Check out this interesting mini-bio of Pedro Goicochea, the latest in IRMA’s “Meet a Friendly Rectal Microbicide Advocate” series on the IRMA website here.  Pedro is one of six new bios just posted today, including individuals from Kenya,Thailand and the US.  Each will be featured on the blog, and you can read all of them here right Read More >>

via AVAC This AVAC report presents a three-part agenda for ending the AIDS epidemic. It is intended as a vision and a challenge to the field, and a first step in holding all of us—civil society, researchers, governments, and funders—accountable for progress. Each of the major priorities below demands action now—but the dividends will come in the Read More >>

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE – DAY 4 16.30 (CET), WEDNESDAY JULY 20 Late Breaker extracts – newsmakers First global study of real-world circumcision rollout conducted over three-year period in South Africa amongst 110,000 adults shows a marked reduction (>60%) of HIV acquisition among circumcised adult men . Elvitegravir once-daily is non inferior to raltegravir twice-daily in treatment experienced Read More >>

A report released yesterday by HIV Vaccines and Microbicides Resource Tracking Working Group at the IAS conference in Rome “found that overall investment in HIV prevention R&D had actually increased, with the modest exception of a one percent decline in vaccine R&D. The report documented a total US$1.19 billion investment in research and development (R&D) for four key HIV prevention Read More >>

Via The Lancet, by Thomas J Coates. Larry Kramer, on accepting the Tony Award last month from the Theatre Guild-American Theatrical Society for The Normal Heart as Best Revival of a Play said: “To gay people everywhere, whom I love so dearly…we are a very special people, an exceptional people, and…our day will come.” My day came Read More >>

Via the Daily Monitor, by Evelyn Lirri. Godfrey Aganza had never considered getting circumcised. The misconceptions that came with a circumcised non-Muslim man, including being considered a covert or the alleged future risk of impotence largely discouraged him from the cut. But that has changed now. On June 7, this year, the 18-year-old senior three student of Read More >>

Via Science Speaks, by Meredith Mazzotta. To the sound of a ticking metronome, Dr. Caroline Ryan of the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator gave an update on the scale up of voluntary medical male circumcision in sub-Saharan Africa Wednesday morning at the premiere of the new short film “In It to Save Lives: Scaling Up Voluntary Read More >>

via International AIDS Society, by Mark Mascolini Circumcision did not protect men who have sex with men (MSM) from acquiring HIV infection, according to an analysis of more than 1800 men in Peru and the United States. The findings confirm results of earlier studies. Three randomized trials in Africa showed that circumcision does lower the risk of Read More >>

from AVAC  It has been roughly four years since randomized controlled trials of medical male circumcision in Kenya, South Africa and Uganda showed that medical male circumcision is safe and reduces men’s risk of HIV infection during vaginal sex by about 60 percent. The advent of this new biomedical strategy has prompted a range of implementation efforts Read More >>

From the Financial Times, by Andrew Jack When a Muslim and a Jewish surgeon travel to KwaZulu Natal later this month to help local healthcare teams develop high-volume adult male circumcision programmes, they are expecting considerable interest. Operation Abraham, an Israel-based group, has tapped into the traditional experience of two faiths in circumcision to offer guidance in Read More >>