AIDS / en Nursing Week: Women's health advocate Sheila Tlou on breaking barriers in the fight for global health equity /news/nursing-week-women-s-health-advocate-sheila-tlou-breaking-barriers-fight-global-health-equity <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Nursing Week: Women's health advocate Sheila Tlou on breaking barriers in the fight for global health equity</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-05/e07fb8e1-00-sheila-tlou-a-giant-in-africas-aids-response-crop.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=3RHD3E12 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-05/e07fb8e1-00-sheila-tlou-a-giant-in-africas-aids-response-crop.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ncmn0za6 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-05/e07fb8e1-00-sheila-tlou-a-giant-in-africas-aids-response-crop.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=A2V4fJfj 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-05/e07fb8e1-00-sheila-tlou-a-giant-in-africas-aids-response-crop.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=3RHD3E12" alt="Sheila Tlou"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>siddiq22</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-05-08T10:15:02-04:00" title="Monday, May 8, 2023 - 10:15" class="datetime">Mon, 05/08/2023 - 10:15</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p>Sheila Tlou, Botswana's former minister of health, will give a keynote address on May 9 as part of National Nursing Week at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing (supplied image)</p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/rebecca-biason" hreflang="en">Rebecca Biason</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/africa" hreflang="en">Africa</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/aids" hreflang="en">AIDS</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/lawrence-s-bloomberg-faculty-nursing" hreflang="en">Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/nursing" hreflang="en">Nursing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/united-nations" hreflang="en">United Nations</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/women-s-health" hreflang="en">Women's Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/world-health-organization" hreflang="en">World Health Organization</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The University of Toronto's <a href="https://bloomberg.nursing.utoronto.ca/">Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing</a> will mark <a href="https://www.cna-aiic.ca/en/news-events/national-nursing-week">National Nursing Week</a> with a keynote address&nbsp;by Sheila Tlou, Botswana's former minister of health.</p> <p>Over the past few decades, Tlou&nbsp;–&nbsp;a professor, nurse, HIV prevention advocate and artist&nbsp;–&nbsp;has merged her talents as a leader in health policy and community theatre to bring about lasting change in health outcomes in eastern and southern Africa.</p> <p>“Nurses are a formidable and passionate force, and I say to all the young nurses out there, 'We can make an impact anywhere and everywhere we go,'” Tlou says.</p> <p>Tlou will speak <a href="https://bloomberg.nursing.utoronto.ca/event/bloomberg-nursing-week-2023-keynote-lecture/">on May 9 at Innis College</a>, sharing stories of her own experience as a changemaker in global health&nbsp;through her work with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNAIDS&nbsp;and the International Council of Nurses (ICN), where she has tackled issues around HIV transmission and prevention&nbsp;– particularly&nbsp;in women and children.</p> <p>Of her many accomplishments, which have included being a member of parliament for the Republic of Botswana&nbsp;and director of a WHO nursing and midwifery initiative for anglophone Africa, Tlou says that she is most proud of her work saving the lives of children and their mothers by significantly lowering rates of HIV transmission in communities in Botswana.</p> <p>When Tlou first became Botwana's&nbsp;minister of health in 2004, the rate of mother-to-child HIV transmission was very high. To address this urgent issue, Tlou created a comprehensive HIV/AIDS&nbsp;prevention strategy that included engaging with community members and leaders prior to&nbsp;rolling out an education and awareness campaign focused on HIV testing for pregnant women, as well as treatment with antiretrovirals.</p> <p>By speaking with women and those supporting them in child-rearing – including partners and mothers-in-law&nbsp;– Tlou and her team of nurses, nurse practitioners&nbsp;and midwives were able to change the stigma around HIV and encourage early testing, shifting the community’s perspective and focus onto efforts that helped women birth healthy babies.</p> <p>This community-engaged approach successfully reduced the rate of mother-to-child transmission of the disease from 30 per cent in 2003 to 8 per cent in 2008.</p> <p>“This success was really saying to the world, 'Look at what can be achieved in a resource-limited area through the intervention of nurses,'” Tlou says. “Now the rate of transmission is less than 1 per cent, and the stigma is so low that many women continue to get tested.&nbsp;However the rates of infection of HIV among women remain very high, and that is still something that needs to be addressed.”</p> <p>Tlou's advocacy has always been centered around issues of gender and empowering women to improve their health through education. Before she became a nurse, Tlou was passionate about theatre, originally planning to become an actor or interpreter for the United Nations because of her love of languages.</p> <p>However, with only health sciences scholarships available to her as a young university student, Tlou entered the nursing program at Dillard University&nbsp;in New Orleans, opting to take public health and theatre as electives to foster her knack&nbsp;for engaging with people.</p> <p>After completing her master’s degree in nursing education and instruction from Columbia University in New York City, Tlou returned to Botswana to teach community-health nursing and also&nbsp;co-directed a travelling theatre group that performed plays&nbsp;– some which imparted&nbsp;health-focused messages about family planning and spacing out pregnancies.</p> <p>“Being able to take this practical public-health message out into the communities and villages was uplifting for the nursing students involved, because they could see the impact of community engagement from a nursing perspective,” Tlou says.</p> <p>Though now retired, Tlou&nbsp;– who taught at the University of Botswana for decades&nbsp;– continues to work as a consultant&nbsp;on&nbsp;health promotion strategy&nbsp;for organizations such as the African Union, the United Nations and the WHO on efforts to reduce&nbsp;deaths from malaria, in addition to her work on HIV/AIDS.</p> <p>During Nursing Week and beyond, Tlou wants nurses around the world to remember the importance not just of bedside care, but of community impact&nbsp;– and the ability of nurses to break down barriers that&nbsp;contribute to inequity in health care.</p> <p>“My advice to current and future nurses is to look at the UN Sustainable Development Goals in your region, meet with nursing associations and&nbsp;find your niche,” Tlou says.</p> <p>“As nurses, we need to make ourselves visible&nbsp;–&nbsp;and that includes in how we mentor the next generation."</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-add-new-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Add new story tags</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/national-nursing-week" hreflang="en">National Nursing Week</a></div> </div> </div> Mon, 08 May 2023 14:15:02 +0000 siddiq22 301490 at 'Re-imagine everything': How Թϱ's Francisco Ibáñez-Carrasco helped profs adjust to online teaching /news/re-imagine-everything-how-u-t-s-francisco-ib-ez-carrasco-helped-profs-adjust-online-teaching <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">'Re-imagine everything': How Թϱ's Francisco Ibáñez-Carrasco helped profs adjust to online teaching</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-04/Francisco_DallaLana_02.