Welcome Guest Blogger Caroline Wheatley!

There are only 135 days before the World Cup in South Africa begins! Alright, so not everyone is counting down the days for this unprecedented event held for the first time on the African continent. But those who work in the HIV field have had this day on their radar for years.

While some critics have been focusing on the security and infrastructure concerns about this year’s World Cup destination, public health officials are wondering how this event will impact the spread of HIV in South Africa and the continent as a whole. In 2006 I met a researcher from Zimbabwe while working in Swaziland (which borders South Africa) on HIV Education. This man was highly concerned about the potential increase in the spread of HIV during the soccer tournament. Since West, East, and Sub Saharan Africans each have a different strain of HIV, he proposed that the potential for transmission of different strains was highly probable, making it likely for people who are already positive to be reinfected with a different strain. This would lead to a super strain of HIV that could also be highly resistant to medications. To put this in perspective, in Swaziland in 2007 there were only three different HAART regimens available in the country. Therefore, if resistant strains of HIV become prevalent, people will likely have little to no remaining form of treatment, making an already devastating health crisis even worse.

The concern about the spread of HIV during the World Cup has some South Africans turning to policy to affect changes that might help empower a specific population: sex workers. Activists are pushing for the decriminalization of sex workers, an agenda that was started seven years ago and has found another push with the upcoming tournament. The changes are thought to empower sex workers to negotiate for condom use and would reduce abuse of sex workers.

Sex work activists are not the only ones taking advantage of this international event to get the word out on HIV. Stakeholders in South Africa have been meeting with government officials and FIFA’s marketing team to use the exposure of the event to expand HIV education across the country and continent. Plans include massive advertisements and campaigns lasting the whole year, not just during the several weeks of tournament play. To read more about South Africa’s response to HIV during the world cup, check out these links: http://allafrica.com/stories/200912040669.html http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87109

Spotlight on Project Hopeful

Since the earthquake in Haiti last week, some of the press has focused on the challenges of children orphaned by natural disasters. I started thinking about the thousands of children around the world that have been orphaned due to AIDS and may be HIV positive themselves. How difficult are their adoption journeys? There is an organization that makes these journeys a little easier: Meet Project Hopeful.
Project Hopeful encourages, educates, and enables families seeking international adoptions of HIV positive children. The organization assists families through immigration challenges, including the 1601 waiver process (waiver for a variety of things, including HIV). This organization was founded by a mother (Carolyn Twietmeyer) that adopted a sibling group from Ethiopia, including a child with HIV. Carolyn and her family also adopted a child that was at the end stage of AIDS. The other founder is Leslie Raneri, a single mother of two adopted HIV positive children, one from Ethiopia and one from Haiti. Check out their amazing stories at www.projecthopeful.org

Book of the Month - My Pet Virus

“I can be laid-back about my lot in life because I realize that I was destined for a life of medical drama from day one. I was born in the month of July, and my horoscope sign is a disease (Cancer). The symbol for Cancer? A crab (the sexually transmitted critter). Not only that, my parents named me Shawn Timothy Decker, which makes my initials S.T.D.”

Shawn Decker in his autobiography My Pet Virus: The True Story of a Rebel Without a Cure, examines his life with HIV. Diagnosed in 1987 at the age of 11 and given two years to live, Shawn survived beyond all expectations. Now married, Shawn and his wife travel the country speaking about staying HIV-negative while in a relationship with a HIV-positive person.

Although he uses humor, Shawn writes very frankly about his bouts with HIV/AIDS related illnesses and the stigma of living with the disease. This book is great read for anyone looking for a way to laugh in the face of adversity, while embracing reality.