POWERFUL, POSITIVE WOMEN

Just picked up Jan+Feb issue of @PosAware featuring @Christies_Place staff & clients—so powerful and empowering! #women #HIV

Marie Fisher
San Francisco

SYNCHRONICITY

@PAeditor: Great editor’s note on #synchronicity.

@robertellsworth
Los Angeles

MOVING PIECE

I was so moved by Rick Guasco’s piece [Something more important than fear, November+December]. Thank you so much for your honesty and openness.

JD Davids
thebody.com

GOOD WILL AMBASSADOR

I wanted to say how much everyone at Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation appreciated the story you did on Kate [Burton] [Ambassador Kate, January+February]. Thank you for including so much of our work in the article.

Joel Goldman
Managing Director
Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation 

LIFESAVER

I am a 20-year-plus HIV survivor. Your 2013 HIV drug guide may have saved my life when the prison doctor tried to put me on Prezista. Your guide told me that it contains sulfa, which I am allergic to. The doctor didn’t know this, nor not to give me Tegretol, which prevents my other meds from working. Thank you! To us inside prison with no computer, you are our only resource. I am also an HIV advocate and distribute magazines to the inmates who need them most.

Kevin Sauve
Live Oak, FLorida

MORE ON PrEP

I, for one, believe PrEP is for anyone who wants to protect themselves against HIV and come close to stopping it period.

Jim
via e-mail

The special issue on PrEP was helpful to me because I’ve been passing on information about taking PrEP and what it stands for. I would recommend Truvada for anyone that is sexually active, especially if they’re barebacking. The one myth that’s being spread is that Truvada is 99% effective, which is incorrect. The percentage of effectiveness will vary according to your lifestyle and good adherence.

Raphael
via e-mail

[Editor’s Note: In the large iPrEx study PrEP decreased risk of HIV acquisition by 92% in those with measured blood drug levels indicating good adherence. A mathematical model estimated effectiveness could reach 99% for those who took Truvada at least four days a week. One’s lifestyle shouldn’t make any difference, but adherence always matters.]

DESEGREGATION

I’m a long-time reader of your magazine and it’s been wonderful learning from it. I’ve been locked up here in the Alabama prison system for 27 years and receiving your magazine for most of that time. It has helped me deal with my HIV status and given me insight on new medications. Thank you for the knowledge. By the way, I’m one of the inmates who was part of the HIV segregation lawsuit won against the Alabama Department of Correction in December 2012, Henderson v. Thomas. I was housed in the segregation unit from June 1989 to July 28, 2014.

Ronald Lee Hatcher
Bibb County Correction Facility
Brent, Alabama