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=VBfEDiG_ 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-04/Francisco_DallaLana_02.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=hbPDKGui 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-04/Francisco_DallaLana_02.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=UMOI2Z0d 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-04/Francisco_DallaLana_02.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=VBfEDiG_" alt="Francisco Ibáñez-Carrasco"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2021-06-17T15:54:10-04:00" title="Thursday, June 17, 2021 - 15:54" class="datetime">Thu, 06/17/2021 - 15:54</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p>Francisco Ibáñez-Carrasco, a part-time assistant professor of learning innovation at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, says his life experiences taught him that upheaval is an opportunity to be embraced, not feared (photo by Adam Coish)</p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/heidi-singer" hreflang="en">Heidi Singer</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/coronavirus" hreflang="en">Coronavirus</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/aids" hreflang="en">AIDS</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dalla-lana-school-public-health" hreflang="en">Dalla Lana School of Public Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/hiv" hreflang="en">HIV</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/learning" hreflang="en">Learning</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/lgbtq" hreflang="en">LGBTQ</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A longtime AIDS activist and community based researcher, <strong>Francisco Ibáñez-Carrasco&nbsp;</strong>was <a href="https://www.dlsph.utoronto.ca/2020/07/07/dlsph-welcomes-francisco-ibanez-carrasco-as-part-time-assistant-professor-learning-innovation/">tapped to be online engagement guru at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health last summer</a>&nbsp;– just as the school was making the transition to online instruction.</p> <p>The 58-year-old former Vancouverite was asked to join the school to help professors – who are often much younger than himself – learn how to teach online.</p> <p>Ibáñez-Carrasco says he has heard many reasons why online education isn’t as good as in-person instruction – but he has a solution for seemingly everything. The most common complaint, he says, is that virtual experiences can’t replicate the intimacy of in-person. His response? If people can have sex online, they can engage with each other online to learn.</p> <p>“It’s been an amazing opportunity to be able to stir a culture from the inside,” says Ibáñez-Carrasco. “Faculty members are embracing a new way of doing things, but the main change has been grappling&nbsp;[with unexpected realities.] From technical issues to worrying about privacy issues around lectures ... faculty members – no matter how established – feel very vulnerable.”</p> <p>However, Ibáñez-Carrasco maintains that a little uncertainty can be a good thing&nbsp;– an observation supported by his own personal experience. He was a 22-year old high school teacher when he fled the fascistic dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in 1985, landing in Vancouver where he was soon handed an HIV diagnosis – a death sentence at the time.</p> <p>“The physician said, ‘Well pal, you’re HIV-positive – another immigrant coming here to die of AIDS. Here’s your list of opportunistic illnesses. One of them will kill you.’”</p> <p>The diagnosis was terrible, but Ibáñez-Carrasco says it freed him to think fearlessly about what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. He’d always loved studying, teaching and books, so eventually Ibáñez-Carrasco went back to school, earning a PhD in education from Simon Fraser University. And he wrote books.</p> <p>His diagnosis also kicked off a lifelong interest in public health. Straddling the worlds of education and advocating for the sexual health of marginalized communities, his work still aims to bridge the communication gap between provider and patient.</p> <p>Ibáñez-Carrasco has lived in Toronto since 2012, when he became director of education and training at the Ontario HIV Treatment Network. There, he trained 70 emerging Canadian HIV researchers and community leaders from 2009 to 2017, earning a Red Ribbon award from the Canadian Association for HIV Research in 2017. He then served as a senior research associate at the Centre for Urban Solutions at Unity Health. Days after learning Թϱ would pivot to online instruction in the face of COVID-19, Professor&nbsp;<strong>Dionne Gesink</strong>, the Dalla Lana School of Public Health’s associate dean of academic affairs, asked Ibáñez-Carrasco to join the school at the recommendation of Professor&nbsp;<strong>Carol Strike</strong>, who knew about his longtime leadership in online education.</p> <p>“Francisco has been a ray of sunshine piercing through the storm clouds,” says Gesink, herself a sexual health researcher. “He has supported faculty and student learning, remote delivery, gamifying learning activities, alternative methods of evaluating student learning. He has coached faculty in pedagogy, and the list goes on.</p> <p>“Francisco is warm and approachable, makes people feel comfortable and confident, somehow makes work playful and really helps foster a sense of community.”</p> <p>Although not a traditional expert in technology, Ibáñez-Carrasco is passionate about teaching&nbsp;and engaging people despite barriers&nbsp;– whether they be technological, cultural or psychological.</p> <p>He says he finds sudden change invigorating, loving the “messiness” and the freedom to create something new. That applies not just to online teaching but also the current upheaval around traditional gender and sexual identities and anti-oppressive teaching practices, he says.</p> <p>“I love the complexity of queer communities. Emerging communities of transgender, nonbinary folks have something to teach me. Understanding diversity was something we preached in the 80s and 90s. And now they’re in my face – good!”</p> <p>His fondness for mess is rooted in childhood. Ibáñez-Carrasco was 10 when Pinochet seized power, and he remembers the fascist oppression to conform or die that descended on Chilean society.</p> <p>“You had to toe the line. Everything was redacted: television, textbooks&nbsp;and your conversations had to be edited as such,” he recalls. “There were curfews for many years. People whispered for two reasons: when someone had cancer and when someone was involved in politics.”</p> <p>Informed by that history, he has fought stigma and secrecy of all things that bring shame, including sexualities, medical conditions such as HIV&nbsp;and the use of drugs. “Patients understand everything if they are given the right opportunity – including patients we see as complex,” he says. “They understand very well because many are living multiple pandemics – HIV, the opioid crisis and COVID.”</p> <p>Looking forward, Ibáñez-Carrasco sees huge opportunity for the field of public health – providing practitioners are willing to embrace the upheaval.</p> <p>“For public health schools, it’s a golden opportunity on a silver platter,” he says. “You can re-imagine everything. In fact, we must reimagine everything: learning, research, clinical practice and policy-making. All of it has been thrown into a blender. What a magnificent opportunity.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 17 Jun 2021 19:54:10 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 301379 at Art in the time of COVID-19: Finding ways to 'render the invisible visible' /news/art-time-covid-19-finding-ways-render-invisible-visible <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Art in the time of COVID-19: Finding ways to 'render the invisible visible'</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/JohnRicco-1.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=u5lHGpWO 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/JohnRicco-1.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=yuvT6USS 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/JohnRicco-1.