Facebook algorithm to treat with Suicides & Cries for Help .............

This is good news on the suicide prevention front and indeed there may be just a dent in attempts made public or when they can be so identified via status messages and so on.

Building a Safer Community With New Suicide Prevention Tools

By Vanessa Callison-Burch, Product Manager, Jennifer Guadagno, Researcher, and Antigone Davis, Head of Global Safety

There is one death by suicide in the world every 40 seconds, and suicide is the second leading cause of death for 15-29 year olds. Experts say that one of the best ways to prevent suicide is for those in distress to hear from people who care about them.

Facebook is in a unique position — through friendships on the site — to help connect a person in distress with people who can support them. It’s part of our ongoing effort to help build a safe community on and off Facebook.

Today we’re updating the tools and resources we offer to people who may be thinking of suicide, as well as the support we offer to their concerned friends and family members:

Integrated suicide prevention tools to help people in real time on Facebook Live

Live chat support from crisis support organizations through Messenger

Streamlined reporting for suicide, assisted by artificial intelligence

Already on Facebook if someone posts something that makes you concerned about their well-being, you can reach out to them directly or report the post to us. We have teams working around the world, 24/7, who review reports that come in and prioritize the most serious reports like suicide. We provide people who have expressed suicidal thoughts with a number of support options. For example, we prompt people to reach out to a friend and even offer pre-populated text to make it easier for people to start a conversation. We also suggest contacting a help line and offer other tips and resources for people to help themselves in that moment.

Suicide prevention tools have been available on Facebook for more than 10 years and were developed in collaboration with mental health organizations such as Save.org, National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, Forefront and Crisis Text Line, and with input from people who have personal experience thinking about or attempting suicide. In 2016 we expanded the availability of the latest tools globally — with the help of over 70 partners around the world — and improved how they work based on new technology and feedback from the community.

Supporting Someone on Facebook Live
Our suicide prevention tools for Facebook posts will now be integrated into Facebook Live. People watching a live video have the option to reach out to the person directly and to report the video to us. We will also provide resources to the person reporting the live video to assist them in helping their friend.

The person sharing a live video will see a set of resources on their screen. They can choose to reach out to a friend, contact a help line or see tips. If you or someone you know is in crisis, it is important to call local emergency services right away. You can also visit our Help Center for information about how to support yourself or a friend.

Empowering Crisis Support Partners

Partners are key to our work in suicide prevention and mental health support.
We recently added the ability for people to connect with our crisis support partners over Messenger. Now people will see the option to message with someone in real time directly from the organization’s Page or through our suicide prevention tools.

Participating organizations include Crisis Text Line, the National Eating Disorder Association and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

This test will expand over the next several months, ensuring the organizations can support any new volume of communication. Zendesk donated some of the company’s back end tools to make this integration possible.
Today, we are also launching a video campaign with partner organizations across the globe to raise awareness about ways to help a friend in need.

Making Reporting Easier

We work to address posts expressing thoughts of suicide as quickly and accurately as possible.
Based on feedback from experts, we are testing a streamlined reporting process using pattern recognition in posts previously reported for suicide. This artificial intelligence approach will make the option to report a post about “suicide or self injury” more prominent for potentially concerning posts like these.

We’re also testing pattern recognition to identify posts as very likely to include thoughts of suicide. Our Community Operations team will review these posts and, if appropriate, provide resources to the person who posted the content, even if someone on Facebook has not reported it yet.
We are starting this limited test in the US and will continue working closely with suicide prevention experts to understand other ways we can use technology to help provide support.

Suicide prevention is one way we’re working to build a safer community on Facebook. With the help of our partners and people’s friends and family members on Facebook, we’re hopeful we can support more people over time.

4th Annual Lesbians Who Tech + Allies Summit 23rd to 26th Feb 2017

It's conference season as usual and the CROI 2017 just closed or about to, now comes the technology driven 'Lesbians Who Tech(nology) Summit invloving lesbians and bisexual women in the ever evolving Tech world.

ABOUT THE LESBIANS WHO TECH + ALLIES SAN FRANCISCO SUMMIT 

The 4th Annual Lesbians Who Tech + Allies Summit from February 23rd to the 26th, 2017 in the Castro District of San Francisco will bring together over 2,200 lesbians, queer women + allies across all areas of technology. 

Some years ago we had a Jamaican representative who did us proud there and made a Caribbean mark as well. 

Topics include: Technology + The Resistance, Cybersecurity, Cloud, Data, Hardware, Machine Learning, A.I., Healing + Community, Virtual Reality, Engineering and Entrepreneurship.

At the heart of our Summits is a deep commitment to women in tech, LGBTQ women and women of color. We do that by showcasing top tech talent who are changing the world, and happen to be LGBTQ women. Our goal is to push the industry towards a higher standard, a technology sector that is representative of the people who live in this country.

Because the world changed, our strategy for this year’s Lesbians Who Tech + Allies 2017 San Francisco Summit changed.

After the election we regrouped and approached the Summit with a fresh point of view to take the Summit beyond technology. We reached out to leaders who are rising up and using tech to lead the fight on issues of reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, systemic racism and sexism, and more issues at the intersection of power and freedom.

Basic Agenda, see the detailed registration/agenda HERE

THURSDAY | FEB. 23
6:00-9:00 PM
Tech Crawl
Badge Pickup

FRIDAY | FEB. 24
VIP Breakfast
TED Style Talks
Technology Demos
Recruiting Zone
Executive Diversity + Inclusion Forum
After Party

LevelUP Leadership Lunch

SATURDAY | FEB. 25
TED Style Talks
Workshops
Panels
TechUP Career Fair
Hackathon

SUNDAY | FEB. 26
Lesbians Who Hike
Lesbians Who Bike
Lesbians Who Rock Climb

Closing After Party

Scholarship Applications HERE

Integrase Inhibitor Bictegravir Matches Dolutegravir for First-Line HIV Treatment

from CROI 2017

Bictegravir, an investigational integrase inhibitor from Gilead Sciences, was highly potent, well tolerated and worked as well as dolutegravir (Tivcay) in a Phase 2 clinical trial, according to study results presented at the 2017 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) this week in Seattle and published online in The Lancet HIV.

