Positively Alive Jonathan Bossaer

Over the past few months, the Positively Alive Podcast guests ranged from policymakers to professionals, activists, and influencers who constantly fight against HIV, AIDS, and stigma. They have taken us on an extraordinary journey from the early days of HIV and AIDS to the progress that we have made to this date.
Despite the success obtained toward ending the HIV epidemic, our fight is not over. Now, more than ever, when we are so close to finding a cure, we need all the funding and the support that we can get.
On today’s episode, which happens to be the last one of this series, I make a summary of the main subjects we discussed over the past 15 episodes.  
I’d like to thank and acknowledge our guests, once again, for being a part of the Positively Alive journey and for their constant effort against HIV and AIDS:
Professor Peter Piot – World-renowned Belgian microbiologist;Dr. Alison Rodger – Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University College of London;Lloyd Russell-Moyle – A distinguished Member of Parliament;Bruce Richman – the Founding Executive Director of PAC;Edwin Cameron – a retired judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa;Marlene Wasserman (Dr. Eve) – couples and sex therapist, clinical sexologist and sexual medicine consultant;Mark Van Der Merwe – HIV awareness activist based in South Africa;Dr. Anthony Fauci – the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the United States;Paul Kawata – the Director of the National Minority AIDS Council;Ravindra Gupta – an Infectious Diseases clinician with a specific focus on HIV;Emma Cole – an HIV activist from the UK;Professor Dr. Linos Vandekerckhove – the principal investigator at the HIV Cure Research Center in Ghent, Belgium;Maggie De Block – the Belgian Minister of Social Affairs and Health;Patrick Reyntiens – an HIV and AIDS activist from Belgium;Jennifer Vaughan – the white single mother of three who did not fit the high-risk profile prior to her diagnosis in 2016.
You can still support, raise awareness, and be a part of our cause, by accessing the Positively Alive Resources:
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The thought of “This can’t happen to me” is still prevalent in many HIV Negative people’s minds. But as we all learned over the many decades that this virus has been present in the world, HIV does not discriminate. Even if someone doesn’t fit the typical high-risk profile, they can still end up with HIV and AIDS - and this is the case of Jennifer, a 45-years-old mom.
In today’s episode, I discuss with Jennifer how her life changed from the moment she found out she is HIV positive. She also puts an accent on the importance of disclosing your status, regardless of other people’s thoughts or misconceptions because living behind closed doors is a hard challenge that none of us should go through.
Jennifer Vaughan went from an AIDS diagnosis to undetectable. She was diagnosed with HIV in February 2016 and since then, she has become an outspoken and active advocate for other HIV positive women. As a straight, white, middle-aged, non-drug-using mom, Jennifer did not fit the typical profile. At the time of her diagnosis, her T-Cell count was at 84, considering a normal count ranges between 500 - 1500. As a 45-year-old single mother of three, she thought her life was over, but in one month of treatment, Jennifer was living her life again, due to daily medication delivered in the form of a single pill.
After some consideration, she chose to tell her story to her Facebook family and the response was incredible, receiving endless messages of love, concern, and support. In the hope that she could help others, Jennifer also did a Youtube video that went viral, and today, her Youtube Channel where she posts regularly, answering questions on a wide range of topics, has over 47,000 subscribers. The numerous comments and messages she receives daily confirm the difference she is making in the world of HIV.
So, listen to Episode 15 of Positively Alive, to find out her entire story and how she fights against the spread of HIV and stigma, through advocacy.
Questions I ask:
You talked about your partner and his reaction. Can you describe a little bit how that was and did you, at any point, feel afraid that he may leave you? And how is the relationship with him today? (13:55)What about your children, Jennifer? How do you talk to them and how do they deal with the fact that their mother has HIV? (17:05)What do you find most challenging as an activist, Jennifer? (25:03)In the era of U=U, do you feel that more people will be disclosing their status or would you say it'll take probably years before we get to a situation where we have full normalization of HIV? (26:29)What would you like to see happen in the next 10 years, for the HIV community? (35:37)
In this episode, you will learn:
How Jennifer found out about her status and how this news impacted her life. (04:37)Why Jennifer decided to go public with her status and how she became the activist that she is today. (20:07)About Jennifer’s private Facebook Group for HIV positive women. (29:23)What the biggest challenges are, in the United States, today, regarding HIV. (34:18)Jennifer’s message to people living with HIV. (36:30)
Connect with Jennifer:
WebsiteYoutube Channel
Positively Alive Resources:
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Dealing with the news of being HIV positive is hard for every individual, and it is even harder to live with HIV when you don’t fully and honestly disclose your status so that you can find support and encouragement from the people around you – both HIV positive and negative.
