Welcome to the 90th issue of HIV This Week !  In this issue, we cover the following topics:

1. Civil society responses

• What effects have new HIV funding modalities and governance had on civil-society organisations in East and Southern Africa?

2. Condoms

• How low demand and ‘unfelt need’ are contributing to the condom gap in Kenya

3. HIV and maternal mortality

• So much more that can be done to reduce maternal mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa

4. Host genetics

• What we know now and how we can know more about host genetics and HIV

5. HIV Prevention trials

• How good is good enough: efficacy and effectiveness in HIV prevention trials

6. Discordant couples

• Antiretroviral therapy and consistent condom use reduce HIV transmission in Rakai discordant couples
• Need for safer strategies for discordant couples who want to get pregnant in Kisumu, Kenya

7. Treatment outcomes

• How to adjust mortality for loss to follow-up in antiretroviral therapy programmes

8. Gender

• Demographic and health surveys in 10 countries fail to detect strong associations between HIV and intimate partner violence

9. Basic science

• What do we know about the origin and evolution of HIV in breast milk?
• What we need to know about biomarkers and immune dysfunction in HIV

10. National responses

• What would the ideal decision makers’ resource allocation model look like?

11. People who inject drugs

• Do hard drug arrests deter injecting drug use in the USA?

12. Preventing vertical transmission

• Postnatal HIV acquisition carries high risk of vertical transmission: the need for primary prevention in Zimbabwean women

13. Men who have sex with men

• 25 years of data from the Amsterdam cohort study shows ongoing risk

14. Ethics

• A moving target: how to determine standard of prevention in HIV prevention trials as the field evolves

15. Microbicides

• Semen undermines natural vaginal defences: the rationale for assessing microbicide candidates in the presence of semen

16. Nutrition

• What do we know about micronutrient supplementation in children and adults with HIV infection

17. Comorbidities, tuberculosis

• TB doubles the risk of death if you are living with HIV

18. Child-led microfinance

• Caregiving children in Kenya experiment with social action fund activities.

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Cate Hankins, Chief Scientific Adviser to UNAIDS

Derek Christie, Research officer

Tania Lemay, Research consultant

Sylvia Beke-Wilson, Assistant, Creative Consulting & Development Works, Web support

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