Integrase inhibitors, also known as integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs), are a class of antiretroviral drug designed to block the action of integrase, a viral enzyme that inserts the viral genome into the DNA of the host cell. Since integration is a vital step in retroviral replication, blocking it can halt further spread of the virus. Integrase inhibitors were initially developed for the treatment of HIV infection, but they could be applied to other retroviruses.

The discovery and development of integrase inhibitors led to the first integrase inhibitor approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on October 12, 2007, for raltegravir (brand name Isentress). Research results published in the New England Journal of Medicine on July 24, 2008, concluded that "raltegravir plus optimized background therapy provided better viral suppression than optimized background therapy alone for at least 48 weeks."

Since integrase inhibitors target a distinct step in the retroviral life cycle, they may be taken in combination with other types of HIV drugs to minimize adaptation by the virus. They are also useful in salvage therapy for patients whose virus has mutated and acquired resistance to other drugs.

Due to their high potency and good tolerability, integrase strand transfer inhibitors are an increasingly important part of initial antiretroviral therapy and are included in most recommended regimens for first-line treatment in U.S. and European HIV treatment guidelines.

Bictegravir (formerly GS-9883) is an investigational integrase inhibitor that can be taken once-daily and does not require a booster -- unlike Gilead's older integrase inhibitor elvitegravir, which must be boosted with cobicistat.

As previously reported, bictegravir demonstrated high potency against wild-type and resistant strains of HIV, favorable pharmacokinetics, and an improved resistance profile compared to older integrase inhibitors. In a 10-day monotherapy study, it rapidly reduced viral load by more than 2 login people with HIV.

At CROI Joseph Custodio from Gilead reported that bictegravir was safe and well-tolerated at doses ranging from 5 mg to 600mg in healthy volunteers. Bictegravir inhibits renal tubule transporters, which lowers creatinine levels and leads to a decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate, but it does not cause actual kidney function impairment, he explained.

Bictegravir is metabolized equally bythe CYP3A4 and UGT1A1 pathways. Custodio said it has low potential to be either a "victim" or "perpetrator" of drug-drug interactions. Bictegravir levels rose by more than 300% when administered with both CYP3A4 and UGT1A1 inhibitors, and fell by up to 75% when given with both CYP3A4 and UGT1A1 inducers. The drug had a half-life of approximately 18 hours, indicating it is suitable for once-daily dosing. Bictegravir had no effect on a common oral contraceptive or ledipasvir/sofosbuvir (Harvoni) for hepatitis C, and administering it 2 hours before or after minimises interactions with antacids.

Paul Sax of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and colleagues conducted a Phase 2 placebo-controlled clinical trial comparing bictegravir to dolutegravir for initial HIV therapy.

The study included 98 previously untreated adults. Almost all were men, more than half were white, and the median age was about 32 years. They generally had asymptomatic HIV infectionwith a median CD4 T-cell count of approximately 450 cells/mm3 and a median viral load of about 4.4 log copies/mL at baseline. They had normal kidney function and people with hepatitis B or C coinfection were excluded.

Participants in this double-blind study were randomly assigned (2:1) to receive 75 mg bictegravir or 50 mg dolutegravir, each with matching placebos. Both drugs were combined with 25 mg tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) and 200 mg emtricitabine, taken once daily with or without food for 48 weeks. The primary endpoint was the proportion of people with HIV RNA below 50 copies/mL at 24 weeks.

Results

Both treatments were highly effective.

97% of participants in the bictegravir arm and 94% in the dolutegravir arm achieved viral suppression at 24 weeks.

97% and 91%, respectively, had undetectable HIV RNA at 48 weeks.

Given the small number of patients, these differences were not statistically significant and this study was not powered to determine full non-inferiority.

1 person in the bictegravir arm and 2 in the dolutegravir armhad HIV RNA >50 copies/mL, but no significant resistance was detected in either arm.

CD4 cell gains were 258 cells/mm3 in the bictegravir arm compared 192 cells/mm3 in the dolutegravir arm, not a significant difference.

Both regimens were generally safe and well-tolerated, with no treatment-related serious adverse events and no deaths.

The most frequent adverse events were diarrhea (12% in each arm) and nausea (8% with bictegravir and 12% with dolutegravir).

1 bictegravir recipient with a previous history of allergic dermatitis stopped treatment early due to hives after 24 weeks.

Estimated glomerular filtration rate declined by -7.0 mL/min in the bictegravir arm and -11.3 mL/min in the dolutegravir arm at week 48, but there were no discontinuations due to kidney-related adverse events and no cases of tubulopathy.

Bictegravir and dolutegravir taken with TAF and emtricitabine "both demonstrated high virologic response rates at week 24 that were maintained at week 48," the researchers concluded. "Both treatments were well tolerated, and no significant safety signal was detected in either arm."

These results were promising enough to proceed with Phase 3 trials using a single-tablet regimen of bictegravir, TAF, and emtricitabine. Custodio noted that optimising the formulation allowed for a lower 50 mg bictegravir dose in the coformulation.

Sax said that 4 Phase 3 studies are now fully enrolled; 2 of these are similar to the current study but will use the bictegravir single-tablet regimen rather than separate pills. Another is comparing the bictegravir single-tablet regimen against a coformulation of dolutegravir, abacavir, and lamivudine (Triumeq).

"The high virologic response rates seen in this study show that the pairing of bictegravir with [TAF/emtricitabine] could potentially offer patients and physicians a new HIV treatment option with pre-clinical data supporting few drug interactions and a high barrier to resistance," Sax said in a Gilead press release.

2/14/17

Sources

H Zhang, JM Custodio, X Wei, et al. Clinical Pharmacology of the HIV Integrase Strand Transfer Inhibitor Bictegravir. Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. Seattle, February 13-16, 2017. Abstract 40.

P Sax, E DeJesus, G Crofoot, et al. Randomized Trial of Bictegravir or Dolutegravir with FTC/TAF for initial HIV therapy. Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. Seattle, February 13-16, 2017. Abstract 41.

PE Sax, E DeJesus, G Crofoot, et al. Bictegravir versus dolutegravir, each with emtricitabine and tenofovir alafenamide, for initial treatment of HIV-1 infection: a randomised, double-blind, phase 2 trial. The Lancet HIV. February 14, 2017 (online ahead of print).

