A leading health official at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City says that an AIDS vaccine has been elusive but there’s no reason to give up hope, The Globe and Mail reports.
“Our objective should be to stop this virus, and the best way to do so is with a vaccine,” says Tadataka Yamada, executive director of the global health program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “We have to be unafraid to fail. The challenges are huge, but I have no doubt that we will live in a world without HIV some day.”
Many biological and social challenges persist in efforts to establish an AIDS vaccine, but Seth Berkley, president and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, says a “vaccine is possible” and it will come.
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Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
