To all our members, volunteers, supporters, and colleagues,

Happy Holidays!

From the Staff at Positive Women’s Network 

Miriam mentioned the Cancel the Cuts campaign in her blog last week about North American activism, but I am bringing it up again to bring the message home to Vancouver. I’m even posting a day ahead of schedule so you might change your schedule for tomorrow and make the rally at the north plaza of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Why all the fuss? Well, as the campaign implies, it’s about cuts to community organizations serving people with HIV in the Lower Mainland, specifically within the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCH). Community organizations have been presented with the news that they have to make some staggering cuts to their budgets, immediately and in the next fiscal year. It’s not only going to have an impact on people living with HIV, but also on many other communities.

(more…)

In the AIDS Service field, we do a lot of reminiscing about the good ol’ days and lamenting that activism isn’t the same as it used to be. Of course, I can’t personally remember ACT-UP and the early days of AIDS activism, because I was preoccupied with elementary school.  But I’ve wholeheartedly adopted this movement and I do believe in solidarity. While I can’t necessarily reminisce, I think I can relate to my colleagues’ sentiments.  By now, President Obama lifting the travel ban is sinking in for many.  This post by Bonnie Goldman at The Body, got me thinking.  She finishes by lamenting that “if there was more AIDS activism, we could’ve gotten this law changed long ago”.  What can activism change?

(more…)

After a day of listening to updates on HIV related disease and treatments, the word I kept writing down was inflammation. It’s not a word that applies only to the physical aspects of HIV, but the social aspects too. On a torrential Monday in November, I attended the BC Centre For Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BCCfE)’s treatment update, and this one featured speakers representing the International AIDS Society. It was a real gift to hear these folks from around the globe and note similarities and differences in the work we all do to support people living with HIV.

HIV disease is one of inflammation. Once it enters the bloodstream HIV attacks the gut, decimating protective CD4 cells and degrading the gut’s protective mucosa. The immune system fires up in response. A revved up CD4 response means more targets for HIV to attack, and the image of a body on fire wouldn’t be out of line. Specific topical inflammations can increase the risk of HIV transmission. Thankfully, HIV treatments act on HIV at different stages in its replication process, keeping HIV virus under control and allowing the immune system to rebuild. This attack/rebuild dance can continue for years and people can enjoy health they mightn’t have imagined before 1996, when HAART became the norm. 

If only it were that way for the social inflammation created by the mere idea of HIV. Not that I needed reminding, but Monday’s presenters pointed out that stigma, discrimination, racism, heterosexism and denial of any problem are ongoing hallmarks of HIV in countries the world over. On top of the issues noted above, women and girls bear the realities that sexism, intimate partner violence, unequal economic opportunities, childbearing and child rearing bring. HIV makes the burden even heavier. I thought of the late Jonathan Mann when Dr. Chris Beyrer echoed something Dr. Mann said in the early 90’s: for women in some cultures, marriage is a significant risk factor for HIV infection.

Moral judgments on harm reduction strategies as a means to reduce infection are of no use to anyone. “Now is not the time to limit use of any intervention with proven efficacy.” Beyrer was speaking of the infection rates in Russia, where rates in the IDU population is close to 50%, but I also thought about the struggle of Insite’s harm reduction work here at home.

HIV inflames the body and the cultures in which exists. It reveals biases that may have otherwise gone unremarked or more easily ignored. But now highlighted, we must continue to fight the virus and the ugliness it can create. What an energizing forum it was – a conference full of fighters from all over the world.

- Janet

This blog represents the ideas of individual writers, and does not necessarily reflect any formal stance taken by Positive Women’s Network.

If you’re visiting our blog and website for the first time, welcome!  Perhaps you ran into us distributing condoms and information cards on the street, or maybe you picked one up from a display basket at a local business.  I’ve spent the last couple months learning everything there is to know about condoms.  Here are some of the gems, Trivia-style:

1) Besides the obvious, how do soldiers, engineers, filmmakers and paramedics use condoms?

2) Before Charles Goodyear invented vulcanized rubber in 1839, what were condoms made of?

3) An ancient version of a female condom appears in the legend of Minos, dating back to 150 AD.  When did the first known real-world condoms appear?

4) What is the earliest known example of “condom testing” and who performed it?

5) What does Gabriele Falloppio (the doctor who fallopian tubes were named after) have in common with King Louis XV and Giacomo Casanova?