Gilead Sciences. Gilead Presents New Phase 2 Data on Bictegravir, an Investigational Integrase Strand Transfer Inhibitor for the Treatment of HIV. Press release. February 13, 2017.

Switching course, Gilead markets HIV drug for prevention ..........

Gilead Sciences Inc has begun marketing its HIV treatment Truvada in a way thousands of consumers already use it – to prevent infection with the virus that causes AIDS.

The company introduced Truvada to the U.S. market in 2004 for HIV treatment. In 2012, Gilead won approval to market it for prevention after two large, peer-reviewed studies showed it also was effective at preventing infections in healthy people.

But the company decided against promoting the drug as a preventative treatment, deferring to patient advocates who feared it could encourage promiscuity and unsafe practices, such as having sex without condoms.

Even without Gilead's help, many consumers learned Truvada was more than 90 percent effective in tests at preventing HIV infection. In 2014, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended it as an option for people at high risk for HIV infection.

As many as 90,000 people in the United States used the drug for prevention, or pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), last quarter. That's up from 60,000 to 70,000 earlier this year, the company said. Usage also is growing in France, where about 2,000 people have been prescribed Truvada for prevention since January.

In July, the drugmaker began marketing Truvada for PrEP to doctors through professional publications, digital advertising and other channels, including the website PreventHIV.com.

And this fall, the drugmaker began marketing directly to consumers with print advertisements in publications geared toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, including OUT, Advocate and SWERV. It plans soon to expand to social media and digital.

Gilead said it wants to reach people whose doctors are either unaware or reluctant to prescribe Truvada for prevention.

The marketing "is primarily driven by demand by patients," said David Piontkowsky, Gilead's vice president of HIV Medical Affairs, in an interview.

Attitudes toward Truvada started to change a couple years ago as doctors, AIDS activists and potential users saw its effectiveness, he said. The "criticism now is we're not saying enough."

Truvada is helping bolster Gilead's profits as sales of its biggest moneymakers – treatments for hepatitis C – decline.

U.S. net product sales of Truvada for the first nine months of 2016 were $1.8 billion compared with $1.5 billion for the same period in 2015. The company said in its earnings report that the gain was driven by price increases as well as "increased usage of Truvada for PrEP."

"We expect PrEP to continue to be a significant part of Gilead's growth in HIV going forward, particularly in the U.S.," Gilead Chief Operating Officer Kevin Young recently told investors.

The new Truvada campaign has been well received, even by those who once opposed promoting the drug for prevention. They include David Duran, a writer and HIV advocate, who helped popularize the term "Truvada Whore" in a 2012 article describing his fear that it would encourage people to have sex without condoms.

Duran began rethinking that concern about a year later in light of newer research showing that PrEP helped prevent more cases of HIV, without a rise in other sexually transmitted disease, which suggested people were using condoms.

"I'm thrilled they are starting to pump some money into marketing and awareness," Duran said. "There is a solid base of folks who know about PrEP, but it's still not a topic the country as a whole knows about."

GROWTH POTENTIAL

As a preventive measure, the blue Truvada pill is taken once daily. Some people experience nausea, vomiting or headaches during the first few weeks on the drug.

Users must be tested every three months to ensure they don't have HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases and to monitor kidney function and bone density.

Some Medicaid programs and most private insurance cover the treatment, which lists for $1,500 a month before any negotiated discounts. With greater awareness and favorable coverage for preventative treatments, the number of Americans using Truvada could rise, said the company and healthcare providers.

An estimated 50,000 new U.S. HIV infections are diagnosed each year.

The CDC estimated in 2015 that about 1.2 million Americans were at substantial risk of HIV infection and could benefit from PrEP.

That includes men who have sex with men, transgender women who have sex with men, partners of people who are HIV-positive and intravenous drug users who share needles.

The number of high risk groups "is much broader than one might think," said Dr. Jennifer Childs-Roshak, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. "It is not just men with multiple partners. There are a whole host of folks who could benefit."

At least 15 patients have gone on Truvada for prevention since Planned Parenthood's six Massachusetts clinics began offering it this fall. Planned Parenthood of New York City plans to offer the treatment to all of its 50,000 patients, said Julia Sullivan, associate director of quality management.

Wider use also could buffer Gilead when Truvada, the only drug currently approved in the United States for PrEP, loses patent protection in 2021. Gilead has a successor treatment in the works. The once-daily F/TAF (emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide) has been approved for HIV treatment and is under study as a preventative.

"PrEP is indeed a significant part of Truvada," said Leerink Partners analyst Geoffrey Porges. "It can certainly keep Truvada relatively flat but the key question is, when will they show that TAF works for PrEP?"

In the meantime, the concept of taking an HIV drug to prevent infection is making inroads in popular U.S. culture. It came up in an episode of "Transparent," the Emmy award-winning Amazon series about a family with a transgender parent, when a character was contemplating sex with an HIV-positive partner.

"We were trying to make the conversation reflect what happens in real life," said a writer on the show who works under the name Our Lady J. "PrEP is a big part of that conversation. As an HIV positive person, I'm struck with the level of ignorance around PrEP."

(Reporting By Jilian Mincer; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Lisa Girion)

OutBermuda Respond To Preserve Marriage

Saying that it is their “mandate to support the wellbeing, health, dignity, security and protection of Bermuda’s LGBTQ community, we issue this statement in response. support the wellbeing, health, dignity, security and protection of Bermuda’s LGBTQ community,” OUTBermuda has responded to an ad placed by Preserve Marriage.

Some content from Bernews

The statement said, “Preserve Marriage Bermuda today published an advertisement complaining that Bermuda’s Supreme Court is being asked to legislate marriage equality.

“Preserve Marriage also argues that when the Human Rights Act was amended in 2013 it was a foregone conclusion that marriage equality would follow, suggesting the amendment was a sinister attempt to introduce marriage equality by indirect means.

“Given OUTBermuda’s mandate to support the wellbeing, health, dignity, security and protection of Bermuda’s LGBTQ community, we issue this statement in response.

“Preserve Marriage’s advertisement ignores the fact that the decision of the European Convention of Human Rights in Oliari v Italy, a decision the organization has spoken much about, was not decided until after the 2013 Human Rights Act amendment.

