HIV cured ‘Berlin patient’ features at Icasa

08 Nov, 2015 - 00:11 0 Views
HIV cured ‘Berlin patient’ features at Icasa Dr David Parirenyatwa

The Sunday Mail

From November 29 to December 4, 2015; Zimbabwe hosts the 18th edition of the International Conference on Aids and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa.
This conference brings together researchers from around the globe and is one of the biggest events on the HIV prevention and treatment calendar. Among the speakers at the conference will be Timothy Ray Brown, the “Berlin patient”, the only person known to have been cured of HIV globally.
Last week, our Health Reporter Shamiso Yikoniko spoke to Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa about Icasa.
We publish Dr Parirenyatwa in his own words.
*******

The International Conference on Aids and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa is a major international Aids conference, which takes place in Africa. Its current biennial hosting alternates between Anglophone and Francophone African countries. Icasa 2015 is running under the theme “Aids in Post 2015 Era: Linking Leadership, Science and Human Rights”.
There will be presentations from policy-makers and global leadership, scientists and researchers, people living with HIV (PLHIV), as well as donors and implementers on all HIV interventions that have been done in the HIV response since the last Icasa was held in Cape Town in 2013.
It also focuses on what has worked in responding to HIV from the different African countries and what can be replicated elsewhere.
The event was supposed to be hosted in Tunisia but had to be moved due to security concerns in that country. Zimbabwe made a solid bid which highlighted its successes in responding to HIV. We are one of the first countries that recorded a decline in HIV prevalence and incidence.
We had the infrastructure required to host the conference and a best practice in the form of a National Aids Trust Fund that a number of African countries are now trying to emulate.
A high level selection team came to Zimbabwe to assess and met different stakeholders to understand how we were proposing to host the event. Zimbabwe has a long history in the response to HIV/Aids.
As one of the countries severely affected by the pandemic, we have recorded some internationally-acclaimed milestones, particularly the reduction of both HIV incidence and prevalence and scaling up access to treatment under difficult conditions as well as our leadership role as a pathfinder in domestic financing for HIV through our Aids Levy, which has now been recorded and shared as an international best practice.
We are confident that Icasa delegates will benefit from our efforts and challenges, and those of the entire Africa region as we move towards ending Aids by 2030.
We are expecting more than 4 000 international delegates from all African countries and from the rest of the world.
In addition, we will also have representatives from the different UN Agencies, funding partners such as the Global Fund and PEPFAR represented at the highest level.
One of the notable speakers at the conference will be Timothy Ray Brown, commonly referred to as the “Berlin patient”, who is the only person known to have been cured of HIV globally.
Zimbabwe is going to benefit in all fronts. Our scientists will have an opportunity to share with other like-minded experts on their research and strides they have made. All sectors of business will benefit from the influx of visitors we are going to host through increased business opportunities.
We are also hoping that the delegates will be repeat visitors after seeing how beautiful our country is and experiencing our hospitality. This is a purely scientific conference where politics has a little role to play.
HIV and Aids knows no boundaries and the focus of this conference is to share and discuss our common problems around HIV and how best to respond to it as a continent.
We are 95 percent ready.
Preparations are on course, speakers have confirmed, VVIPS are confirming, registration has accelerated significantly and the venue is being spruced up to meet the required standards.
We are finalising renovations at Harare International Conference Centre and all will be ready by opening day and following up on the few speakers who were still seeking their government approvals to travel.
However, we are facing challenges of people waiting till the last day to register and this is now causing congestion on the system. This is an international conference and all registration has to be completed in advance to minimise time spent in queues.
Zimbabwe, specifically, is not on the agenda as this is an international conference to share experiences from different countries and not one country.
However, we have a number of Zimbabweans who will be presenting.
The Aids Levy remains a best practice, which the country is proud of.
We are sharing and a number of countries are coming to learn.
However, the levy alone will not be enough to cover the country’s requirements to respond adequately to HIV, hence the need to continue our partnerships with different funding partners.
The response of HIV/Aids has been closely linked with efforts to end co-morbidities such as TB and cancer as well as other sexually transmitted infections which will be addressed at the upcoming Icasa.
The programme has dedicated sessions on these issues.

More about Mr Timothy Ray Brown

Timothy Ray Brown

Timothy Ray Brown

Mr Timothy Ray Brown, affectionately known as the “Berlin patient”, is the first person ever to be cured of HIV.
He was diagnosed with the virus in 1995.
After using antiretroviral drugs to stave off HIV for more than a decade, he received another diagnosis — acute myeloid leukemia.
Mr Brown’s doctors decided to use radiation and chemotherapy to wipe out his immune system and then rebuild it with donated stem cells.
But they added a game-changing twist to this standard treatment — they deliberately picked a donor who was immune to HIV.
About one percent of Caucasians carry a gene mutation that triggers this immunity.
In scientific terms, this means their cells do not have CCR5, a protein that opens the door for HIV to enter blood cells. For Mr Brown, it meant a new chance at life.
He received two stem cell transplants that knocked out his cancer and transferred the genetic variation to his immune system.
He was cured of HIV in 2007 after living with the infection for 12 years. — fredhutch.org

Share This:

Survey


We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds