It was great to be at the Canadian Association for HIV Research conference in Saskatoon earlier this month. Lots of interesting stuff unrolled at CAHR, but one plenary session in particular lit me up. It looked backwards at the origins of HIV and forwards at what we can do to bring an end to AIDS. 

Friday morning was bright and sunny in Saskatoon, but a dark hotel room housed a crowd to hear Doctors Mike Worobey and Mark Tyndall. Worobey’s work is dedicated to exploring the origins of HIV, a puzzle that hasn’t been solved, nor its findings fully agreed upon. Understanding how HIV has evolved could lead to new developments- perhaps a vaccine (although Worobey admitted he isn’t hopeful for that, given HIV’s mutation rate), or at least microbicide options. Tyndall cast his eyes forward, stressing the power we do and don’t have to limit the spread of HIV.

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Today’s a BIG day for the PWN Health Promotion department.  It has been two years since we decided to take the plunge into the world of social networking, and this, my friends, is our 100th Blog Post!  To mark the occasion, we’ve pulled up a list of “greatest hits” for your enjoyment, and for those readers who, like me, forget what they’ve read until they run into it again …

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We all have three very basic needs which must be met for us to survive; these are clean water, nutritious food and safe shelter. These are of course the most basic of needs and they are for the survival of our bodies. What about the survival of our minds? How about the survival of our spirits? What about going beyond surviving and actually thriving? Then what’s needed? Only you can answer that last question for yourself. I know what I need to thrive. Actually, I’m learning what I need to thrive because I really don’t have all the answers.

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Understanding the complexities of HIV transmission is an ongoing study. Why, for example, does a group of female sex workers who have unprotected sex on a regular basis avoid infection? There’s something about their immunity that offers them protection, but what is it? This is just one line of research on the risk factors and scenarios that lead to transmission. The more understanding we have, the more potential to improve on existing prevention tools and develop more options. A new finding can add another piece to the puzzle.

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