World AIDS Day, 2009

World AIDS Day, 2009 took place December 1 in the United States and was commemorated in cities across the country. Along with discussion of the progress of the disease, there were also protests about reduced funding and information released about current treatment options. In New York City, groups protested the city’s elimination of an office specifically for AIDS policy and decreased funding for AIDS programs. In Santa Cruz, CA. The AIDS Project announced that it lost half of its budget because of reductions from federal, state and local government sources and private grants. The 25-yr. old project had to lay off half of its staff and close its Drop-In Center which offered free HIV testing and needle exchange to drug users. Science Daily reported a study from the New England Journal of Medicine which notes “that viral failure, the point at which medication can no longer suppress the HIV infection, was twice as likely and happened sooner among patients initiating anti-retroviral therapy with high viral loads who were given Epzicom when compared to similar patients treated with Truvada." Patients in this study were being continually monitored; however, these findings caused concern among the HIV-infected community. Positive reports were also shared, as many effective therapies in the form of antiretroviral drugs exist for HIV patients. Anti-HIV medications are primarily categorized as reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors, protease inhibitors, and entry orfusion inhibitors. The best pharmaceutical therapy for HIV/AIDS combines medicines from at least two of these drug groups called HAART therapy (highly antiretroviral therapy). These pharmaceutical treatments for HIV also come in generic drug form and can be purchased at reduced cost to patients if ordered through an online pharmacy. Online pharmacies such as http://www.pacificonlinepharmacy.com/ are currently shipping HIV/AIDS medicines to patients in need all over the world and helping many more people survive this disease.