“Oliari is undeniably a landmark judgment, which marked a significant shift in the European Court’s approach to issues of Lesbian and Gay equality in the sphere of family matters.

“While that judgment is central to any argument today about family life protections afforded to Lesbian and Gay people, there was nothing back in 2013 to foretell this decision.

“OUTBermuda rejects the suggestion that LGBTQ people and allies schemed to amend the Human Rights Act with a view ultimately to marriage equality.

“To suggest this demonstrates a lack of understanding and empathy towards the experience of fellow Bermudians who were given both legal protection and peace of mind in the areas of housing, employment and the provision of goods and services [including governmental services] as a result of the “Two Words and a Comma” amendment.

“Although Preserve Marriage says in its advertisement that it believes all people should be protected regardless of their sexuality, OUTBermuda has not seen or heard any practical suggestions from the organization about how it believes the family lives of LGBTQ people ought to be respected within Bermuda’s current legal environment.

“While advocating that Government cobble together a bundle of rights in an unspecified manner for the benefit of Gay and Lesbian people, Preserve Marriage has rejected out of hand options for marriage, civil partnerships and other similar legal arrangements, thereby precluding any viable option for achieving that aim.

“OUTBermuda is committed to creating awareness of the real life issues affecting Bermuda’s LGBTQ people, and to leading dialogue on these issues.

“Accordingly, OUTBermuda will extend an invitation to Preserve Marriage to enter into conversation on how the status quo, as it relates to Lesbian and Gay families, fails to honor and respect the dignity of all people in Bermuda.”

see the petition HERE

International Study Finds High Levels of Adherence to Use of Rectal Microbicide Gel

Participants as adherent to using gel with sex as taking a daily pill for HIV prevention

CHICAGO, October 20, 2016 – Participants enrolled in a rectal microbicide study were just as likely to follow through using an anti-HIV gel with anal sex as they were to using daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), according to adherence results presented today at the HIV Research for Prevention conference (HIVR4P). The study, led by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Microbicide Trials Network (MTN), was the first extended safety study of a rectal microbicide for prevention of HIV infection from anal sex, which initially reported that the gel was safe in February 2016.

The Phase II study, MTN-017, began in September 2013 and enrolled 195 men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women at sites in Peru, Thailand, South Africa and the United States, including Puerto Rico. MTN-017 participants –12 percent of whom were transgender women – cycled through three study regimens which each lasted eight weeks: reduced glycerin tenofovir gel used daily, reduced glycerin tenofovir gel used before and after anal sex, and daily use of the antiretroviral tablet Truvada® (emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) as PrEP, developed by Gilead Sciences, Inc.

Researchers found that most participants were highly adherent during the course of MTN-017, using study products 80 percent of the time or more. Participants were similarly adherent to using gel before and after sex (93 percent) as they were to taking daily oral Truvada (94 percent). They were less adherent when using the gel on a daily basis (83 percent).

“Overall adherence to the three regimens in MTN-017 was high,” said Alex Carballo-Diéguez, Ph.D., HIVR4P abstract co-author and professor of medical psychology, Columbia University. “What we found most remarkable was that even though efficacy of the gel has not been established, its adherence was similar to oral Truvada, which we know is effective. This tells us that rectal microbicide gels, provided they are proven effective, could be a potential alternative for people who don’t want to use daily oral PrEP.”

Adherence in MTN-017 was measured by a combination of responses to daily questions sent by text message, number of returned gel applicators, and blood tests to confirm the presence or absence of drug. Throughout the study, researchers employed real-time pharmacokinetics (PK), in which they regularly tested participants’ blood to assess the presence of drug – a determinant of whether they were using their assigned study products – and shared the results with participants as part of their adherence counseling sessions. These sessions also included convergence interviews, collaborative conversations to engage participants and clarify discrepancies among adherence measures.

In a related HIVR4P poster session (P24.11), Iván C. Balán, Ph.D., assistant professor of clinical psychology, Columbia University, found that convergence interviews conducted in MTN-017, which were aimed at improving the accuracy of adherence data, were feasible and acceptable to both adherence counselors and study participants. They also provided important context to understanding discrepancies in product use assessments and PK results. Engaging study participants as allies in the process was critical to avoid making them feel confronted and thus becoming defensive, noted Dr. Balán.

In addition to Dr. Carballo-Diéguez, abstract co-authors include Dr. Balán, Rebecca Giguere, M.P.H., Curtis Dolezal, Ph.D., Cheng-Shiun Leu, Ph.D., William Brown III, Ph.D., Titcha Ho, Ph.D., Camagu Tuswa-Haynes, M.S., all with the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University; Javier Lama, M.D., IMPACTA PERU Clinical Trials Unit; Jeanna Piper, M.D., Division of AIDS, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the NIH; Barbra Richardson, Ph.D., University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; Ian McGowan, M.D., Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh; and Ross Cranston, M.D., Microbicide Trials Network.

Dr. Cranston is protocol chair of MTN-017 and Dr. Lama is protocol co-chair.

MTN-017 was funded by NIAID and the National Institute of Mental Health, both components of the NIH. Tenofovir gel was developed by Gilead Sciences, Inc., of Foster City, Calif., which assigned the rights for tenofovir gel to CONRAD, of Arlington, Va., and the International Partnership for Microbicides of Silver Spring, Md., in December 2006. Clinical input and study supplies of reduced glycerin tenofovir gel were provided by CONRAD, with funding from USAID.

# # #

Dr. Carballo-Diéguez’s abstract (QA20.01) is part of the HIV R4P oral presentation session Trust But Verify: Understanding Adherence taking place from 10:30-noon CDT, Wed., October 20. It is one of 22 MTN abstracts being presented at the HIVR4P 2016 conference. Webcasts of all HIVR4P 2016 sessions, along with the conference program and more information on the meeting is available at hivr4p.org.

More information and materials about MTN-017 and rectal microbicides are available athttp://www.mtnstopshiv.org/news/studies/mtn017.



About the Microbicide Trials Network

The Microbicide Trials Network (MTN) is an HIV/AIDS clinical trials network established in 2006 by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases with co-funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute of Mental Health, all components of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Based at Magee-Womens Research Institute and the University of Pittsburgh, the MTN brings together international investigators and community and industry partners whose work is focused on the development and rigorous evaluation of promising microbicides – products applied inside the vagina or rectum that are intended to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV – from the earliest phases of clinical study to large-scale trials that support potential licensure of these products for widespread use. More information about the MTN is available at www.mtnstopshiv.org.

