The interaction between alcohol and HIV/Aids

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The interaction between alcohol and HIV/Aids

• Hasse Schneidermann and Øystein Østraat

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Three areas of interaction

• Alcohol contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS
• Alcohol boosting the development of the disease
• Alcohol reducing the effects of medical treatment

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Alcohol contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS

• strong correlations between alcohol use and
  sexual behaviour
• new population groups are increasingly affected
  by HIV, often through heterosexual contacts.
• use of alcohol may be a risk factor in this
  context.

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• alcohol use is often associated with early sexual
  activity (unplanned and unprotected)
• young people are three times as likely to have
  sex that is unprotected when they are drunk then
  when sober (UK)
• sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have
  greatly increased over the last 12 years (UK)
• chlamydia has increased by 300 gonorrhoea by
  200 and HIV by 300, and syphilis by 2000 (UK)

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(No Transcript)
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• Social, cultural and psychological links
• Social and cultural status of alcohol contributes
  to hazardious sexual behaviour
• alcohol is an excuse for irresponsible behaviour
• alcohol symbolises masculinity and maleness
• hazardious behaviour has a cultural, more then
  physical, explaination

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• From risk groups to risk situations
• a shift of focus from who to where
• high risk venues
• combination of alcohol and sexual encounters in
  bars and restaurants increases risk of HIV
  transmission
• a general trend in HIV prevention work

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Alcohol boosting the development of the disease

• use of alcohol can impair a persons immune
  system, increases with the alcohol consumption
  level
• drinking can also result in increased
  vulnerability to HIV infection
• experiment with monkeys and SIV alcohol fuels
  the development of the virus

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Alcohol reducing the effects of medical treatment

• the drugs used in antiretroviral treatment (ART)
  slow down the replication of HIV in the body
• strict regime that doesnt og well with high
  alcohol consumption
• research that indicates that alcohol reduces the
  effect of medications

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Implications for the alcohol group?

• seminar or workshop with the HIV/Aids group?
• policy implications?
• do they want us?