In today’s episode, I talk with Patrick about the benefits you have when you publicly admit that you are HIV positive, and about some of the places where you can find the support you need.
Patrick Reyntiens received his HIV diagnosis in the 1980s and he rapidly became public with his status. Since then, he is educating people in schools or other organizations about HIV and the obstacles, oppositions, and trials of all kinds of struggles that accompany it, showing them how to live without secrets, discrimination or stigmatization.
So, listen to Episode 14 of Positively Alive, to learn about Patrick’s views on HIV as a long-term survivor of AIDS.
Questions I ask:
Could you please tell us a little bit about your story and how you were able to deal with this devastating news at the time? (03:13)I can imagine that back in the '80s you have probably lost a lot of friends and people that you knew, from HIV and Aids. How did you deal with that fear yourself? (04:46)You said that you organize weekends, two times a year. What exactly happens during those weekends? (08:58)How has the response been to these weekends, from the people that attend? (10:36)What made you decide to go public so quickly and what were the initial reactions of the people around you? (18:17)What is your message to a person who gets diagnosed with HIV today, on how to best approach this new reality and then, how to continue living with HIV in the future? (30:04)
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
The importance of making contacts and connecting with people living with HIV. (06:13)The difference between taking your treatment in the ‘80s versus now. (11:59)What Patrick means when he says, “We should aim at normalizing HIV, but not at trivializing it.” (16:15)Patrick’s message for people who are thinking of getting public with their status. (21:06)The differences and the similarities between stigma in homosexual and heterosexual communities. (24:05)About Belgium’s largest Sexual Health Organization called, “Sensoa”. (27:06)
Connect with Patrick:
TwitterLinkedInSensoa
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Maggie De Block is the Minister of Social Affairs and Health since 2014. Under her mandate, a lot of progress has been made regarding HIV and AIDS.
Belgium is one of the countries that understood – and still does - the needs of HIV patients and the problems they are facing, such as stigma and discrimination or having access to treatment. Therefore, the political authorities decided to be their voice and over the past 5 years, they made it possible for HIV positive individuals to get immediate access to drugs, they introduced self-tests in 2016, and they also founded HIV Centers where people could have anonymous HIV testing.
One of the greatest accomplishments was creating the Positive Council, which is composed of HIV positive people that know the subject intimately, and they advise the Government on what measures should be taken and what the policy of HIV should be.
So, listen to Episode 13 of Positively Alive, to learn about the progress that has been made, and what is still needed to be done to get closer to the world’s common goal of eradicating the HIV epidemic.
Some Questions I ask:
Could you please give an overview of what you believe are your major milestones since you took office in 2014? (03:30)What do you consider are the main challenges ahead? (07:10)How hopeful are you to find a cure? (08:17)Where would you position Belgium as a player, internationally, in the research towards finding a cure for HIV? (09:47)What does the future hold for you? (24:36)
In this episode, you will learn:
Her opinion on the debate regarding whether we’re close or not to end the epidemic of HIV. (12:04)The correlation between lower HIV infections and the increase of other sexually transmitted diseases like Syphilis, Gonorrhea, and Chlamydia. (13:15)Her opinion on adding the fourth 90% - the mental wellbeing – into the 90-90-90 objective. (15:29)About the stigma on HIV according to the Minister. (17:45)About the significance of U=U in the wider context of HIV in Belgium. (21:42)
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Over the last 10 years, people have been looking for HIV’s hiding place. Mainly what they did was they tried to find the virus in a certain organ and in a certain cell, and quantify that. But, as the virus evolves before you start the antiretroviral therapy, the organs in the body are infected with a slightly different virus, so a new approach had to be looked at, in order to find the viral reservoir.
In this episode, Professor Vandekerckhove shares his laboratory’s latest discovery – the location of the viral reservoir – and breaks it down for us to understand the impact this has on finding a cure for HIV and ending the epidemic.
Prof. Dr. Linos Vandekerckhove is the principal investigator at the HIV Cure Research Center in Ghent, Belgium, which he founded in 2009. He graduated from the Medical School KULeuven in 1998 and obtained his Ph. D. in 2006 from the Rega Institute, also in Leuven. In 2001 he worked for a year at the Pretoria Academic Hospital in South Africa, in the service of Internal Medicine.
