Campaign to End AIDS

Please consider signing your organization on to the comments to be delivered to The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV & AIDS (PACHA) on Wednesday during the public comment period.

The comments call attention to the restoration of the ban on the use of federal funding for syringe exchange. It notes that President Obama included language allowing federal funding for syringe exchange with input from local health and law enforcement authorities. The comments ask PACHA, in its advisory role, to send a letter to President Obama to ask him to make syringe exchange a top issue during appropriations negotiations. Unfortunately, the time to sign on is very short. We would like to have all sign ons complete by 4p EST/1p PST May 15 – a little more than 24 hours.

Please sign on by sending an email to zfellows@aidsunited.org including the following information:

Organization Name (exactly as you want it written down):

Organization city and state:

Contact name:

Contact position:

Phone:

For more info, contact William McColl, Director of Political Affairs at AIDS United, 202.408.4848, ext 247.

Click here for more information on PACHA.

Written by C2EA Blogger Xuan Trang Le, Washington DC

I am a peer educator in the Promising Futures Program that trains teens to use hip-hop music and other media to educate our peers about various adolescent topics including violence, nutrition, and sexually transmitted diseases. Our mission is to not only train and educate our peers about various topics, but also to change the high HIV rate that DC holds.

Recently, there was a Rubber Runway event held at Howard University Blackburn Center. The event was a combination of musical performances and fashion. The purpose of this event was to raise awareness about condom use, HIV/AIDS, healthy relationships, and more. Events like this help reduce stigma by making topics like this well known throughout the metropolitan area and to also let people know that this is an appropriate topic to talk about and to not shy away from. Hence, events like this helps youth prepare for AIDS 2012 because they now know more about the topic, and if they didn’t before they are now aware of it. That way, when AIDS 2012 comes around, it will not be such a surprise to them, or something they feel ashamed of.

Nonetheless, almost all DC based organizations collaborated to debut this event (The Women’s Collective, Advocates for Youth, Metro TeenAIDS, Childrens National, Sasha Bruce, NAACP and of course, us).

Our contribution was a banana skirt made out of condoms. Josephine Baker who wore a skirt made of artificial bananas during her Danse Sauvage performance inspired us. Putting this skirt together was not easy. I am not good at sewing, and to sew a skirt made up of condoms wasn’t something I expected to be a task of a peer educator.

However, from this experience I realized that I do have an expertise in sewing, and to see my team work together to create a piece that represents Promising Futures was an amazing feeling. It was stressful to organize everything, but when our model, Chinwe Obodo (and winner of the Ms. Sexual Health Pageant we hosted for National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day), showcased our piece, it made all of our work worthwhile. Thus, we helped spread awareness, which was the purpose of this event!

For more information about AIDS 2012 visit www.aids2012.org and to learn about what Promising Futures is doing to prepare DC area youth for this event, you can join the DC Community Coalition (DCC) Youth Core.

Xuan Trang Le is a graduating senior at the Benjamin Banneker Senior Academic High School and attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Fall. She is a peer educator in the Promising Futures program, which is one of many youth serving agencies involved in the DCC planning for the International Conference on AIDS this summer in Washington, DC.

By Cheryl Overs for RH Reality Check

Greece has been in the news for prosecuting HIV positive sex workers and posting the women’s photographs on the Internet.

In the course of our research on sex work at the Michael Kirby Centre for Public Health and Human Rights in Melbourne we have noticed that public health prosecutions and ‘naming and shaming’ of HIV positive sex workers occurs in cities and towns across the world, including in the UK and US. We are also observing a general increase in mandatory HIV testing and the emergence of various other links between medical procedures and law enforcement in the context of female sex work.

Nobody doubts that these actions violate established and fundamental human rights, including the Greek health authorities. They raise an age old discourse by claiming that the treatment of the women is subjugates human rights for valid public health considerations.

Successful HIV prevention is known to depend on a large portion of sex workers and clients using condoms and accessing STI and HIV treatment. Nobody doubts that HIV testing is crucial, especially now that there is effective ARV treatment that also significantly reduces transmission of the virus. The strategies for increasing access to testing and treatment that have been successful are reducing the burden of criminalisation and discrimination and providing respectful services including quality health care, information and social support. Crucially this has to apply to migrant sex workers too.

A randomised controlled trial may not be possible but there is sufficient research and experience to compare the results of ‘rights based’ approaches with heavy handed tactics like those used in Greece that have been shown to drive sex industries underground and reduce the number of sex workers reached by HIV prevention services. Thus it is clear that repeatedly testing a few ‘legal’ sex workers while alienating ‘illegal’ sex workers from services and testing them forcibly in the wake of sporadic raids is not good public health.

Sometimes medical ethicists grapple with complex cases that genuinely raise conflicts between human rights and public health. This is not such a case. The Greek health authorities and many other governments and local authorities that have taken similar actions against sex workers have both the human rights and the public health very wrong.

Follow Cheryl Overs on Twitter @CherylOvers.
Click here for more from RH Reality Check.

Beginning this Spring and Summer, Positive Brothers United (PBU), based in Houston (TX), is working on one of the most boldest and baddest moves in prevention, which is aimed at encouraging gay men of color who are HIV positive to be ok with talking about their status an telling others. When we talk about our status, it makes it easier to disclose to sex partners and make better and healthier decisions.

We’ve all done a great job at testing and prevention and that should definately continue. PBU’s project aim is at is “disclosure and self-empowerment”.

So many gay men of color are living in shame and fear of talking openly about our HIV status or their sexuality. It isnt easy because of stigma and the fear of losing of family, lovers, friends, or jobs, but empowered minds make better decisions. This project is not about blame, ridicule, or calling out. Anyone is free to join the campaign, to speak up and speak out, and use their stories to help and empower others.

You dont have to be HIV positive to help sponsor, donate or volunteer with this… Get involved!

To learn more about Positive Brothers United and the ‘I Am Not Ashamed’ campaign, contact Cortney Smith.

Washington, D.C. — WhatsTheT.com has teamed up with the Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA) Youth Caucus to provide a lucky reader an all-inclusive, sponsorship to attend the 2012 Youth Action Institute (YAI). The 2012 YAI will be held in Washington, D.C. June 10-17. The WhatsTheT YAI Correspondent will document and capture their experience and share it with the WhatsTheT community. The WhatstheT YAI Correspondent is the presence and voice for the WhatsTheT community. The individual will compile videos, pictures and words which will be featured on WhatsTheT and C2EA Youth websites.

How to Enter

Grab your flip cam, your camera phone or any other device that records video and sound. Jot down some thoughts and tell us why you would be an awesome WhatsTheT YAI Correspondent. Remember to also answer in 3-5 minutes one of the following questions:

- What do you know about HIV & AIDS? How does HIV/AIDS affect you and your peers?

- What changes would you like to see in your local community around HIV & AIDS?

- What gaps in services can you identify in your community with HIV & AIDS?

To enter, upload a YouTube video and e-mail the link to c2ea@WhatsTheT.com. You may also enter by sending a tweet with the video link to @WhatsTheT using the Hashtag #WhatsTheTYAI. Videos must be received by May 7th by Midnight EST.

Who Can Participate?

Anyone between the ages of 14 and 29, located in the United States, regardless oftheir past experience working on HIV and AIDS issues. If you’re passionate about working to end AIDS, then this is made for you. The Campaign To End AIDS especially encourages people living with HIV and AIDS, women, and people of color to apply. The winner must be available to attend the entire duration of YAI and actively participate in all programming activities and events.

What Are My Responsibilities as the What’s The T YAI Correspondent?

The WhatsTheT YAI Correspondent is the presence and voice for the WhatsTheT community. The individual will compile videos, pictures and words recapping their experience and will be featured on What’sTheT and C2EA websites.

How Is the Winner Selected?

A panel of judges comprised of 1 Youth Caucus member, 1 member of WhatsTheT community and1 member of HIV & AIDS community will review all submissions. Entrants will be scored for Creativity 25%, Personality 25%, Effectiveness of Idea 25% and Commitment to Cause 25%. The entrant with the highest scores in all areas will determined to be the winner. The winner will be announced on May 11th on WhatsTheT.com. The C2EA Youth Caucus will provide the winner with round-trip airfare, hotel accommodations, and meals for the duration of the Institute.

What Is Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA)?

The Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA) is a diverse, exciting coalition of people that include those living with HIV & AIDS, their advocates and their loved ones. Together, we’re demanding that our leaders exert the political will to stop the epidemic, in the U.S. and abroad, once and for all. Click here to join C2EA today!

What Is the Youth Action Institute (YAI)?

Every year, the Youth Action Institute creates and carves AIDS activists and leaders. Since 2005, C2EA Youth has brought a diverse group of 14 to 29-year-olds to a college campus to train and empower them to become the AIDS policy-makers and protest leaders of today and tomorrow. While some of the hundreds of participants through the years arrived with a bit of knowledge about AIDS, most were just energetic young people from different walks of life — inexperienced but eager to learn. The 2012 YAI will be held June 10-17 in Washington, DC.

Will I Need to Bring Money?

At the conclusion of each day, participants are free to enjoy DC and the surrounding area. Attendees are encouraged, but not required to bring spending money.

Questions?

Contact us at c2ea@WhatsTheT.com.

About WhatsTheT

Established in 2005, WhatsTheT.com is the leading urban, gay entertainment blog in America. It provides celebrity news and entertainment with a twist. By focusing on the positive aspect of the LGBT community, WhatsTheT.com prides itself in being a community leader and communicating relevant news to enlighten, educate, and entertain the gay community.

New York, NY — AIDS Activists from dozens of organizations joined together to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the founding of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP).

Over 2,000 people marched from New York’s City Hall to Wall Street. The AIDS Activists highlighted the demand for a financial speculation tax, a tiny tax on speculative financial transactions that would raise up to $350 billion in the United States annually to fund 15 million people on treatment by 2015 and an eventual end to the AIDS pandemic. People living with AIDS around the country have been facing enormous cuts to their lifesaving social services.

AIDS activist highlighted the definitive study that came out this summer called HTPN 052 which proved that treatment is an effective form of HIV prevention as well as the massive gaps in access to high-impact prevention—everything from condoms to housing to clean syringes and programs for sex workers and gay men. The Economist (June, 2011) featured economic models showing that we could actually move toward ending the epidemic within a generation with action now.

“AIDS Activists have been occupying Wall Street since 1987 recognizing that corporate greed and the political inaction that it buys fuels the epidemic.”, says Nadine Bloch, We Can End AIDS Coalition Coordinator.

On July 24th, tens of thousands of people living with AIDS and their advocates will be mobilizing to end AIDS during the International AIDS Conference. This will be the largest AIDS mobilization in the past 20 years and will be held four months before the Presidential election.

Click HERE to join the We Can End AIDS Mobilization!

By David Crary for The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — For many HIV-positive Americans, and those who advocate on their behalf, these are days of anxious waiting as the Supreme Court ponders President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.

This loose-knit community — made up of activists, health professionals and an estimated 1.2 million people living with HIV — has invested high hopes in the Affordable Care Act, anticipating that it could dramatically improve access to lifesaving care and treatment. The act is now in limbo as the high court deliberates on its constitutionality, notably its requirement that most Americans obtain health insurance. A ruling could come in June.

“The HIV treatment community sees the act as a critical step in our fight against the AIDS epidemic,” said Scott Schoettes of Lambda Legal, a national gay-rights advocacy group. “People have been counting on it, making plans based on its implementation, so for it to be pulled out from under their feet at this point would be a tremendous loss.”

Among its many provisions, the health care law has two major benefits for HIV-positive people: It expands Medicaid so that those with low incomes can get earlier access to treatment, and it eliminates limits on pre-existing conditions that have prevented many people with HIV from obtaining private insurance.

Under current policies, low-income HIV-positive people often do not qualify for Medicaid if they are not yet sick enough to be classified as disabled.

In the view of advocacy groups, this creates a cruel Catch 22 — at a stage when they are still active and productive, these people can’t afford the antiretroviral treatments that could help them stay that way. Only when their condition worsens are they able to qualify for Medicaid and get treatment that might have prevented the deterioration.

The health care act would remove the disability requirement and makes Medicaid available to a broader range of low-income adults.

“It will prolong life potentially by decades for literally hundreds of thousands of persons,” said the National Minority AIDS Council in its Supreme Court brief. “Individuals can continue to work and go about their daily lives as productive members of society.”

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, only about 13 percent of people with HIV have private health insurance and about 24 percent have no coverage at all. As a group, HHS says, these people “have been particularly vulnerable to insurance industry abuses” and face barriers to obtaining care from qualified providers.

Under the new law, insurers cannot rescind existing coverage to adults unless there’s evidence of fraud. As if 2014, when the law is scheduled for full implementation, insurers will not be allowed to deny coverage to anyone with HIV/AIDS or impose annual limits on coverage.

Schoettes, who is Lambda Legal’s HIV Project director and is HIV-positive himself, says this part of the law would curtail harmful insurance practices.

“Most private insurers have refused to provide affordable coverage to those with HIV,” he and other Lambda Legal lawyers wrote in a brief submitted to the Supreme Court in March.

“This market failure has caused serious consequences both for individuals with HIV — who suffer unnecessary illness and premature death — and for society generally in higher overall health care costs and lost productivity,” the lawyers wrote. “Virtually all this suffering is avoidable: medical care is available that can turn HIV into a chronic, manageable condition.”

America’s Health Insurance Plans, which represents major private health insurers, opposed Obama’s health care law. The trade group says it supports expanding coverage to most Americans but believes key provisions in the law are poorly designed and will raise costs and cause disruptions.

The organization’s spokesman, Robert Zirkelbach, acknowledged that under the current system, individuals with HIV or AIDS do find it hard to obtain private coverage if they already had the disease. “If people wait until after they’re sick, they’re often not able to get it,” he said.

However, he said health plans were active in trying to improve treatment and care for HIV-positive Americans, both their own clients and others. He said insurers did sometimes rescind coverage on grounds that a patient had not fully disclosed required information, but that such instances were rare.

Among HIV-positive people without private insurance, many rely on public programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, but others are not eligible. As a last resort, if they meet the low-income criteria, they can seek financial assistance through the federal Ryan White Care Act.

However, advocates say the result is often patchwork health care — or no care at all. Many uninsured people don’t get tested, don’t know their HIV status and unwittingly transmit the infection to others.

Antiretroviral treatment is expensive — often more than $18,000 per year. But advocacy groups say treatment is cost-effective, enabling more people to be self-sufficient and reducing later spending on acute care and stays at hospices.

Advocacy groups also contend that the positive effects of the federal health care act can be foretold by the experience of Massachusetts, which adopted similar legislation in 2006. According to a study last year by Harvard Law School’s Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, new HIV infections dropped by 37 percent in Massachusetts from 2005 to 2008, while rising by 8 percent in the rest of U.S.

By federal estimate, about 50,000 new cases of HIV infection occur annually in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control’s latest figures show that gay and bisexual men account for about 60 percent of the new infections; blacks also are affected disproportionately, accounting for about 13 percent of the population and about 44 percent of new HIV infections.

The CDC also says the HIV infection rate in poor urban areas is far higher than for the rest of the U.S. — and is on par with the rate in such AIDS-devastated countries as Haiti and Angola.

“HIV is a disease of poverty,” said Dr. Michael Saag, an HIV physician and researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “That’s why the health care law is critically important.”

In Alabama, he said, funding to provide HIV treatment for low-income people has not risen to meet growing demand, and clinics lack adequate staff and resources.

“Once on treatment, transmission of HIV is cut to almost zero — but where do these people get treatment?” Saag asked. “The question to people who are against the Affordable Care Act is, ‘What are we going to do instead?’”

Saag is a past chairman of the HIV Medicine Association, representing more than 4,800 health care professionals and researchers. The current chair, Dr. Judith Aberg of the New York University School of Medicine, recently pleaded for the health care law to be upheld.

“For the first time in 30 years, thanks to advances in HIV prevention and treatment research, we can realistically envision the end of the greatest pandemic of our time,” she said. “To reach this goal, we cannot afford to take any steps backward.”

In Illinois, state Rep. Greg Harris, who is HIV-positive, has joined with colleagues in fighting to minimize funding cuts for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, a joint state-federal initiative providing HIV medications to low-income people.

Harris believes the Affordable Care Act can be a huge help in providing more HIV-positive people with health insurance. Were it to be rejected by the Supreme Court, he said, “It would take away a lot of hope for a lot of people.”

AIDS activists will demonstrate how people with AIDS are “being kicked to the curb” by Mayor Bloomberg and HRA Commissioner Robert Doar due to recent AIDS housing policy changes, which leave more people with AIDS in the streets in front of City Hall today at 11am.

The demonstration is a part of the 25th Anniversary march and rally to commemorate AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT-UP), which forced NYC and the nation to respond to the needs of people with AIDS in the 1980s and 1990s.

“ACT-UP formed 25 years ago to demand that NYC and the nation put resources into helping people with AIDS access basic care and services,” said Charles King, CEO for Housing Works. “Today, Housing Works is still fighting for the same demands for people—the right to housing for people with HIV, the right to treatment and care, and the right to prevention methods like access to syringes and condoms.”

Housing Works has always emphasized that “housing is the key” to ending the AIDS epidemic, and now supported by plenty of research. Despite this fact, NYC’s social services have made the reality of affordable housing even more difficult for people with HIV. Housing Works has been actively advocating against recent changes to NYC’s policies for people living with AIDS under the HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA).

“If Mayor Bloomberg HRA Commissioner Doar continues to cut services for people with AIDS, you’re going to see more homeless people in the streets of New York, just like this demonstration today, said Derrick Chandler, NYS Issues Organizer for Housing Works. “We need to make sure that the city reverses the recent changes to HASA that make it harder for people with AIDS to get access to affordable housing.”

In February 2011, NYC’s Human Resources Administration HRA announced it would no longer pay the full brokers’ fee for HASA clients in search of housing. It would only pay half. At the same time, they also decided to issue vouchers—not checks—to pay security deposits to landlords who have tenants on public assistance. As a result, many brokers and landlords alike no longer want to work with HASA clients, leaving many with fewer rental options.

This past December, HRA Commissioner Robert Doar announced a new policy that would allow HASA to refuse permanent housing to people who did not pass a substance use screening and refused treatment prescribed by the city. The policy would penalize HASA clients who wanted assistance in rent arrears payments or with getting into permanent housing.

“ACT-UP fought for many of the services for people with HIV that exist in New York City like HASA, And now we’re fighting to prevent those services from being cut due to bad budget policy,” said Kristin Goodwin, director of NYC policy and organizing for Housing Works. “Poor people with HIV didn’t cause the economic crisis, and they should not be forced to have their services cut because of the actions of bankers and hedge fund managers.”

ACT-UP and its allies will also be using the march to pump up the volume on a growing nationwide outcry for a “Financial Speculation Tax” (Fi.S.T.). This policy would involve a small tax — a mere fraction of one percent — on speculative trading by Wall Street investment banks, hedge funds and other large financial institutions. Activists say funds from the tax would be invested in providing full access to treatment and services – such as housing—for people with HIV across the globe.

Additional organizations are expected to join the demonstration in New York City, Health GAP, National Nurses United, OWS Healthcare for the 99% Working Group, Visual AIDS, MIX NYC, Le Petit Versailles, Queerocracy, Queering OWS and others.

On the day of the march, follow @housingworks on Twitter for live video and photos, and we’ll be using the hashtag #ACTUP25.

Housing Works currently has 166 units of housing, and is planning to add 500 units over five years. One day following the action, Housing Works will be displaying a model of one of its housing units at its Design On A Dime event, where proceeds will be going to support a new 12 unit apartment building in Brooklyn scheduled to open later this year. Housing Works will be conducting press tours of the model unit on display entitled, Living Room: Housing Works Builds A Home at Design on a Dime on April 26th following the Act Up anniversary events. To schedule a tour, email Kenyon Farrow, Communications Manager at k.farrow@housingworks.org.

By Wendell Hutson for the Chicago City Hall Examiner

A non-profit organization has given new meaning to affordable housing with its Phoenix House complex on Chicago’s West Side geared toward patients who are homeless.

The $18 million, 66-unit apartment complex, at 1251 S. Sawyer Ave. in the North Lawndale community, was developed by AIDSCare Inc., and financed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for HIV/AIDS individuals, said John LeFlore, housing manager for Phoenix House.

The complex is comprised of three buildings: 16, 18 and 32 units, respectively.

‘The Phoenix House consists of permanent residences for those infected with HIV/AIDS,” he said. “Rents are based on a resident’s income, so not everyone pays the same for rent.”

“Sure, someone homeless with this disease could live at a shelter, but they wouldn’t receive the same care as they would here,” LeFlore said. “Plus it is some comfort to patients when they are living around others battling the same disease.”

There are social service programs on-site for residents, as well as a computer lab and other amenities.

Phoenix House began construction four years ago and completed phase three of a five-phase project in January. Two more buildings for housing are scheduled soon.

Erasing stigmas AIDS patients often face is another reason Phoenix House is an ideal residence, said Kelley Carta, director of operations for the facility.

“There are families living here with small children, and it’s disheartening when kids are teased by other children because they found out about their mother’s health condition,” she said. “We have a lot of single moms living here. One thing great for kids living here is that they do not have to listen to cruel jokes because everyone is basically in the same boat.”