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=5a_PmCt_ 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/JohnRicco-1.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=u5lHGpWO" alt="John Paul Ricco stands in front of a brick wall, wearing a t-shirt"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2020-05-04T12:44:05-04:00" title="Monday, May 4, 2020 - 12:44" class="datetime">Mon, 05/04/2020 - 12:44</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">John Paul Ricco, a professor at Թϱ Mississauga's department of visual studies, says COVID-19 has led 'a whole new awareness of ourselves in the world, and with others' (photo courtesy of John Ricco)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/carla-demarco" hreflang="en">Carla DeMarco</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/coronavirus" hreflang="en">Coronavirus</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/aids" hreflang="en">AIDS</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/art" hreflang="en">Art</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/humanities" hreflang="en">Humanities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-mississauga" hreflang="en">Թϱ Mississauga</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/visual-studies" hreflang="en">Visual Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>With much of the world locked down due to COVID-19, art and creativity has burst into living spaces through platforms like Zoom, livestreams and over social media – a development that does not surprise the University of Toronto’s&nbsp;<strong>John Paul Ricco</strong>, who says social upheavals and health crises has historically inspired&nbsp;artists.</p> <p>“I do think this speaks generally to the value of art in all of its various forms, and that it is probably our principal and most developed way of being attuned to the world,” says Ricco, a professor in the department of visual studies at Թϱ Mississauga.</p> <p>“It is a way to try to register, record and re-shape our perceptions and to really take stock. But also, I think art plays an incredibly important role in a moment when people are looking around and are really interested in art and humanities&nbsp;– and writing again&nbsp;– because when the world feels like it's imploding, art and aesthetics are there to save you.”</p> <p>Ricco, who has been on faculty at Թϱ Mississauga since 2006, is an art historian and queer theorist whose research closely examines&nbsp;the relationship between art and ethics.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/9780226717777.jpg" alt>Ricco’s 2014 book&nbsp;<em>The Decision Between Us: Art and Ethics in the Time of Scenes</em>&nbsp;argues that scenes of intimacy are spaces of sharing, but that they are also spaces of separation, which has a particular resonance in the current climate.</p> <p>He says the present situation is a time to ask how we can find ways of connecting while in solitude&nbsp;– space that allows the social to happen, but also the capacity for people to figure out how to deal with being physically separated from others.</p> <h3><a href="https://www.blackwoodgallery.ca/sduk/tilting/impotentiality-and-resistance">Read John Paul Ricco’s&nbsp;contribution in&nbsp;<em>Tilting</em>, a publication by the Blackwood Gallery at Թϱ Mississauga&nbsp;</a></h3> <p>Ricco points to past health crises that have led to exploring similar concepts in art, particularly the AIDS outbreak when he was an undergraduate student at New York University. That health epidemic in the 1990s influenced his path throughout his graduate studies and he became involved in AIDS activism, exploring ways in which contemporary artists were contending with the situation.</p> <p>For example, Ricco curated a contemporary art exhibition in Chicago in 1996 titled <em>Disappeared</em>&nbsp;that brought together artists contemplating the question of representation in relationship to AIDS. There was the “disappearance” of the people who died from the disease, as well as&nbsp;the loss of aesthetics that resulted from&nbsp;not being able to fully represent AIDS in a visual form.</p> <p>He also points to a past exhibit by artist Félix González-Torres that challenged the prohibitions on physical contact to avoid the spread of the disease.</p> <p>When it comes to the current&nbsp;COVID-19 crisis, there is once again a warning to avoid physical proximity and it is also difficult to put a shape to the invisible virus. However, Ricco feels this is part of the challenge for visual artists: rendering the invisible visible.</p> <p>He suggests&nbsp;we are all taking part in the process by our inadvertent choreography of physical distancing in our homes and out on errands or on walks.</p> <p>“I think one of the most interesting things that art can help us contend with is exactly those things that cannot be seen and what we do with that difficulty or that problem,” says Ricco.</p> <p>“We can imagine art being made in the midst and in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis&nbsp;that takes up this prohibition of physical proximity&nbsp;– touching and contact&nbsp;– and uses that as the way to explore what it means to be in physical proximity, to have contact and how art can be a kind of stage that enables people to engage with that. I think one of the things that has happened in the midst of this&nbsp;is that there is a whole new awareness of ourselves in the world and with others.”</p> <h3><a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-642323930/john-paul-ricco">Listen to an interview with John Paul Ricco on the View to the U podcast</a></h3> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 04 May 2020 16:44:05 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 164420 at New book by Թϱ author looks at the corporate philanthropy of MˑAˑC Cosmetics and how it was done right /news/new-book-u-t-author-looks-corporate-philanthropy-m-c-cosmetics-and-how-it-was-done-right <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">New book by Թϱ author looks at the corporate philanthropy of MˑAˑC Cosmetics and how it was done right</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/UofT19286_DSC_2818.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=G2jCC7aW 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/UofT19286_DSC_2818.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Orh2NjwJ 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/UofT19286_DSC_2818.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ajnksqq0 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/UofT19286_DSC_2818.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=G2jCC7aW" alt="Portrait of Andrea Benoit holding her book Viva Mac"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>noreen.rasbach</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-08-09T09:56:37-04:00" title="Friday, August 9, 2019 - 09:56" class="datetime">Fri, 08/09/2019 - 09:56</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">"Generally, I've been interested in the commodification of social causes, mostly because I find it objectionable," says Andrea Benoit, academic review officer in Թϱ’s Faculty of Arts &amp; Science (photo by Diana Tyszko)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/jovana-jankovic" hreflang="en">Jovana Jankovic</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/aids" hreflang="en">AIDS</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/culture" hreflang="en">Culture</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/hiv" hreflang="en">HIV</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/lgbtq" hreflang="en">LGBTQ</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A new book from University of Toronto Press uncovers the origins of MˑAˑC Cosmetics’ corporate philanthropy around HIV/AIDS awareness and fundraising in the early 1990s.</p> <p><a href="https://utorontopress.com/ca/viva-m-a-c-4"><em>Viva M</em><em>ˑ</em><em>A</em><em>ˑ</em><em>C: AIDS, Fashion, and the Philanthropic Practices of M</em><em>ˑ</em><em>A</em><em>ˑ</em><em>C Cosmetics</em></a> traces the history of the MˑAˑC AIDS Fund, a charity established in 1994 to support people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.