MTN is funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health grants UM1AI068633, UM1AI068615 and UM1AI106707.

Click here for PDF version of this document.

Intersex spokesperson speaks in the European Parliament for the first time ever today

In an historical first this afternoon, the European Parliament heard from an intersex person on the rights and needs of intersex people across Europe

Intersex people are born with bodies that do not entirely match the definition of either the male or female gender.

During a public hearing on the situation of fundamental rights in the European Union in 2015, Dan Christian Ghattas, explained the situation of intersex people in Europe.

"It is estimated that around 1 in 200 people are born intersex," Ghattas explained, "and they are usually subjected to surgery and hormone treatment within the first two years of their lives in order to fulfil societal expectations about gender."

"This treatment of infants means that we do not get the opportunity to make choices about our own bodies. Most intersex people experience psychological trauma as a result.

"This is a violation of our right to self-determination, and contravenes the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.

"We are asking the European Parliament to take an active role in supporting our rights, including a European Parliament own-initiative report on the rights of intersex people and a study on how EU gender equality legislation could be used to protect our rights."

Vice President of the European Parliament's LGBTI Intergroup, Malin Björk, commented: “LGBTIQ people face a constant political battle for the right to exist. Gender norms around how male and female bodies should look lead to a violation of the right to bodily integrity of intersex people."

"This is a form of violence and we have a responsibility to fight against in our struggle for justice. Therefore, the presence of an intersex organisation in the European Parliament in a hearing on fundamental rights is politically important, and something I value and celebrate.”

Ghattas appeared in the Parliament this afternoon with the support of the European United Left / Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL), the Organisation Intersex International Europe (OII), and the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA).

GUE/NGL Press Contact:

Nikki Sullings +32 22 83 27 60 / +32 483 03 55 75

Gay Kavanagh +32 473 84 23 20

Related MEPs

HOPE for the Vaginal Ring: Follow-Up Studies on New HIV-Prevention Method for Women Announced

More than 300 members of the Microbicide Trials Network (MTN) were gathered in a hotel conference room in Rockville, Maryland, earlier this month and, somewhat unexpectedly, the assembled scientists had something to celebrate. On March 13, four days after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) convened a stakeholder meeting of African women, researchers, advocates and statisticians, it announced that it would indeed fund follow-up studies to the ASPIRE dapivirine (TMC120) antiretroviral ring trial.

The results of ASPIRE and its sister trial, The Ring Study, were released during CROI 2016 at the end of February. Then, this month the NIH held its meeting. When Sharon Hillier, Ph.D., one of ASPIRE's principal investigators, announced the results to MTN staff, "people literally cheered -- they just stood up and cheered," she said.

That's because, after many attempts and several disappointing trial results, this was one of the few microbicide trials -- and one of the fewer designed specifically for women -- to move on to open-label extension trials and potentially lead to availability for those women who need HIV prevention most.

"Everyone is so anxious to take this next step, to see -- can we realize the promise we think we have [with the ring]? And can we build on this to do even better?" she said. "No one is happy with 27% [overall effectiveness rate]. And we think we can do better than 27%."

ASPIRE and HOPE

When ASPIRE's results came out at CROI 2016 last month for the dapivirine ring, the 27% reduction in HIV acquisition sounded modest to say the least.

But, when researchers parsed the data further, they discovered that efficacy went up with a woman's age. For women aged 21 and under, the ring provided no benefit. For women 21 to 25, effectiveness shot up to 56%. For women older than that, the rate was 61%.

That 61% was the foundation for moving forward with additional studies, said Anthony Fauci, M.D., director of the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.

"Everyone went in to the [NIH] meeting saying, 'We need to first examine the data -- is there really a pathway forward?'" he said. "It's clear there is, even though it's confusing when you look at the data. Twenty-seven percent is rather weak, but when you break it down by women older than 25 and women younger than 21, the 61 percent effectiveness is good enough to move forward. That's as good as circumcision in some respects."

Specifically, the NIH funded two follow up studies. One, ASPIRE's open-label extension trial, named HOPE, will seek to recreate the first study, but with some twists. Each of the 2,629 women in Malawi, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Uganda who participated in the original trial will be offered the dapivirine ring. The hope, said Fauci, is that if women know that they are getting a ring with active drug in it and that it's been proven to reduce HIV acquisition, then more women will use the ring, which may change overall protection rates. It's happened before.

However, the study will also tackle adherence another way: by asking the women to once again consent to the study, but this time also asking them candidly whether they're participating in the study because they really want to reduce their risk for HIV, or whether the study is the only way for them to get regular sexual and reproductive health care.

"By re-consenting them, we're saying, 'We get it,'" he said. "'So tell you what: Sign up for the study, but be honest, tell us if you have any intention or not of using the ring.' So then they'll be able to separate out the people who are really using it from those who aren't."

Study participants who say they don't intend to use the ring will still receive health care, but their intention not to adhere will be factored into results.

Then, the study will check in with participants every month for three months, changing out the ring and checking how much less dapivirine is in it after 30 days than when it was distributed -- a sign that participants have actually used it. The idea is to remove the incentive to lie to get health care and use drug levels to test for adherence.

Finally, the study will have a divided design: In those first three months, participants will come to the clinic every month to get a new ring. For the second three months, participants will be given a pack of three rings and be instructed to change the ring out themselves. Then, participants will be asked to bring back the rings, and total drug depletion will be measured.

"It's clever," Fauci said. "It will give [researchers] a chance to compare a clinical trial setting, where [women] are seen every month, versus a real-world setting, where we give them three rings. The bottom line is to figure out what role adherence plays in efficacy and what are the motives to participate."

Robust Discussion

Dazon Dixon Diallo, president and founder of SisterLove, Inc., and convener of the U.S. Women and PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) Working Group, was at the NIH meeting and described it as a robust discussion of both the science and women's reproductive health needs.