Not everyone is happy about Phoenix House being in North Lawndale, where it stretches nearly a block long.

Candice Perry, 40, who lives around the corner from the Phoenix House, said housing for HIV/AIDS patients should be located in isolated places.

“The Pacific Garden shelter was moved from downtown to the West Side (1458 S. Canal St.) in an isolated location because Mayor Daley didn’t want tourists to see them. So why this housing complex couldn’t be built over there as well?” Perry questioned. “Who wants to look at HIV/AIDS people especially when their condition changes for the worse?”

That’s all the more reason to have such a housing complex, LeFlore said. “A person infected with this disease sometimes cannot work, and that hurts their ability to take care of their family,” he said.

Loss of property value because of the Phoenix House complex concerns some North Lawndale.

“It might not be much, but at least I can say I am a homeowner,” said Jerald Nichols, 60, who lives in a two-bedroom frame house three blocks from Phoenix House. “I paid my house off five years ago and plan to leave it to my kids and grandkids. And I don’t want the value of it going down because I now live around a bunch of sick people.”

The facility is located in U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis’ 7th Congressional District. He supports it.

“I have been delighted with this program and what it is trying to accomplish,” Davis said. “Before the Phoenix House was built, there were community hearings held so we could find out how residents felt about it, and originally people embraced this project.”

And not all North Lawndale residents are opposed.

“I think it’s wonderful that such a place exists for HIV/AIDS patients, and I hope a few bad apples do not discourage more buildings like this one,” said Renay Lewis, 37. “I just think people have misconceptions about AIDS patients, and if they took the time to learn more about the disease, maybe their fear would go away.”

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, there is a difference between HIV and AIDS.

HIV, which stands for human immunodeficiency virus, is the virus that causes AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). HIV may be passed from one person to another when infected blood, semen or vaginal secretions come in contact with an uninfected person’s broken skin or mucous membranes. And infected pregnant women could pass HIV to their baby during pregnancy or delivery, as well as through breast-feeding.

Not everyone infected with HIV develops AIDS, although most do, according to the CDC.

The CDC estimates that about 1.2 million U.S. residents are living with HIV or AIDS and about a quarter of them do not know they have it. It also estimates about 75 percent of the 40,000 new infections each year are in men and about 25 percent in women. About half of the new infections are in blacks even though they make up only 12 percent of the U.S. population, according to the census data.

New York, NY April 2012—In just three weeks, over 50 design stars will come together for Housing Works’ spectacular interior design shopping benefit, Design on a Dime, at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea. All four of this year’s co-chairs, James Huniford, Charlotte Moss, Evette Ríos and Lara Spencer, will attend to raise funds for Housing Works. Housing Works is a non-profit with a mission to end AIDS and homelessness.

Design on a Dime features the worlds top interior designers who will create a room vignette using new, donated merchandise, which is then sold for 50 to 70 percent off retail pricing. Event sponsors include HomeGoods, Valspar, and HSBC Private Bank. ELLE DECOR, House Beautiful and VERANDA are the official media partners of Design on a Dime 2012.

Now in its 8th year, the benefit will help to raise funds for Housing Works’ newest residence for New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. The Jefferson Avenue Residence consists of 12 units of supportive housing and will open in Summer 2012.

Here’s a sneak peak at some of this year’s exciting steals:

For more steals and deals from all of our designer rooms follow Housing Works Inc. on Pinterest. Enter our “Pin a Room” contest April 12-19th for a chance to win 2 tickets to Design on a Dime 2012.

WHAT: Housing Works 8th-annual Design on a Dime Benefit

WHO: Charlotte Moss, Evette Ríos and Lara Spencer join founding chair James Huniford, and dozens of other top designers and celebrities.

WHEN: VIP Designer Meet and Greet, April 26th (5:30 -6:30pm)

Opening Night Reception and Shopping (6:30pm-9:30pm) Public Sale, April 27-28 (10am-6pm)

WHERE: Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 W. 18th St., New York City

BENEFITS: Housing Works Jefferson Avenue Residence, a new housing development in Brooklyn for homeless adults living with HIV/AIDS opening summer 2012

TICKETS: www.housingworks.org/dime Ticket buyers can also call 347-473-7457.

Written by C2EA Blogger Brandon Holden, Washington DC

As the beautiful couple walks down 7th street, they attract so much attention. Women, men, and school children stare in disgust as they view the two male hands interlocked. Slurs, names, and stereotypes are sporadically thrown at the two lovers. You wonder why this couple is causing so much negative tension. Well, its because both of their sexes are the same and they are not afraid to publicize their shared affection.

Homophobia is a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards homosexuals. Often times we will hear individuals call homosexuals “faggots,” or other ruthless and offensive names. There are various stigmas that are targeted towards homosexuals, some of which are:

“they have the highest rate of HIV/AIDS;”

“they are sexually loose;”

“men are overly feminine;”

“women are very butch;”

“there are always drama related to homosexuals;”

“homosexuality is perceived as a white-man phenomena,” and etc.

However, stigmas are generalizations that are irrational; therefore, these stigmas targeted towards homosexuals are fallacious. Not only are these disgusting generalizations fallacious, they are detrimental.

Today, a plethora of gay and lesbian youth have taken their own lives, due to the insecurities of others. The slurs and irrational comments force gay men and lesbians to ghettoize themselves, because of the fear created by public opinion. Something needs to be done to save the lives of the youth who are bullied by negative voices.

A study exercised by the University of California at Davis observed that “Once [gay men or lesbians] come out, lesbians and gay men risk rejection by others, discrimination, and even violence, all experiences with psychological consequences that can endure long after their immediate physical effects have dissipated.

Being the target of discrimination, for example, often leads to feelings of sadness and anxiety; it also can lead to an increased sense that life is difficult and unfair, and dissatisfaction with one’s larger community.” It is evident that stigma does have an affect on people.

Those who make the statements are at times called “ignorant.” Well ignorance is an excuse for stupidity. We should not excuse people for their wrong doings, and we should not act as bystanders when we here these derogatory terms.

The question remains, how do we stop the stigma behind homosexuality and lesbianism? Because anti-gay attitudes have complex cultural roots, are affected by many other social and psychological variables, they cannot be eradicated through any one approach.

One solution is to take a stand and challenge the negative mediums of stigma. Another solution is to create the same normality associated with heterosexuals, with homosexuals. By doing so, the idea of homosexuality will seem less “exotic” and “taboo” thus allowing people to live freely alongside with homosexuals and lesbians.

Also, those who are targeted by stigma need to band together a use their own powerful voices to triumph over the frivolous negative mediums of stigma. We can fight, we can stand against, and we can end the future of discrimination towards lesbians and gay males.

Brandon Holden is a graduating senior at Benjamin Banneker Senior Academic High School in Washington DC. Brandon is also peer educator in the Promising Futures Program, a member of the AIDS 2012 DC Community Coalition Youth Force and an uprising freshman at Bucknell University this Fall.

Brandon

Join The Campaign To End AIDS and become a blogger!
To comment or to express an opinion to the writer, send comments to info@campaigntoendaids.org.

Housing Works will once again join forces with AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT-UP), to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the organization that gave birth to Housing Works. The massive demonstration and march will take place on Wednesday, April 25th, starting at 11am at City Hall and ending on Wall Street. Hundreds of protestors are expected to converge for a day-long siege in Lower Manhattan to demand local, national and international governments target the 1% to fix the global economic crisis, and to end budget-balancing on the backs of poor people with HIV.

On the day of the march, follow @housingworks on Twitter for live video and photos, and we’ll be using the hashtag #ACTUP25.

Written by C2EA Blogger Brandon Plain, Houston Texas

After over 30 Years of HIV eluding the world’s leading scientists and virologists, the public is still left asking, do we have a vaccine? Not quite. Are we close, maybe? There has been a lot of talk lately about Pre and Post Exposure Prophylaxis. Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PeP) is antiretroviral drug treatment that is prescribed within 72 hours after someone is thought to have been exposed to the Human Immune Deficiency virus known as HIV, which causes AIDS. The goal and purpose of this form of treatment is to allow the immune system a chance to provide protection against the virus before it can be established (seroconversion) into the person’s body. The widely used combination of post-exposure prophylaxis is zidovudine, lamivudine and nelfinavir. (Epivir, Retrovir, and Viracept). These three medications, also categorized as a cocktail, are usually administered as a month
supply and can cause serious side effects from nausea and vomiting to headaches, so many do not finish the thirty day course. Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) is a treatment administered before exposure to HIV in an attempt to prevent the individual from becoming HIV positive. The antiretroviral drugs in current trial phase for PrEP treatment are Tenofovir and Emtricitabine (Truvada) or Tenofovir alone. Studies have shown that administered once a day, these drugs have very little side effects and limited association drug resistance.

It is my belief that the highly sensationalized news of PrEP has been over stated and after 31 years of, in many ways fighting a losing battle against HIV, we are looking for any sign of good news. There are many reasons to be hesitant on becoming too excited about the use of PrEP. Of course the first thing to look at is will it work, preferably, all the time? It has shown extremely positive result in trials on animals such as the Macaque monkey and mice but when administered to humans you run into ethical battles I’m not so sure the public will so easily stomach. For instance, a treatment like this could decrease condom-use, which is the most effective form of protection thus far, and increase risk of drug-class resistance. Next, there have been various problems with efficacy of how the trials are being administered because like in any double blind study placebos are given, which some feel directly place trials participants in harm’s way! Nevertheless, the results are good but in the terms of life and death, infection and non-infection, we need a success rate better than 63%.

It is being touted that pre-exposure prophylaxis could have enormous impact on the worldwide HIV-1 epidemic, but my question is how can this be when the majority of the people living with HIV worldwide live in Africa and Asia, where infrastructure, corruption, stigma, and inequality run wild? How is this, the great drug hope for the world? PrEP’s benefits are for the modern world not third world nations. The only way to significantly reduce the spread of HIV, every geographical area must have a multipronged approach to stopping the spread of HIV. This includes advocacy, medication access, access to testing, and infrastructure to name a few.

Now for those modern-world serodiscordant couples, the approach of PrEP in complete collaboration with condom use is huge. I pray, if this approach is possible to become mainstream, serodiscordant couples and the like, take it and run with it. For my African brothers and sisters I can only hope that one day you have the same benefits of government and infrastructure the modern world has so these benefits can create the same joy in your hearts, until then…

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To comment or to express an opinion to the writer, send comments to info@campaigntoendaids.org.

By Kym Klass for The Montgomery Advertiser

The number of HIV/AIDS cases in the South continues to rise, with health care officials citing socioeconomic status, a lack of educational opportunities and limited access to care as some of the main contributing factors.

In the United States, 600,000 deaths have been caused by HIV/AIDS, and 1.2 million people in the country are living with HIV. While there are an average of 50,000 new cases of HIV per year, about 20 percent of people with HIV have not been diagnosed.

“To improve access to care, you have to understand the barriers to care,” said Laurie Dill, medical director for Medical AIDS Outreach of Alabama. “The epidemic is not evenly shared. The burden of HIV is predominately a Southern disease … inequality makes a difference in the outcome.”

Michelle Vilamaa, chief executive officer for MAO, noted that the e-telemedicine concept has influenced how state health care officials look at primary care for those who live in rural communities.

MAO received one of 10 grants from AIDS United to support its A2C initiative, which is comparable to Skype for HIV-related health care. The program allows patients in the state’s rural areas to receive counseling, or “telemedicine,” via Web-based video communication. They interact with MAO doctors and nurses at satellite clinics, where the health care professionals can diagnose problems and provide recommendations for treatment.

In addition, MAO has rural clinics in Butler, Dallas, Pike, Barbour and Lee counties, as well as two permanent clinics in Montgomery and Houston counties.

“We never deny anyone based on income,” Vilamaa said.
Grateful for assistance

“Lou” is grateful that they don’t. If she didn’t receive assistance from MAO, she doesn’t know how she would be able to afford her medication.

Since her HIV diagnosis two years ago, the 58-year-old, who spoke to the Montgomery Advertiser on the condition of anonymity, has driven the approximate hour from her rural community to the MAO clinic in Montgomery to receive assistance.

“There’s no way I could afford the medicine,” she said. “It’s costing so terribly much.”

Her medicine, she estimates, would average between $3,000 to $5,000 every month. And she barely gets by on the monthly disability check she receives.

Like Lou, Marion McLean Stevenson of Ozark has relied on the organization since she was diagnosed six years ago.

“Without MAO, I would not have made it,” Stevenson, 59, said. A month after she got married she learned that her then-husband previously had had contact with another woman diagnosed with AIDS.

African-American women represented the majority of new HIV diagnoses (71 percent) among women in the South between 2005 to 2008. At MAO, 79 percent of its female patients are African-American.

Stevenson takes three different medications for her HIV: Kaletra (two pills, two times each day), Didanosine (one pill each a day), Emtriva (one pill each day), all of which keep her immune system up and viral load down.

“They shrink the virus, instead of it growing,” she said. “I’ve been undetectable for six years. After I was diagnosed, I was undetectable three months later.

“If I stopped taking medication, the resistance of the virus would multiply, because the medication keeps it under subjection,” she said. “Without the medication, the virus becomes alive and multiplies again. It multiplies very fast, and that’s how it turns into full-blown AIDS. (But) you don’t find many people dying from full-blown AIDS these days.”
Living with HIV

Stevenson said people should not be afraid to ask their partner questions, including those related to their sexual history.

“We didn’t have a long relationship before we got married,” Stevenson said of her ex-husband. “Sometimes, you can move too fast and not wait on God. That didn’t set our new marriage on a good level.”

And she also reminds people to remember that “HIV patients are human beings, too.”

“They need the love and support, and people telling them they are God’s child. I am HIV positive. Either you love me or you don’t. If you loved me before now, you should love me now. If you don’t, who cares?”

However, Lou, who learned a couple of years ago about her diagnosis after an illness would not go away, has not been as open as Stevenson about her diagnosis. She’s certain she knows who she contracted it from, but there has been denial on the other end.

She won’t go public for many reasons, primarily because she wants to protect the privacy of her young grandchildren, and also because of the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS. In fact, outside of her immediate family — and not even all of them know — she has only told three people about her HIV status.

“A lot is your attitude behind how you feel,” she said. “I’m not one to let anything get the best of me. I’m a fighter — that’s just my attitude.”

Lou wants people to understand that anybody can contract HIV.

“It’s not that hard,” she said. “Even if you’re in a permanent relationship, take the time to protect yourself. Get your regular check-ups. There’s a lot of different ways that we need to look at things and be more responsible for yourselves and your partners. It’s such a widespread thing, that people need to be more aware.”

For more information about or to contact Montgomery AIDS Outreach, Inc. click here.

By Todd Heywood for The American Independent

With a president who has declared the end of AIDS is in reach, Dr. Grant Colfax has a massive job in front of him. But his first interview with The American Independent has some activists challenging his take on controversial elements of the epidemic impacting an estimated 1.2 million Americans.

The former director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health HIV programs was appointed by President Barack Obama to run the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP), March 14.

In a brief phone interview with The American Independent, Colfax praised the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) and said he was looking forward to implementing the plan. NHAS was released by the Obama administration in July of 2010 and is the first time in the 30 year history of the epidemic that the federal government has developed a comprehensive plan to address HIV in the United States.

HIV-specific criminalization

A key segment of the plan calls for addressing HIV-related stigma and discrimination, including addressing the bevy of HIV-specific criminal state laws that activists have identified as stigmatizing.

“Certainly, criminalization is one of the issues we’ll be looking at as we engage stakeholders in a broader conversation about how stigma and discrimination are contributing to HIV risk and core health outcomes,” Colfax said.

Asked what his personal take on criminalization and its impact on the HIV epidemic was, Colfax demurred.

“I think it’s really premature for me to speak specifically about that beyond what I just said,” Colfax said.

That response did not sit will with activists.

“Dr. Colfax’s boiler-plate reaction to the criminalization issue is disappointing,” said Catherine Hanssens, executive director of the Center for HIV Law and Policy, which houses the anti-HIV criminalization group Positive Justice Project. “Prosecuting and incarcerating people with HIV for years and decades for consensual and no-risk conduct is a profoundly serious form of discrimination that has been stigmatizing people with HIV for decades.”

Sean Strub, a board member for the Global Network of People with HIV– North America, was also disappointed.

“To have any discussion about stigma that doesn’t start with removing HIV-specific criminal statutes is hollow,” Strub said. “Those statutes, which create a viral underclass, are the most extreme manifestation of stigma.”

Rod McCullom, a journalist and advocate covering HIV LGBT issues nationally and internationally, was also put off by Colfax’s responses on criminalization questions.

“Dr. Colfax probably can’t give a full throttle endorsement for legislation such as the the REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act [federal legislation that would encourage states to address HIV-specific criminal laws]. But clearly stigma remains high and people are randomly singled out for prosecution,” says McCullom, adding that he believes gays and people of color are more often the target of the enforcement of those laws.

McCullom pointed to the 2010 bio-terorrism case against Michigan man Daniel Allen. Allen, who is HIV-positive, was charged with bio-terrorism for allegedly biting a neighbor during a fight. Allen maintains that he was defending himself against a brutal gay bashing. The charges were dismissed by a circuit court judge.

Hanssens said that rolling back the negative impact of criminalization is going to require “federal leadership.”

“Yes, ONAP should be playing an active role in engaging stakeholders on this very issue, but I also hope this office also will play a more active role in engaging the responsible federal agencies who have not yet met their obligations for assessment and recommendations that were due the end of last year,” she said, referring the NHAS implementation plan.

ONAP spokesperson Shannon Gibson did not return inquiries about the status of the implementation and concerns raised by Hanssens.

Medication as prevention

Colfax has been instrumental in driving “science-based” programs in San Francisco, including implementing a study on Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). PrEP is the daily use of the power antiretorviral medications by those who are not infected with HIV to prevent infection. Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta have authorized the intervention only for men who have sex with men, based on a study known as iPrEx.

While the study showed the intervention was effective, Colfax says the jury is still out.

“What is the real response to even being offered PrEP within the MSM community?” Colfax said. “We’re still waiting to see what the results of those implementation research studies [funded by NIH at trial locations in Miami and San Francisco] show to make further decisions about what we need to do regarding PrEP.”

Colfax says that understanding the effectiveness of both PrEP and non-occupational post exposure prophylaxis (n-PEP) — the use of anti-HIV drugs following an exposure to prevent infection — are key pieces to the “puzzle” of delivering health care options to people living with HIV or at risk for HIV.

“The point here is, the science is driving our approach,” Colfax says. “We’ll be continuing to specifically add the potential for biomedical interventions as well as the behavioral side interventions. How do these pieces fit together in terms of a combination of prevention approaches in terms of comprehensive care applications for people at risk for, and living with, HIV. It’s part of the implementation dialog that we’re going to continue as we move forward at ONAP and even for leading the administration’s domestic approach.”

ADAP funding crisis

While preventive use of antiretorvirals remains an up in the air question, more and more science is showing access to and use of the medications for those infected with the virus leads to healthier outcomes. One of the key findings is that successful antiretroviral medication regimes reduce the infectiousness of persons with HIV by decreasing the viral load — a measure of free virus in the blood.

The federally driven program designed to make those expensive medications available to people living with HIV is struggling. The AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) continues to see thousands of people on waiting lists to access the life-saving drugs.

Colfax says the Obama administration has proposed an increase of $800 million in care, prevention and treatment money in the upcoming budget. He says that should help reduce the waiting lists.

“The amount going to ADAP certainly reflects the federal share of reducing if not eliminating those ADAP lists,” Colfax says. “I think the question is how can we continue to work with states to make sure they step up and contribute the appropriate amount?”

The ADAP Advocacy Association reports that 3,840 people in 11 states are still waiting for access to medications. Many of those people live in the southern United States, which has been hard hit by the epidemic.

TAI asked Colfax if the issue of ADAP funding on a state level was a matter of state lawmakers prioritizing funding for the program or if it was a side effect of the economic crisis in the United States.

Gibson, the ONAP spokesperson sitting in on the interview, cut Colfax off before he could answer.

“I think that’s a question for the states,” she said. “I think that’s hard for Grant to weigh in there.”

Advocates say the funding crisis is a combination of issues.

“There is no silver bullet, but rather a convergence of issues that has led to crisis, including both the state prioritization and economic down-turn, but also increased demand on the system, as well as lagging federal appropriations,” explained Brandon Macsata, CEO of the ADAP Advocacy Association. “ADAP budgets have seen the federal commitment as a percentage decline from approximately 74 percent in 2005 to less than 50 percent in 2011.”

Peter Kronenberg, spokesperson for the National Association of People With AIDS, says appropriate funding of ADAP is key in addressing the HIV epidemic.