</p> <p>The book is written by <strong>Andrea Benoit</strong>, academic review officer in Թϱ’s Faculty of Arts &amp; Science and adjunct assistant professor of media studies in the Faculty of Information &amp; Media Studies at Western University. Benoit received her bachelor's&nbsp;and master's degrees from Թϱ in English before completing her PhD in media studies at Western.</p> <p><strong>Jovana Jankovic</strong> spoke with Benoit about MˑAˑC’s corporate philanthropy, why it was unique and the historical conditions out of which it emerged.</p> <hr> <p><strong>MˑAˑC has always catered to a wider variety of customers – such as the LGBTQ community and people of colour – than other brands. How do you think this is related to the brand’s genesis in Toronto, such a diverse city?</strong></p> <p>MˑAˑC started its philanthropy in the early 1990s within a sort of perfect storm. The founders and its employees wanted to help their friends and the people around them as the AIDS epidemic was unfolding in Toronto. There was some activism already in place, along with a slightly more progressive political moment.</p> <p>At the same time, we had the revitalization of the creative industries in the 1980s – in music and in the fashion scene. Toronto really felt like it might be a fashion capital, along the same lines as New York, and everybody was excited about it. There was lots of expansive thinking in that time. Creative people weren’t necessarily concerned with making a lot of money, although certainly one has to make a livelihood.</p> <p><strong><em><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/bookcover.jpg" alt>You write in your book that taking a stand like Mˑ</em><em>A</em><em>ˑ</em><em>C did to spotlight AIDS was “defiant.” What do you think it takes for brands to take such a risk?</em></strong></p> <p>Well, “cause marketing” is, first of all, marketing. So, for cause marketing to be successful, it has to benefit the company. As a result, a lot of corporations probably aren't interested in being too risky. And, of course, the consumer base and the cause have to overlap in order for it to work.</p> <p>There’s a tendency to play it safe – unless you’re a big company, in which case we see something like Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty.”&nbsp;There was a certain amount of risk in that but, at the same time, that brand was so stale that they could take that chance. And they touched a social nerve – and did it in a really interesting and imaginative way that changed that conversation.</p> <p>However, what MˑAˑC did had nothing to do with marketing. They weren’t interested in that kind of promotional activity. They just did what they felt was right, and they did it according to their own logic, their own sets of practices. They didn't really care what people thought.</p> <p>There's no question that the brand and the AIDS advocacy have become mutually beneficial since then, and they would say there's nothing wrong with that. But they have maintained their position that the MˑAˑC AIDS Fund is not a promotional activity writ large, and they still don't really advertise it all that much.</p> <p><strong>How did you get interested in corporate philanthropy as a research area? And could you talk to us about some contemporary examples?</strong></p> <p>Generally, I've been interested in the commodification of social causes, mostly because I find it objectionable. The intersection of social justice with consumer culture is pretty disingenuous, especially since capitalism itself is founded so clearly on social inequity and exploitation.</p> <p>But corporations rely on consumers thinking that they’re doing good things. So as an intellectual inquiry, I wanted to try to understand these things better. When I started to explore this topic, I couldn't find anything good to say about it – which can be distressing and discouraging, to think that everything's terrible. But when I started to investigate MˑAˑC, I realized that something very different was happening. Their story didn't follow along the same patterns I was seeing with other corporations. So that was the basis of this project.</p> <p>Gillette, for instance, is actually <a href="https://theconversation.com/gillettes-metoo-inspired-ad-represents-a-cultural-shift-110080">doing something pretty controversial</a> and risking a pretty solid consumer base by talking about issues like “toxic masculinity” that are uncomfortable for people. They’re trying to change this conversation in a substantial way.</p> <p>Whether it will be successful or not remains to be seen. That’s why advertising history is so interesting, because you can’t always assess the impact in the moment.</p> <p><strong>Pride month just took place and&nbsp;here in Toronto we have one of the biggest Pride celebrations in the world. What does Pride mean to you and how do you celebrate?</strong></p> <p style="margin-left:.4pt;">I've always considered myself an ally. And I'm thrilled that my book came out during Pride month at the <a href="https://www.gladdaybookshop.com/">Glad Day Bookshop</a>, the oldest independent LGBTQ bookstore in Toronto.</p> <p style="margin-left:.4pt;">It's interesting to see how Pride has become so all-encompassing. I used to live in the [Church-Wellesley] village, and Pride really did start as something very small and very determined. I think it’s important for younger people to understand the history of Pride – it's not just a month of partying. It comes from a long history of people living and working and dying to achieve equality and safety in their lives and on the streets. That gets missed when you go to the mall and every store has rainbows and Pride t-shirts.</p> <p style="margin-left:.4pt;">So, I'm hopeful that my book offers a little bit of information about people who were trying to do something at a time when it was risky, when their friends were dying, when people were very antagonistic and aggressively against advocacy for LGBTQ folks and terrified of AIDS. I'm glad that my book might help people understand that history a little bit. History is important.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 09 Aug 2019 13:56:37 +0000 noreen.rasbach 157498 at Թϱ researcher looks for ways to protect the brain from HIV-related damage /news/u-t-researcher-looks-ways-protect-brain-hiv-related-damage <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Թϱ researcher looks for ways to protect the brain from HIV-related damage</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2018-11-28-Reina-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=umKdZz4U 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2018-11-28-Reina-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=d2Hcizrh 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2018-11-28-Reina-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=amRNievl 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2018-11-28-Reina-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=umKdZz4U" alt="Photo of Professor Reina Bendayan"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>noreen.rasbach</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2018-11-28T10:37:00-05:00" title="Wednesday, November 28, 2018 - 10:37" class="datetime">Wed, 11/28/2018 - 10:37</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Declines in cognitive function are "a serious complication of HIV," says Professor Reina Bendayan (photo by Steve Southan)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/eileen-hoftyzer" hreflang="en">Eileen Hoftyzer</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/aids" hreflang="en">AIDS</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/hiv" hreflang="en">HIV</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/leslie-dan-faculty-pharmacy" hreflang="en">Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item"> </div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>During Professor <strong>Reina Bendayan</strong>’s career, she has seen HIV/AIDS evolve from a universally fatal infection to a highly manageable chronic disease. Her research into HIV’s effects on the brain is addressing an important, yet poorly understood complication of the disease.