HIV AIDS Home Care Association

03/07/2024

Shout out to my newest followers! Excited to have you onboard!

Ongezwa Banjwa, Nompumelelo Gloria Mapisa, MP TR Mrt

14/12/2023

Whether you’re newly diagnosed with or have had HIV for some time, it may be hard to take your HIV medicine consistently. Here are some helpful tips:

- Follow your treatment plan exactly as your health care provider has prescribed.
- Keep a daily log or use a calendar to keep track of the days you have taken your HIV medicine.
- Set up alarms or download a reminder app.
- Continue to see your health-care providers.

03/07/2023

June 27th is National HIV Testing Day (NHTD), an annual observance that encourages HIV testing and emphasizes its importance in the effort to end the HIV epidemic.

This year’s theme—Take the Test and Take the Next Step—highlights that knowing your HIV status helps you choose options to stay healthy. “This year’s theme is a great reminder that however you test, and whatever your HIV test result, taking the test is just the first step in your HIV care or prevention journey,”

“Take the Test & Take the Next Step” emphasizes that knowing your HIV status helps you choose options to stay healthy. HIV testing, including self-testing, is the pathway to engaging people in care so that they can stay healthy, regardless of their status. Watch our latest FYI video with key leaders to hear them discuss the importance of NHTD and this year’s theme. Using this theme, partners can add a tagline to customize as they like. For example:

Take the Test & Take the Next Step: No matter how you test, no matter your test results, take the next step.
Take the Test & Take the Next Step: Check your status and know. Take the steps to be good to go.
Take the Test & Take the Next Step: Testing – Testing- Testing is the beginning of cure, and longevity healthy living with HIV…..

12/03/2023

03/03/2023

A friend with HIV, is still a friend 🫶
Your partner who is HIV positive,is still your partner ❤️
Your parent,relative,colleague,child or neighbor living with HIV,is still someone close to you🌻
The H in HIV stands for HUMAN, let’s see the HUMAN not the Virus 🫶

03/03/2023

Good nutrition is important for everyone, especially people who have HIV

Eating well and keeping a good diet is essential to maintain strength, energy, and a healthy immune system. 🥗Why Is a Good Diet Important for People with HIV?
Good nutrition is important to all people—whether or not they are living with HIV. But some conditions related to treating HIV or AIDS (including wasting, diarrhea, and lipid abnormalities) mean that proper nutrition is really important to people with HIV. Eating well is key to maintaining strength, energy, and a healthy immune system. In addition, because HIV can lead to immune suppression, food safety and proper hygiene are concerns when it comes to preventing infections.

For more information, see the Department of Veterans Affairs’ HIV/AIDS: Diet and Nutrition

A healthy diet is essential to maintaining good health across your lifespan. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines a healthy diet as one that: provides enough of each essential nutrient; contains a variety of foods from all of the basic food groups; provides adequate energy to maintain a healthy weight; and does not contain excess fat, sugar, salt, or alcohol. There are six essential nutrients:

Protein builds muscles and a strong immune system.
Carbohydrates (including starches and sugars) give you energy.
Fat gives you extra energy.
Vitamins regulate body processes.
Minerals regulate body processes and also make up body tissues.
Water gives cells shape and acts as a medium in which body processes can occur.
For more information about healthy eating, see FDA’s Smart Nutrition 101: FAQs.

Before you make major changes in your diet, however, contact your primary care provider, or a registered dietician who specializes in HIV care, to get a better assessment of your nutritional needs.

What Do You Need to Know About Food Safety?
Because HIV affects your immune system, you may be at greater risk for food-borne illness. So in addition to eating well, you need to eat safely. By following a few basic safety rules when you prepare and eat your meals, you can protect yourself from food-related illness:

Avoid eating raw eggs, meats, or seafood (including sushi and oysters/shellfish).
Wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly.
Use a separate cutting board for raw meats.
Wash hands, utensils, and cutting boards with soap and water after each use.
Water safety is extremely important, as water can carry a variety of parasites, bacteria, and viruses. To protect yourself against these infections, here are some helpful hints:
Do not drink water from lakes, ponds, rivers, or streams.
You may choose to use a store-bought water filter at home for your drinking water.
You can significantly reduce your risk of water-borne illness by using only boiled water for drinking and cooking.
When traveling abroad in areas where sanitation is poor or water safety is questionable, drink only bottled water and avoid ice or unpasteurized juices and drinks.

11/02/2023

People living with HIV need treatment to live longer, healthier. Everyone must have access to this.