“The cost of not getting HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Treatment) drugs to everyone who needs them – higher individual care costs as people progress needlessly to full-blown AIDS, and the cost of new infections that might never have happened if the people on the waiting lists had had drugs – is so much higher than the cost of providing drugs, that it’s almost irrelevant who pays for them,” Kronenberg says. “It’s more important that someone pay for them. Georgia’s 2012 state budget will be in the neighborhood of $16 billion dollars. If it takes $30 million to eliminate Georgia’s ADAP waiting list, that’s two-tenths of one percent of the total – no budget buster, and it would save the state money in the not so long run. The same argument applies at the federal level. The money it would take to fully fund the ADAPs is a drop in the bucket and earns itself back in a very few years in HIV costs avoided. Someone needs to belly up to the bar, and Georgia’s and Virginia’s short-sightedness may be a good argument for federalizing the whole program. This is an election year, though, and we’d be surprised to hear the Administration say that until after the votes are in.”

Test and Treat

In addition to access to the medications as a key health issue in relation to the epidemic, activists raise concerns of about a program called test and treat. Under this program, persons who test positive for HIV are immediately put on medications. Activists, like Strub, say this is a troublesome scenario, because some people newly diagnosed with HIV are not clinically in a position to require medications. However, Strub argues, a form of coercion is created.

Colfax said coercion “is off the table. Everybody’s talking about voluntary access to health care.”

“In terms of test and treat, he dismissed the prospect of coercion like it wasn’t even a concern. That’s disturbing,” says Strub. “There is a ton of anecdotal evidence that people with HIV with high CD4 [a key immune system blood cell the virus attacks] counts are being pressured to start treatment. Sometimes it is implied that they must make such a decision with great urgency when no such urgency truly exists. People sometimes feel like they must take antiretroviral therapy in order to access other services. They get incomplete or misleading information. If they stop taking their treatment, they are treated practically like criminals. They are frequently not told that the science is unclear as to whether there is a net benefit to the person if their CD4 cells are high; sometimes they are told, or it is implied, that there is such a benefit.”

Colfax says that one of the keys to success in addressing the epidemic is that “we engage people in meaningful conversation and conversations that are really about meeting people where they’re at in terms of their health care needs and delivering the best possible services.”

Colfax concurs there is a form of paternalism present in current medical care — the American willingness to do exactly what a doctor tells them to without discussing options or challenging assumptions leading up to the medical recommendations.

“I think its clear that across medicine, not just in terms of HIV, but in terms of improving health and wellness overall, that a patient centered approach is important,” he said. “But, again, really, having provider engagement and a partner based approach rather than a paternalistic approach is something that’s very important and certainly something that we’re supportive of as we move forward with the national strategy.”

Hanssens, of the Center for HIV Law and Policy, praised this approach.

“Dr. Colfax’s embrace of doctor-patient partnerships rather than paternalism is very good news,” she says, “and hopefully will inform future prevention, testing and treatment recommendations and guidelines.”

Blog post written by Dr. David Holtgrave for The Huffington Post

In July 2012, the International AIDS Conference returns to the U.S. for the first time in 22 years thanks to the administration’s lifting of the travel ban on persons living with HIV. With over 25,000 researchers, advocates, government officials, journalists, non-governmental organization service providers, clinicians, health department staff, people living with HIV and other committed persons waiting anxiously to hear what President Obama (or the administration’s representative) says at the meeting, we must urgently consider what preparations the U.S. needs to make for this global stage. Here, I focus on issues related to HIV in the U.S. because the conference traditionally spotlights the epidemic in the host country. We have serious policy and programmatic work to do to get our house in order before the world comes to our door.

The president is clearly interested in HIV/AIDS. On July 13, 2010, he released the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS), and challenged the country, saying, “So the question is not whether we know what to do, but whether we will do it.” This landmark comprehensive HIV plan includes five-year goals regarding HIV prevention, care, housing, program coordination and health disparities (highlighting especially the disproportionate burden of HIV among gay men of all races and ethnicities, and in African American and Latino/Latina communities). But in the past 20 months roadblocks have emerged, and we have real hurdles to overcome quickly to stay on track for NHAS progress; it will be critical for the administration to address these challenges before the conference. I describe below some challenges I believe are critical, and hope that HuffPost readers will add their own.

1. Acknowledging That Care Needs Are Larger Than Commonly Perceived.
It is widely recognized that there are roughly 4,000 persons living with HIV in the U.S. who are on treatment waiting lists for the federal AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP is the payer of last resort). However, CDC has recently estimated that of the approximately 1.2 million people living with HIV in the U.S. just 80 percent are diagnosed, only 62 percent are linked to care, just 41 percent are retained in care and a mere 28 percent have suppressed viral load; this “cascade” indicates that the unmet care, treatment and support needs in the U.S. are dramatically larger than ADAP waiting lists. The federal government has taken very important steps to bolster ADAP, but to truly address unmet needs will require an effort of a new scale even prior to the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act. When we talk about unmet care and treatment needs, we must begin to refer to the entire treatment needs cascade, and we must address the infrastructure cracks evident in the already strained systems of prevention and care service delivery.

2. “The Beginning of the End of AIDS.”
During the President’s Dec. 1, 2011 World AIDS Day talk, he referred to “the beginning of the end of AIDS” and “getting to zero” because a remarkable new study has found that HIV treatment in heterosexual couples in which one person is living with HIV and the other partner is HIV negative can reduce the relative risk of HIV transmission by up to 96 percent. We do know what to do to “end AIDS.” But at the population level, this goal cannot be realized if we do not address the cascade of unmet care, treatment and support needs noted above. We should use this wonderfully inspiring phraseology in July… if we mean to make the investments to achieve it.

3. Price Tag.
Some HIV advocates, researchers and members of Congress have asked that the federal government produce an official estimate of the cost of implementing the NHAS. I agree. In a 2010 academic paper, I estimated that the total five-year cost of the NHAS would be just over $15 billion in new funding from either the public sector, private sector or both (roughly two billion in prevention programs, one billion in housing and the remainder for care and treatment). Making this investment was estimated to save just under $18 billion in future treatment costs, and therefore would more than pay for itself. But the longer we wait to make the investment, the worse the public health and economic returns before 2015. A Congressional Budget Office “official” estimate of the NHAS could still be produced before July, current investments gauged against it, and a plan developed and announced for phased-in “full funding” of the NHAS.

4. HIV Is Transmitted By Human Behavior — You Might Have To Say “Sex.”
During the President’s World AIDS Day talk, and during Secretary Clinton’s Nov. 8, 2011 speech on “Creating an AIDS-Free Generation,” references to the behavioral aspects of HIV were notably scarce. Neither said “sex” or referred to injection drug use behaviors; Secretary Clinton mentioned condoms once. Clear statements about the importance of age-appropriate comprehensive sexual education and sterile syringe exchange programs that provide a pathway to substance use treatment will be especially important at the July conference.

5. Initial Amendments to the NHAS.
When it was released, the administration positioned the NHAS as a living document that might change over time. Since 2010, it has been repeatedly noted by advocates that structural factors which disproportionately impact women and homeless populations are insufficiently addressed by the NHAS. Also, HIV-related discrimination is noted, but solutions need additional development. A small set of truly critical NHAS amendments could be issued in July to further strengthen our response to the domestic epidemic.

6. Measuring Progress.
The NHAS was unveiled with five-year goals, but several of the key goals (such as reducing HIV incidence in the U.S. by 25 percent) do not yet have a 2010 baseline measure. The Department of Health and Human Services has done an excellent job of identifying a draft set of indicators by which to track NHAS progress; but we urgently need the baseline data on those metrics to help inform midcourse corrections.

The next four months are a critical time for the Administration, the International AIDS Conference, and the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. We might ask a familiar question: We know what to do, but will we do it?

Disclaimer: This post is my personal opinion, and does not reflect the views of my employer or the views of any advisory council on which I serve.

For more by David Holtgrave, click here.

For more healthy living health news, click here.

For more on HIV/AIDS, click here.

PRESS RELEASE
Contact:
Nadine Bloch, nadine99@gmail.com
Kenyon Farrow, k.farrow@housingworks.org, 347.949.1974.

Washington, D.C. — Responding to rampant Congressional games that place politics over effective public health measures, AIDS activists from all over the country have organized actions targeting Congressional leaders and United Parcel Service (UPS) for re-instating the policy that bans health organizations from using federal dollars for syringe exchange programs (UPS has been the largest funder to Rep. Denny Rehberg who was responsible to placing the ban on funding).

“Just as the U.S. is preparing to invite the global community to D.C. for the International AIDS Conference in July, we are still fighting regressive policies that could save lives here in the U.S. and abroad,” said Nadine Bloch, National Organizer of the We Can End AIDS Mobilization July 24 in Washington, D.C.. “Much like the recent fight over contraception and health care plans, we cannot continue to let politics get in the way of saving lives.”

Some We Can End AIDS Coalition member organizations (including Harm Reduction Coalition, VOCAL-NY, Health GAP, Housing Works, the National HIV Prevention Justice Alliance, HIPS, and hundreds of others) will be organizing actions, rallies, and other events protesting the ban in Washington, D.C.. There are also demonstrations happening in New York City, San Francisco, Denver, Honolulu, Boston, Philadelphia, Raleigh, Providence and statewide events in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Washington. Live Tweeting from around the country will be linked under the hashtag “#321syringe”.

March 21 is the first of a series of actions leading up to the We Can End AIDS Mobilization for Economic Justice and Human Rights, which will take place at the International AIDS Conference, July 24, in Washington, D.C..

“We now know that we can actually end the AIDS pandemic,” said Michael Tikili, an HIV+ community organizer with Health GAP. “We expect our political leaders to set us on that trajectory rather than sending us back. On July 24, our leaders will either be celebrated as heroes for ending the AIDS pandemic or as people who have done everything they could to make sure AIDS spreads.”

In December, Congress reinstated the ban as part of a spending bill it passed to fund the federal government through fiscal year 2012, which ends September 30, 2012. The ban on federal funding for syringe exchange was originally adopted in 1989 but was finally lifted in 2009 by Congress. Without a discussion or a fight, the language was slipped into the spending bill by GOP Senators, and was not fought against.

An overwhelming consensus of research proves that providing clean syringes to injection drug users is a highly effective way to prevent the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C, and is credited with reducing the rate of new HIV infections among injection drug users by 80%. Additional research shows that syringe exchange programs do not increase the numbers of injection drug users, and reduces long term health care costs that occur with the medical needs of people with HIV and/or Hepatitis C.

Needle Exchange is one of the key public health interventions that we need to implement to truly end AIDS. All of the components of an effective strategy to end AIDS will be highlighted during the mass mobilization on July 24 in Washington, DC.

The We Can End AIDS Coalition came together in June of 2011 to plan for a series of coordinated actions highlighting the easy ways politicians can set us on track to end the AIDS pandemic in the next 30 years. The coalition is organizing a massive mobilization in Washington, DC on July 24, the site of the International AIDS Conference.

Click here and here to read the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study of syringe exchange programs in the United States.

Click here to join the We Can End AIDS Coalition.

Since 2005, the Campaign To End AIDS (C2EA) began the mission to end the HIV & AIDS epidemic by supporting and developing the voices and networks of those most affected – individuals living with HIV & AIDS, front line workers, allies, and loved ones. Today, thousands of C2EA members engage in grassroots organizing and advocacy focused on improving health access and outcomes, fighting for dignity and respect of people living facing stigma and discrimination, and influencing political will to implement life saving and life preserving care and services.

By donating to C2EA, you provide invaluable support to those ready and willing to change their communities – from small towns to big cities. C2EA members believe that the HIV & AIDS epidemic is not over until it is over for everyone!

Make a donation to C2EA and you support grassroots advocacy and activism that demand our leaders:

- Fully fund quality treatment and support services for all people living with HIV everywhere;

- Ramp up HIV prevention at home and abroad, guided by science rather than ideology;

- Increase research to find a cure, more effective treatments and better prevention tools;

- Fight AIDS stigma and protect the civil rights of all people with HIV and AIDS everywhere;

- Understand the vital role safe and stable housing plays in prevention and treatment and incorporate housing as a structural intervention for both.

Your donation and support can also help a person living with HIV & AIDS attend the historic 2012 International AIDS Conference in Washington D.C. this July.

To donate to C2EA, please click HERE. (Remember that your donation is tax deductible.)

Become a member of C2EA and create a grassroots network in your community by clicking HERE. If you have any questions, please email C2EA or call 1.877.ENDAIDS (363.2437).

The Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA) is a diverse, exciting coalition of people living with HIV & AIDS, their advocates and their loved ones. Together, we’re demanding that our leaders exert the political will to stop the epidemic, in the U.S. and abroad, once and for all.

Join The World Wide Campaign To End AIDS Network by clicking here.

WHY?
We deserve a world in which the lives and health of our communities are prioritized over corporations and ideology. Yet we see the opposite across the United States, in Washington, DC, and throughout the world. We have the science, the treatment, and the resources to end the AIDS epidemic, but not the political will. We demand change!

WHEN?
As the World AIDS Conference convenes in Washington DC, we call on those who fight AIDS and work for economic justice and human rights to mobilize and take action on July 24th.

WE CAN END AIDS – Washington DC July 24 at 12 noon
Gathering by issue area at key locations TBA, we will take the streets exposing the flow of money that funds harmful policies and legislators. Powerful, non-violent, and creative activities will lead all the issue focused actions to a major convergence and action at the power center where the White House, Treasury Department and the National Chamber of Commerce sit at the intersection of the barriers to ending AIDS.

WE WILL: – End AIDS In The U.S.: Full implementation of the National HIV & AIDS Strategy, access to safe & affordable housing, decrease health, education, & economic disparities among Blacks;

- Allow full access for all women & girls to HIV & AIDS, reproductive health services anywhere;

- Demand taxing Wall Street to assist in ending cuts to life-saving & life-preserving HIV & AIDS services;

- Demand an end to the criminalization & discrimination & the protection of the civil & human rights of people living with HIV & AIDS, sex workers, & drug users;

- Demand accountability from Big Pharma & influence political will from city, state, & federal elected officials to be visible and vocal leaders while implementing policies that lead to ending the HIV & AIDS epidemic in their jurisdictions.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Endorse The Mobilization: Go to We Can End AIDS and endorse the march & mobilization.

Join As An Anchor Group: Help plan one of the fingers of the actions. Email We Can End AIDS to learn more.

Come To DC: Organize a bus trip to D.C, come out of the Convention Center to show leaders in Washington, DC and around the world what a global mobilization looks like!

Plan Local Events: Not in Washington DC and too far away for a bus? Plan something locally — we’ll put all the actions together on the website.

Promising Futures is one of many youth organizations in the Washington D.C. Community Coalition Youth Force – along with Planned Parenthood, Ophelia Egypt, and The Women’s Collective – that came together to host the 2012 Ms. Sexual Health Pageant. Miss Black D.C.-USA, Amina Gilyard, crowned the winner, Ms. Carry Baby, for being proud and confident in carrying condoms.

Enjoy the attached pictures.

Funds were made available by a mini-grant from the Community Education Group (CEG) and from the Office on Women’s Health. DJ Streetz were on the 1s and 2s and free STI and HIV testing was offered throughout the event. The Grassroots Project and Metro TeenAIDS were in full force – thanks for the support!

Female condom demonstrations and a screening of the film, “Many Women, One Voice”- provided the impetus for conversations amongst the contestants. We had over 50 youth in attendance at the Ophelia Egypt Program Center tonight- who all signed up to join the DCC Youth Force to plan for AIDS 2012.

Join us, friend us and get tested!

For more information, contact
Maranda C. Ward, MPH, co-founder and outreach director
Promising Futures – Your Future. Your Choice.

WASHINGTON, DC — President Obama announced the appointment March 14 of one of the nation’s leading public health policy experts as the Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP).

Grant Colfax, MD, Director of the HIV Prevention Section in the San Francisco Department of Public Health will coordinate the continuing efforts of the government to reduce the number of HIV infections across the United States. A component of the White House Domestic Policy Council, ONAP emphasizes prevention through wide-ranging education initiatives and helps to coordinate the care and treatment of citizens with HIV/AIDS.

“Grant Colfax will lead the my Administration’s continued progress in providing care and treatment to people living with HIV/AIDS,” said President Obama. “Grant’s expertise will be key as we continue to face serious challenges and take bold steps to meet them. I look forward to his leadership in the months and years to come.”

ONAP coordinates with the National Security Council and the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, and works with international bodies to ensure that America’s response to the global pandemic is fully integrated with other prevention, care, and treatment efforts around the world. Through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) initiative, the U.S. has made enormous progress in responding to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, working with countries heavily impacted by HIV/AIDS to help expand access to treatment, care, and prevention.

Grant Colfax, MD, was most recently Director of the HIV Prevention Section in the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Dr. Colfax is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and completed his medical residency at the University of California, San Francisco. His work focuses on collaborating with community stakeholders to implement sustainable, evidence-based HIV prevention and treatment interventions and policies in public health settings and measuring their effectiveness. Under his leadership, San Francisco greatly expanded HIV testing and treatment support efforts.

Until assuming his ONAP role, Dr. Colfax was also an NIH- and CDC supported scientist studying HIV testing strategies, clinical trials of medications to treat substance dependence, and biomedical HIV prevention interventions. Dr. Colfax was a practicing clinician at the Positive Health Program, San Francisco’s premier public HIV clinic.

For more information about the White House Office of National AIDS Policy click here.

WASHINGTON, DC — President Obama announced the appointment March 14 of one of the nation’s leading public health policy experts as the Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP).

For more information about the White House Office of National AIDS Policy click here.

Contact: Kenyon Farrow, k.farrow@housingworks.org, 347.949.1974

Washington, DC—Responding to rampant Congressional games that place politics over effective public health measures, Housing Works and activists from all over the country have organized events targeting Congressional leaders for re-instating the policy that bans health organizations from using federal dollars for syringe exchange programs.

“Our government should be embarrassed as this year’s host of the International AIDS Conference to have sneaked this into an unrelated bill under the cloak of night last December” said Charles King, CEO of Housing Works, Inc. “The US cannot be any shining example to the rest of the world on how to end the AIDS epidemic when we’re still fighting foolish policies that reject what we know works.”

The We Can End AIDS Coalition member organizations (including Housing Works, Harm Reduction Coalition, VOCAL-NY, Health GAP, the National HIV Prevention Justice Alliance, HIPS, etc) will be organizing actions, rallies, and other events protesting the ban in Washington, DC, while there are also demonstrations happening in New York City, San Francisco, Denver, Honolulu, Boston, Philadelphia, Raleigh, and statewide events in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Washington.

But we’re not out of the woods. The latest study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that while overall new HIV infections through intravenous drug use have fallen by half over the last decade, one-third of IDUs say they share needles. Ramping up funding for syringe exchange programs makes more sense now than ever.

“We now know that we can actually end the AIDS pandemic, and syringe exchange is a part of what’s needed for prevention,” said Christine Campbell, Vice President of Advocacy and Organizing for Housing Works. “We expect our political leaders to set us on that path rather than sending us back.”

Join a Day of Action in your community.

The latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) studies of syringe exchange programs in the US:

HIV Infection and HIV-Associated Behaviors Among Injecting Drug Users — 20 Cities, United States, 2009

Syringe Exchange Programs —- United States, 2008

Find out more about the We Can End AIDS Coalition.

New York, NY (March 13, 2012) – Startling new research recently released reveals that HIV/AIDS is five times more prevalent among African-American women than previous estimates reported. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), women constitute roughly one-quarter of new HIV infections in the United States with 66 percent of infections occurring among black women, though black women constitute only 14 percent of the US female population.

The HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) announced study results from its HPTN 064 Women’s HIV Seroincidence Study, also known as ISIS, which reported evidence of HIV incidence rates of 0.24% among black women in specific urban areas of the country that shocked even the researchers involved in the study. Even more alarming is that this rate, which is actually 5 times higher than the rate released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is comparable to HIV incidence rates in sub-Saharan Africa, including the Congo (0.28%) and Kenya (0.53%). CDC estimates that 1 in 32 African-American women will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime.

“This latest report, sheds light on what many community groups have been saying all along, that given their experience working directly in areas hardest hit by the epidemic, the numbers are much higher among women, than has been previously acknowledged”, said C. Virginia Fields, Chairperson/Founding Member of the 30 for 30 Campaign, and President and CEO of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, Inc.
“Black women have always been at the center of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and they remain severely and disproportionately impacted.”

Joined by over 400 allied supporters across the country concerned about the HIV crisis among women and girls, the 30 for 30 Campaign has been continuing to mobilize communities in action to develop solutions, effect policies and funding decisions, and build a stronger voice for women given the rapidly changing health care delivery and HIV prevention environment.

30 for 30 recently released findings at the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) from three newly published briefing papers calling for urgent, targeted action, Ending HIV-Related Health Disparities and Making HIV Prevention, Care and Treatment Work for Women, based on research and relevant data showing that all women and especially Black women must be prioritized in the HIV response. The Campaign calls for greater inclusion of women-specific goals in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, along with sustained support for women’s sexual health and reproductive rights in implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the Ryan White Care Program. Among its recommendations, the campaign also advocates for increased support for women-centered, family centered and gender-sensitive solutions to ensure health care access and the human rights of women living with and affected by HIV are met within three priority areas:

- Expand and expedite provision of facilitative supportive and housing services, including child care, transportation, case management, peer support and other essential services;

- Make gender sensitive care more widely available through integrating HIV services with sexual and reproductive health care and intimate partner violence prevention and counseling;

- Produce greater and more comprehensive data and targeted research, and development of women-controlled prevention tools.