Unlike the VOICE trial, which was designed to test the ability of combination tenofovir/emtricitabine (Truvada) to prevent HIV in women, but was stopped early due to lack of adherence, there was no effort to blame participants for not using the drug. The question was, "How do we design these trials in a way that does not design it to fit the research, but is also meant to fit into women's lives?"

"It was not about blaming them," Dixon Diallo said. "It was really looking at the full implications of a large clinical trial like this, and how nimble can it be to really understand and shift as needed to make sure that the trial itself is fitting into women's lives in such a way that makes them want to be more adherent and to participate."

In particular, she pointed to the comment of one 18-year-old participant, who had asked the ages of the counselors who worked with women during the trials. The implication, said Dixon Diallo, was that mixing peer support and relatable staff could improve social connections and change how younger women, especially, perceive the trials.

For her part, Hillier said that the NIH's decision to fund the studies was not just a win for ASPIRE, but also for the technology in general, which will receive follow up separately in The Ring Study.

"With these two positive results in two separate studies, if [the NIH] didn't move forward, it was really closing the book on this kind of research," Hillier said. But now, she said, everyone on the team is excited about next steps. "We're feeling like we have a ton of work to do, but we're really excited we get to do it."

What a Young Woman Wants

When the NIH announced its funding of HOPE, it also announced funding for another trial, one meant to ask a different question: Why did the dapivirine ring show no effectiveness in women under 21, the group of women at highest risk for HIV?

It could be that younger women weren't using the ring. But it could also be that there's something biologically different about young women that makes the dapivirine ring ineffective. So MTN-035, also funded by the NIH this month, will seek to determine if it's preference or biology.

The 18-month study will be divided into three sections. For the first six months, women will get to choose either tenofovir/emtricitabine pills or the dapivirine ring for HIV protection. For the next six months, they will switch. Then, at the end of the year, they will be asked which method they prefer -- "or neither, obviously," Hillier added.

At the same time, when women attend their monthly clinic visits, researchers will take biological samples -- vaginal fluid samples, for instance, or swabs -- to study the immune cells in the vagina and other biomarkers of HIV risk. That data will be broken down further into very young women aged 16 to 17 and women 18 to 21, to assess whether biological markers and efficacy differ by prevention type.

"So we're trying to give women a sense of agency," said Hillier, "that they're going to be empowered to select what works for them."

Heather Boerner is a health care journalist based in San Francisco and author of Positively Negative: Love, Pregnancy and Science's Surprising Victory Over HIV.

New EU FRA report highlights crucial role public authorities for LGBT equality

In a new report launched in the European Parliament today, the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) highlights that prevailing negative attitudes towards LGBT people endanger their fundamental rights and hamper efforts to counter discrimination and hate crime.

The report analyses the views and attitudes of the ‘duty bearers’ towards LGBT persons in the field of law enforcement, education and healthcare.

Some of the key findings that emerged that can be found in the ‘Professionally speaking: challenges to achieving equality for LGBT people’ report include:
All professional groups have low levels of awareness and knowledge about LGBT needs, while social attitudes are often hostile towards LGBT people. This affect the actions of public officials and professionals.

There is a need for professional training to help counter prejudice in healthcare. Healthcare services to trans people are spread unevenly across the EU and there is a need to strengthen capacity and awareness of healthcare providers.
There is a lack of objective information on sexual orientation and gender identity inschools, which can result in bullying, and force LGBT youths to hide their sexual orientation or gender identity. Member States should work with education authorities and schools to formulate targeted campaigns to help make schools a safer and friendlier place for LGBT people.

Law enforcement personnel often lacks awareness about the discrimination LGBT people face and have insufficient knowledge of their vulnerability to hate crimes.
EU law and policy are seen as major drivers supporting national efforts to promote LGBT equality.

Reacting to the report, LGBTI Intergroup Vice Chair Fabio Massimo Castaldo MEP, said: “Why do some doctors still believe homosexuality is a disease? Why are schools too often still unsafe places for LGBTI people?”

“This report analyses very thoroughly the difficulties LGBT people may face when it comes to access to basic institutions in everyday life: education, healthcare and police. We need to work much harder to ensure that the rights to education, to healthcare and fair treatment is equally enjoyed by all.”

Sirpa Pietikäinen MEP, also Vice-Chair of the Intergroup on LGBTI Rights, added: “The results of this report are a good reminder that despite improvements in the legal situation, we are not there. Prejudice, discrimination and violence still hold back LGBTI people from accessing school, hospitals and the police.”

“I call on the EU and its Member States to take this report to the heart, and use it systematically to act on their duty to deliver high quality service to end discrimination and hate crime many LGBT people have faced.”

Read more
Read the report ‘Professionally speaking: challenges to achieving equality for LGBT people’

Read earlier posts on the Fundamental Rights Agency

International Study Finds Rectal Microbicide Gel Safe When Used Daily and With Sex

Participants as adherent to using gel with sex as taking a daily pill for HIV prevention

BOSTON, February 24, 2016 – A reduced glycerin formulation of tenofovir gel was found safe when used daily and around the time of sex, according to the first extended safety study of arectal microbicide for HIV prevention from anal sex. Presented today at the 23rd Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2016), the study, led by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Microbicide Trials Network (MTN), also indicated that participants were as likely to follow through using the gel with sex as they were to using daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) – a prevention strategy in which people who are HIV-uninfected take a daily pill to reduce their risk of infection.

The Phase II study, MTN-017, began in September 2013 and enrolled 195 men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women at sites in Peru, Thailand, South Africa and the United States, including Puerto Rico. MTN-017 participants –12 percent of whom were transgender women – cycled through three study regimens which each lasted eight weeks: reduced glycerin tenofovir gel used daily, reduced glycerin tenofovir gel used before and after anal sex, and daily use of the antiretroviral tablet Truvada® (emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate), developed by Gilead Sciences, Inc. This design allowed researchers to collect information about the gel’s safety and acceptability in the rectum, and compare it to the use of oral Truvada, which was approved for use as PrEP by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2012.

Most side effects from study products in MTN-017 were minor, indicating the gel was safe, and there were no significant differences in adverse events among the gel regimens compared to oral Truvada. Overall, participants were highly adherent in MTN-017, with most following through in using their assigned products 80 percent of the time or more. Participants were similarly adherent to using gel before and after sex (93 percent) as they were to taking daily oral Truvada (94 percent). They were less adherent, however, when using the gel on a daily basis (83 percent). Adherence in MTN-017 was measured by a combination of responses to daily questions sent by text message, number of returned gel applicators and blood tests to confirm the presence or absence of drug.

