NEWS & PUBLICATIONS: BHP in the News

Botswana's Infant Circumcision Campaign

Photo by Ann Kim

The southern African nation of Botswana, like its neighbor Zimbabwe, is promoting male circumcision as a way to combat the spread of HIV.

Botswana is not only encouraging men to be circumcised; it is encouraging parents to circumcise male infants.

“It can be about one tenth the cost to circumcise a baby compared to an adult,” says Dr. Rebeca Plank, an infectious disease doctor with the Harvard AIDS Initiative in Botswana. “It’s much easier to do. It’s much safer to do. It’s much quicker to do.”

Read more and listen at http://www.theworld.org/2011/10/botswana-infant-circumcision-campaign/

New study inspires hope of reduced transmission

People infected with HIV have reduced risk of transmitting the virus to their sexual partners through the initiation of oral anti-retroviral, according to a study conducted by the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN). Read more

Plan to treat "super-carriers" offers new hope

"One in four people infected with the Aids virus in Southern Africa are hyper-infectious super-carriers, scientists at Harvard University have discovered. By targeting these individuals for treatment, the scientists hope it may be possible to counter the rising number of new HIV infections in the worst-affected parts of the world in what could be a major breakthrough in the fight against the spread of Aids." Read more....

Stories from Botswana

"Statistics and journal articles do not begin to convey the human toll of HIV. Lasker professor of health sciences Myron “Max” Essex has seen that toll firsthand, working in Botswana since 1996. As a relatively successful country with a functioning government and a well-organized healthcare system, Botswana has offered free antiretroviral medications to everyone who needs them and it has managed to get the majority of its citizens tested for HIV. Still, a staggering 24 percent of adults have HIV." Read more...

Mother-to-child HIV transmission lowest in Africa

A study has revealed that Botswana has the lowest rate of mother-to-child transmission ever recorded in Africa or for a breastfeeding population. This was revealed by Dr Roger Shapiro of the Botswana-Havard AIDS Institute when releasing the findings of a random trial comparing HAART regimens for virologic efficacy and the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission among breastfeeding mothers in Botswana at Boipuso Hall in Gaborone last Friday. Read more...

Thibelo study commences

The Botswana- Harvard Partnership (BHP) will commence a study to establish if Anti-retrovirals (ARVs) can reduce sexual transmission of HIV in discordant couples, where one partner is infected with the virus and the other is not. Speaking at a press briefing yesterday, Priti Dusara, the coordinator of the study which will be called 'Thibelo study', said that anti-retroviral drugs have been shown to reduce the morbidity and mortality of HIV infections through sustained reduction in HIV replication consequent upon HIV viral suppression. Read more...

BHP starts genetics study

As the fight against HIV and AIDS intensifies, the Botswana-Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership (BHP) and the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity are undertaking a clinical research project called the "Host Genetics Study". The purpose of the study, according to its coordinator, Keatile Sebinang, is to learn how genes may affect individuals. It is also to learn how genes may affect a person's risk of getting HIV or AIDS, and how genes may affect the effectiveness of antiretroviral medications (ARVs). Read more...