</p> <p>When she began her career at the University of Toronto in the late 1980s, HIV/AIDS was a major public health crisis. With her expertise in drug transport and distribution, she began to study how new HIV drugs cross biological membranes to get access to tissues and treat the infection. She was especially interested in the brain.</p> <p>“When I started, HIV-associated dementia was recognized as a very common complication of the illness,” says Bendayan, a professor in the department of pharmaceutical sciences at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. “People were dying from it.” &nbsp;</p> <p>Antiretroviral therapies, developed in the 1990s, transformed care and life expectancy for people with HIV. “Most patients with HIV present undetectable viral loads in their blood, but they aren’t cured,” she says. In fact, because many of these drugs do not cross the blood-brain barrier, the virus can remain almost untouched in the brain.</p> <p>While HIV-associated dementia is no longer a major cause of death, as many as 50 per cent of people with HIV still experience declines in cognitive function that impact their quality of life. “As people live much longer, it’s a serious complication of HIV,” Bendayan says.</p> <p>In recent years, Bendayan and her team have been exploring how the virus causes inflammation in the brain, which, over time, damages neurons and causes complications known as HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND), which can include memory loss and poor co-ordination.</p> <p>Using rodent models of the disease, she and her team identified that a transcription factor called PPAR helps to block inflammation in the brain. They are now testing whether drugs that activate PPAR can counteract the damaging effects of HIV in the brain, reduce inflammation and perhaps even target the virus directly. One of the drugs they are testing, rosiglitazone, is also used to treat Type 2 diabetes, which may allow it to be translated relatively quickly into patient care.</p> <p>Bendayan says that the goal is to have a drug that is&nbsp;safe for long-term use and that can penetrate the brain effectively to treat both the virus and associated inflammation.</p> <p>Understanding how HIV affects the brain is critical for the aging population of people with HIV/AIDS in North America and for those in developing countries where the virus is still a health crisis. &nbsp;“In Sub-Saharan Africa and India it is still an acute problem, and we’re seeing a rise of infection in several countries, including Russia,” says Bendayan. “In North America, HIV infection is very well controlled, but globally it remains a major problem.”</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 28 Nov 2018 15:37:00 +0000 noreen.rasbach 148013 at Թϱ researcher co-authors landmark report: calls Canadian newspaper coverage of HIV criminalization cases racist /news/u-t-researcher-co-authors-landmark-report-calls-canadian-newspaper-coverage-hiv-criminalization <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Թϱ researcher co-authors landmark report: calls Canadian newspaper coverage of HIV criminalization cases racist</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-12-01-Laura-Bisaillon-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=yjd8Pxv- 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2016-12-01-Laura-Bisaillon-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=AL1BCtMV 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2016-12-01-Laura-Bisaillon-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=vyv2l2WZ 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-12-01-Laura-Bisaillon-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=yjd8Pxv-" alt="Photo of UTSC Laura Bisaillon"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-12-01T13:22:01-05:00" title="Thursday, December 1, 2016 - 13:22" class="datetime">Thu, 12/01/2016 - 13:22</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Laura Bisaillon: "This coverage has negative effects on public opinion because it not only stigmatizes people living with HIV, it stereotypes black immigrant men living with HIV in particular” (photo by Ken Jones)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/don-campbell" hreflang="en">Don Campbell</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Don Campbell</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/hiv" hreflang="en">HIV</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/aids" hreflang="en">AIDS</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">Թϱ Scarborough</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research" hreflang="en">Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/media" hreflang="en">Media</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Black heterosexual immigrant men are disproportionately highlighted by Canadian mainstream newspapers covering&nbsp;HIV non-disclosure criminal cases, says&nbsp;a new report co-authored by a University of Toronto researcher.&nbsp;</p> <p>While black immigrant men only accounted for 15 per cent of defendants in these cases, they were the focus of 61 per cent of newspaper coverage, researchers found. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p>“We were surprised by the massive imbalance in coverage that focused on black immigrant men,” says<strong> Laura Bisaillon</strong>, an assistant professor in Թϱ Scarborough’s health studies program and&nbsp;one of five authors of the report.</p> <p>“This coverage has negative effects on public opinion because it not only stigmatizes people living with HIV, it stereotypes black immigrant men living with HIV in particular.”&nbsp;</p> <p>The report,&nbsp;“<a href="http://www.publicimpactpr.com/images/clients/can/callous_cold_report_final.pdf">Callous, Cold and Deliberately Duplicitous</a>,”&nbsp;is the first of its kind. Researchers&nbsp;analyzed 1,680 articles published in Canadian newspapers from 1989 to 2015. The articles focused on cases involving defendants facing criminal charges for not disclosing their HIV status before having sex.</p> <p>One of the key findings in the report is that 68 per cent of newspaper articles focused on racialized defendants&nbsp;– with African, Caribbean and black men disproportionately represented in coverage.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Our evidence shows that most people who face criminal charges in these cases are actually white, yet newspaper coverage focused mainly on black male defendants,” says Bisaillon.&nbsp;</p> <h3><a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2016/12/01/media-accused-of-racism-in-reporting-hiv-related-crime.html">Read the <em>Toronto Star</em> story on the report</a></h3> <p>The authors also discovered a cluster of coverage by Canadian newspapers on four specific men who faced HIV non-disclosure cases. Nearly half of all coverage focused specifically on the cases of these men, all of whom are black immigrants. &nbsp;</p> <p>The report’s authors were also critical of the language used in the newspaper coverage, which they believe&nbsp;contributes to inflaming stereotypical and xenophobic ideas, particularly relating to black immigrant men with HIV.&nbsp;</p> <p>“It’s upsetting to read myths masquerading as news and repeating the theme of how black men living with HIV are hypersexual, dangerous&nbsp;‘others,’” says Erik Mykhalovskiy, a professor of sociology at York University and the study’s lead author.&nbsp;</p> <p>The authors call for reform in media coverage, including having cases of HIV criminalization covered by health rather than crime reporters. They also insist that coverage about HIV-transmission use current scientific research, specifically about the negligible risk of transmitting HIV where the person has an undetectable viral load.&nbsp;</p> <p>The authors took aim at the use of mug shots in stories&nbsp;and called for removing story descriptions that are “inherently racist or demonize the defendant.” They also urge media to rely on AIDS service organizations for their knowledge and insight in stories about HIV criminalization.</p> <p>“Misinformation about HIV transmission contributes to fear and hostility towards people living with HIV,” says Bisaillon, whose research looks at the organization and production of knowledge about the Canadian immigration system.