6) In 1880, if somebody asked for “a little something for the weekend”, what did they want?

(more…)

I was really excited my son was sick this week. Wait, that doesn’t sound the way it should. The whole sentence should read, “I was really excited my son was sick this week, as I got to hear an interview on a radio show that I can’t normally listen to until later in the day (work and all). If I’d turned it on at my usual time as I was leaving work, I would have missed it.” That’s better. So what’s got me so excited? Research looking at seniors and HIV.

Researcher Katie Mairs presented findings on Wednesday at the Ontario HIV Treatment Network conference in Toronto. I wasn’t in Toronto, but later that day heard her co-researcher Sandra Bullock on CBC’s On the Coast talk about their findings. It seems that snowbirds going down south to escape Canadian winters may come into contact with more than a heckuva lot of sunshine. Almost three hundred seniors were surveyed, and 80% said they were sexually active and dating (8% of them while married) down South. Yet they weren’t using condoms on a regular basis at all. The research found that those who don’t think they’re at risk for pregnancy don’t think a condom is necessary. True enough if you’re thinking solely of reproduction. But for STI prevention, a condom is a fantastic tool.

This research is asking questions of a population that can be sorely underrepresented in sexual activity/ sexual health findings. Being post-menopausal doesn’t make women less likely to get STIs (in fact, it can increase the risk), and HIV prevention information is important in this age group. According to Mairs, HIV prevalence among US residents over 50 is highest in Florida. With a “holiday” attitude that is easy come easy go, sexual choices could put people at risk. It reinforced the importance of the work we’re doing with our You Should Know campaign, which is aimed at women over 40.  It’s great that this research might open more avenues for discussion, make way for education, support doctors and patients to talk. STI prevention is important, no matter what the age of sexual adventurers.

Janet

This blog represents the ideas of individual writers, and does not necessarily reflect any formal stance taken by Positive Women’s Network.

I’m secretly excited about the prospect of H1N1 becoming known as Hini (pronounced “heenee”).  I’ve heard it a couple times now and hope that it catches on.  I normally take flu season in stride, but like most people, I’m following the situation a bit more closely this year.  It’s a relief to find small ways to laugh and joke about it, like the Hini title and last spring’s Zombie Flu spoof.  Once you’ve had a chance to chuckle, check out these slightly more serious guidelines for people living with HIV/AIDS, released by the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.  They clearly outline how to identify, prevent and treat H1N1.

(more…)

I’ve worked at PWN for 16 years now, and it’s been an incredible privilege to do so. I’ve seen the treatments options for HIV develop, change lives and make new generations possible. Most importantly, I’ve been witness to many women’s stories. I have been the lucky ears to hold the details of diagnosis, disclosure, and adjusting to life with HIV. I’ve heard fears and uncertainty. I’ve heard about challenges met and managed, discovered love, babies. My latest project, You Should Know,  is partly based on the gift of these many stories.

(more…)

Not only is tomorrow Halloween, but it is also a Saturday.  Lots of folks (including me) will be heading out into the night to celebrate after the little ones finish their trick-or-treating.  Halloween is one of my favourite excuses for a party and a party is an excuse to step away from the busyness of work and life, to let your hair down, do some things you might not normally do, and generally have a good time.  While chocolate-makers use Valentine’s Day to peddle their wares, we in the Health Promotion department are claiming this holiday to push our products – safer sex and safer drug use.

(more…)

I’ve always found the phrase “sleeping like a baby” such a farce. When my kids were babies, they slept as little and as lightly as they could. Talking to adults, we often joke about how much we would sleep if possible- a nap in the afternoon, no pressures to get us out of bed in the morning. Sleep is a precious escape, a restorative process that allows one to go to bed tired and wake up ready to face another day. The challenge is that’s not always how it goes.

HIV diagnosis is reason enough to cause sleeplessness. Dealing with a new identity, a new set of health considerations, disclosure, treatment considerations and all the rest is enough to keep anyone awake. Once you get into a worrying pattern of sleeplessness it’s hard to get out. Mental and physical symptoms can ensue. Depression can lead to insomnia and vice versa, creating a vicious circle that’s hard to escape.  Anxiety, depression’s hyper cousin, is also a player in insomnia, creating havoc as you try to calm down to get to sleep or stay asleep.

(more…)