In a 2010 report released by NBLCA, Strengthening the Voice and Leadership of Black Women in AIDS Policy: An Action Plan Addressing the Growing Crisis of HIV/AIDS among Women and Girls, the stark realities of Black women were further highlighted. The report identified that Black women continue to be exposed to myriad socioeconomic and structural influences which deepen their risk for HIV, calling upon federal agencies to take action. These complex intersecting factors, including poverty, homelessness, substance use, mental health, relationship and family dynamics, and other mounting pressures, must be better understood as they impact black women and supported with the requisite resources, programs and surveillance systems that reflect their experiences.

Take action now to make women a priority in the national HIV response! Educate your local and national representatives, health care workers, and community about upholding women’s human rights by addressing the unique needs of women living with and affected by HIV.

The 30 for 30 Campaign is dedicated to ensuring the unique needs of women living with and affected by HIV, including transgender women, are addressed in the national HIV response. The Campaign is especially committed to illuminating and eliminating the gaps in prevention and care services for Black and Latina women who currently make up over 80% of the epidemic among women. The campaign was founded by and represents diverse leadership and constituencies from every region of the United States, including rural areas in the south and urban communities.

Member Organizations: The Afiya Center HIV Prevention & Sexual Reproductive Justice, African Services Committee, AIDS Alabama, AIDS Alliance for Children Youth and Families, AIDS Foundation of Chicago, AIDS United, Bailey House, Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA), Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), Center for HIV Law and Policy (CHLP), Community Healthcare Network, HIV Law Project, HIV Prevention Justice Alliance, Housing Works, International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW), IRIS Center, Memphis Center for Reproductive Health, National AIDS Housing Coalition, National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, Inc. (NBLCA), National Black Women’s HIV/AIDS Network (NBWHAN), National Health Law Program (NHeLP), National Women and AIDS Collective (NWAC), Sister Love, Inc., SMART University, South Carolina HIV/AIDS Council, Southern HIV/AIDS Strategy Initiative (SASI), U.S. Positive Women’s Network (PWN), The Well Project, The Women’s Collective, Women Organized to Respond to Life Threatening Diseases (WORLD), Women with a Vision.

For more information or to sign on in support of the 30 for 30 Campaign visit us on Facebook or contact:
Athena B. Moore, co-coordinator, 212.614.2086
Brook Kelly, co-coordinator, 646.853.2983

On April 26, 2012 Housing Works will present its eighth-annual Design on a Dime interior design shopping benefit at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City. This year founding chair, designer James Huniford will be joined by two incredible returning chairs: Lara Spencer (“Good Morning America” Co-Anchor, author of I BRAKE FOR YARD SALES and interior designer) and Charlotte Moss (Acclaimed designer and author).

“I am thrilled to chair with Lara and Charlotte again this year. Together we raised record-breaking funds for Housing Works in 2011. We would be very happy to have history repeat itself,” says Huniford.

New to the event is Puerto Rican television host, design and entertaining expert Evette Ríos who will co-chair for the first time in 2012. The native New Yorker of Rachel Ray fame premieres her interior talents in collaboration with retail sponsor HomeGoods.

“I am so happy to serve as co-chair at this year’s Design On A Dime event. It is extra special to me as Housing Works completes the construction on The Jefferson Avenue Residences. The completely renovated 12 studio apartment complex will create much needed housing for individuals living with HIV and AIDS in the Bedford Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, where I was born and raised!” Ríos exclaims.

In addition, over 50 of the country’s top designers will put together new home furnishings, artwork and accessories to create unforgettable room vignettes. All items will be sold for 40 to 60 percent off retail pricing with proceeds benefiting Housing Works, New York’s largest community-based AIDS service organization.

Design on a Dime offers a rare opportunity to see the work of an array of high-profile talents under one roof. Designers include:

Alessandra Branca (House Beautiful first Master Class Designer)

Cullman & Cravis (Architectural Digest Top 100)

Mark Cunningham (Architectural Digest Top 100)

Matthew Patrick Smyth (2011 Stars of Design Award Interior Design)

Miles Redd (Creative Director of Oscar de la Renta Home)

ELLE DECOR, House Beautiful and Veranda are the official media partners of Design on a Dime 2012. Returning sponsors also include HSBC Private Bank and One King’s Lane. Valspar is generously donating paint for each of the designer room vignettes.

All profits from Design on a Dime help Housing Works “Get A Room” for homeless and low-income New Yorkers living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Our latest housing development, The Jefferson Avenue Residences will open in spring 2012.

Event Date/Times:

VIP Designer Meet and Greet, April 26th 5:30 -6:30pm

Opening Night Reception and Shopping 6:30pm-9:30pm

Public Sale, April 27-28 10am-6pm

Event Location:

Metropolitan Pavilion 125 West 18th Street
(Between 6th and 7th avenues)

Ticket Information:

Tickets for the Opening Night Reception start at $150. VIP Designer Meet and Greet tickets start at $500. To purchase tickets, visit www.housingworks.org/dime or call 347-473-7457. Tickets are limited.

New York, NY—In a community suffering from the dual crises of homelessness and HIV, Housing Works is proud to celebrate the grand re-opening of the East New York Community Health Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tour of the facility on April 4th at 10 a.m. The center has been renovated to serve the medical needs of all East New Yorkers, regardless of HIV status.

Located at 2640 Pitkin Avenue, Housing Works’ ENY Community Health Center has been operational since 1998 as a freestanding health and housing facility in the East New York section of Brooklyn. In August 2011, Housing Works was one of six NYC health centers awarded a Human Resource & Service Administration (HRSA) grant as a New Access Point to provide comprehensive primary care services to the general community, specifically targeting the homeless community.

East New York has the highest rate of home foreclosures in the city (16.8 per 1,000 homes were foreclosed in 2010), and has a 30% higher HIV diagnosis rate than NYC overall. In order to confront this problem, The East New York Community Health Center will not only serve people with HIV, but will provide comprehensive medical, and mental health services to at risk individuals, regardless of HIV status, at our East New York facility.

“We should not have to wait until someone has HIV before we can provide them vital health care services,” said Charles King, CEO of Housing Works, Inc. “While we remain committed to serving people with HIV, we’re excited to work with the East New York community to end homelessness, and to end AIDS.”

The East New York Community Health Center will continue Housing Works’ commitment to a patient-centered, integrated health care model. The center will provide high-quality primary medical services that include prevention services, acute care, pediatric care, chronic disease treatment, care coordination and follow-up care. Full-service dental care will be provided via referral to Housing Works Downtown Brooklyn Health Center. Mental health and substance use treatment services will include counseling and treatment, outpatient substance use services, in-house acupuncture and buprenorphine opioid treatment as well as referrals to residential programs. Patients will have access to transportation services to facilitate referrals and attendance at health care appointments. Ancillary services include nutrition counseling, translation services, and health education.

“Housing Works has been providing services to people with HIV in East New York for 14 years, and we are looking forward to extending our hand to even more people in the community,” said Marylyn Martin-Naar, MD, Senior Vice President for Health Services and Chief Medical Officer with Housing Works.

The center has recently completed renovations by expanding from three examination rooms to five rooms. At full operating capacity, the expansion will support 2,600 new medical patients, 80% who will be homeless, in 10,552 medical visits annually.

General operating hours will be from Monday through Friday 9am – 5pm and with plans to include evening and weekend hours. Clients will not be turned away based on their immigration status, insurance status, or their ability to pay. East New York Community Health Center accepts Medicaid, Medicare and most insurance and offers a reduced sliding fee schedule based on a person’s income and family size.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 29, 2012

Contact: Jaron Benjamin, (718) 864-3932, jaron@vocal-ny.org, Kristin Goodwin, (646) 784-0888, k.goodwin@housingworks.org

For high resolution photos, contact Sam Lewis at (914) 260-7974 or samglewis@gmail.com.

More than fifty people living with HIV/AIDS and their allies held a raucous protest this morning to “wake up” Robert Doar, the Commissioner of the NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA), to the city’s HIV/AIDS crisis. Blaring noisemakers and alarm clocks outside his row house on a wealthy block in Brooklyn Heights, activists then followed Doar from his doorstep to the Clark St. subway station and rode with him to his office in Lower Manhattan.

During Doar’s commute on the subway, he was confronted by clients of the HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA), a division of HRA, who are directly affected by recent policy changes and proposed budget cuts that will increase homelessness. A recently leaked memo about an internal agency reorganization has also raised concerns that people living with HIV/AIDS could be forced into unpaid welfare-to-work programs.

“If Commissioner Doar’s plans for HASA clients are really going to help us, why he is he keeping us in the dark and being so secretive?” said Wanda Hernandez, a HASA client from the Bronx and VOCAL-NY’s Board chair. “Commissioner Doar’s right when he says the AIDS epidemic has changed, but he seems to have his head in the sand about what that means. Now that people like me are the face of AIDS, it feels like Doar is willing to destroy a safety net that was put into place at a time when HIV/AIDS wasn’t associated with poverty and people of color.”

Activists are calling for restoration of $10 million in cuts to HIV/AIDS housing and nutrition programs that Mayor Bloomberg wants to cut in next year’s budget, changes to a new drug screening policy that could deny housing assistance to homeless people living with HIV/AIDS suspected of drug use, and a 30% rent cap affordable housing protection that would prevent homelessness for more than 10,000 HASA clients with a severe rent share burden and enable an additional 1,000 clients to move out of the shelter system.

“This new re-structuring is just one of several major shifts at HASA that have been done under the cloak of night in recent months—meanwhile, people with HIV who need critical services are left to fend for themselves,” says Charles King, CEO of Housing Works. “We demand Doar come out of his plush surroundings and justify these policies to the poor people with AIDS who he pretends to serve.”

Following the wake-up protest, activists traveled to lower Manhattan to try confronting Commissioner Doar at HRA’s headquarters about the secretive policy changes and agency reorganization.

A City Council General Welfare Committee hearing on February 8th increased public scrutiny of these policy changes and foreshadowed criticism Doar is likely to encounter during upcoming City Council budget hearings in March.

###

Housing Works is a healing community of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Our mission is to end the dual crises of homelessness and AIDS through relentless advocacy, the provision of lifesaving services, and entrepreneurial businesses that sustain our efforts.

VOCAL-NY is a grassroots membership organization building power among low-income New Yorkers affected by HIV/AIDS, mass incarceration and the war on drugs in order to create healthy and just communities.

By Debra Pressey for the News-Gazette (Central Illinois)

CHAMPAIGN IL — The racial/ethnic disparity in the HIV/AIDS epidemic has grown over time, health experts say.

Blacks continue to be disproportionately affected by this sexually transmitted infection and disease.

Black Americans account for 12 percent of the U.S. population — but 44 percent of all new HIV infections (in 2009) and 46 percent of people living with HIV disease, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Some other CDC findings/projections:

— One in 16 black men and one in 32 black women will be diagnosed with HIV infection during their lifetimes.

— HIV-related deaths and the HIV death rates are highest among blacks.

— There was a 48 percent increase in new HIV infections from 2006-2009 among young black men who have sex with men ages 13-29.

— Most black women are infected by heterosexual contact, and account for 30 percent of the estimated new HIV infections among all blacks. The rate of new HIV infection for black women is more than 15 times as high as the rate for white women, and more than three times as high as for Latino women.

In the general population, about 1.1 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV infection, and one in five is unaware he or she is infected, according to government statistics.

Two of the reasons blacks are disproportionately infected is women fail to know their partners are infected, and lack of access to health care, said Candi Crause, director of infectious disease at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District.

The CDC encourages routine HIV screening through health care providers, she said, but those without access to a provider are likely missing that screening.

The health district offers testing without residency requirements and also takes its services on the road, she said.

“Today, we’re at Eastern Illinois University,” Crause said Feb. 8, the day after National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. The district also has state grant funding to target the spread of HIV among blacks in an ongoing program launched two years ago called Brother to Brother, Crause said.

That program targets black men having sex with men, and works through both peer-based interventions and social events, Crause said.

“We do those groups every six to eight weeks,” she said.

Anyone interested in more information about Brother to Brother can email Crause or call 531-5372.

For more information about HIV testing and services, go to Champaign-Urbana Public Health District.

By Jennifer Gosnell for the The Varsity (University of Toronto)

In my first year, I naively thought that upon graduating I’d possess the requisite knowledge to “change the world.” I imagined that I’d be leaving this giant conveyer belt of higher education with what my academic institution calls the “answers to the world’s questions.” Today I know that this is not the case. When I leave this ivory tower on that fast approaching spring afternoon, I’ll possess no such worldly insight. Instead, I’ll remember a cold December’s afternoon in 2010 when I lay down with a couple dozen students and community members in the middle of a bustling Toronto intersection to fight for something I believed in.

We were demanding Parliament to fix the Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime by passing Bill C-393.

CAMR is an unmistakably broken legislative promise made in 2004 that was intended to increase access to lower-cost generic medicines to treat public health problems such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis in the global south. Today, the only achievement that it has to its name is implementing one licence for the export of one type of drug to one country.

Needless to say, Canadian civil society groups have had good reason to demand CAMR reform during the past eight years.

After learning about CAMR at a campus event, my friends and I decided we wanted to act. Together we gathered a group of concerned students and community members to dress in red and lie down at the intersection of Yonge and Dundas. A “die-in” is an effective strategy enacted by activists to highlight the urgency of something like the HIV/AIDS epidemic and symbolize the thousands of lives lost.

Our “die-in” garnered both media and MP attention, sending a critical message to Ottawa about the injustice of Canada’s broken promise to mitigate thousands of preventable deaths. It demanded political action from MPs to follow through on the nation’s global pledge.

Not letting school get in the way of my education, I skipped two final exams to organise and orchestrate the Bill C-393 “die-in” with my friends. In doing so, I learned much.

But unlike statistics to be remembered for an exam, I won’t forget the following numbers anytime soon.

Approximately six million people living with HIV in the global south currently have access to treatment. This is made possible by the global production and distribution of lower-cost generic medicines and the consequent competition between pharmaceutical companies which decreases drug prices.

However, this number only represents 40 per cent of the 15 million people living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries who need anti-retroviral drugs now. This means that over nine million people living with HIV in developing countries are facing death without treatment.

So, when Bill C-393 was finally passed with a large majority in the House of Commons in March 2011, my friends and I felt that our activism had achieved something tangible and important. Sadly, it was only two weeks later that we received the news that Bill C- 393 was stalled and eventually killed in the Senate.

On February 16, NDP MP Hélène Laverdière introduced Bill C-398 in the House of Commons. Bill C-398 is a similar but improved version of the defeated Bill C-393. The bill would create a “one licence solution” that renders the process of exporting generic medicines to developing countries much easier for both Canadian pharmaceuticals and receiving countries. In the coming months, citizens and civil society organizations nationwide will work tirelessly to ensure that CAMR is ultimately changed in order to save thousands of lives.

Obviously, passing Bill C-398 and finally fixing CAMR will not be enough to get treatment to all 15 million people living with HIV in the global south. Regardless, reforming CAMR represents a crucial step for Canada. Fixing CAMR will make an important contribution. Nonetheless, similar legislative action on the part of other governments, as well as mobilising more money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria must be included in the challenging journey towards greater access to essential medicines worldwide.

I encourage the thousands of students nationwide to engage in lobbying efforts to demand that Bill C-398 be passed in the House of Commons to fix CAMR. We will soon be parliamentarians, humanitarians, health care professionals and business leaders. But it would be dangerous for us to espouse the same attitudes and behaviour of our predecessors. Instead, by learning outside the boundaries of our assigned readings, we can take our education into our own hands and learn about the diverse realities of our national and global communities.

Please, let us learn to question the shameful death of Bill C-393 in the Senate, just days after it had been passed in the democratic House of Commons in spring 2011. Let students be a strong voice amid the 80 per cent of Canadians and 100 plus civil society organizations that support reforming CAMR.

Sahar Golshan is a member of Canadians for CAMR, a student civil society group that is part of the coalition to fix Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime.

The Campaign To End AIDS Youth Caucus has announced an extension for application submissions for this summer’s Youth Action Institute in Washington DC. Applications from prospective participants aged 15-29 will be received up to March 1 and notice of acceptance will come soon after.

Click here to get more information on the Youth Action Institute and to download the application.

Applications can be sent by:

Mail
YAI 2012 c/o Housing Works
727 15th Street NW #210
Washington DC 20005

Fax
202.408.1142

Scanned/Email
info@campaigntoendaids.org

Adult-supervised but youth-run, YAI seeks to educate and inspire a generation vulnerable to a disease they often know little about.

2012 marks the eighth the YAI and will be occurring in Washington DC, just a few weeks before the International AIDS Conference and in the heated race for U.S. President.

On April 11th a group of activists were arrested protesting Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s plans to slash AIDS funding and ban the funding of needle exchange in the District of Columbia. That same day the Mayor of Washington, DC and several members of the City Council were also arrested in a separate demonstration protesting these same policy “riders” in the Republican budget. But they received very different treatment—the Mayor and friends were released with $50 fines. However, the US Attorney is prosecuting the AIDS activists on charges of up to six months in jail and, for some, threats to their professional licenses.

This was a free-speech action—the US Attorney simply claims they sat down and chanted—no violence, no destruction, just speech. Nine months, five court appearances, three prosecuting attorneys later, every promise to take care of the case has been broken by the prosecutors and they’re taking the activists to trial—wasting everyone’s time and taxpayer money. The activists are simply asking U.S. Attorney Ron Machen to drop the charges in exchange for a fine or community service.

Please sign on to the attached letter calling on US Attorney Machen to drop the charges. Send your sign-ons to: Christine Campbell at campbell@housingworks.org by February 15, 2012. (Please include your name, affiliation, and city/state of residence.)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

*Below is a copy of the attached letter:

Ronald C. Machen, USA
Judiciary Center Building
555 Fourth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20530

Cc: Eric Holder

Dear Mr. Machen:
It is with deep concern that we write, as leaders of AIDS and civil rights organizations, about the cases of Antonio Davis, David Goode and the other co-defendants in the case.

It is our understanding that these AIDS activists were arrested in the Cannon House Office Building during a demonstration against cuts to AIDS services and the imposition of a federal and local funding ban on needle exchange for the District of Columbia. Court documents allege they sat down near Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s office and refused to stop chanting, and thus they have been charged with unlawful entry—a charge that carries up to 6 months in jail. Regardless of the veracity of these claims, we are concerned by reports that these activists are being unfairly prosecuted and that your office has instituted a policy of drug testing that unfairly impacts people living with AIDS and other diseases.

Specifically:
· Mayor Vincent Gray, Council Chair Kwame Brown, and others were arrested the same day demonstrating against the same policies and yet were fined and released rather than prosecuted; we question why these activists are instead being sent to trial.

· Drug testing individuals, like Mr. Davis or Mr. Goode, arrested in non-violent free speech cases causes undue pain and suffering, discriminates against patients who use medical marijuana manage their illness not to mention being an inappropriate violation of privacy. It should also be noted that the medical practice that is keeping Antonio out of a deferred prosecution agreement has been expressly legalized by DC voters.

Both have submitted letters to your office from highly respected physicians documenting their use of medical cannabis as the only effective treatment for AIDS-related symptoms. We are deeply worried that the US Attorney would condition the dropping of charges on people living with HIV not following their doctor’s medical advice; and further concerned that the US Attorney’s office would now send these activists to trial because they cannot present marijuana-free drug test results.

· It is deeply unjust to take action against genuinely ill people speaking out for their own lives and those of others. As Deputy Attorney General James Cole noted in his June 2011 memo, “it is likely not an efficient use of federal resources to focus enforcement efforts on individuals with cancer or other serious illnesses who use marijuana as part of a recommended treatment regimen…”

· We are also concerned about reports that your office has changed prosecuting attorneys multiple times—and that expectations have changed with them. Defendants including Matthew Kavanagh, acting in good faith on agreements with one prosecutor, should not be forced to re-do community service or adhere to extended “stay away” orders that limit their liberty.

We ask that you personally intervene in these matters. We believe the charges should be dropped against all defendants in this case—who have complied with all requests from your office. We further ask that you review the policy of linking the offer of standard deferred prosecution with drug testing—which, especially in free speech cases, we feel is inappropriate.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,
(list in formation)
Christine Campbell, DC Fights Back, (DC)
Charles King, Housing Works, (NY)
Sue Udry, Defending Dissent Foundation (MD)
David Ernesto Munar, AIDS Foundation of Chicago (IL)
Steph Sherer, Executive Director of Americans for Safe Access (DC, CA)
Rachel Moshman, DC National Lawyers Guild (DC)

By Arin Greenwood for The Huffington Post

WASHINGTON — Last April, a dozen HIV/AIDS activists chained themselves together inside the office of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and were arrested on federal charges. They were protesting cuts to HIV/AIDS programs and a proposal that would have prevented the District of Columbia from spending its own money for needle exchange programs. (The needle exchange restriction was ultimately dropped in the final budget deal.)

Click here to see photos from the press conference.

The same day, 41 D.C. voting rights activists, including Mayor Vincent Gray, also were arrested on Capitol Hill. They were charged with misdemeanors by the D.C. attorney general. Most, including the mayor, paid a $50 fine.