When asked about preferences, participants reported they preferred oral Truvada to the gel, but found the before and after sex gel regimen as easy to use as oral Truvada. When asked about the likelihood that they would use the study products in the future, participants said that they would be as likely to use the gel before and after sex as they would to take oral Truvada. Forthcoming analyses from MTN-017 will shed light on how much drug was absorbed in the blood, rectal fluid and tissue, and assess whether use of the products caused changes in cells or tissue.

“The results from MTN-017 demonstrate there is a place for rectal microbicides used around the time of sex in future HIV prevention efforts,” said Ross D. Cranston, M.D., associate professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, who led the study with Javier R. Lama, M.D., M.P.H., investigator and director, HIV Prevention

Intervention Studies, IMPACTA PERU Clinical Trials Unit, Lima, Peru. “While we have more to learn from ongoing analyses of tissue and blood testing, the completion of this study was a significant undertaking and represents a major step forward in the development of a rectal microbicide for people at risk of HIV from anal sex.”

MTN-017 was a larger follow-up trial to a previous study, MTN-007, that found the reduced glycerin formulation of tenofovir gel was safe and acceptable to both men and women who used it in the rectum daily for a one-week period. The gel used in both studies was formulated with less glycerin to address gastrointestinal side effects experienced by some study participants who used an original vaginal formulation of tenofovir gel in an early study called RMP-02/MTN-006.

“The MTN-017 findings come at a pivotal time in the field of rectal microbicides, setting the stage for future studies and complementing ongoing research into new products and delivery methods,” said Ian McGowan, M.D., Ph.D., principal investigator of the MTN and professor of medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. “Research is already underway at MTN to expand the pipeline of rectal microbicide products in order to find the right product to move forward into an effectiveness study.”

Globally, racial and ethnic minorities, MSM and transgender women are disproportionately affected by HIV. Although most microbicide research has focused on products for vaginal use, the risk of becoming infected with HIV from unprotected anal sex may be 20 times greater than unprotected vaginal sex, in part because the rectal lining is only one-cell thick compared to the vagina’s multiple layers.

In addition to Drs. Cranston, Lama and McGowan, co-authors include Alex Carballo-Dieguez, Ph.D., Columbia University; Cindy Jacobson, Pharm.D., MTN; Sherri Johnson, FHI 360; Ratiya Kunjara Na Ayudhya, BSMT, MTN; Mark Marzinke, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University; Jeanna Piper, M.D., Division of AIDS, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); and Barbra Richardson, Ph.D., University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

MTN-017 is funded by NIAID and the National Institute of Mental Health, both components of the NIH. Tenofovir gel was developed by Gilead Sciences, Inc., of Foster City, Calif., which assigned the rights for tenofovir gel to CONRAD, of Arlington, Va ., and the International Partnership for Microbicides of Silver Spring, Md., in December 2006. Clinical input and study supplies of reduced glycerin tenofovir gel were provided by CONRAD, with funding from USAID.

# # #

More information and materials about MTN-017 and rectal microbicides are available athttp://www.mtnstopshiv.org/news/studies/mtn017.

About the Microbicide Trials Network

The Microbicide Trials Network (MTN) is an HIV/AIDS clinical trials network established in 2006 by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases with co-funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute of Mental Health, all components of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Based at Magee-Womens Research Institute and the University of Pittsburgh, the MTN brings together international investigators and community and industry partners whose work is focused on the development and rigorous evaluation of promising microbicides – products applied inside the vagina or rectum that are intended to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV – from the earliest phases of clinical study to large-scale trials that support potential licensure of these products for widespread use. More information about the MTN is available at www.mtnstopshiv.org.

Click here for PDF version of this document.

IGLHRC Hails Landmark Law in Malta on Gender Identity, Expression and Protections for Intersex Children

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 2015

Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 

strimel@iglhrc.org,

+1-212-430-6018, @strimel

(New York)—

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) celebrates the unanimous passage of the “Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Act, 2015” by the Parliament of Malta today. The new law enshrines the right to gender identity recognition and introduces anti-discrimination measures, allowing Maltese citizens to self-determine their gender identity and legally change their first name and gender marker without requiring any medical diagnosis or treatment.

The law also mandates a right to “bodily autonomy and physical integrity”—among the first of its kind—which provides children, especially intersex children and infants, protection from any “sex assignment” or “surgical intervention on the sex characteristics” until the person to be treated can provide informed consent. Notable is the law’s inclusion of refugees, instituting a process for individuals to file their application for asylum with their self-determined gender and first name.

“Malta’s new law is really the cutting-edge of human-rights legislation in the fight to fully recognize the rights of trans, intersex and gender non-conforming individuals,” said Jessica Stern, executive director of IGLHRC. “Crucially, Malta’s new law protects intersex infants from unnecessary surgeries to ‘normalize’ their bodies. I congratulate members of the parliament and civil society for their years of hard work to develop and pass this landmark legislation.”

###

Download the full-text of the law: 

Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Act, 2015

Former EX-GAY Leaders Alliance (FELA) Welcomes President Obama's Call To End Reparative Therapy

This one almost passed by given the President's visit to Jamaica and our own fear-mongering on LGBT issues.

President Obama in Jamaica at a townhall meeting

We welcome President Obama’s statement and stand with him in opposition to reparative therapy for minors, and call on everyone, regardless of political affiliation, to stand with us and put an end, once and for all, to this practice. — 

UNITED STATES – We, as former leaders and founders of conversion/ex-gay therapy, stand with President Obama and call for an end to the scientifically discredited practice of “conversion therapy,” also known as reparative therapy, ex-gay treatments and sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE). 

As we stated in our open letter (July, 2014), we represent more than 50 years of experience and can attest to the emotional and spiritual damage caused to men, women, children and their families. Now with more than 40 years of research, nearly every major medical, mental and social health organization affirms that conversion therapy does not work. It has, in fact, proven to be potentially harmful.

