. But this advance was a long time in the making, In the Beginning

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Services for people who inject drugs

Services for people who inject drugs


Currently, 34% of people living with HIV eligible for treatment (WHO 2013 Guidelines) have access to antiretroviral therapy. In contrast, it was estimated that by 2009, 4% of all HIV-positive people who inject drugs (range 2–18%) worldwide were receiving antiretroviral therapy. Given the breadth of injecting drug use and the disproportionate HIV-related risks among people who inject drugs, preventing HIV and other harms among people who inject drugs—and providing them with effective treatment, care and support—are essential components of a sound, effective national response. The active engagement of people who inject drugs in the planning, implementation and monitoring of HIV programmes is critical to success.

Young woman living with HIV urges international community not to drop guard on HIV

Young woman living with HIV urges international community not to drop guard on HIV

Young woman living with HIV urges international community not to drop guard on HIV

Barbara Martinez, a young Ecuadorian activist living with HIV, urged the international community not to drop its guard on HIV during her address at the 68th United Nations General Assembly special event on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The event was convened to review progress towards the MDGs as well as to discuss the transition into the post-2015 development framework. 

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