&nbsp;“I hope that these results will be used for transformative purposes&nbsp;to spark open and honest discussion about how the Canadian public is learning about cases of HIV criminalization.”&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 01 Dec 2016 18:22:01 +0000 ullahnor 102606 at Public health researchers at Թϱ launch first Canadian study on couples with different HIV statuses /news/public-health-researchers-u-t-launch-first-canadian-study-couples-different-hiv-statuses <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Public health researchers at Թϱ launch first Canadian study on couples with different HIV statuses</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-11-30-world-aids-day-lead.jpg?h=3ebe9e72&amp;itok=AgX49ms3 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2016-11-30-world-aids-day-lead.jpg?h=3ebe9e72&amp;itok=mSJTSSC5 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2016-11-30-world-aids-day-lead.jpg?h=3ebe9e72&amp;itok=a_J8GF0d 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-11-30-world-aids-day-lead.jpg?h=3ebe9e72&amp;itok=AgX49ms3" alt="Photo of red ribbon for World AIDS Day"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-11-30T13:30:15-05:00" title="Wednesday, November 30, 2016 - 13:30" class="datetime">Wed, 11/30/2016 - 13:30</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Red ribbon for World AIDS Day (photo by Trinn Suwannapha/World Bank via Flickr)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/nicole-bodnar" hreflang="en">Nicole Bodnar</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Nicole Bodnar</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/aids" hreflang="en">AIDS</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/world-aids-day" hreflang="en">World AIDS Day</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/public-health" hreflang="en">Public Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dalla-lana-school-public-health" hreflang="en">Dalla Lana School of Public Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/international" hreflang="en">International</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Tomorrow is World AIDS Day, and this year’s theme is<a href="http://www.worldaidsdayuoft.com/about"> Disclosure: HIV/AIDS in the 21st Century</a>.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__2703 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/2016-11-30-t%20and%20v-colour-embed.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 191px; margin: 10px; float: left;" typeof="foaf:Image">This theme is particularly relevant for Thom and Vajdon (pictured left), who have been together for 17 years and are in what scientists call a serodiscordant relationship –&nbsp;where one partner is HIV-positive and the other is HIV-negative.</p> <p>“There are a lot of us out here, living full and loving lives. Sticking by each other no matter what,” said Thom (on the left side of the photo), a writer, actor and educator who is HIV-positive and lives in Toronto with his partner Vajdon (on the right side of the photo), who is a PhD student.<br> &nbsp;<br> This summer, Թϱ’s <a href="http://www.dlsph.utoronto.ca/">Dalla Lana School of Public Health</a> launched <a href="http://www.positiveplusone.ca/">Positive Plus One</a>, the first Canadian study&nbsp;about HIV-serodiscordant relationships. These relationships&nbsp;are increasingly common, since people with HIV are living longer lives and have more opportunity for longer relationships.</p> <p>Thom will be featured with <strong>Liviana Calzavara</strong>, a professor at Dalla Lana, who launched Positive Plus One, tomorrow on <a href="http://www.ctv.ca/YourMorning">CTV's "Your Morning"</a> for&nbsp;World AIDS Day and then at 5:15 p.m. on&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/hereandnowtoronto/">CBC Radio's "Here &amp; Now."</a></p> <p>Positive Plus One&nbsp;brings together a diverse team of community members, AIDS service organizations and clinicians. Researchers say they hope the&nbsp;results will inform health-care professionals, service providers, policy-makers and&nbsp;those living in HIV-serodiscordant relationships about&nbsp;how to improve&nbsp;knowledge and services for HIV-positive people and their HIV-negative partners. &nbsp;</p> <p>According to the Ontario HIV Treatment Network Cohort Study, 23 per cent of HIV-positive people reported an HIV-negative regular partner.&nbsp;People in HIV-serodiscordant relationships face many unique challenges, including stigma and the risk of transmission between partners, but scientists, policy-makers and service providers know relatively little about how these factors affect people.<br> &nbsp;<br> For the study to be successful, researchers say, they must hear the voices of both partners to get the perspectives of both HIV-positive and HIV-negative persons. They're looking for couples from&nbsp;different backgrounds&nbsp;–&nbsp;of all genders, ethnicities, sexual identities and regions of the country.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> Thom and Vajdon say they&nbsp;hope the study will help to reduce stigma through awareness and education.</p> <p>“While the consequences of stigma are better known for positive people, their negative partners are deeply affected, too,” said Vajdon. “It’s important to highlight the experiences of negative partners, and ensure that HIV support programs and policies take their needs into account.”&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__2709 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/2016-11-30-liviana-calvazara_0.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 191px; margin: 10px; float: right;" typeof="foaf:Image">Calzavara (pictured right) is an HIV/AIDS research pioneer. She oversaw the Toronto Sexual Contact Study, the first cohort study to examine the natural history of HIV infection and the role of sexual risk behaviours. She also co-developed and co-taught the first HIV/AIDS course offered at Թϱ.&nbsp;</p> <p>Together with a number of HIV/AIDS researchers at Dalla Lana&nbsp;including Professor Emeritus&nbsp;<strong>Ted Myers</strong> and Assistant Professor <strong>Dan Allman</strong>, Calzavara has led significant international research into the behavioural determinants of HIV transmission among men who have sex with men.&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 30 Nov 2016 18:30:15 +0000 ullahnor 102598 at World AIDS Day: researchers launch free resource to improve patients' quality of life /news/world-aids-day-researchers-launch-free-resource-improve-patients-quality-life <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">World AIDS Day: researchers launch free resource to improve patients' quality of life</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-12-01T01:48:59-05:00" title="Tuesday, December 1, 2015 - 01:48" class="datetime">Tue, 12/01/2015 - 01:48</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">University College at Թϱ's downtown Toronto campus is lit up each year for World AIDS Day (photo by Johnny Guatto)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/heidi-singer" hreflang="en">Heidi Singer</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Heidi Singer</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/top-stories" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/university-college" hreflang="en">University College</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/international" hreflang="en">International</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/disease" hreflang="en">Disease</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/collaboration" hreflang="en">Collaboration</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/aids" hreflang="en">AIDS</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Թϱ and global partners create site aimed at helping health workers manage AIDS</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Millions of people are now living with –&nbsp;rather than dying from –&nbsp;HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa due to combination drug therapies.</p> <p>But the vast majority struggle to manage the many disabilities caused by this disease and its treatment. On World AIDS Day,&nbsp;University of Toronto researchers and their partners in Zambia, Kenya, South Africa and Canada <a href="http://ssa.hivandrehab.ca/">launched a free website </a>to help health workers improve the quality of life of adults and children living with HIV throughout Africa.