Self-care is important all of the time, but it is particularly important in stressful periods such as the festive season where added obligations and commitments may seem over-bearing on you. Remember that your mental health is more important than any sense of obligation and stress you may feel about any ‘celebrations’ and ‘get-togethers’ with others.Set boundaries and avoid high stress situations Setting... Read more
MEDIA RELEASE: “Disclosing your HIV status” guide launched in Queensland!
Queensland Positive People (QPP) is proud to announce the launch of “Disclosing your HIV status”, a guide for Queensland people living with HIV (PLHIV) to navigate legal issues and disclosure.The guide has been prepared by the HIV/AIDS Legal Centre (HALC) in partnership with QPP. The booklet aims to be used as an empowerment resource for PLHIV containing the most up-to-date and accurate information (as at June... Read more
Media Release: Removal of ‘AIDS’ from the Notifiable Conditions Schedule
Queensland Positive People (QPP) welcomes the Queensland Government’s announcement today of the official removal of AIDS from the Notifiable Conditions Schedule in Queensland.Read Queensland Health's Media Statement, HIV treatment stops AIDS in its tracks, here.QPP President, Mark Counter, said that “It is a testament to modern science that people living with HIV (PLHIV) on a modern HIV treatment... Read more
GeneXpert Urban Pilot: Peer delivery of point of care testing for STI within a community setting
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Australasian HIV/AIDS Conference 2017
QPP are always finding ways to upskill our staff in order to keep our service provision as up-to-date and high quality as possible. Earlier in November, QPP sent staff members to ASHM’s HIV/AIDS conference to learn about how the HIV sector is going in Australia, Asia and the Pacific region. Here is what a few of our staff had to say about the conference…MichaelThe ASHM symposium was little overwhelming, to be... Read more
Finding Emotional and Mental Wellbeing
Emotional and mental wellbeing is an important aspect of living well with HIV. There may be many aspects of our emotional and mental health make-up that all converge together (sometimes not at the same time) that will determine if we are having a good day, a good week, or a good life, such that we may be generally happy, well and content. Often too, our emotional and mental wellbeing may also be linked to physical... Read more
Dolutegravir monotherapy fails to maintain viral suppression, but studies are ongoing for dolutegravir dual (2 drug) therapy
Image: ViiV HealthcareDolutegravir used alone without other antiretrovirals was unable to keep viral load suppressed in some people who switched from a standard 3-drug combination regimen, according to research presented at the 2017 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) last month in Seattle. But evidence continues to show that dolutegravir plus a single other drug can work well as... Read more
A New Integrase Inhibitor – Bictegravir New drug application in the US for Bictegravir, Emtricitabine, Tenofovir Alafenamide single-tablet regimen
Gilead Sciences announced that it has submitted a New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for an investigational, once-daily single tablet regimen containing bictegravir (BIC), a novel investigational integrase strand transfer inhibitor (formerly GS-9883), and emtricitabine (FTC)/tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults.BIC/FTC/TAF has demonstrated high... Read more
Looking for a Needle and Syringe Program?
The Queensland Needle and Syringe Program (QNSP) aims to reduce the incidence of blood borne viruses (BBVs) and injecting related injuries and disease. The program supplies sterile injecting equipment to injecting drug users with the aim of ensuring users do not share or re-use needles, thus reducing the spread of BBVs within the wider community.Many people rely on needles, lancets or syringes to manage medical... Read more
FDA Approves New Once-Daily HIV Med Isentress HD
The US FDA has approved a new once-daily version of Merck’s antiretroviral (ARV) Isentress, known as Isentress HD. Until now, Isentress (raltegravir) had been available only as a twice-daily treatment.Treatment with Isentress HD entails taking two 600 mg tablets once a day, compared with taking 400 mg of Isentress twice daily. The new drug has been approved for use in combination with other ARVs to treat HIV... Read more