In 2009 he started his own laboratory and a year later he spent 5 months in San Francisco to familiarize himself with research on a cure. He combined his infectious disease specialist education program with a Ph. D in Professor Debyser’s laboratory for Molecular Virology. With this combination, he bridges the gap between Clinical Infectious Disease at the AIDS clinic and basic Molecular Virology research.
In 2010 he worked as an invited researcher at the Gladstone Institute in Eric Verdin and Warner lab. Since then, he has been working as an assistant professor in Internal Medicine at the University of Ghent, Belgium. Today, his laboratory is a team leader for HIV reservoir research.
Listen to Episode 12 of Positively Alive, to learn about the latest discovery in this field - the location of the viral reservoir of the HIV virus – and what that means for people living with HIV.
Questions I ask:
Could you please elaborate a little bit on why the HIV Cure Research Center was established, and what exactly do you do at the research center? (03:59)How easy is it to find patients for your studies? (08:30)How do you manage the risk that is involved with doing those research programs? (09:17)You have also mentioned that if someone is on treatment and suddenly stops that treatment, the virus will have a rebound that is faster than compared to before. At what exact rate does it rebound, and does it also mean that the virus has become stronger? (13:51)How hopeful are you, really, that we are close to a cure for HIV? (18:52)What are the specific needs of the HIV Cure and Research Center? (21:26)What would you say to young researchers who start a career in this specific area? (25:30)
In this episode you will learn:
The importance of international collaboration in actually finding a solution to the epidemic. (06:20)Where the HIV viral reservoir is located inside the body. (10:23)The impact on the HIV positive individuals that this new discovery has, in terms of medication and costs. (17:10)The significance of U=U within the context of the HIV Cure and Research Center studies. (22:59)Linos’s message for people living with HIV today. (26:42)
Positively Alive Resources:
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Living with HIV now has changed a lot compared to 30 years ago; the scientists have made major breakthroughs and the treatment is really effective now in suppressing the viral load, making people undetectable and untransmittable and helping them live a normal life. Also, the access to information about HIV and AIDS has improved considerably but still, the majority of the concerns and the questions asked are the same as 25 – 30 years ago.
In today’s episode, Emma shares with us how it was to live with HIV without hiding it, in a period when people were afraid to even shake your hand.
Emma Cole is an HIV activist from the UK who speaks out publicly as an HIV positive woman in an attempt to break down the misperceptions that many still have about HIV. Emma has lived with HIV for 28 years, smashing the 8 to 10 years she had been given to live. Since then, she has undertaken over 1,000 public speaking engagements to a wide variety of audiences, including schools, health service providers, the police, social services, church groups, and colleges. Through her public speaking, she offers insight into how the virus affects those living with it, mentally and physically.
In her 26th year of living with HIV, Emma ran all 26 miles of the London marathon, proving how she can still do anything she had put her mind to. Emma was featured in a number of magazine and newspaper articles and she has also participated in programs for both national and local radio in support of World AIDS Day. In 2001, Emma was one of three women featured in the critically acclaimed BBC documentary, “Positive Women”, and more recently she was the opening speaker at TEDx Guildford 2018.
So, listen to Episode 11 of Positively Alive, to learn the story of a woman who accepted her diagnosis from day one and fought to destigmatize it since then.
Questions I ask:
Could you take us back to the year 1991 and the moment you received the news and what impact this has had on your life? (03:37)How do you feel the reality was different back then than what it is today? (07:10)There's a recently conducted survey in Belgium that states that long-term survivors are more prone to loneliness and depression. Is that also the case in the UK? (10:18)From your perspective as a long-term survivor and HIV activist, how has the ignorance, prejudice, the stigma, and the fear changed in your opinion, or hasn't it at all? (16:08)Is there a specific demographic that you would say is more important to target when it comes to HIV education in the UK? (30:49)Is there any specific dream you have as an HIV advocate? (32:50)
In this episode, you will learn:
How Emma coped with the news of being HIV Positive. (05:13)What Emma wanted to prove by running the 26-miles marathon on her 26th year of living with HIV. (11:32)Emma’s opinion on U=U. (13:02)What Emma sacrificed by accepting to be a part of the BBC documentary, “Positive Women” and how exposing herself publicly has impacted her life. (16:29)What Emma does through her organization, “Positive Voice”. (26:37)Emma’s message to people living with HIV, from a long-term survivor’s perspective. (33:27)
 Positively Alive Resources:
WebsitePositively Alive Youtube ChannelInstagramFacebook GroupFacebook PageTwitterDonate
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.