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Now that many people in Sub-Saharan Africa are accessing life-saving treatment, new responses are needed to support people as they grow up and grow older with HIV,” says&nbsp;<strong>Stephanie Nixon</strong>, a professor of physical therapy at Թϱ who led development of the tool.</p> <p><img alt="head shot style photo of Stephanie Nixon" src="/sites/default/files/2015-12-01-nixon-headshot.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 250px; margin: 10px; float: right;">“The rehabilitation sector is not yet integrated into the health response for the 24 million people living with HIV in much of the continent,” Nixon says.</p> <p>The&nbsp;director of Թϱ’s <a href="http://icdr.utoronto.ca/">International Centre for Disability and Rehabilitation</a>, Nixon (pictured at right)&nbsp;is also&nbsp;co-founder of the <a href="http://www.hivandrehab.ca/">Canadian Working Group on HIV and Rehabilitation</a>.</p> <h2><a href="http://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2015/11/30/world-aids-day-physiotherapists-help-people-with-hiv-live-a-fuller-life.html">Read a Toronto Star article by Nixon</a></h2> <p>“Many people living longer with HIV are thinking about their future hopes and dreams,” Nixon says.&nbsp;“Rehabilitation can help people with the goals that matter to them.”</p> <p>HIV can cause disease in every part of the body. Because it targets the immune system, infections and other diseases are a constant threat. Techniques such as chest physiotherapy, for example, help people with lung infections breathe effectively. The neurological system is a target for HIV damage, leading to strokes, spinal cord infections and nerve damage in legs. These problems require rehabilitation to help people walk, swallow, live independently, and support themselves and their families.</p> <p>The medications that allow people to live with HIV can cause problems to the heart, lungs and liver. People living long-term on HIV treatments can also experience bone death in their hips and knees. Rehabilitation helps people address the impact of these conditions on their daily lives. For example, physiotherapists help to manage pain and increase function and mobility. Occupational therapists devise “workarounds” and other ways for people achieve their goals. And speech therapists help people learn to swallow and talk after brain injury. Rehabilitation also addresses the profound stigma related to both HIV and to disability.&nbsp;</p> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/tags/aids">Read more about AIDS-related research at Թϱ</a></h2> <p>In the late 1990s, as the combination therapies brought many people in Canada and other wealthy countries back from the brink of death, many hospitals offered free rehabilitation to help people regain function and independence. These life-saving medications were largely out of reach in Africa until the mid-2000s, where the vast majority of people with HIV lived, and continue to live. Today, more than seven million people throughout Africa have access to the medications, out of 24 million living with HIV. But there are few rehabilitation resources to help people live well with HIV.</p> <p>Nixon is among a small group of experts throughout Africa and Canada attempting to bring rehabilitation in the context of HIV to the continent on a meaningful scale.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Integrating rehabilitation into HIV clinical care and health policy is the next crucial step for our response to the pandemic in Africa,” says&nbsp;Esther Munalula Nkandu, senior lecturer at the University of Zambia and Africa Regional Representative for the World Confederation for Physical Therapy.</p> <p>The website,&nbsp;<a href="http://ssa.hivandrehab.ca/">How Rehabilitation Can Help People Living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Evidence-Informed Tool for Rehab Providers</a>, was adapted from <a href="http://www.hivandrehab.ca/en/resources/e-module/">a Canadian resource</a> and is also downloadable for use on paper.</p> <p>It’s designed to be a one-stop resource for physiotherapists, occupational therapists and other health workers who can quickly and easily research the most common HIV-related disabilities, and find evidence-based rehabilitation solutions, says Nixon.&nbsp;</p> <p>This innovation was funded by Grand Challenges Canada. Grand Challenges Canada is funded by the Government of Canada and is dedicated to supporting bold ideas with big impact in global health. &nbsp;</p> <h2><a href="http://www.worldaidsdayuoft.com/">Read about World AIDS Day at Hart House&nbsp;</a></h2> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-12-01-UC-AIDS-Day.jpg</div> </div> Tue, 01 Dec 2015 06:48:59 +0000 sgupta 7489 at Elton John AIDS Foundation supports Թϱ human rights program /news/elton-john-aids-foundation-supports-u-t-human-rights-program <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Elton John AIDS Foundation supports Թϱ human rights program</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-01-07T05:49:31-05:00" title="Wednesday, January 7, 2015 - 05:49" class="datetime">Wed, 01/07/2015 - 05:49</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">David Furnish, chair of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, with Sir Elton John (photo by Greg Gorman)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/lucianna-ciccocioppo" hreflang="en">Lucianna Ciccocioppo</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Lucianna Ciccocioppo</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/aids" hreflang="en">AIDS</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/law" hreflang="en">Law</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/international" hreflang="en">International</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/human-rights" hreflang="en">Human Rights</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/top-stories" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">International Human Rights Program at Faculty of Law to investigate impact of Canadian refugee policies</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The <a href="http://ihrp.law.utoronto.ca/">International Human Rights program</a> (IHRP) at the University of Toronto has received a $75,000 grant from the <a href="http://newyork.ejaf.org/">Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF)</a> to launch a project exposing the negative impact of Canada’s refugee policies on some of the world’s most vulnerable claimants&nbsp;–&nbsp;people with HIV or at&nbsp;risk of HIV due to rampant violence, discrimination based on sexual orientation&nbsp;and gender-based violence.</p> <p>“As chairman of the Elton John AIDS Foundation and as a Canadian, I am pleased to see the University of Toronto’s International Human Rights Program take the lead in advocating on behalf of HIV-positive refugee claimants seeking a better life in Canada,” said&nbsp;David Furnish.</p> <p>“The Elton John AIDS Foundation is proud to support this unique project, which is poised to bring about positive changes in policy, breakdown stigma&nbsp;and hold Canada accountable for its obligation to protect the human rights of vulnerable refugees.”</p> <p>The Faculty of Law’s IHRP has gained significant expertise advocating for people affected by HIV, in Canada and around the world, with a particular focus on the rights of African grandmothers raising children orphaned by AIDS, persecuted sexual minorities&nbsp;and prisoners.</p> <p>With EJAF’s support, and focusing on Syria and Mexico as critical case studies, the IHRP will advocate for policy changes to allow refugees with, or at&nbsp;risk of, HIV to rebuild their lives in Canada, access necessary medical treatment without fear of persecution&nbsp;and empower them to become part of the prevention equation.</p> <p>“Canada has historically been a leader in terms of protecting those fleeing persecution based on their sexual orientation or HIV status,” said&nbsp;lawyer and IHRP Director <strong>Renu Mandhane</strong>. “Unfortunately, the federal government’s new refugee policies are threatening to undermine our reputation. It’s critical that Canada continue to show leadership in terms of protecting these very vulnerable individuals.