In July 2018 six members of Positively UK flew to Amsterdam to exchange views with other 20,000 activists, policy makers, funders, medics, researchers and pharmaceutical companies attending 22nd International AIDS Conference. Read the reflections of Silvia, our CEO and a lifelong advocate for women living with HIV.
by Silvia Petretti, Interim CEO
The first thing I saw, as I walked in the RAI conference centre in Amsterdam, was a group of African women chanting and holding placards “We demand Dolutegravir for Women” “Women choose what they want” “WHO listen to women, we want DTG”. The women were singing and dancing and protesting in the typical South African style developed by the Anti-Apartheid movement. Songs and call and response harmonies filled the atrium, women moved with graceful steps, in precise dancing rhythm demanding, and getting, attention. They were protesting about the warning on women using Dolutegravir, issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in May. Dolutegravir (DTG) is a drug which has shown high efficacy, it is well tolerated and it is has a high genetic barrier to resistance. It is widely prescribed here in the UK, I have been happily on it for a few years!
However, in May 2018 preliminary findings of a pregnancy surveillance study in Botswana, reported an increased risk of neural tube defects among babies of women who became pregnant while taking DTG-based regimens. The study reported 4 cases of neural tube defect out of 426 infants born from women who were taking DTG while pregnant. The neural tube is the early formation of what will become the spine, and it is formed by day 28th of pregnancy. However, the findings from Botswana still need more research. They came from an observational study, and we still do not know if there could be other causes to the neural tube defects, for example lack of folic acid. More information will be available when more data will be analysed in 2019.
Following this preliminary information, a warning was issued by the WHO about prescribing DTG to all women of childbearing age. The warning has resulted in governments of many African countries including Uganda, Kenya, Malawi and others, to take a top down blanket decision and deny access to DTG to all women, regardless of their preferences and plans around pregnancy. Later during the conference, we were invited to a meeting with WHO and UNAIDS with women living with HIV from all over the world to discuss access to DTG. What many women said was that, of course, we have concerns about side effects for ourselves, and when/if we are pregnant, the effects on the unborn babies, but we are not just baby making machines! Women need to be in control, and to have access to contraception to enable choices, alongside easy to understand evidence-based information. At the meeting I heard so many women talking about the horrors of side effects from old toxic drugs, such as efavirenz, which are well known for links to depression, instable moods, difficulty sleeping, bad dreams. Despite this they are still being denied DTG, even when pregnancy is not at all on their list of things to do, as they may be too young, too old, or simply not wanting children. What women want is access to good sexual and reproductive services which include contraception and to the most effective HIV treatment.
22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018) Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Copyright: Marten van Dijl / IAS
Photo shows: At the conference: a demonstration asks for WHO to make DTS available for women
What is concerning is the extremely high number of young women in Africa who still do not have an undetectable viral load and who would benefit incredibly from access to better ARVs. Martha Akello, communications officer of the International Community of Women Living with HIV Eastern Africa (ICWEA,) reports that for the young women she consulted with in Uganda, who had been switched to DTG, it meant that: ‘…. their lives had greatly improved because DTG has less side effects and has offered them the chance to live their lives in full once again, being able to work and fend for their families with normalcy’.
Going to the International AIDS Conference and being part this debate was an important reminder for me that access to high quality treatment must be integrated with promoting choices and rights. For women access to ARVs goes hand in hand with advances in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: our bodies our rights our choices!
WHO recommends that women of childbearing potential should receive dolutegravir if they have access to consistent and reliable contraception, but to ensure access to dolutegravir in practice, integration of sexual and reproductive health programmes and HIV programmes needs to be greatly improved.
WHO Update on antiretroviral regimens and on early infant diagnosis of HIV
Dolutegravir-based ART recommended for all – if reliable contraception is available