Some of the HIV/AIDS protestors, along with their supporters, gathered Wednesday on the steps of the D.C. government’s Wilson Building in an effort to get the charges against them dropped by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. They complained that compared with the voting rights activists, the HIV/AIDS protestors have been treated harshly.

One of the HIV/AIDS activists is Antonio Davis, a paralegal from Philadelphia who said he’s been subjected to especially punitive treatment by prosecutors. Davis was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 2002. He was also recently diagnosed with a painful joint disease. His doctor recommends that he use medical marijuana to manage his pain and to increase his appetite, Davis said.

The first prosecutor handling the activists’ case ordered each person who had been arrested to pass three drug tests as a condition for having charges dropped. Davis’ tests showed the presence of marijuana. There have been three prosecutors on the case by now, and the activists complained that each has set new conditions and failed to fulfill promises made by previous prosecutors. The other activists have been offered community service in exchange for the charges being dropped — though they complain that prosecutors have twice refused to recognize the service.

Matthew Kavanagh said he completed 64 hours of service, twice the amount prosecutors said he had to do, and is now being required to do another 32 hours.

Because of his failed drug tests, Davis doesn’t have that option. His trial is scheduled to begin May 7. He faces up to six months in jail if convicted.

Meantime, Davis said he has stopped using marijuana, causing mental and physical pain.

“I’ve been off of my medical marijuana for the last few months,” he told The Huffington Post. “It has put me in great jeopardy with my health as well as my mental health.”

“We think [marijuana] is a medicinal thing, and doctors are ordering people to do it. We think the U.S. attorneys should relax their views on it,” said lawyer Ann Wilcox, who attended the press conference on behalf of the National Lawyers Guild. “But, you know, it’s the federal government.”

The activists’ attorney, Mark Goldstone, told HuffPost he is “looking into a motion to dismiss,” but hopes the U.S. Attorney’s Office will decide to simply drop the case instead. Calls to the U.S. Attorney’s Office were not returned Wednesday afternoon.

“The guy’s got AIDS,” Goldstone said. “He has a doctor’s letter indicating that she’s keeping track of him. It’s inexplicable why they’re treating him harshly.”

New York, NY February 2012— Six-time James Beard award-winner, Gilt Taste Editorial Advisor, and acclaimed critic and journalist, Ruth Reichl, joins Alex Guarnaschelli, Food Network Star and Executive Chef of Butter Restaurant and The Darby, to co-host A Taste of Home, Housing Works’ annual chefs’ tasting and culinary-themed benefit event. Now in its third year, A Taste of Home has enjoyed the involvement of several leading chefs and food writers including Guarnaschelli who hosted last year’s event.

Inspired by the unique venue and distinctly downtown vibe, participating chefs will use this special benefit to showcase their culinary creativity.

“I’ve been a longtime supporter of Housing Works and the wonderful work that they do for low-income people living with HIV/AIDS,” says co-host, Ruth Reichl. “The bookstore is one of New York’s truly great community institutions. It’s always filled with interesting people, and this promises to be a very delicious and fun event.”

Guests will enjoy exclusive tastings by an exceptional who’s who of New York City chefs, including; Michael White (Altamarea Group), Bill Dorrler (Osteria Morini), Gabe Thompson (L’Artusi, dell’anima, Anfora), Josh Capon (Lure Fishbar, B&B Winepub), Brendan McHale (Tasting Table), Ivy Stark (Dos Caminos), and Paul Buese (The Works Catering).

The event will also feature guacamole by Dos Caminos, wine by Broadbent and beer courtesy of Whole Foods Market. The 2012 media sponsor is Tasting Table.com.

Advanced General Admission tickets are on sale for just $75 now through February 10th. VIP Early Access tickets will include a meet and greet with all chefs and co-hosts Ruth Reichl and Alex Guarnaschelli. VIP ticket holders will also enjoy an exclusive tasting by Paul Buese, Executive Chef of The Works Catering. General Admission tickets purchased after February 10th are $100.

As a high-end tasting event, Taste of Home has raised more than $30,000 for Housing Works’ lifesaving HIV/AIDS services.

MEDIA ADVISORY: PRESS CONFERENCE
Contact: Matthew Kavanagh, 202-486-2488 or matthew@healthgap.org

Activists Living with HIV Unfairly Prosecuted — Threatened With 6 Months in Jail for Protesting AIDS Funding Cuts, Syringe Exchange Ban

In Contrast, D.C. Mayor Gets Slap on Wrist for Separate Protest on Same Day

Legal experts, medical providers, and AIDS activists will hold a press conference Wednesday on the case of several HIV+ people and activists who were arrested in April at a demonstration against Republican cuts to AIDS funding and ban on syringe exchange funding in the District of Columbia. The activists were arrested the same day as D.C. Mayor Gray and Council Chairman Kwame Brown — who were protesting the same Republican budget “riders” that hurt District residents and sovereignty.

But unlike the Mayor and Chairman, who were released on a $50 fine, these activists are being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s office, threatened with 6 months in jail, and a criminal record. The press conference will document failures of the Obama Administration’s US attorney’s office to follow through on promises in the case and the failure of the US Attorney’s current policy of drug-testing people engaged in non-violent acts of civil disobedience.

WHEN: Wednesday February 8 / NOON

WHERE: Steps of the Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

WHO: Daniel Brito, Government Relations, Drug Policy Alliance
TBD, National Lawyers Guild
Christine Campbell, DC Fights Back & DC Community Coalition (people living with HIV groups in DC)
Charles King, President, Housing Works (the nations largest minority-controlled HIV service organization)
Antonio Davis, AIDS activist being prosecuted, ACT UP Philadelphia
Matthew Kavanagh, AIDS activist being prosecuted, DC Fights Back & Health GAP.

By Michael Hinson and Lisa Fager Bediako, Special to the NNPA from the Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative

After 30 years of the HIV pandemic, one might think that terms such as “community collaboration” and “community participation” would be commonplace among those fighting the disease. But in many communities across the country, this is not the case. In fact, the clock seems to be rolling back to the early days, when the opinions and actions of a small minority marginalized the voices of those who were most impacted by the global pandemic.

Make no mistake: many people are indeed living longer with HIV disease as a result of improved treatments. But with all of the dynamic shifts
in HIV treatment, prevention, and policy, it is especially disheartening – and, we would say, dangerous – that women, Black gay men, people of color, heterosexual men, transgender individuals and, most notably, Black organizations still must fight to be heard by the decision makers who develop, implement, and allocate funding for HIV-related policies and programs.

We all know the statistics from the Centers for Disease Control. Blacks represent approximately 14% of the US population, but accounted for an estimated 44% of new HIV infections in 2009. Over the same period, the rate of new HIV infections among Black women was 15 times that of White women, and over 3 times the rate of Hispanic/Latina women. At some point in their lives, approximately 1 in 16 Black men will be diagnosed with HIV infection, many of whom will be Black gay men, as will 1 in 32 Black women.

Furthermore, Latinos represented 16% of the population but accounted for 20% of new HIV infections in 2009. In 2009, the estimated rate of new HIV infections among Latinos was 2.5 times that for White men; for Latinas, the rate was 4.5 times that for white women.

Black transgender women are more likely to become newly infected with HIV and studies have shown that infection rates for transgender women
of all races range from 11.8% to 27.7%.

Given these statistics, why are there not more Blacks, Latino/as, or transgender individuals involved in decision-making processes about HIV-related policies and programs? Does it even matter? We contend that the answer is a resounding “Yes!”

When the Philadelphia Health Department recently decided to cut much of its HIV/AIDS prevention programs, organizations serving people of color were hardest hit. As a letter to the Philadelphia Health Commissioner sent by the Black Gay Men’s Leadership Council indicated, the decision failed to appreciate the cultural capital that community-based organizations bring to the health milieu in order to create change. Had people from those communities been at the table, perhaps a different decision might have been reached – especially one without negative repercussions for those most affected.

There are, perhaps, many reasons why this marginalization occurs, but the primary question remains “where are our voices?” If we, decision
makers, communities members, elected/appointed officials, organizations, individuals and communities are ever going to end this disease we must revisit the issues of representation, inclusion and parity among decision makers. We must answer the question, “who is not at the table, and if they are at the table are their voices being heard and experiences being honored.”

However, we can’t arrive at the table empty-handed. The National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS (NBLCA), a partnership of more than 25 national and local organizations, recommends the following as part of a comprehensive strategy for reducing the transmission of HIV/AIDS: expanding the availability of HIV testing; implementing a national media outreach campaign focusing on people of color; directing HIV prevention and testing activities to those at highest risk; providing adequate funding, technical assistance, capacity building, and infrastructure development to Black and other minority-led organizations; prioritizing effective and evidence-based programs and interventions; and combining prevention approaches.

As we commemorate National Black HIV/AIDS Day on February 7th, we should remember that any significant, long-lasting progress that will be made towards stemming the impact of this disease is intricately tied to our ability to have seats at the decision-making table.
_________________________________________________________________
Michael Hinson is the Director of Policy and Programs for the International Federation of Black Prides in Washington, DC and directs its Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative Project.

Lisa Fager Bediako is Project Director, Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc.

The Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative, is a $16 million, six-year partnership between CDC and 19 of nation’s leading civil rights and social justice organizations formed to conduct a wide range of communication, mobilization, action and educational activities among communities hardest hit by HIV/AIDS.

By Sara Patterson for The Commercial Appeal (Memphis TN)

How can an AIDS patient begin to heal when he’s homeless?

On today’s National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, that’s a question plaguing the homeless population in Memphis and one that a local nonprofit organization is trying to erase with an apartment complex meant to treat the virus by providing housing as the first step to recovery.

Select homeless people living with HIV/AIDS and another disability in Memphis are being screened for one of 10 units available in the new Aloysius New Beginnings apartment complex.

“First we provide the housing, then we pile on other services,” said Lonnie Franklin, the housing project manager for Friends for Life, a nonprofit corporation that supports people affected by HIV/AIDS.

A red ribbon was cut at the end of January on the $1.3 million project funded by federal, state and local grants and private donations. Tenants will move into the fully furnished, single-occupancy units. The gated, two-story brick complex is unassuming on the outside and freshly minimal within.

Friends for Life executive director Kim Daugherty asked the address not be printed because of the social stigma associated with HIV/AIDS in the community.

Unlike other affordable-living complexes managed by Friends for Life, tenants will not have to pass an initial drug screening to qualify for the program. “It’s hard to get ‘off the corner’ if you’re living on the corner,” said Daugherty. “Let’s get them indoors — housed — and then work on changes so they won’t be relegated to the corner forever.”

A recent National AIDS Housing Coalition report named homelessness as both a cause and effect of HIV/AIDS. Research cited in the coalition’s 2011 policy paper found that rates of HIV infection among homeless people are about 16 times higher than in the general population and that at least half living with the virus report experiencing homelessness or housing instability following diagnosis.

An HIV/AIDS patient, who didn’t want to be identified, was homeless after his diagnosis but is now living in a Friends for Life housing complex. He said having a place to call his own helped him kick his drug habit.

The 49-year-old is now a volunteer at Friends for Life who answers the HIV/AIDS hotline.

In Shelby County, the rate of new HIV disease cases was 2.5 times greater than the state’s, according to Health Department data from 2010, the most recent available.

By the end of 2010, 6,633 Shelby County residents were estimated to be living with HIV or AIDS. The majority were male (62.8 percent) and black (83.5 percent). Forty percent contracted the disease from male-to-male sex and 30 percent from heterosexual sex.

By the numbers (2010)

Estimated number of people in Shelby County living with HIV/AIDS: 6,633

New AIDS Diagnoses: 181

New HIV Diagnoses: 325

Percentage of people living with HIV/AIDS by race/ethnicity: Black, 83.5 percent; White, 14.1 percent; Hispanic, 1.6 percent; other, .7 percent

Source: Health Department

Annually, nearly 20,000 black people in the United States test positive for HIV.

While only representing 14 percent of the U.S. population, African-Americans account for 44 percent of all new HIV infections, according to the most recent information collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2009.

Source: National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Organization

Spring forward with fashion, furniture, and artwork finds at the Housing Works semi-annual Best of Spring sales event! We have re-stocked our shops with top-quality seasonal merchandise for a fraction of the retail price. This year TWELVE sales are in bloom including our newest shop on the Upper West Side at 96th and Broadway and our second Brooklyn boutique located in Park Slope.

Spring 2012 featured goodies include:

COST OF ENTRY: Entry to each sale is FREE; however, Housing Works members. Join today, or become a member at a Housing Works Thrift Shop location the same day on which that location is holding a preview and still get in free!

WHEN AND WHERE

Soho, 130 Crosby St.
Saturday, February 25, 12 to 8pm

Upper East, 202 East 77th St.
Thursday, March 1, 5pm to 8pm

Yorkville, 1730 2nd Ave.
Saturday, March 3, 12am to 6pm

Chelsea, 143 West 17th St.
Tuesday, March 6, 5pm to 8pm

Columbus & 74th, 306 Columbus Ave.
Thursday, March 8, 5pm to 8pm

Tribeca, 119 Chambers St.
Saturday, March 10, 12pm to 8pm

Gramercy, Thursday, 157 East 23rd St.
Tuesday, March 13, 5pm to 8pm

Hell’s Kitchen, 730-732 9th ave.
Thursday, March 15, 5-8pm

West Village, 245 West 10th St.
Saturday, March 17, 12am to 8pm

96th and Broadway, 2569 Broadway
Tuesday, March 20, 5pm-8pm

Park Slope, 266 5th avenue
Thursday, March 22, 5pm-8pm

Brooklyn Heights, 122 Montague St.
Saturday, March 24, 12am to 8pm

By Ashley Lopez for The American Independent

A women’s health report released by the Florida Association of Planned Parenthood Affiliates this week shows that women, particularly women of color, in Florida are facing mounting health problems related to unintended pregnancies and HIV.

The group also criticized state lawmakers for curbing reproductive rights while not addressing these health issues.

“Some legislators are obsessed with a narrow anti-choice agenda, while they should be focused on helping the nearly two million women who do not have health insurance,” Lillian Tamayo, president/CEO of Planned Parenthood of South Florida and the Treasure Coast, said in a statement. “Let’s stop scoring political points and start supporting women and their families as they struggle to get access to the health care they need.”

In a statement announcing the report, Planned Parenthood warned that “nearly two million women across the state do not have health insurance.”

“Almost a third of the people living with HIV/AIDS in Florida are women – and the state has the second highest number of women and girls living with AIDS in the entire country,” the group continues. “Florida also has nearly a quarter-of-a-million unintended pregnancies each year.”

The report also found that “1.9 million are in need of contraceptive services and supplies.”

Planned Parenthood also noted that women in the state face a problem with HIV/AIDS.

According to the report:

- 31 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS in Florida are women; – Florida has the second highest number of women/girls living with AIDS in the country; – In 2010, HIV was the second leading cause of death among black females and the 5th leading cause of death among Hispanic females in Florida; – 70 percent of women with HIV/AIDS in Florida are black; – Over 28,000 women in the state are living with HIV/AIDS in Florida.
.
According to the group, “Miami has over 7,000 women living with HIV/AIDS.”

The group also highlighted problems with unplanned pregnancies, especially among teenagers. The group reported that “Florida has the 12th highest teen pregnancy rate in the country … and 19 percent of births to teen mothers in Florida are repeat teen births.”

The report also found that there were 223,000 unintended pregnancies in the state last year — 69,000 of those pregnancies were publicly funded, which has cost the state $641.5 million.

Tamayo said in a statement that the Legislature should be focusing its efforts on the state’s health problems instead of curbing abortion rights.

“Florida has almost a-quarter-of-a-million unintended pregnancies annually,” Tamayo said. “So why are legislators trying to make it harder to access reproductive health care services, such as birth control and sex education? Planned Parenthood is trying to reduce unintended pregnancies while politicians in Tallahassee are working against us.”

By Todd Heywood for The American Independent

A Michigan man faces up to eight years in prison in a criminal case marked by confusion, hearsay, and a local health department that might have potentially violated state law. Holes in this ongoing case of a man alleged to have exposed hundreds of people to HIV suggest that either Kent County or the state — or both – violated policies that could have either contributed to the suspect infecting others, or could lead to a wrongful conviction.

Whether or not the suspect — who has a history of mental instability — is in fact HIV-positive has not been confirmed. Meanwhile, his reputation has been dredged through the mud by local, national and international media that have reported the story based almost entirely on the local county’s questionable information.

The American Independent has been investigating the timeline of the allegations since the end of December, when prosecutors charged the man (whom TAI is not identifying*) with two felony counts of failing to disclose his HIV-positive status to sexual partners.

The 51-year-old Comstock Park man allegedly walked into the Grand Rapids Police Department on Dec. 22, 2011, and turned himself in for, police say, attempting to infect hundreds of people with HIV. While officers investigated, the man was placed in a psychiatric hold. On Dec. 24, he was formally charged with one count of AIDS – Sexual Penetration Without Disclosure. On Dec. 27, he was charged with a second count. He was ordered to a state-run psychiatric facility earlier this month to determine if he is competent to stand trial. Results are pending.

Previous to his admission, the man was committed to Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services for 90 days. He had been released and was living in a housing facility for people with mental health issues. The Grand Rapids Press reported the man was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

Following the first charge, the Kent County Health Department sent out a press release about the case. In the release, health officials urged those who had had contact with the suspect to get tested. They noted that the suspect had allegedly attempted to infect others through both sexual encounters and needle-sharing. The press release, and resulting media coverage, was later called “sensationalist” by advocates and activists alike.

Through interviews and Freedom of Information Act requests, TAI has thus far been unable to find any records of the suspect’s HIV-positive status, neither within the Kent County Health Department, nor within the state health department. Absence of a record of the man’s HIV status suggests he might not be HIV-positive, as Michigan law stipulates that laboratories and physicians report HIV-positive test results to the state health department and to the infected person’s local jurisdiction immediately following a positive result. It should be noted that state confidentiality laws play a role in our ability to access certain data. But based on what the local and state health departments have told us, charges against the man appear to be based entirely on his confession to authorities last month.

Indeed, Kent County Deputy Corporate Counsel Sangeeta Ghosh told TAI that the county officials first became aware of the suspect and his alleged crime in December 2011.

When asked if the county has evidence of the suspect’s HIV status, Ghosh said in an email: “[Name redacted] tested for the HIV virus outside of the Health Department. Those records are not available with the Health Department.” She said the county health department was not in possession of the suspect’s monitoring lab results, saying those records are “retained by his physician or lab.”

Later in a phone interview, Ghosh speculated that the suspect might have tested anonymously at the Kent County Health Department, but she said the county was unable to verify that information.

A spokesperson for Kent County prosecutor William Forsyth declined to comment on the case or identify when the suspect allegedly tested positive for HIV. The spokesperson would not tell TAI if the prosecutor’s office had a positive test result for the suspect.

The suspect’s defense attorney, Richard Zambon, also declined to comment for this story.

Ghosh’s claim that the test results were not available to the county health department flies in the face of Michigan Department of Community Health policies and procedures created under state law. The only time a lab cannot report positive HIV results is when a physician submits an anonymous sample for testing, but there is no indication from state or Kent County officials that is the case in this instance.

Meanwhile, the suspect has been charged with two felony counts — and a possible four-year prison sentence for each count — based on testimonies that he had infected two people without disclosing his alleged HIV status.

According to news reports, the man is being charged with failing to disclose his status to a sexual partner in June 2008. That individual subsequently tested positive for HIV in October 2008, according to her interview with WOOD TV 8, the NBC affiliate in Grand Rapids. The Comstock Park man is also being charged by a second witness in a January 2009 incident of sex without disclosure; however, the HIV status of that witness has not been disclosed.

These allegations, if true, again suggest that state law was broken.

Michigan law provides for partner services for those who test positive for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. The program is designed to help health officials identify persons who might have the infectious diseases and prevent them from spreading it.

In other words, following her HIV-positive test, the woman’s partner-services interview would likely have identified the suspect, who would have landed in the state’s name-based list of HIV-positive persons. This should have set off a chain of health-department-led interventions to bring the suspect into the county for counseling or possible civil action under the state’s Health Threat to Others clause in the Public Health Act. Michigan law requires investigators to contact those identified as having been exposed to HIV within 35 days. The law also mandates strict confidentiality of those infected.

TAI has previously reported that Michigan’s local health departments routinely access the state’s name-based database to compare names of partners in HIV cases to the names of people already identified as living with HIV. In some instances, those persons then go on to face Health Threat to Others action by the local health department, based solely on their identification as a partner in an investigation.

If the suspect in this case turns out not to be HIV-positive, it will not be the first time a person has been falsely charged under a state disclosure law. Our sister site The Florida Independent reported on one such case in Broward County, Fla. There sheriff officials arrested a man on a shoplifting charge and claimed he tried to bite them during the arrest. Law enforcement alleged that he was HIV-positive and charged him with violating the state’s disclosure law. Subsequent tests showed the man was not HIV-positive, and Broward County officials had to drop the charges related to the infection.

The results of TAI’s investigation are not sitting well with one HIV activist in Michigan.

