HIV Endgame Conference

-+*Keeping clients engaged in care Julia Hidalgo, of George Washington University, outlined lessons learned from the HIV Care Collaborative, and best practices to keep patients in care. She included a case study of a patient who dropped out of care and couldn’t be located, because every member of her care team – including her family […]

-+*Healthy relationships for men who have sex with men Starting a dialogue on chemsex As part of a panel on mental health and addictions, David Stuart, of Dean Street Health, spoke about strategies to start conversations about chemsex with men who have sex with men. Stuart explained that, while the model of drug addiction we’re

-+*Calling for more interventions that address intersectional stigma Carmen Logie, of the University of Toronto, reviewed the impact that different types of stigma have had on communities affected by HIV. Explaining that stigma and discrimination can be found in community norms, religions, institutional practices, and policies, Logie argued that, while research teams have done a

-+*Addressing intimate partner violence at HIV clinics Reed Siemieniuk, of McMaster University, described research done at the Southern Alberta HIV Clinic investigating links between intimate partner violence (IPV) and HIV, depicted in the flowchart below. Click here for an alternate text description of the flowchart above. Siemieniuk explained that domestic violence can include sexual, emotional,

-+*Resilience after colonization Speaking on a panel about resilience, Janet Smylie, of St. Michael’s Hospital, explained that, while resilience models are a step forward from problem and illness-based approaches, “If the adverse situation is oppression, maybe it’s not so good to be adaptive. Maybe we should try to change the adverse situation.” This sentiment was

-+*“Syndemics” and “intersectionality” “Syndemics” is a word that describes multiple and overlapping epidemics – such as HIV and hepatitis C. Although the OHTN loosely extended the term “syndemics” to include social and cultural factors in HIV Endgame: Stopping the Syndemics that Drive HIV, several presenters felt that the term “intersectionality” may have been more appropriate.

-+*Strategies for cognitive impairment: Non-pharmacological behavioural interventions Behavioural and other non-pharmacological therapies have a potential role in managing HIV associated cognitive impairment, as Dr. Jose Muñoz-Moreno, of Spain’s Lluita contra la SIDA Foundation, outlined in this presentation. Psychotherapeutic approaches Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the best studied psychotherapeutic intervention, although many forms of counselling and psychoeducation exist. All aim

-+*HAND diagnostic issues Dr. Robbins of Columbia University shared his perspective on HIV associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND) diagnostic issues as a clinical psychologist and clinical neuropsychologist, and discussed research on HAND screening tools. Typically, providers see patients with concerns about memory problems, slower thinking, or difficulty multi-tasking. In the current era these symptoms are often

-+*Ten years ago, few people over 50 were being treated for HIV; today they make up one third of the HIV- positive population. Dr. Alan Winston, with the Department of Medicine at Imperial College of London, noted that this is due both to more effective therapy and to more people being infected after age 50. Dr.