{"id":6661,"date":"2018-09-16T12:22:47","date_gmt":"2018-09-16T16:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/plataformalac.org\/?p=6661"},"modified":"2018-09-20T18:38:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-20T22:38:00","slug":"unable-to-get-meds-venezuelans-with-hiv-turn-to-guasimo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/2018\/09\/unable-to-get-meds-venezuelans-with-hiv-turn-to-guasimo\/","title":{"rendered":"Unable to Get Meds, Venezuelans With HIV Turn to Gu\u00e1simo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Source:\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.poz.com\/article\/unable-get-meds-venezuelans-hiv-turn-guasimo\"><strong>POZ<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>An economic crisis is leading to desperation, DIY treatments and death.<\/p>\n<p>Those in Venezuela living with HIV are running out of options when it comes to HIV meds, which are dwindling because of an economic crisis. And desperate times lead to desperate measures. According to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/nation-world\/world\/americas\/venezuela\/article215223510.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Miami Herald<\/a>, people are resorting to natural and DIY remedies as a substitute for lifesaving medications.<\/p>\n<p>The report opens with Jes\u00fas Eduardo Rodr\u00edguez using a plant called gu\u00e1simo, or bay cedar, to treat his HIV. He blends the plant\u2019s leaves with water and drinks the concoction three times a day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEver since I started taking it, I\u2019ve been feeling better,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez, 50, told the newspaper. \u201cMaybe this is the remedy that God sent me after all of my prayers?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rodr\u00edguez is not alone. A Venezuelan doctor, Carlos P\u00e9rez, said most of his 160 HIV patients have been using the plant, which is reported to be rich in tannins and polyphenols\u2014properties believed to help fight the virus. There is, however, no solid scientific proof that the treatment actually works.<\/p>\n<p>Because of Venezuela\u2019s economic crisis, even basic medications such as antibiotics and painkillers, are in short supply. What\u2019s more, hospitals often cannot test for HIV, and condoms are scarce.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s like Venezuela has returned to the 1980s, when people used to take shark cartilage and cat\u2019s claw to treat HIV,\u201d before antiretroviral medication became the norm, said Jes\u00fas Aguais, the founder of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/aidforaids.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aid For AIDS<\/a>\u00a0(AFA), in the article. \u201cThis crisis is incredibly profound.\u201d AFA is an international organization that gives unused HIV medication to people living with the virus in 43 countries, including Venezuela.<\/p>\n<p>Mauricio Guti\u00e9rrez, an HIV activist in the country, told the Herald that in early 2018, less than 30 percent of those registered with the National AIDS Program in Venezuela were getting any treatment at all. Now, he says, almost no one can get antiretroviral medications.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce again, we\u2019re starting to see the devastating effects of&#8230;HIV, and we\u2019re seeing people with HIV dying,\u201d Guti\u00e9rrez said. \u201cThese are deaths that could have been avoided.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For a related article, read the POZ profile on Aguais titled \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.poz.com\/article\/beyond-ourselves-jesus-aguais#search-query=Aguais\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Beyond Ourselves<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source:\u00a0 POZ An economic crisis is leading to desperation, DIY treatments and death. Those in Venezuela living with HIV are running out of options when it comes to HIV meds, which are dwindling because of an economic crisis. And desperate times lead to desperate measures. According to the\u00a0Miami Herald, people are resorting to natural and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[66,74],"tags":[],"anho":[],"autor":[],"publicado_por":[],"palabras_clave":[],"class_list":["post-6661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-response-aids-tb-malaria","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6661"},{"taxonomy":"anho","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/anho?post=6661"},{"taxonomy":"autor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/autor?post=6661"},{"taxonomy":"publicado_por","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publicado_por?post=6661"},{"taxonomy":"palabras_clave","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/palabras_clave?post=6661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}