“This case seems to suggest either a catastrophic failure of the public health system in applying the laws of the State of Michigan, or there was, and perhaps still is, no verification of the suspect’s HIV status other than his own alleged confession,” said Josh Moore, owner of Detroit Legal Services a legal clinic offering support to HIV-positive people.

“If this is the case there would be serious implications involved which would question the entire case against him,” Moore continued. “There would be serious due process questions regarding the way this case has been handled and especially in light of the vilification of this man in the media and — perhaps — a man who is mentally ill.”

*The American Independent does not name the suspects in HIV criminal cases unless both the complaining witness and suspect are named. Because one of the complaining witnesses is not identified in court filings, the suspect and other witness will not be identified either.

By Brandon Macsata for The ADAP Advocacy Association (aaa+)

The ongoing saga over the number of Americans living with HIV/AIDS being denied access to care under the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) belongs on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360. The crisis has been escalating for over two years, full of its share of empty promises, demands for fact-checking, and people — especially patients — wondering what to believe. “Keeping them honest” couldn’t sum it up any better.

Almost two months ago on World AIDS Day, December 1st 2011, President Obama thankfully promised an additional $35 million dollars that would go to state ADAPs. This money should have already been rolled out. However no state has yet to see any of these additional funds, and the frustration level in the HIV/AIDS community is building.

Also building are the ADAP waitlists in America; which on January 19th, 2012 totaled 4,611 individuals across 12 states waiting to receive the anti-retroviral medication they need to stay alive, remain healthy, and productive. While this number is down from a high of nearly 10,000 last year, once again, the number has steadily been on the uptick.

So what is the hold up? Where is this money? Where is it coming from, and when will it be allocated to the states?

The $35 million dollars is reallocated HHS (Health and Human Services) funds, but before the funds can be reallocated the OMB (Office of Management and Budget) needs to approve. Apparently, saving lives is not at the top of the OMB list. As PLWHA continue to wait for these funds more people will become infected, more people will be put onto wait-lists, states will try to change criteria making it difficult for people to get medicine, and sadly people will likely die.

Once approved by the OMB then states will begin the competitive process of requesting this additional money. The most competitiveness will be among states with waiting list and already implemented cost containment measures. This all takes time. A current guestimate on when this money may start to roll out is not until July 2012!! That would be 7 months from the date of the announcement made on December 1st, 2012!

Did you know on the first day of American intervention in Lybia it cost US tax payers $100 million dollars, and over the three month period from April – July a total of nearly $1 billion was spent on the war with Lybia? Why will it take 7 months to distribute $35 million in reallocated HHS funds to states with people who continue to wait for the medicine they need?

Since Obama took office a robust national dialogue on HIV/AIDS has taken place, the National HIV/AIDS strategy was developed, his administration has increased overall funding to record levels, he re-authorized the Ryan White care act, and eliminated the travel ban on HIV positive individuals entering the United States. He has done a lot of good when it comes to HIV/AIDS, but more must be done here at home. With the 2012 International AIDS Conference coming to Washington, DC, isn’t it embarrassing for the United States of America to deny access to care to thousands of patients who desperately need it?

“We are at the beginning of the end of this epidemic” the President said on World AIDS Day 2011, and said on this day that his vision was that “…..every American can get access to life extending care” but that vision, neither is hope in insight for the thousands of Americans that continue to be on ADAP wait-lists.

For more information about the ADAP Advocacy Association click here.

Posted at ENews Park Forest

KINSHASA—(ENEWSPF) – The vast majority of people living with the AIDS virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are deprived of lifesaving treatment, due to a withdrawal of international donor support and the lack of national prioritization of the crisis, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today.

The number of HIV-positive people in DRC is currently estimated at more than one million, 350,000 of whom could benefit from antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. However, only 44,000 people are currently receiving treatment, translating into a 15 percent ARV coverage rate, one of the lowest in the world. Of all African countries, only Somalia and Sudan have similar rates.

The conditions surrounding access to care for people living with HIV/AIDS in DRC are horrific. At the Centre Hospitalier de Kabinda (CHK) in Kinshasa, the capital, MSF has observed an excessively high number of patients arriving with serious complications resulting from lack of treatment. Their advanced illness creates unacceptable suffering.

“I have worked with HIV-positive patients in many countries in central and southern Africa, but what I’m seeing in DRC has not existed elsewhere for years,” said Anja De Weggheleire, MSF’s medical coordinator in DRC.“The situation here reminds me of the time before any antiretroviral (ARV) treatment was available.Our doctors face serious complications every day that could be prevented if patients received early ARV treatment.”

The alarming situation for HIV/AIDS patients in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), coincides with the tenth anniversary of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis, which is struggling to meet its funding commitments.

The DRC is also one of the two lowest-ranked countries in western and central Africa in terms of prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT). Only 1 percent of pregnant women estimated to be HIV-positive in DRC have access to PMTCT treatment. Without treatment, approximately one-third of babies who are exposed to the virus will be born with HIV.

Despite these disastrous indicators, donors have not given DRC the priority it deserves. What is worse, some donors, such as the Global Fund, are withdrawing or sharply reducing their funding. While the Global Fund is the leading supplier of ARV drugs in the DRC, the countries that finance the Fund have not kept their promises. As a result, the Global Fund is having to lower its sights.

This pull-back by donors is directly threatening the lives of thousands of people in DRC.

“If nothing is done, it is highly likely that the 15,000 people currently on the waiting list and in urgent need of ARV drugs will be dead within three years,” said De Weggheleire.“As horrifying as that number is, it represents only the tip of the iceberg when you realize that most people living with HIV/AIDS in DRC do not know their HIV status. Many will die in silence and neglect.”

It is crucial that Congolese authorities meet their commitment to provide free prevention services and free treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS. It is also critical that donors immediately mobilize the necessary resources to ensure that patients waiting for ARV treatment are not condemned to die.

MSF has been working in DRC for more than 30 years, operating HIV/AIDS programs since 1996. In October 2003, MSF was the first organization to provide free ARV treatment to patients in DRC. Through its healthcare support programs and its AIDS project in Kinshasa, MSF treats more than 5,000 patients in six provinces, more than 10 percent of the number receiving ARV treatment throughout the country. In Kinshasa, MSF is treating 20 percent of the total number of patients on ARV treatment in the Congolese capital.

Today, MSF is launching a communications and advocacy campaign that will continue throughout 2012 to raise public awareness of the very serious situation facing people with HIV/AIDS in DRC and to encourage all actors to expand ARV coverage.

Source: www.doctorswithoutborders.org.

By Nigel Nassar for New Vision (Uganda)

Remember Proscovia Ayo? She is that HIV-positive headteacher from Tororo district, whose deadlock story we published in New Vision’s Mwalimu on March 2, 2011.

In the story titled “Head Teacher Rejected for being HIV Positive?”, we followed Ayo’s life story right from the time she set out to study and achieve her dreams as a teacher, all the way to when the dreams started crumbling down at the hands of her being HIV-positive.

The story painted a picture of the teacher’s struggles in life, an outstanding scenario being the one where she, because of her HIV/ AIDS activism, was discriminated against and chased from office by stick-wielding villagers who took the law in their hands to end her means of subsistence. Looking into the unfortunate occurrence, the story portrayed a weakness by the education ministry in handling the woman’s dilemma.

At the time of the story’s publication in March last year, it had been eight years since this act of lawlessness had taken place.For eight years Ayo sought intervention writing letters to all and sundry at the education ministry, to the district’s chief administrative officer, to the education service commission, to the LC5 chairperson of Tororo,
name them.

But no help had come her way. The situation had been worsened by her name subsequently getting dropped from the payroll, a thing that stressed her and got her bedridden for eight months with no hopes of ever getting up again.
Along the way, her four children had been discontinued from school due to her inability to pay fees for them.

In a nutshell, it was a story of a woman of ill health trying single-handedly to have anyone in the education ministry hear her out in vain. It was a story of this woman hoping against all hope that her children get to see the chalkboard again someday, still in vain.

The education ministry, according to the ministry publicist Aggrey Kibenge, had tasked Tororo district officials to solve Ayo’s problem. But for some reason, no one had acted positively, and the woman had continued to suffer all because some villagers fired her from work eight years ago and the ministry had looked on for that long.

When contacted for comment, Tororo District Education Officer Yona Gamusi Doya had dismissed the woman’s claims of him not helping, and had actually bounced the case to district chief administrative officer Felix Esoku, claiming Esoku had solved it.

Esoku had alleged that Ayo was re-instated and was being paid, yet Ayo insisted she was only volunteering. With this state of events all highlighted in the article “Head Teacher Rejected for being HIV Positive”, Ayo’s story became something of a national concern.

The New Vision was subsequently inundated by letters from readers, some demanding the sacking of the district officials indicated in the story as frustrating the woman, others expressing sheer shock at how a teacher could be fired by locals and how the education ministry was taking forever to reinstate her.

Many more letters spat fire at the education ministry and everyone who was involved in this case. At the local FM radio station Rock Mambo 106.8FM, a talk show was dedicated to Ayo’s dilemma, as portrayed by New Vision story.

Listeners called in, some even proposing mass violence against the said officials on air. With pressure mounting from every direction, the education ministry and the district officials eventually gave Ayo’s case priority in a thorough reviewing that ended in the last quarter of 2011.

On November 7, 2011, Ayo was reinstated as a headteacher not in the school whose locals plagued her over her HIV status. Rather, Ayo is now the proud head teacher of Pajangango Primary School in Magola Subcounty, West Budama, Tororo district. “I cannot believe that after a whole eight years, justice has finally prevailed.

Thanks to the New Vision for giving urgency to my problem and making it a social concern,” says the 51-year-old headteacher, who also teaches English in P.5, P.6 and P.7. “It feels so good to be back in class doing what I love. But most of all, I love serving my nation.

Somehow, it reassures me that I am still valuable to the nation much as I am HIV-positive.” “Now my mind is already off my HIV status. I feel I am already healed because my worries are gone. After all, my children are resuming school soon and I am going to be paid in arrears for the time I was off the payroll,” adds Ayo, a born-again Christian whose faith did not falter all through her eight years of struggling to be reinstated.

“I will praise Him. I relied upon Him all the way. Now look what He has done for me! Those eight years of struggle were only a test of my faith. I am glad i did not disappoint Him” she says.

By Eric Gemmell for FOX 43 WMPT (PA)

Derry Township (Dauphin County) -— Protester’s from across the nation rallied outside the Hershey Company in Derry Township on Tuesday protesting December’s decision by the Milton Hershey School not to enroll a 13-year-old HIV positive student.

The protesters are urging the school’s board of trustees and the company to change its policies against HIV students.

Jessica Reinhart of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation said, “We need to get more people involved and realize in 2012 this cannot be tolerated and is unacceptable.”

Members of the school administration pondering the decision and said, “This is not a decision made out of ignorance,” said Connie McNamara, school spokesperson. She added, “We have a unique environment here and at the end of the day made a decision we thought was the best for our students.”

Still that decision did ignite a fire storm among HIV activities including Jason King of Orlando, Florida.

“He’s just a normal kid who want to play with friends – get an education like everyone else – and be entitled to do that,” said King.

He added, “It’s discrediting to Hershey to allow this to happen.”

Meanwhile, the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit in Federal Court on behalf of the boy . The school hopes the issues will be resolved in a few months, “We understand people disagree with that and looking for the court to weigh in and guide us in this issue,” said McNamara.

By Marsha Jones for The Dallas Examiner

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) the virus that causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). HIV is contracted or transmitted by participating in behaviors that increase risk of exposure. Those behaviors include sex (vaginal, anal, or oral) without a condom and sharing injecting drug paraphernalia with someone that is living with HIV. Mother to child by an HIV infected mother is also a mode of transmission. Transmittable HIV can be found in four body fluids semen, vaginal secretions, breast milk, and blood. Using condoms with every sexual experience, using clean injecting drug paraphernalia, and anti-retroviral therapy for a known positive mother during pregnancy reduces transmission risk.

It is very important that people get tested to know their status because it’s been said that most often people who know their status is less likely to participate in behavior that put others at risk. Getting tested, knowing your status and getting into treatment if you are positive is also vital because maintaining a non detectible viral load and high CD4 cell count will decrease chances of transmission. This information with, a few exceptions have been touted for more than 20 years, so much so it can be repeated upon demand by most.

This information is data driven and according to experts it is affective and it is gender, race, cultural, and socio-economically neutral. If people would, after being given this information, adhere we could curb the tide on new HIV infections and end this epidemic.

My question to this would be if it was actually this simple why are we still testing, in the United States, more than 50,000 people HIV positive annually? Why are some communities, black women and other women of color, black men that have sex with men, black heterosexual men, black transgendered women, and other poor people, continuing to become infected at higher rates than others?

HIV and Dallas Texas

Black people while representing a very small percentage of the US population disproportionately represents those being newly infected by HIV/AIDS. Half of all people being newly infected by HIV are black people black youth, black heterosexual men, black gay men, and black women.

Statically in Dallas the numbers would mirror national numbers, with black gay men and black women carrying the burden of those newly infected. Since 2008 Dallas has consecutively held the distinction of having the highest reported new HIV infection prevalence rate in Texas. A report released in Dallas recently addressed HIV and its impact on black women and the entire city reacted with total amazement. The report stated that less than a quarter of women in Dallas are black, but nearly three-fourths of all women living with HIV in Dallas are black.

Black women have always carried the brunt of this disease among women, now health department officials and service providers are scrambling to find an answer.

Apparently HIV prevention 101 alone is not working to ebb the tide of HIV for all people. Ending the HIV epidemic will require more than a carefully facilitated prevention session to a newly targeted most at risk group, because every day there will evolve a new most at risk group.

It’s Larger Than HIV Prevention 101

HIV Prevention 101 is only one tool in the prevention arsenal and it is a very important foundation in achieving the goal of fewer new HIV infections, but we have to have the ability to use all tools that exist. Not only do we need to increase access to the entire prevention tool box, but we must also expand the conversation around prevention.

Women, black women, are disproportionately becoming infected with HIV and these infections are occurring for the most part through heterosexual sex. With this being the case why are we not talking to heterosexual men, there is not one behavioral intervention that is specific to heterosexual men. We encourage women to use condoms and we give them male condoms to take home to male partners to use.

To really increase the probability of that condom being used it would be more logical to have that male partner in the room at the same time. There are behavioral interventions that are marketed for heterosexuals (women); the problem is a heterosexual relationship consists of both a man and a woman. Telling people to use a condom every time they have sex, get tested and know your status, and know your status and get into treatment, this all sound really good.

While it may sound good we have to bear in mind is this a reality foe most people becoming infected by HIV. If policy leaders are not shaping policy that includes but is not limited to not having AIDS drugs waiting list, access to affordable housing, care and treatment, and comprehensive sexual education HIV Prevention 101 will not work.

This story appeared in the Boston Globe

Thirty years after AIDS made its deadly debut, a future without the disease is finally within reach. One of the biggest scientific breakthroughs of 2011 was the discovery that antiretroviral drugs don’t just prolong the lives of people with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS; they also render infected people virtually non-contagious. Putting people on these life-saving medicines early enough could effectively end the spread of HIV.

But just as science is on the verge of winning the battle, financial resources and political will are flagging. 2010 was the first year that HIV/AIDS funding around the world decreased, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The Swiss-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria – which supports 3 million people with HIV drugs – is so cash-strapped that it won’t provide any new grants until 2014. Due to the European financial crisis, Italy and Spain – once important donors – haven’t met their pledges. The fund has been forced to ask middle-income countries – including China, Brazil, and Mexico – to fend for themselves.

In the United States, the situation is slightly better, at least on the financial front. Congress cut funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief by 2 percent – disappointing, but hardly the crushing blow that AIDS activists feared. The United States still plans to spend $4.5 billion on global AIDS relief, a pool of money that funds antiretroviral drugs for 4 million people in the developing world, at a cost of about $350 per person per year. President Obama announced last month that the United States would set a goal of providing drugs to an addition two million people, even if funding remains flat. Efficiencies – such as sending the drugs by boat rather than planes – have already allowed the United States to meet prior targets ahead of schedule.

Far more disturbing than the slight reduction in funds is a stipulation that Congress attached to the money: None can be spent on needle exchange programs. At a time when the global public health establishment is looking for proven, cost-effective ways to fight the spread of HIV, ideologically motivated limitations like this unnecessarily tie their hands. That mandate could be a death sentence for people in Ukraine and Vietnam, where the AIDS rate is fueled by intravenous drug use.

Written by Kevin Maloney and posted in the HIV Haven

As goes Ohio, so could the Nation. The Ohio Health Department is putting up a strong fight to lower the federal poverty limit from its height of 500% in July 2010, lowered to 300% at that time, to now have the ability to implement a potential income eligibility change to as low as 100 % FPL at anytime with no notice to anyone with a stroke of pen. If that rule had gone into effect, it would mean in order to qualify for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program a single individual cannot make more than $10,890 a year in order to be eligible. Further, ODH could implement medical criteria one must also meet. Those given the highest priority will be PLWHA who’s CD4 counts are lower than 201. The medical criterion makes no mention of an important aspect of HIV care which is the Viral Load.

Back on December 14th, three Ohio HIV- Positive advocates with the assistance of The AIDS HealthCare Foundation won an injunction to these proposed rule changes in the Franklin County, Ohio Court of Common Pleas, resetting the FPL to 300%. ODH had proposed one set of rules, had a hearing, and then changed the rules to the above without telling anyone. The judge had ordered ODH to go back to the drawing board…and they did. The end result is the terrible rules listed above.

If the Ohio Health Department gets their way and decides to lower the income limit to 100% FPL, nearly 2,600 of Ohio’s PLWHA will be forced off of ADAP , and countless others who will become newly infected will have no access to the medicine they need. PLWHA no matter what their socioeconomic background should be privy to medicine that will keep them alive and healthy.

Is this not the reason behind these medications? With today’s medicine PLWHA can lead long productive lives; they are at less risk of developing an opportunistic Infection, and in 2011 a ground breaking study came out that stated those on Anti-Retro viral Therapy (ARV) are 96 percent less likely to pass the virus to their partner.

We must not let Ohio implement these rules on the backs of the poor and vulnerable, especially those living with a potentially life threatening disease such as HIV/AIDS. After 30 years of this epidemic, we must continue in our efforts to fight for all PLWHA!

How you can help:

Anyone from around the United States can send an e-mail to HCS@odh.ohio.gov emphasizing your concern of these proposed changes. In the subject line use: Rule 3701-44-03.

The Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA) National Steering committee convened in mid-January in uncharacteristically chilly South Padre Island, Texas to strategically chart the advocacy and activist goals for 2012 and beyond. In the eighth year since C2EA began, its current steering committee members – representing the many regional, ethnic, and gender identities of people living with and affected by the U.S. HIV & AIDS epidemic – look to challenge and influence local, state, and national policy and politics. The group also aims to raise the visibility and voice of C2EA leaders and members across the country, support and develop the meaningful participation and leadership of people who living with HIV & AIDS, their networks, allies, and loved ones.

Click here to join C2EA as an individual or and organization.

Among the tasks and activities C2EA is looking forward to in 2012: – Continue to support and C2EA leaders/members and networks to influence city, state, and national campaigns for office by utilizing AIDSVote tools and ensure that HIV & AIDS issues are a priority platform issue for candidates; – Meet outreach and membership goals that build toward 15,000 C2EA members by 2015; – Support and encourage HIV & AIDS advocacy and activism that builds on the C2EA 5 Demands and prioritizes the voice, lives, and dignity of people living with HIV & AIDS throughout the U.S. and around the world; – Support C2EA leaders/members into meaningful leadership and planning roles on the city, state, and national level.

Led by the Steering Committee, C2EA plans to continue to build on its nationally and internationally visible advocacy and activism and with allies and partners, demand that our leaders exert the political will to stop the epidemic, in the U.S. and abroad, once and for all.

Important upcoming dates:

June 10-16 2012; C2EA Youth Action Institute, Washington DC

July 24 2012; ‘We Can End AIDS’ Human Rights, Economic & Social Justice Mobilization March, Washington DC (during the 2012 International AIDS Conference)

October 22-25 2012; C2EA Women’s HIV & AIDS Advocacy & Leadership Summit, Boca Raton FL (during the third and final Presidential Debate)

January 2013; C2EA Advocacy & Activist Summit, location to be announced.

For more information about C2EA and to contact the Steering Committee please email or call 1877.END.AIDS (363.2437).

Campaign To End AIDS Steering Committee Members

Michelle Anderson, Dallas TX
Roberto Archuleta, Kansas City MO
DeShawn Bunton, Lubbock TX
Christine Campbell, Washington DC
William Francis, Atlanta GA
Angela Green, San Francisco CA
Marsha Jones, Dallas TX
Tony Ray, New York NY
Justin Thompson, New York NY
Diane Walker, Denver CO

By Claudia del Castillo for The Brooklyn Ink

Edward Shaw has a broad and inviting smile, his glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. He doesn’t look like he’s 70. He talks about his life with ease, even when it comes to disclosing that he has lived with HIV & AIDS for the past 23 years.

