Myles Helfand

For HIV-treating clinicians of a certain age, the term “lipodystrophy” probably conjures a complex mish-mash of memories: atypically large abdomens and necks; atypically thin limbs, buttocks, and faces; and a significant amount of frustration and confusion among patients during a time when antiretroviral therapy was otherwise working immunological miracles. In some very significant ways, we are treating a very different HIV epidemic these days than we were back then.

If you’re a clinician treating people with HIV, it can already feel like you have a massive list of comorbidities among your patients that you need to help prevent, screen for, and treat (or refer for treatment). It can also feel like you need to pay attention to these complications earlier in the lives of your patients living with HIV than your patients who are not, even when their viral load is well-controlled.

Public faith in U.S. federal health agencies is falling off a cliff—but there are reasons for individual clinicians and professional associations to remain hopeful about the influence they still have on their patients’ health, according to new survey results from the Annenberg Public Policy Center.