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">“</span>For a person living in a refugee camp in Lebanon or fleeing persecution in Mexico, being gay or HIV-positive is still a potential death sentence. If they can find safe refuge in Canada, we can ensure Canada plays an important role in the global fight to eradicate HIV/AIDS.”&nbsp;</p> <p>As with all IHRP initiatives, the project will involve many Թϱ&nbsp;law students in the research and advocacy.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">“</span>These refugee claimants face a unique set of challenges and vulnerabilities when claiming asylum,<span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">”</span> said&nbsp;<strong>Petra Molnar</strong>. <span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">“</span>It is imperative that their experiences with resettlement and the asylum process are critically explored so that appropriate policy and laws can be implemented.<span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">”</span></p> <p>The project will support the work of leading NGOs, and was developed with input from the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, the HIV-AIDS Legal Clinic of Ontario, the Committee for Accessible AIDS Treatment, the Refugee Law Office of Legal Aid Ontario,&nbsp;researchers in Lebanon and Canadian academics.</p> <p>A web-accessible report with country case studies and testimonies to illustrate broader trends and issues will be published in 2015 and will form the basis for advocacy targeting policy-makers by a coalition of NGOs.</p> <p>(Read more about <a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/murderous-violence-against-honduran-journalists-rise">the work of the IHRP in Honduras</a>; read Renu Mandhane's account of <a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/staff-member-explores-journalistic-freedom-expression-mexico">researching freedom of expression in Mexico</a>.)</p> <p><em>Lucianna Ciccocioppo is a writer with&nbsp;the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto.</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-01-07-elton-john-and-david-furnish.jpg</div> </div> Wed, 07 Jan 2015 10:49:31 +0000 sgupta 6722 at With HIV rates at a 20-year high, AIDS researchers discuss next steps /news/hiv-rates-20-year-high-aids-researchers-discuss-next-steps <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">With HIV rates at a 20-year high, AIDS researchers discuss next steps</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2014-09-15T04:48:47-04:00" title="Monday, September 15, 2014 - 04:48" class="datetime">Mon, 09/15/2014 - 04:48</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Sign welcoming delegates to the conference in Melbourne (photo by Scott Cresswell via Flickr)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/michael-kennedy" hreflang="en">Michael Kennedy</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Michael Kennedy</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/features" hreflang="en">Features</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/social-work" hreflang="en">Social Work</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/international" hreflang="en">International</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/collaboration" hreflang="en">Collaboration</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/aids" hreflang="en">AIDS</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work professors share expertise</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p> The scientists and activists who lead the world’s efforts to defeat one of the great medical scourges of our time met recently in Melbourne – among them three professors from the University of Toronto’s <a href="http://socialwork.utoronto.ca/">Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work</a>.</p> <p> When the 20th International AIDS conference began, the deaths of delegates aboard a Malaysian plane destroyed over Ukraine dominated the headlines. But even as scholars, politicians and community leaders mourned the loss of those colleagues, researchers shared their findings − and media took up the task of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-25/six-things-we-learnt-from-melbourne-aids-hiv-conference/5624478">reporting on important trends and discoveries</a>.</p> <p> Թϱ’s <strong>Carmen Logie</strong> presented research that focused on the devastating HIV infection rate among women particularly those who face varying types of marginalization and abuse.</p> <p> <img alt src="/sites/default/files/2014-09-12-logie.jpg" style="float:left; height:283px; margin:10px; width:225px">“I feel the global focus on women and AIDS mainly looks at maternal health and perinatal transmission, which of course is extremely important,” says Professor Logie (pictured at left).</p> <p> “But other groups like sex workers, transgender women and sexual minority women often face social and structural risk factors and discrimination that are overlooked.”</p> <p> Logie discussed the plight of <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c146.html">internally-displaced</a> women in Leogane, Haiti and their experience with intimate partner violence. (Internally-displaced persons are those who have fled their homes, often due to&nbsp;natural disasters or political upheaval, yet,&nbsp;unlike refugees, remain within their own country.)&nbsp;</p> <p> She selected Haiti because of its soaring HIV infection rate&nbsp;– the&nbsp;highest in the Western hemisphere.</p> <p> Logie's research concluded that poverty reduction was key to empowering displaced women in Leogane, and community mobilization also provided them with tools they needed to promote safety and well-being. (<a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/preventing-depression-infection-tent-cities">Read more about Logie’s work in Haiti</a>.)&nbsp;</p> <p> Professor <strong>Peter A. Newman</strong> delivered several presentations and took part in a meeting as a member of the international psychosocial studies group of the “Towards an HIV Cure” initiative.&nbsp;</p> <p> “It is crucial to engage the perspectives of community stakeholders, including key populations at risk for HIV and people living with HIV, to address thorny social and ethical challenges of HIV cure research,” says Newman, who is a Canada Research Chair in Health and Social Justice.&nbsp;</p> <p> That includes addressing concerns that research into a cure for HIV might take resources away from prevention, Newman says, and “exploring the tremendous social and behavioural implications of an HIV cure” such as who will have access.</p> <p> (<a href="http://www.chairs-chaires.gc.ca/chairholders-titulaires/profile-eng.aspx?profileID=2491">Read more about&nbsp;Newman and the complications that accompany an AIDS vaccine</a>.)</p> <p> For Professor <strong>David Brennan</strong>, the conference offered a chance to discuss his research that focuses on the role of masculinity in the relationships of gay and bisexual men of colour. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p> Sexual roles tend to be perceived in relation to gender norms with the more effeminate men being assumed to be the receptive partner, Brennan says. Brennan wanted to know whether men associate masculinity with being the insertive partner and whether that mindset affects their use of protection.&nbsp;</p> <p> “We found that insertive partners who associate their roles with their masculinity were less likely to report using condoms,” says Brennan. “But what was more interesting was that perceptions based on gender roles often do not line up with reality and therefore assumptions about sexual behaviour and sexual risk are not always accurate.”</p> <p> (<a href="http://www.ohpe.ca/node/15487">Read more about Professor’s Brennan’s research</a>.)&nbsp;</p> <p> <em>Michael Kennedy writes about health and wellness for Թϱ.</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2014-09-12-AIDS.jpg</div> </div> Mon, 15 Sep 2014 08:48:47 +0000 sgupta 6490 at