Shaw is one of thousands of city residents over 50 infected with HIV & AIDS. In June 2009, of the 107,177 New York City People Living With HIV & AIDS (PLWHA), 42,442 were 50 years or older, according to a report from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Life expectancy in the first years of the AIDS epidemic was very low. A report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) stated that the average age of death for HIV & AIDS in 1991 was between 25 and 44 for men and between 15 and 44 for women. In 1994, death tolls were the highest, topping at 8,339 in New York City alone.

With the introduction in 1995 of protease inhibitors, a special class of drugs that prevents viral replication, AIDS ceased to be a sure death sentence. From then on, life expectancy has steadily improved, allowing HIV & AIDS sufferers to grow old.

Edward Shaw remembered when he was diagnosed in 1988. He thought he was going to die. He was alone, his wife and daughter had left years before because he was using drugs. Now, with treatment, he is still healthy in his 23th year with the disease.

People like Shaw, who have aged with the virus, are a majority of those with the disease. They are the new face of AIDS.

In 2006, a report issued by Weill Cornell Medical College announced that an American diagnosed with AIDS could expect to live about 24 years on average. A 2007 CDC report said more than 65 percent of all people with the disease were 40 or older.

A complex treatment regime known as Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART) is largely responsible for this longevity. Living longer with HIV & AIDS also has its downsides, however.

“The treatment lengthens the life span, but people who have AIDS look older than they are, and their health is worse”, explained Daniel Tietz, executive director of AIDS Community Research Initiative of America, an organization that has studied the effects of AIDS for the past 20 years.

In older adults living with the disease, age-related afflictions—diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis and cancer—affect them with greater intensity. As both HIV & AIDS and age diminish the production and beneficial effects of T cells—a vital part of the body’s immune system—older adults have a weaker immune system.

Depression, common among older adults, is even higher in those infected with HIV & AIDS: up to five times more than the general New York City population, as reported in a study from the AIDS Community Research Initiative of America. People don’t show it, as it can be masked by mood swings and physical aches. “By suppressing the immune system, depression may render people more vulnerable to infectious diseases,” a report issued by this agency states.

Denial and heightened drug consumption drove Edward Shaw’s life between 1988 and 1993: “I don’t want to blame drugs, but I was depressed and did things that were not positive for me.” Pneumonia, thrush and a heart attack resulted from his behavior.

After the heart attack Shaw knew he needed help. He told his family and was surprised to find their support: “At the time there was so much stigma. When I told them, I started to cry, but they just hugged me and said they loved me.” He entered treatment in 1993 and began community work, a vital part of his life.

“I’m active as can be, and I’ve overcome the main obstacles. It has been a long process but it’s important not to give up. When I told my siblings that I was infected they accepted me.”

Nelly was born in Puerto Rico 52 years ago. Her skin doesn’t reveal her age, or the fact that she has been infected since 2001. Her husband, who died from AIDS related complications in 1996, was a frequent drug user and infected her by unprotected sex. She had cared for other infected relatives before, so she took the diagnosis calmly. Looking back, she partly blames herself on what happened: “I knew of the disease and the risks. I should have protected myself.” She tries to live a positive life for her family and her children, staying healthy.

Another group swelling the ranks of people living with HIV & AIDS is adults infected when they are already seniors. Recently infected seniors are less common than people who got it at a younger age, accounting for about 16 percent of new infection cases, according to a 2007 CDC report.

The number is on the rise because of risky sexual behavior. For seniors, contraception is not a priority. “After a certain age, people stop worrying about condoms. They think that since women can’t get pregnant, safe sex can be neglected,” said Naomi Schegloff, MPH.

Heterosexual women are the most vulnerable part in this equation. Since they tend to outlive men, there are less available choices, especially if they are in a closed environment such as a nursing home:

“Since there are fewer men, he can have two or three ladies, refuse to use a condom and say no to a woman. She will feel unwanted, making her vulnerable for infection, because she might yield,” said Lisa Frederick, the associate director of literacy at the AIDS Community Research Initiative of America.

Hypoestrogenism—vaginal dryness—also increases a woman’s risk of infection as she ages. Without the natural lubrication, abrasions are more likely during sex and, as Frederick put it, “the doors are left wide open for infection.”

Homosexual older men also neglect condoms, suffering from something known as “condom fatigue”:

“Older gays have been using condoms for 20, 30 years. They’ve done it because they knew their risk was higher then,” Schegloff explained. “And now they’ve stopped using them. It’s not that they don’t know about protection, they’re just done.”

People are reluctant to tell doctors about sexual practices, either because doctors don’t ask about them, or because there still is an anti-gay stigma that keeps older adults from disclosing their sexual behavior to a caregiver. Half of infected men over 50 have stated they do not know how they were infected, according to a 2009 report from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Risk increases if elders are part of an ethnic minority. According to a 2009 report issued by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Hispanics and African Americans are the groups where there are more infection cases in people over 50. These are closed communities, mostly because of language and race. The disease then tends to stay in that circle.

“Whom do you look for when trying to find a partner? Blacks will look for blacks, Latinos look for Latinos. That keeps the virus circulating within these communities,” said Frederick.

Edward Shaw has volunteered since 1993, sometimes in senior centers. There, he saw two predominant attitudes: denial, and a sexual activity that hadn’t stopped with age. “In their mind, they will say ‘it doesn’t happen to me’. That’s their attitude. I’ve been to senior centers in Connecticut, and they talked about how they engaged in multiple sexual activities. They could get infected. They don’t realize it.”

There is a general consensus that the public needs to become aware of this health risk. Changes have been made, such as the 2009 announcement from the federal government that Medicare would cover HIV tests for people over 65. There is still no cure for the disease, but through early treatment, and education, numbers can be reduced.

Nathan Schaefer, director of public policy at Gay Men’s Health Crisis, said doctors must make testing part of their routine exams, and stop mistaking the symptoms of HIV/AIDS for those of aging.

“Early detection means that patient can be controlled, stopping the risk of him or her infecting other people. When doctors don’t diagnose and don’t treat on time, then they become an agent of infection. Treating the disease timely means that the infection can be controlled, giving older adults a better life,” said Schaefer.

The main goal for the future is to create awareness and change the mind frame of the entire community, both young and old, said Luis Scaccabarrozzi, director of HIV education at the AIDS Community Research Initiative of America. Educating is key if there will be a change in perspective: “It´s tough to change the mindset of a generation, so we have to educate constantly. We all have to learn to care for ourselves, so we can care for others as well.”

From her own experience, Nelly says that the best solution is to talk and get to know the people you sleep with, and to take the test.

“Doctors put people in categories: if you’re married, if you’re a drug user, ” she said adding that “[it] doesn’t work. Because you know what you do, but not what your partner does.”

By Dyana Bagby for the Georgia Voice

Bernice King took the stage today at Atlanta’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. rally and included gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people among the various groups she said need to come together to fulfill her father’s legacy.

In a passionate, sermon-like speech about building unity, King said she didn’t care if people were Hindu, Buddhist, Islamist, were from the North side or the South side, were black or white, were “heterosexual or homosexual, or gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender” — that all people were needed to create unity.

LGBT people who attended the rally said they were shocked that King – who has a long anti-gay past — actually acknowledged the community in a public speech, but said they were also glad because it shows people can evolve.

Rev. Maressa Pendermon, a minister with LGBT-inclusive Unity Fellowship Church, said she at first intended to tune out King because of her anti-gay past, but decided to pay attention one more time.

For her father’s vision to be realized we’ve got to come together across boundaries and then she got in preacher mode. Then she said ‘heterosexual or homosexual,’ and then backed up and said ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.’ We need all of us,” Pendermon said.

There’s always room for growth,” Pendermon said, describing her reaction to King’s words. “People grow and people change. Sometimes we don’t let them. I wasn’t expecting that. And I was already ready to shut down but I challenged myself to listen and I’m glad I listened.”

Pendermon and her church were part of a counter protest in 2004 at the same intersection where today’s rally took place. In 2004, King was an elder at Bishop Eddie Long’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and the two led a march of thousands through the streets of Atlanta to protest, among other issues, gay marriage. She has also said that her father “did not take a bullet for same-sex marriage”.

Craig Washington, a founder of the Bayard Rustin/Audre Lorde breakfast where LGBT activists and allies gather before participating in the MLK march, said he was “surprised and actually excited” by King’s words.

It reminded me that people can and do shift attitudes. They do evolve,” he said. “What Bernice’s turnabout …spoke to is potential to change. We still have to remember they too are human.

I was like, ‘What?’ I clutched pearls. I sure did. I was not prepared to applaud Bernice King today and she gave me something to applaud,” Washington said.

Paulina Helm-Hernandez, the LGBT honorary grand marshal for today’s march and rally, said she also was surprised to hear King’s inclusive words.

“I thought it was great. First time I’ve ever heard her say lesbian, gay, bi and trans out loud,” she said. “She said homosexual at first and then corrected herself. It takes a lot of grace to do something like that when you’re on a roll.”

Whether King was sincere and genuine with her words remains to be seen, Helm-Hernandez said.

“I feel like in coming years that will be telling what she said was genuine. I hope so,” she said.

King was recently named CEO of the King Center after she left New Birth following Eddie Long’s sex scandal in which he was sued by young men who accused him of coercing them into sexual relationships.

Original post by cmcallaster at Southern HIV & AIDS Strategy Initiative.

Durham, N.C. –The Southeastern United States is experiencing the highest rate of new HIV & AIDS infections confirms a comprehensive research report, “HIV & AIDS Epidemic in the South Reaches Crisis Proportions in Last Decade” released Thursday by the Southern HIV & AIDS Strategy Initiative (SASI). The report takes a close look at nine southern states that have been particularly hard hit by the epidemic: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and (East) Texas.

“We call on the President’s Office of National AIDS Policy to coordinate an enhanced federal response and focused federal resources on the southern states,” said Carolyn McAllaster, director of the Duke AIDS Legal Project and SASI project director. “As the report highlights, meeting the goals of our National HIV & AIDS Strategy, including reducing new HIV cases, increasing access to care, and addressing health disparities, demands immediate attention to the HIV epidemic in the South. The South faces an urgent need for resources to fight the epidemic as the South has the highest rates of both new HIV diagnoses and HIV-related deaths in the country, as well as poor social determinants of health and high poverty rates.”

According to the report, commissioned by SASI and compiled by the Duke Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research, 35 percent of new HIV infections in 2009 were in the nine targeted southern states, which contain only 22 percent of the U.S. population. The targeted states also lead the nation in new AIDS diagnoses rates. Nine of the ten states with the highest rates of death due to HIV in the country are in the South, and all nine states are among the 15 states with the highest HIV death rates. The report also identifies that 99.5 percent of people on waiting lists for AIDS Drug Assistance Programs live in the South.

SASI representatives have shared the report findings with Jeffrey Crowley, Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy, Dr. Ron Valdiserri, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Infectious Diseases at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Christopher Bates, Executive Director of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. “We are now waiting for a response from our federal government” said Kathie Hiers, a member of SASI’s steering committee, a participant in the DC-based meetings with federal officials and Chief Executive Officer of AIDS Alabama.

For more information on the Southern HIV & AIDS Strategy Initiative, please click here.

By Sue Saltmarsh for Positively Aware

With the heavy emphasis currently placed on the Christian response to HIV/AIDS, especially in the black community, the subject of how the Muslim community has dealt with it is intriguing, if not compelling. At the U.S. Conference on AIDS in Chicago in November, a workshop entitled “The Homophobia and Stigma Endured with being Gay, Muslim, and Living with HIV” addressed this very issue.

The three presenters, Shadeed Sadeeq Jenkins, Imaad Hafiz Boyd, and Karim Ishmael Rush, were dressed in, as one attendee put it, “full Muslim gear”—the izar, an oversized, tube-style waist cloth, and the kufi, a knit cap. They met with Positively Aware before their workshop to talk about their experiences being gay and Muslim. Their soft-spoken articulateness and gentle smiles lent credence to their stories of struggle, unity, and commitment to both their religion and to finding a way to spread the message of acceptance within their somewhat rigid faith community.

Leading a double life

The rules and expectations placed on a devout Muslim are daunting and, just as with other religions, are often unrealistic and unattainable by the average human being. Boyd admitted that he “needs help” with the restriction on cursing and foul language. But that is nothing compared to “avoid yawning in a gathering as much as possible,” “mix with people and put up with their insults” or “check customs and habits against Islamic standards.” And then there is the praying or salah. As obligatory and complicated as Catholic mass can be, salah has many more rules and ritual procedures, including the requirement to pray at certain times of the day. Being Muslim is not easy to begin with—being gay makes it even harder.

When asked to speak about how their faith has affected them as gay and/or HIV-positive men, Karim Rush began with the simple truth that “Being gay and Muslim is…difficult.” It was like leading a “double life,” and he felt uncomfortable going to his masjid (mosque) until he found someone else who was going through the same thing, which is how he met Shadeed Jenkins. “It’s been a lot easier since then,” said Rush.

“I was raised Muslim,” explained Jenkins, the only one of the three who was raised in a Muslim family (the others converted from Christianity) and who is HIV-positive. “From an early age, it [homosexuality] wasn’t condoned.” The internal battle that raged within him between his faith and his Truth led Jenkins to fall away from practicing his religion and get caught in a downward spiral of drug addiction. Like Rush, he has greatly benefitted by having his gay “brothers in faith” around him who can identify with his struggles and who know the feeling of being surrounded by people and still feeling lonely. And he has encountered people in the Muslim community who’ve found out about his sexuality and actually told him “there is no such thing as a gay Muslim,” a common experience he and his friends have helped each other through.

Speaking out

This was not the first presentation the three have given at an HIV conference. Their friend, Don Ransom, originally encouraged Jenkins to submit an abstract for such a presentation so the HIV community would be aware of the challenges that Muslim gay men face. He spoke about the reaction at other conferences when people saw “those three Muslim brothers” walking around and wondered what they were doing at a conference having to do with gay men and HIV. “I realized then that we as black, gay men had excluded the Muslim community,” said Ransom. Evidently their presence caused enough curiosity because their first workshop and those that followed have been great successes. Certainly, the engagement and enthusiasm of the audience later that day was evidence that, though Muslims are hardly ever mentioned in either the HIV community in general or in any of the goals set by agencies to reach out to “communities of color,” the time is right for their presence and their message to be acknowledged.

Have they started a movement? They all laughed, but then mentioned that there is a movement already going on with such organizations as Muslims for Progressive Values, with an LGBT outreach program led by Daayiee Abdullah, an openly gay imam (religious leader) in Washington, D.C. Like any movement for social change, progress is not quick to happen.

It’s an uphill battle against an entrenched attitude that makes open discussion about homosexuality taboo among most Muslims. In fact, almost the same words of condemnation that appear in the Bible also appear in the Quran. Boyd acknowledges that the judgment and rejection can be “really psychologically damaging.” Just having someone with whom to talk about it openly is a great relief. Ransom, who is an HIV counselor and sees Muslims totally closed off and resistant coming into his agency to get tested, said, “As soon as I’d show them into a counseling room and shut the door, they’d open up and start telling me about their struggles.”

Jenkins, who has come out to his Muslim parents, said that while they didn’t take it well at first (“My mother cried and my father asked me if I was going to start wearing dresses.”), now they’ve learned that just because he’s gay doesn’t mean he’s a different person than the son they know. Unfortunately, his sexuality remains a taboo subject among some other family members and even his parents don’t discuss it with other members of their religious community.

“You have to understand,” said Jenkins, “Some of the mentality and the retaliation within the Islamic community can be really barbaric at times.” The “double-barrel blast” of being Muslim in the U.S. post-9/11, as well as being marginalized in one’s own community, has led to an even heavier burden for many.

“It’s a whole deeper level of discrimination,” said Jenkins, “I’ve talked to them a lot, gotten a lot of backlash—I’m kind of in the forefront…”

“Forefront? He’s kicking down doors and taking New Jersey by storm!” Boyd interjects.

Jenkins continues with a sad smile, “I’ve actually questioned not going back to serve houses of worship because of the retaliation and not feeling comfortable.”

Boyd spoke up to share his experience of converting from Christianity and finding that Muslim women had no problem with his sexuality. “They were willing to have more discussions with me, to talk about issues with me more so than the men.”

Rush has had the opposite experience, though. “We don’t cross the rules. It’s not even permissible to talk to the females where I go, everything’s totally separated.”

When speaking about the “bigger picture” of their work, Jenkins says that it’s not just about an alternative lifestyle or a religion, but that their hope is also to get people to take a look at themselves, and take an “inventory” of their own perceptions and reactions. All three talk about the automatic wall that goes up when people see them, whether they’re in an airport or an HIV/AIDS agency. From what Jenkins says, it’s not just the knee-jerk reaction of bigotry, but there’s a stigma attached to him even before people know he’s HIV-positive. And such a reaction causes distrust and resistance to seeking help from Muslims who may experience it at places they go to for services. “It goes both ways, though,” said Jenkins, acknowledging that, in many cases, Muslims themselves create negative situations by seeming unapproachable or defensive. According to Boyd, “When you walk into an agency, you walk in with your defenses already up, because you know you’re being instantly judged.”

Muslims have no resources within their insular community—no Muslim health clinics, certainly no HIV testing and treatment centers, no programs run for Muslims by Muslims, so the importance of feeling welcomed by non-Muslim service providers is key to any prevention or treatment effort.

During their presentation, which was to a full house, they rightly called out the HIV community, , asking them to “open eyes, ears, minds, and hearts to the reality that there is a population within the MSM/HIV-positive community that is being ignored, abused, and not shown the same respect as other MSM,” as well as to “better understand how their own biases and treatment affect this population mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.” Boyd says care providers, “underestimate themselves and the impact they can have on the community.”

Hidden in plain sight

No statistics are available about the HIV infection rate among Muslims. Boyd points out that many men convert to Islam while in prison and may not be aware of their infection, and thus take the virus with them back to the community where they may transmit HIV to their partners, both male and female. In this case, silence does indeed equal death.

At the presentation, a social worker asked what could be done to open up lines of communication to the Muslim community regarding MSM and HIV/AIDS education and prevention. All three of the men shook their heads and said, “Nothing.” But then Jenkins theorized that perhaps one way to get a foot in the door would be to frame HIV and other STDs in terms of health disparities, minimizing the association with sex. People might respond better if they thought about it as a fight for health care equality.

The workshop was indeed the actively engaged, sometimes boisterous, experience that Rush had predicted. “There’s always lots of questions – honestly, if we didn’t have a curriculum and just did a Q&A session, it’d be almost endless.” There were several people in the audience who were Muslim and thanked the three men for their efforts to educate people and advocate for a population that remains, for the most part, hidden.

One woman admitted being cynical, perhaps, but what she said was true—that until Muslims become a “targeted population,” the way African Americans and Hispanics are now, programs aimed at them will not be funded and until there’s money involved, not much attention will be paid. Ironically, since many Muslim MSM are black, they could already fit into programs created for that population, but as long as they feel threatened by the prospect of being outed or by possible negative reactions from agencies, they will stay hidden.

Rush says there are always other Muslims who identify themselves during or after their presentation and are grateful that the presentation is bringing their story to the forefront. “I think it’s good,” he says. “I think it’s a good thing that people are starting to talk and step up a little bit more, because that just means that the message is continuing to grow and more and more people are going to begin to be more open and comfortable.”

There is still plenty of work to be done by these brave young men. No doubt they will be familiar faces at future HIV conferences, including the World AIDS conference in Washington next year. In the words of Mohammed, “A Muslim who meets with others and shares their burdens is better than one who lives a life of seclusion and contemplation.”

By The Guardian reporter for The Guardian

A Form Five student of Galanosi Secondary School in Tanga Region, Japhet Swai (20), has hanged himself to death using a bed sheet after he testing and was found living with HIV/Aids.

Kilimanjaro region police commander (RPC) Absalom Mwakyoma confirmed it, saying the incident occurred on January 3 this year at about 20:00 in Rombo district.

He said the student was found in his room dead after he hanged himself using the bed sheet and left a 10-page letter explaining why he decided to take his own life.

“In the letter he explains that he is an HIV/Aids victim and that is why he has decided to commit suicide. His body is preserved at Huruma Hospital,” he said noted.

In another incident, Mwakyoma said two children from Ruvu in Same District died after their house they were sleeping in caught fire. Mwakyoma said the incident occurred on January 3, this year, at 20:00.

He named them as Amos Richard (2) and Hassani Masudi (6). He explained that the cause of the accident was a fire lit in the house for cooking purposes. He said the bodies of the children had been preserved at Same District Hospital.

In another development, he said one person has died in a road accident and four others injured in Knosho area, Moshi district.

He said the accident occurred at about 19:00, whereby a lorry (Reg. No. T.830 AQX) driven by Noovasi Chuwa (30) from Urban Moshi carrying passengers overturned and killed Paul Emmanuel (40) and injured four others.

Mwakyoma named the injured as Efrahimu Aloyce (20), Revocatus Costantino (20), Anicet Kasmiri (20) and Ally Juma, who were admitted to KCMC Hospital.

The RPC said the cause of the accident was a high speed and the driver was held by the police in connection with the accident.

By Stephen Ceasar for the Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Gallup, N.M. — Five years ago, the man Elsie Smith loved told her calmly from his hospital bed that it was time for him to go. He died with a hushed goodbye and a squeeze of her hand.