Sabi Kere, 20, was born with HIV in . Thanks to the treatment, she is healthy and the virus did not infect her baby.

09/01/2023

Thanks for being a top engager and making it onto my weekly engagement list! 🎉 Sivethina Lipho Gaji, Ayanda Maxesibe Nonzaba Mdlungu, Asizowancama Amadoda

07/01/2023

Mifepristone, one of the two drugs used for medication abortion, may soon be available at some retail pharmacies Mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone, which is needed for a pregnancy to continue. The drug is approved to end a pregnancy through 10 weeks’ gestation, which is “70 days or less since the first day of the last menstrual period,” according to the FDA. In a medication abortion, a second drug, misoprostol, is taken within the next 24 to 48 hours. Misoprostol causes the uterus to contract, creating cramping and bleeding. Approved for use in other conditions, such as preventing stomach ulcers, the drug has been available at pharmacies for decades.

07/01/2023

FDA approves new HIV drug for adults with limited treatment options.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Sunlenca (lenacapavir), a new type of antiretroviral medication for adult patients living with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), whose HIV infections cannot be successfully treated with other available treatments due to resistance, intolerance, or safety considerations.After the starting dose is completed, Sunlenca is administered as subcutaneous (under the skin) injections once every six months, allowing convenient dosing for patients.

Sunlenca is the first of a new class of drugs called capsid inhibitors to be FDA-approved for treating HIV-1.

Sunlenca works by blocking the HIV-1 virus’ protein shell (the capsid), thereby interfering with multiple essential steps of the viral lifecycle.

Sunlenca’s starting dose is given as oral tablets and subcutaneous injections, followed by maintenance injections every six months; Sunlenca is given in combination with other antiretroviral(s).

The safety and efficacy of Sunlenca were established through a multicenter clinical trial with 72 patients whose HIV infections were resistant to multiple classes of HIV medications.

These patients had to have high levels of virus in their blood despite being on antiretroviral drugs. Patients were enrolled into one of two study groups. One group was randomized to receive either Sunlenca or placebo in a double-blind fashion, and the other group received open-label Sunlenca.

The primary measure of efficacy was the proportion of patients in the randomized study group who achieved a certain level of reduction in virus during the initial 14 days compared to baseline.

In this group, 87.5% of patients who received Sunlenca achieved such a decrease in virus compared to 16.7% of patients who received a placebo.

06/01/2023

A Long-Acting Injectable Option

“Some people living with HIV in certain populations, such as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, those living in rural or remote settings, and individuals with complex living or social circumstances, had issues adhering to a daily oral regimen and would potentially have improved quality of life from a long-acting injectable option,” the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) said while recommending that Cabenuva be listed on the PBS.

06/01/2023

It’s what many people with H.I.V. have long awaited: monthly injections to keep the virus in check, instead of the three drugs daily they now must take.
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved a combination of two monthly shots for treatment of H.I.V. in patients in stable condition. The treatment is called Cabenuva.
One of the two shots also has been shown to be as effective at preventing H.I.V. infection as a pill taken daily, a treatment strategy called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. But the approval on Thursday covers only Cabenuva’s use as a treatment.
Many people struggle to take the pills they need every day, for a variety of reasons. The consequences for people with H.I.V. can be significant, because missed pills give the virus opportunities to become resistant to the medications.
And then there is the stigma of daily pill use, which is both societal and psychological, said Dr. Tom Giordano, chief of infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who was not involved in the trials.
Nine in 10 people in a trial of Cabenuva said they preferred the monthly injections to taking a pill every day. “You get your shot and forget about it till the next month,” Dr. Giordano said. “That’s great, and will help people who don’t want the reminder of stigma or taking pills every day.”

06/01/2023

On November 28, 2016, I received a phone call that would alter my life forever. I had recently consented to an HIV test and also to have the chromosomes of my unborn child checked. I was almost five months pregnant. In my heart, I instinctively knew my child was fine. However, I didn’t feel the same with regard to my own fate.

01/01/2023

What does a positive HIV result mean?
If you use any type of antibody test and have a positive result, you will need a follow-up test to confirm your results.

If you test in a community program or take an HIV self-test and it’s positive, you should go to a health care provider for follow-up testing.
If you test in a health care setting or a lab and it’s positive, the lab will conduct the follow-up testing, usually on the same blood sample as the first test.
If the follow-up test is also positive, it means you have HIV.

31/12/2022

For people with HIV, its especially important to be prepared. Stay Safe, and learn more about emergency preparedness treatment programs at your clinics...