Unfortunately, the issues of sexuality and gender are used as divisive weapons between political parties, making the human lives of LGBT people fodder for debate and leverage for control and power. In the crosshairs, lie young victims whose potential straddles perceived religious freedoms and real life dilemmas. We can do better than this. 

Banning reparative therapy for minors from licensed clinical mental health professionals assures young people can find solace and solidarity in the scientific community, while holding mental health workers accountable. It does not limit them, or their parents, from seeking spiritual advice from clergy. 

It does however, send a clear message that the practice of sexual orientation change efforts does not work, and should alert and alarm guardians of its potentially dangerous, or even deadly, effects. As one would never send a patient to a doctor to perform unethical, unnecessary, and outdated medicine, it is time to hold mental health practitioners to similar standards. 

We welcome President Obama’s statement and stand with him in opposition to reparative therapy for minors, and call on everyone, regardless of political affiliation, to stand with us and put an end, once and for all, to this practice. 

Brad Allen 

Lay Leader Volunteer (2005-2007) 

Church Network Coordinator (2007) Exodus International 

Darlene Bogle 

Founder, Director, 

Counselor Paraklete Ministries (1985 to 1992) 

Michael Bussee 

EXIT (1974-1979) 

Co-founder Exodus International (1976-1979) 

Catherine Chapman 

Project Coordinator (2000-2003) Women’s Ministry Director (2005-2007) Portland Fellowship

Jeremy Marks 

Founder Courage UK (1988 – 2000) Exodus Europe (1988 – 1999) 

John Paulk 

Love in Action Leadership Team (1989-1993) Public Relations Director, Portland Fellowship (1996-98) Founder-Director, Love Won Out (1998-2003) Exodus International Board of Directors (1998-2003) 

Bill Prickett 

Founder, Executive Director Coming Back (1986-1988) 

Tim Rymel 

Outreach Director Love in Action (1991-1996) 

Yvette Cantu Schneider Executive Director (2001-2005) Living in Victory Ministry Director of Women’s Ministry, Exodus International (2008-2011) Policy analyst, Family Research Council (1998-2011) 

John J. Smid 

Executive Director, Love In Action (1987-2008) Exodus International Board of Directors (1990-1995; 2002-2008) 

Randy Thomas 

Executive Director, Living Hope Ministries (1999 to 2002) Staff member, Executive Vice President, Exodus International (2002-2013) 

Michael D. Watt 

Drop-in Support Group Coordinator, Love in Action (2005-2006) Love in Action Board Member (2006-2008) 

Kevin White 

Manager of Exodus Books Exodus International (2006-2008) - 

See more HERE 

and Obama Hails Jamaican Lesbian Advocate's Work

Deejays seek Obama's help for visa ..... there are consequences for actions & words

Obama calls for stop to gay 'conversion' therapies

Peace and tolerance

H

JASL Receives US$99,738 grant from the Embassy of Japan for HIV Prevention

also see: Health Minister Says Boldness Needed to Change Buggery Laws for HIV Prevention Work to be Effective with at Risk Groups 

Persons living with HIV are set to benefit from improved facilities for treatment, care and support, at the Jamaica AIDS Support for Life (JASL), through a US$99,738 grant from the Embassy of Japan, under its 'Grassroots Human Security Project'. The funds will facilitate an expansion in medical services and increased counselling support for persons living with HIV.

"The value of being able to increase the number of clients who receive treatment and counselling here, based on the renovations and expansion, cannot be captured in monetary terms. That more persons living with HIV will have accessible, available and affordable services, in a friendly and comfortable environment, is priceless," stated Minister of Health Dr Fenton Ferguson in his address at the contract signing and handover ceremony held at JASL on Friday.

The Kiwanis Club of Constant Spring, which will provide contribution, in terms of volunteer labour, was lauded by the minister for the selflessness of its members and continued commitment and support to JASL for the past seven years.

improvement

In expressing his thanks to Japanese ambassador, His Excellency Yasuo Takase, Dr Ferguson said, "we trust that you will be heartened by the significant improvement you will see in our health services due to your kind contribution."

"the strengthening of the multi-sectoral response will be the key to how readily we will be able to advance towards the very ambitious but inspiring UNAIDS targets of zero discrimination, zero transmission and zero AIDS related death."

This event came within 24 hours of the Japanese Embassy providing funding for six ambulances worth US$73,350 to the St John National Council.

Dr Ferguson also thanked the government of Japan for its continued support of the health sector in Jamaica.

Press release from JASL read as follows:

PRESS RELEASE
The Jamaica AIDS Support for Life receives JMD $11,000,000 to expand clinic from the Embassy of Japan in Jamaica The National Health Sector stands to benefit from the $11 Million grant received by JASL to expand its clinic. Jamaica AIDS Support for Life is the only non Government treatment site in the island and since its relocation to its new home, the organisation has seen a 419 % increase in clinic attendance without an expansion of the clinic space.. In light of this JASL was able to secure a grant to assist with the cost for the much needed expansion, with the kind assistance of The Kiwanis Club of Constant Spring.
The Embassy of Japan in Jamaica through its Grassroots and Human Security Grant Project has donated $11,000,000 to assist with the renovation and expansion of the clinic space. The Ambassador of Japan in Jamaica, His Excellency Yasuo Takase, said he would like to leave a legacy in Jamaica and JASL’s clinic expansion is one of his final projects before his diplomatic tour of duty ends.
The clinic which serves members of key populations (persons living with HIV, men who have sex with men and sex workers) will be expanded to include: counselling/ VCT (testing) room; a pharmacy dispensary to provide anti-retroviral and drugs for opportunistic infections; phlebotomist station; and an extending waiting area.
Through this expansion, JASL has estimated that the clinic will be able to serve almost 1,000 additional persons.

The Grant details were as follows:

A) Grassroots Human Security Project

Grassroots Human Security Project provides non-refundable financial assistance for development projects designed to meet the diverse needs in Jamaica. The project does not offer direct government-to-government grant assistance. However this project aims to provide flexible and timely support to development projects at the grassroots levels such as NGOs, hospitals, schools, local authorities and other non-profit organizations. The following are priority areas for the project:

Poverty Reduction

Primary Health

Education

Environment

Natural disaster response

Other global issues within the local context

Since 1995 Japan has provided a total of US$ 5 million to 80 local projects through the project. To see more details on the project, please click here for the guideline.