World AIDS day – Israel fights HIV
Where to even start. The spread of HIV and AIDS raises so many issues and creates so many problems it’s hard to know where to even begin. What is one to do on World AIDS Day? What are you supposed to be thinking about? There are so many angles to be tackled in this problem.
There is the need for support for those infected and their families. The need to make medication readily available around the world. The need to fight against discrimination because of the virus. The need to educate against its being spread. The list goes on and on.
Around 40 million people have to deal with the reality of being infected on a day-to-day basis, every day. And that number continues to grow despite our efforts. So how can we not feel helpless?
The answer, fortunately, is very simple. There are some stellar examples around the globe of the tremendous breakthroughs being made in the field of HIV-AIDS. One of them is Dr. Tamar Jehuda-Cohen, a religious woman and mother of seven who, living in Israel, has developed a revolutionary tool for early detection of the HIV virus (as well as HCV, which causes chronic Hepatitis).
One of the major problems of HIV detection is that the primary method for detecting viruses – screening for antibodies in the blood – is stymied by HIV itself. Antibodies for HIV aren’t produced for weeks or months after infection, leading many people to get a clean bill of health when in fact they have become infected. It is estimated that on average up to 50 people a year are infected by individuals who have been tested for HIV during this window between their infection and the time the HIV virus becomes detectable.
Dr. Jehuda-Cohen’s breakthrough, now being developed by the Israeli company SMART Biotech, can take a drop of blood from a patient and accelerate rapidly the production of HIV antibodies, making detection of the virus possible faster than ever before. The key to prevention and education about HIV-AIDS, says Dr. Jehuda-Cohen, is early detection.
So tomorrow, I will be thinking about people like Dr. Jehuda-Cohen, who make it seem possible that World AIDS Day may someday become a relic of the past.
Read more about her breakthrough here
Like
6 comments:
I must have to congratulate Tamar for this ground breaking epoch-making discovery.This technique undoubtedly will go a long way in controlling this calamity called AIDS which is decimating the sanctity of mankind. I remember meeting Dr Jehuda Cohen in Zimbabwe in 1992 at the IUIS conference and she was to conduct a research on “silent carriers” of HIV infection with me in Nigeria. Unforthnately we lost contact. I am delighted that she has achieved this great success and I would want to identify myself with it as a true breakthrough in science and technology.
Prof.Clement Anyiwo
Former UN Specialist in HIV /AIDS.
[Reply]
It is all so unfair and unjust
It is often said that you judge a society on how it treats its most susceptible members – in these days it’s elderly, young and sick
In these situations and judgments America does not stack up well
It’s better up there in Canada
[Reply]
Hello,
here is richard. I am the person responsible for the india-net-berlin.
As world aids day approaches, there are so many things to think about. Your site is called israelli.org. Now, there are so many young israelli boys and girls roaming the streets of New Delhi. Many of them HIV-Positive. They come to India as they tell me, to try to escape the discrimination in Israel. India is not the right place to be in this situation, it does however, bring some relief and helps to gain new strength. At our place in Jamshedpur, we have five persons with HIV living permanently and I have to extend the facility.
So, as I am a German citizen and my home town is Berlin, I do most of my work there. It is of course better to raise funds in Euro than any other currency. I am thinking of establishing an organization for the affected people in Israel.
People have told me…, stop! The people of Israel can care for themselves. Is this true? I know what medication for HIV costs and how people perish without this medication.
I will be glad to come to Tel Aviv in the next week to view the real status for myself.
Please give some advice and a few words. Also if it will be possible to meet a few people from your organization.
Let us all stand to the avail of anybody who needs our help.
Shalom,
Richard.
[Reply]
It is quite scary that there is still no cure for HIV/AIDS and the only way we can fight it is by prevention. How long would it take our scientists to develop a cure or vaccine for this disease?
*
[Reply]
HIV is a disease that is still incurable today. We should always practice safe sex and also educate our people how to avoid the spread of this disease.
[Reply]
i think that it would still take us a long time before we can even find a cure for HIV ”
[Reply]
Leave a reply