Story Ideas for Journalists from Rome (IAS 2011)
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This is part four of Bob Meyers' series on the IAS 2011 conference in Rome. Links to the full series are below:
- Story Ideas for Journalists from the Rome 2011 IAS Conference
- What the HIV Experience Can Teach the NCD Community
- Lowering the Cost of AIDS Drugs While Searching for a Cure
- Three Exciting AIDS Trials
ROME – A wealth of potential story ideas came out of the Rome AIDS conference. This is a list I discussed with people attending a media briefing organized by the IAS prior to the conference. What are the ideas you’d like to share? Fill in the comment box at the end of this post.
The BIG story coming out of the Rome AIDS conference were the results from three separate trials seeking to determine of available drugs used for the treatment of HIV could be used for the prevention of transmission.
- These studies took place in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, Botswana, Brazil, Uganda, Thailand, India and the U.S. There ought to be at least one story in every country. Here are some links to the studies and their authors:
- U. Washington PrEP studies as potential game changers: http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/PrEPHeterosexuals.html and http://depts.washington.edu/uwicrc/research/studies/files/PrEP_PressRelease-UW_13Jul2011.pdf
- This link from the HIV Prevention Trials Network will give you an overview of the study.
- CDC TDF2: Basic facts about the project can be found here.
- An editorial in the Lancet on ARV treatment as prevention
These three trials conclude that a “functional cure” for HIV is possible – a reduction of viral load through ARV treatment so that infection is not conveyed; or, alternatively, that drugs used for ARV prevent an uninfected person from becoming infected.
I refer anyone who is interested to my post on these three trials.
The IAS is now strategizing a campaign that really is different – it seeks to find an actual cure. Right now the campaign is in its strategic development phase, which means it will produce stories for many years to come. Campaign for a cure.
At the media training session in Rome, I talked about a lot of good ideas for stories that our Journalist to Journalist project had seen over the year. I’ve put some of the newer and more exciting ones near the top of this list, but I think they are all worthwhile.
mHealth
- This is the concept of using mobile phone technology to advance health. I think it’s a story that has not been covered very much. Here are two good resources. You’ll certainly find more:
- www.mheathalliance.org. Based at the UN Foundation, the website has helpful information.
- www.who.org. search for “mHealth”
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21371214
The HIV co-infections
- One of the trends in the global public health community is a new focus on other diseases that are influenced by, or influence, people with HIV. So there are plenty of stories here:
- Tuberculosis
- A great source of information about tuberculosis and lung disease is available through the website of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.
- A new epidemiological model shows it is possible to sharply reduce AIDS deaths worldwide by preventing and treating tuberculosis (TB). At present one in four AIDS-related deaths is precipitated by TB; the vast majority of these could be averted, since TB is curable.http://www.stoptb.org/assets/documents/resources/publications/acsm/TB_HIV_Brochure_Singles.pdf.
- Malaria. Many sources of information. I like the WHO site.
- Viral hepatitis.
Mental health
- This is a subject that always comes up. The subject of stigma is always brought up regarding attitudes towards people who are HIV+. But increasingly I think we will be looking at the question of how HIV+ people think of themselves, among many other topics.
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21338500
Cure – Campaign for an AIDS cure
- As opposed to the promotion of “treatment as prevention” that the just-released studies showed, the International AIDS Society is developing an entire campaign around the idea of an actual cure for AIDS
Male circumcision
- This was a very hot topic a few years ago, and there have been many follow-up studies since.
- How is it working?
HIV Epidemic decline in Zimbabwe – why?
Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs)
- This is going to be one of those subjects that comes out of the blue, but when it does will be very powerful. Non-communicable diseases include diabetes, heart, cancer and lung diseases. They often don’t get too much attention, and to some degree have been overshadowed by the attention in the last few decades by the emphasis on slowing down or stopping the AIDS epidemic. Check out the website for the www.ncdalliance.org, where you will find a great deal of information. To take just one example, an estimated 25% of people with HIV die after contracting TB. So if you want to slow down the rate of deaths from HIV, slow down tuberculosis. This is going to be a hot topic for journalists.
There are a number of stories and story ideas that don’t fit into any particular category, but you hear them spoken of often enough that I thought I would mention them here:
Costs:
- How much will it cost to sustain every person with HIV on medicines for the rest of their lives?
- How much will it cost to give ARVs to uninfected people to prevent infection?
Task shifting in hot spots with few physicians
Mothers and children as portal to HIV study
Explore PPPs (private public partnerships)
Check the trends of drug development, research etc.
- Look for the implications:
- More treatment -> less mortality -> more PLWA -> more stigma? (see: Science magazine, June 20, 2011, p. 1253)
- More access-> mandatory testing? -> Violation of rights?
- Cheaper drugs -> increased life expectancy -> need for increased economic support during global recession?
Posts in this series:
- Story Ideas for Journalists from the Rome 2011 IAS Conference
- What the HIV Experience Can Teach the NCD Community
- Lowering the Cost of AIDS Drugs While Searching for a Cure
- Three Exciting AIDS Trials
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