(Press-News.org) International migrants in Australia and beyond are at increased risk of HIV infection due to reduced access to a highly effective prevention measure, a world-first global review led by Monash University has found.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is up to 99 per cent effective in preventing HIV. The antiretroviral tablet is available by prescription and taken to prevent HIV infection.
Published in The Lancet Public Health, the study identified barriers that migrant populations in Australia and around the world face to access PrEP.
Multiple barriers included lack of awareness, low risk perception for HIV, and service issues such as cost and provider discrimination. They also faced uncertainty in navigating the health system and stigma around HIV, gay and bisexual identities and using PrEP.
Senior author and Melbourne Sexual Health Centre physician, Monash University Central Clinical School Associate Professor Jason Ong, said a concerning number of migrants were being left behind in the HIV response compared to those who were Australian-born.
He said the study identified the need for culturally tailored approaches for PrEP access, and to address migration and HIV-related discriminatory policies, including making it much harder for people with HIV to obtain permanent residency.
“Navigating the landscape of HIV prevention is like traversing a maze, with barriers blocking the way at every turn,” Associate Professor Ong said. “Culturally tailored approaches act as guiding lights, illuminating the path forward.
“To improve health inequities, we suggest strategies at societal, service and individual levels that address the barriers of using PrEP among those who would benefit from it the most.”
Associate Professor Ong said PrEP was “game-changing” in preventing HIV.
“Getting this into the hands of the right people remains a significant barrier in our fight against HIV,” he said. “Our study shows that it is possible to improve health inequity in our society if we can direct resources to the right people."
Professor Darryl O’Donnell, the CEO of Health Equity Matters concurred.
“We know PrEP is highly effective in preventing HIV. Australia has made PrEP available at low cost to its own citizens. We have a national goal of virtually eliminating HIV transmission,” Professor O’Donnell said. “We will only achieve this if PrEP is available to all who can benefit, including people migrating to Australia.”
The study involved Alfred Health, Monash University, Australia, UNAIDS, WHO, UNSW Sydney, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
END
International migrants left behind in HIV response: study
2023-07-06
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Invasive non-native species cost UK economy an estimated £4bn a year, new CABI-led study reveals
2023-07-06
CABI scientists have carried out a study which reveals invasive non-native species (INNS) – such as the aquatic water weeds floating pennywort and Japanese knotweed as well as signal crayfish – cost the UK economy an estimated £4bn a year.
However, when species only covered by the GB Non-native Species Strategy are considered – for instance with fungi excluded from the estimate – the total cost was estimated to be £1.9bn.
Researchers working from CABI’s centres in Egham, UK, as well as Switzerland and Kenya, found a 135% increase in comparable costs since the last assessment was conducted in 2010. Annual estimated costs in 2021 were £3.02bn, ...
Empowering vulnerable communities in the face of growing natural threats
2023-07-06
Heavy wildfire smoke drifting from Canada to U.S. cities hundreds of miles away is a stark reminder that no community is immune from climate change-fueled hazards. A Stanford-led study published recently in Environmental Research Letters provides a blueprint for empowering people in frontline communities – those that experience the “first and worst” consequences of climate change – to better understand and deal with wildfire smoke, extreme heat, and other hazards.
The research – done in four predominantly low-income, ...
Fewer than half of new drugs add substantial therapeutic value over existing treatments
2023-07-06
New drugs are often used not only for one disease (first approved indication) but also for other diseases (supplemental indications).
But a study published by The BMJ today finds that less than half of approved first indications for new drugs in the US and Europe between 2011 and 2020 add substantial therapeutic value over existing treatments and only around a third of supplemental approvals add substantial therapeutic value compared with first approvals.
The researchers argue that when first or supplemental indications do not offer added benefit over existing treatments, this information should be clearly communicated to patients and reflected in the price of ...
Lack of sleep lessens cognitive benefits of physical activity
2023-07-06
Lack of sleep lessens cognitive benefits of physical activity
Regular physical activity may protect against cognitive decline as we get older, but this protective effect may be diminished for people who are not getting enough sleep, according to a new study by UCL researchers.
The study, published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity, looked at cognitive function over 10 years in 8,958 people aged 50 and over in England. The research team investigated how different combinations of sleep and physical activity habits might affect people’s cognitive function over time.
They found that people who were more physically ...
Amsterdam UMC led eHealth app ensures 30% faster recovery after major abdominal operations
2023-07-06
Through the use of eHealth application ikHerstel, patients recover from major abdominal operations 30% faster than patients who do not use the app. That is the main conclusion of research led by Amsterdam UMC across eleven Dutch hospitals. The app aims to empower patients to feel more in control of their recovery process. The results were published today in Lancet Digital Health.
Patients are being discharged from the hospital quicker after treatment. Where patients used to receive care, information and support in the hospital for a number of days, they are now often ...
Holograms for life: Improving IVF success
2023-07-06
In a world-first, 3D holographic images of an embryo have been developed as part of a collaborative research project between the University of Adelaide and University of St Andrews. The images are created using miniscule amounts of light in a fraction of a second.
The team, led by Dr Kylie Dunning, Hospital Research Foundation fellow from the University of Adelaide’s Robinson Research Institute, and Professor Kishan Dholakia from the University of Adelaide and the University of St Andrews, developed an approach to create 3D holographic images of the pre-clinical model of an embryo at various stages ...
Helping adolescents to feel competent and purposeful – not just happy – may improve grades
2023-07-06
Encouraging adolescents to feel capable and purposeful – rather than just happy – could improve their academic results as well as their mental health, according to new research which recommends changing how wellbeing is supported in schools.
The University of Cambridge study, involving over 600 teenagers from seven English schools, examined two separate aspects of their wellbeing: life satisfaction and ‘eudaimonia’. While life satisfaction roughly equates to how happy a person is, eudaimonia refers to how well that person feels they are functioning. It incorporates feelings of competence, motivation and self-esteem.
Researchers ...
Unlocking the mystery of long-lasting cancer treatment
2023-07-06
New insights explaining why some children have a longer remission than others after having cutting-edge CAR T-cell therapy for leukaemia have been revealed by researchers at UCL, Great Ormond Street Hospital, and the Wellcome Sanger Institute.
The collaborative research project, published today in Nature Medicine, combines expertise in novel immune therapy design and state-of-the-art computational analysis to identify a genetic signature of CAR T-cells that will be the most effective in the long term.
In recent years, CAR T-cells – genetically engineered ...
Astronomers identify the earliest strands of the cosmic web
2023-07-06
Using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, a team of scientists led by University of Arizona astronomers has discovered a threadlike arrangement of 10 galaxies that existed just 830 million years after the Big Bang.
Lined up like pearls on an invisible string, the 3-million-light-year-long structure is anchored by a luminous quasar – a galaxy with an active, supermassive black hole at its core. The team believes the filament will eventually evolve into a massive cluster of galaxies, much like the well-known Coma Cluster in the "nearby" universe. The results are published in two papers in The Astrophysical Journal ...
Professor spreads the gospel of ‘good fire’ through eco-cultural lens
2023-07-06
LAWRENCE – A pyromaniac is someone unhealthily obsessed with the destructive power of fire. Melinda Adams instead is pulled toward the term pyromantic – a lover of “good fire” for the benefits it can bring to people, communities and the environment as a whole.
The Langston Hughes Assistant Professor in Indigenous Studies and Geography & Atmospheric Science at the University of Kansas, Adams extols the benefits of cultural or ceremonial fire in a new paper she has co-authored ...