Smith herself had been feeling ill for a while. Her bones ached and she vomited often. She soon mourned him from her own hospital bed.

A doctor explained to the Navajo woman that her lover had died of AIDS. It was important that they check her blood, he said. She agreed.

Two days later, the doctor told her that she had HIV. Her tired mind became flustered with questions, but she asked only one.

“What is HIV?”

Smith learned of her diagnosis at the Indian Medical Center in Gallup, where Western medicine and traditional healing converge to treat members of the Navajo Nation and where a ceremonial hogan — or sacred structure — sits on hospital grounds.

It is where Jerry Archuleta and Emerson Scott, partners who are both HIV-positive, go for their monthly checkup and where Danny Morris nearly died from AIDS before receiving care from both doctors and medicine men.

The hospital has become a leading force in the effort to quell a rise of HIV transmission among Navajo, a troubling development at a time when HIV infections are holding steady or declining in other groups across the country.

Most of the infections are occurring in the Navajo Nation, a vast expanse in the Four Corners region where poverty, poor education, alcohol abuse and the hardships of reservation life cultivate an environment in which the virus can spread.

Like Smith, some Navajo learn of HIV and AIDS upon diagnosis. Others believe it’s a white man’s disease. Doctors, meanwhile, must explain the virus and disease in round-about ways because, in traditional Navajo culture, to speak of death is to bring it about.

Larry Foster, the Navajo Nation’s sexually transmitted disease coordinator, said health professionals had encountered resistance when giving presentations on the disease.

“They didn’t want to listen because they thought we were bringing a curse, bringing death into their communities,” Foster said. “Nobody cares until they have seen an AIDS death in their family.”

In sheer numbers, the amount of infections is small among the 173,600 people who live in the Navajo Nation. The Indian Medical Center and its clinics scattered across the reservation log about 35 new cases a year. But that’s about three times the number recorded a decade ago.

Signs of trouble emerged in 2001, when about half a dozen patients trickled into the Indian Medical Center with severe fevers, rashes and headaches.

They appeared to have mononucleosis, but their symptoms did not completely match that diagnosis. Dr. Jonathan Iralu, the hospital’s infectious disease specialist, called for HIV tests.

HIV was rare among Navajo then. The first documented case surfaced in 1987. Typically, Iralu said, the carriers were gay or bisexual men who contracted the virus in big cities and returned home for treatment or to die.

The results of the tests Iralu ordered were alarming. The patients’ viral loads, the amount of HIV in their blood, were extremely high and their bodies had not yet produced antibodies to fight the virus. This indicated they had contracted the virus within a few weeks of being tested.

Navajo were infecting Navajo.

Along with her two sons and three granddaughters, Elsie Smith lives in the tiny tribal community of Iyanbito. The name means “buffalo water,” a place where herds of once-bountiful bison gathered to drink from a natural spring.

Only 17 miles from Gallup, it feels a world away, where Smith’s small hogan sits at the foot of a brilliant red rock bluff.

Her infection was born of tragedy. In 1997, her late husband was killed during a gunfight with Navajo Tribal Police after he shot and killed an officer.

Her brother-in-law provided comfort, helping with the children and paying some bills. Eventually, they became a couple. They were together only a few months before he died.

They had never worried about sexually transmitted diseases. Smith, 47, with limited schooling, knew little of such things. After her blood test, the doctors explained everything.

“I felt like crying and I felt like I wanted to commit suicide,” Smith said. “I was mad at myself.”

Preparing meals for her granddaughters — Keyanna, 7, Keira, 3, and Kariann, 2 — is a daily torment. “I’m scared of cutting myself and giving it to these kids,” Smith said.

One morning Smith whipped dough swiftly between her palms, the white powder caking her fingertips and filling the wrinkled crevices on her hands. She gently placed the dough into a frying pan.

Smith served herself a bowl of deer and corn stew and added to a growing pile of fry bread on the table. Keira swooped in to grab a warm piece and mumbled a “thank you” between nibbles.

Smith’s eight brothers and sisters rarely call. Sometimes they invite her to get-togethers, but she is not allowed around her nieces and nephews and is told not to handle food.

“They’re afraid of me,” she said.

But at home, there is family. Her oldest son, Julius, 28, drives her to appointments at the Indian Medical Center and the girls remind Smith to take her many pills.

In the living room, Keira and Kariann began bouncing and pirouetting to a Justin Bieber DVD. They collided mid-dance and tears flooded Kariann’s hazel eyes and ran down her plump cheeks.

Keira, also crying, bolted for her grandmother sitting on the couch and Smith engulfed the little girl in her arms, the toddler’s tears falling on her grandmother’s face.

At 52, Danny Morris still has the boyish grin of the 19-year-old who escaped Gallup for Phoenix, where he attended Arizona State University and quickly discovered a bustling gay club scene.

Morris had been drinking since he was 8 and loved alcohol. At the clubs, he rarely had to buy his own.

“I was pretty wild. I thought I was invincible,” Morris said, as his cellphone rang to the tune of Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way.”

He eventually returned to Gallup and found work. By 1990, he began feeling fatigued, would break into sweats and dropped weight. He had heard about AIDS on television but refused to be tested.

“I felt like I might have it, but I was just afraid to go in,” Morris said. “I was still drinking, still partying, still having unprotected sex.”

By 1995, he was back in the Navajo Nation, and doctors at the Indian Medical Center told him he had advanced AIDS. They gave him six months to live.

Morris chose to fuse modern medicine with traditional Navajo healing. It’s not only a frequent choice at the hospital, but one encouraged by the Indian Health Service out of respect for Navajo culture and to make patients feel more optimistic about their treatment.

Medicine men came to his hospital room, offering ancient prayers and blessings. He drank healing herbs.

In three months he was well enough to go home. There, medicine men conducted an Enemy Way Ceremony, a rite often performed for Navajo soldiers who have returned from war. It’s a days-long ritual of prayer, dance and offerings intended to rid a person of evil spirits and restore harmony.

Maintaining harmony is the driving force in Navajo life, a concept captured in hozho, a complicated word that can be translated as harmony, balance but also beauty.

“I was off-balance. I had to re-harmonize, reconnect with the creator and with Mother Earth,” Morris said. “The holy people were there for me.”

Today, Morris lives with his father in Naschitti, 51 miles from Gallup and many of the vices of his past.

“I’m living in harmony here,” he said.

Still, there are a few men on the reservation who call him every now and then for sex. Some have girlfriends or wives, some have children. “The only time they call is when they aren’t with their wives,” Morris said. “They still tell me that they aren’t gay.”

He uses protection, he said. He does not tell them that he has AIDS.

Emerson Scott sometimes stands outside the Gallup city library to hand out condoms and pamphlets to encourage people to get tested for the virus he’s lived with for 13 years.

So far, not one person has agreed.

“People just don’t want to change here. They are so stuck in their ways,” said Jerry Archuleta, Scott’s partner, who wore a shirt with an image of a horse that read: “If you’re going to ride the pony, throw a blanket on it.”

They are among the small number of Indians trying to warn Navajos about the dangers of AIDS, and as they make their way around Gallup together, their appearance sometimes draws puzzled looks.

Scott struts a bit when he walks, his lean arms often carrying a purse, his crown-shaped earrings gleaming in the sunlight. Archuleta is heavyset with salt-and-pepper hair often matted under a U.S. Navy veteran cap.

They’re in love. They have been since they met 17 years ago outside a bar in Gallup.

Archuleta, who was separated from his wife, didn’t know that Scott was a prostitute when they met. They shared a six-pack and their first night together was chaste.

“It was an instant connection,” Archuleta said as he glanced at Scott, who smiled shyly. “We talked all night.”

Scott, then 20, had fallen into prostitution after running away from the reservation community of Black Hat.

“I did it just to get the money, to drink and to have a place to stay,” Scott said. Archuleta, a Pueblo Indian with a daughter, had decided to come out as a gay man as his marriage fell apart. The two moved in together.

After a routine physical in 1989, Scott tested positive for HIV. Soon after, another test showed Archuleta was infected.

“There was no blame. No pointing fingers at each other,” Archuleta said. “We just went on from there.”

They now avoid alcohol, try to watch what they eat and never miss an appointment at the Indian Medical Center. And should Archuleta forget to take his medication, he can expect a stern lecture from Scott.

Both volunteer with the Navajo AIDS Network and work with several support groups for HIV and AIDS patients and gays and lesbians.

They’ve recently befriended a young gay man who is HIV-positive. He struggles with thoughts of suicide and they spend hours and hours with him, on the phone or visiting his home.

They’ve done as much for many friends over the years; several have died of AIDS, others committed suicide.

On a recent morning, Archuleta and Scott did what might be called a breakfast waltz. They moved effortlessly about the kitchen, Scott gliding around Archuleta to tend to the scrambled eggs sizzling in the skillet.

Archuleta, wearing his favorite blue camouflaged pajama pants and blue slip-on shoes, dashed pepper on the hash browns. Scott, wearing the same ensemble in green, set the table.

Archuleta opened the oven door and they both bowed, as if to each other, to peek at the biscuits. Without a word, they agreed the biscuits needed a bit more time.

“We’re not perfect, but we make it work,” Archuleta said. “That to me is harmony.”

By Miguel Gomez, AIDS.gov Director

One of the questions I get frequently is “how is the Affordable Care Act (the health care law of 2010) helping people living with HIV & AIDS?” The short answer is: in many ways. The detailed answer is more complex, but also much more exciting.

To provide a more comprehensive answer to this important inquiry, we recently worked with our colleagues in the HHS Office of Health Reform to update a fact sheet about how the Affordable Care Act is particularly important for people living with HIV & AIDS (PLWHAs), as well as other people living with serious medical conditions. The Affordable Care Act puts in place strong consumer protections, provides new coverage options and gives you the tools you need to make informed choices about your health. Among the ways the ACA is helping PLWHAs are the following:

Ensuring that AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) benefits are now considered as contributions toward a Medicare beneficiary’s true Out of Pocket Spending Limit for drug coverage, a huge relief for low-income beneficiaries living with HIV and AIDS because it helps them move through the “donut hole” more quickly; Improving access to coverage and protecting people with HIV & AIDS now by making available a Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan in every state and making important insurance reforms to protect people from insurance company abuses; Offering quality coverage to every person with HIV/AIDS in 2014 and beyond via Medicaid expansion, additional insurance reforms, and closing the “Donut Hole;” Ensuring people have quality care, good insurance coverage, and the information they need to find it; and Increasing opportunities for health, well-being, and cultural competency.

As HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius observed in her World AIDS Day statement last month, so many of our current HIV/AIDS efforts “build on a foundation laid by the health care law, the Affordable Care Act, which dramatically expands access to coverage for people with HIV/AIDS. The law also bans the worst insurance abuses so that insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to people with HIV and other conditions or cancel coverage when someone gets sick or makes an error on a form. Under the health care law, we’re also expanding Medicaid so that it will be available to many more Americans with HIV/AIDS, including single adults.”

Learn more details in the fact sheet about what the health care law does to help people with HIV & AIDS.

By Richard Knox for National Public Radio (NPR)

2011 has been a momentous year in the 30-year-old AIDS pandemic.

The big breakthrough was the discovery that antiviral drugs can prevent someone who’s infected with HIV from passing the virus to others. It’s nearly 100 percent effective. That led President Obama to declare earlier this month that the U.S. will expand HIV treatment in hard-hit countries by 50 percent.

As recently as last year, many of those experts were saying that just giving more people with HIV more drugs would never work. “For every one person that was put on antiretroviral therapy or treatment, we would have two to three new infections identified,” Dr. Eric Goosby, U.S. Global AIDS coordinator, says.

It looked like a losing game, but not anymore.

The new research shows that antiviral drugs not only save the lives of infected people, they also stop people from spreading the virus and causing new infections, if the drugs can be given early enough after someone gets infected. The new strategy is called “treatment as prevention.”

“So we suddenly are looking at a moment where we can treat our way out of the epidemic,” Goosby says. “That’s the turning point that we’re looking at.” Still, it’ll take decades to end AIDS, according to experts. But many say the world has to be much more aggressive about treating HIV.

“The only thing that’s more expensive than treatment-as-prevention is not doing treatment-as-prevention,” says Brian Williams, an AIDS epidemiologist in South Africa. There are 6 million HIV-positive people in South Africa — the most anywhere. About a million-and-a-quarter of them are now getting antiviral treatment. That’s saving a lot of lives, he says, but it’s not preventing many new infections.

“We’re getting them really very close to death,” he says. “And we just have to start finding people much, much earlier.” Especially before they have a chance to infect others.

Williams says the current policy actually works against that. Generally, people with HIV aren’t eligible for treatment until a blood test shows the virus has devastated their immune systems. He calls that policy “test-and-wait.” The problem with that is that people with HIV are told to come in for periodic blood tests to see if they’re sick enough to be treated. But after a few months of that, they just stop coming.

“And then they get really sick and then they can’t come and then they die,” he says. “So at the moment, our attempts to triage the population are actually making the problem worse and not better.”

South Africa needs to shift gears to test and treat people as early as possible, according to Williams. “We know technically, now, that it works,” he says, “but what we need to know is, can we make it work in the real world? That’s the key.” And that’s going to take some pilot projects, he says.

That’s also true for America, according to Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, professor of epidemiology at Columbia University. “Even in the United States, the data are still pretty alarming,” she says. “It’s estimated that maybe only about a quarter of those with HIV have suppressed viral loads.”

That is, most Americans with HIV are not getting antiviral drugs, or not enough to keep the virus in check. So they could be infecting others.

El-Sadr is leading a project in the Bronx and in Washington, D.C., two of the nation’s hottest hot spots for new HIV infections. The aim is to “saturate” these places with testing-and-treating services.

“Is it doable?” she says. “Is it feasible to expand testing? Is it feasible to try to link every single individual who is found to be positive to a care clinic? Is it feasible to get them to take medicines and thus prevent transmission to others?”

Goosby agrees that field testing is necessary and urgent. He’s allocated $150 million to answer those questions in South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Botswana. But he doesn’t want researchers to dither for years.

“We don’t have the luxury of figuring it all out before we have to engage,” he says. “And we have to engage.”

He says some of the answers should start coming in 2012.

By Scott Glover for The Los Angeles Times

A proposed ballot measure that would require porn actors to wear condoms while filming in the city of Los Angeles has qualified for the June ballot, according to a letter from the city clerk certifying that proponents had gathered enough valid signatures.

The initiative still faces a legal challenge by Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich. Trutanich filed court papers earlier this month saying that Los Angeles voters would have no legal authority to adopt the proposed measure even if it were placed on the ballot.

Trutanich argued that only the state — not the city — could legally impose rules requiring the use of condoms on porn sets and charging fees to pay for inspections.

The city attorney’s opinion is at odds, however, with that of the head of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, which regulates workplace safety.

In a Dec. 23 email to one of Trutanich’s deputy city attorneys, Ellen Widess wrote that she believes the city could legally enact the restrictions envisioned in the proposed ballot measure.

“We don’t see a bar to the city or the county doing what they need to do,” Widess said in a telephone interview Monday evening. “We believe the city can use its authority to prevent the spread of HIV & AIDS among people involved in the adult film industry.”

Ged Kenslea, a spokesman for AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the ballot measure’s main backer, said proponents gathered more than 70,000 signatures, well beyond the 41,000 required to place it on the ballot.

“We’re thrilled we’ve passed this initial threshold,” Kenslea said. “We believe we’re going to prevail in court and look forward to taking this issue directly to the voters.”

The advocacy group has spent the last two years trying to mandate condom use in adult films.

In 2009, the group unsuccessfully sued Los Angeles County to mandate condom use in adult films.

County health officials have repeatedly rebuffed demands to force production companies to require condom use, saying that it would be difficult to regulate the industry through the Department of Public Health. The county’s public health chief has said that the issue is a matter for the California Legislature.

This past year has been very eventful for the Campaign To End AIDS. From dozens of advocates and activists converging on Kansas City in April for the C2EA Annual Advocacy Summit to the Women’s HIV & AIDS Advocacy and Leadership Summit in Baton Rouge, the voices of people living with HIV & AIDS have been central in the planning, purpose, and outcomes. Many of those outcomes have helped to address stigma, sexual reproductive rights and, in the case of the 2011 Youth Action Institute in Detroit, homelessness among young people and its impact on new HIV infections and access to care.

Much of the work done by C2EA volunteers and activists across the country has been funded by strong fundraising and generous donations by supporters, allies, and people that care about grassroots advocacy that leads to ending the HIV & AIDS epidemic.

In 2012 we are asking again for your support… Please donate to the Campaign To End AIDS and help support people living with HIV & AIDS develop homegrown advocacy. Your support can also help a person living with HIV & AIDS attend the United States Conference on AIDS or the 2012 International AIDS Conference in July.

To donate to C2EA, please click HERE. (Remember that your donation is tax deductible.)

To join C2EA, please click HERE. If you have any questions, please email C2EA or call 1.877.ENDAIDS (363.2437).

By AHN for GantDaily.com

Nairobi, Kenya (IRIN) – Would-be participants in HIV research often refuse to volunteer out of fear of being labeled as HIV-positive and subsequently stigmatized by their communities, according to a recent study conducted in Kenya.

Conducted by the USA’s Research Triangle Institute International and published by the US National Library of Medicine in November, the study involved over 130 participants – including current and former study participants, community leaders and study staff – at two research centers in Nairobi.

“Volunteers are often assumed by family and community members to be HIV positive because of their participation in vaccine research… HIV-related stigma is perceived as pervasive and damaging in the communities where volunteers live, thus they fear consequent stigma if people believe them to be HIV positive,” the authors say in the study abstract. “Potential volunteers fear being tested for HIV, a prerequisite for participation, because of possible disclosure of HIV status in communities with high perceived HIV-related stigma.”

According to Walter Jaoko, lead researcher at the Kenya AIDS Vaccine Initiative, misinformation about HIV clinical research is one of the biggest impediments to people’s participation in research, which is a crucial part of finding ways to combat the virus.

“People will tell you they will get infected with HIV if they participate in the study or some other people will tell them the same,” he told IRIN/PlusNews. “This is mainly misinformation and it is a big problem getting people to willingly participate in clinical studies – not just for HIV but for many other diseases.”

Protus Momanyi, a 33-year-old Nairobi resident, said the main impediment to his participation in HIV research was the requirement for an HIV test. “I have never been tested for HIV and I fear going for it for my own reasons,” he said.

The study authors concluded that there was a need for “integration of stigma-reduction programming into education and outreach activities for volunteers and the communities in which they live”.

By Robert Greene for The Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles city clerk is counting and verifying signatures in a petition filed by AIDS Healthcare Foundation to require the city to put an initiative on the June 5 ballot. The subject? Whether to adopt a new law to require performers in sexually explicit films to use condoms. If it qualifies, it would be the first initiative on the Los Angeles ballot since 1993.

Los Angeles is one of the first cities to adopt the voter initiative – city voters amended their charter in 1903 to permit the direct democracy reforms of initiative, referendum and recall that went statewide in California in 1911. Now the state has voter initiatives almost every election. But Los Angeles hasn’t had one since the post-1992 riot era when then-mayoral candidate Richard Riordan circulated petitions to impose term limits on city elected officials. And by the way, contrary to popular belief, it was defeated. More on that below.

Sure, Los Angeles has a lot of ballot measures, year after year, but they are put to voters not by petition or popular uprising but by the City Council. Even items that seem like they arose from voter revolts are generally recrafted by the council. So, for example, this year’s popular measure to impose an Office of Public Accountability and a ratepayer advocate on the Department of Water and Power was a City Council invention, put in place, arguably, for the council to capture for itself, and ultimately to control, ratepayer anger over rate hikes. The measure to increase library funding also sounded like a voter demand but was put on the ballot by the very same City Council that voted to decrease library funding the previous budget year. The move allowed the council to say, “Yes, we’re mad too! Who did this to us?” instead of “We’re sorry.”

By the way, this is essentially how one model of reform for state initiatives would work. Assemblyman Mike Gatto, a Democrat representing Silver Lake, has a bill (ACA 12) that would ask voters to allow the Legislature to hold hearings on a proposed initiative, offer alternatives or adjustments, and if the supposedly improved version is rejected by proponents, put it on the ballot alongside the grass-roots initiative in its original form. Los Angeles political culture has accomplished the same thing informally.

That’s good, right? Any problems in the people’s proposed initiative could be quickly identified by experts, be discussed at hearings, amended by the council and offered up in a better form. Or it’s bad because the council can co-opt the entire process. Take your pick.

The council, of course, hated the idea of term limits in 1993, but sprung into action with its own term limits measure after Riordan’s petition qualified for the ballot. The council’s version was slightly kinder to incumbents — it had their two limited terms begin when members currently in the middle of a term were next elected. Riordan’s would have begun the limits retrospectively, leaving midyear incumbents only a term and a half to complete. Negotiations failed, both measures went on the ballot, and Los Angeles voters passed both — but the council’s version got more votes than Riordan’s and prevailed.

Of course, that’s not the end of the story. The council in 2006 put its own measure on the ballot to loosen term limits, to give themselves three terms instead of two. It was couched in campaign mailers as an imposition of term limits rather than a liberalization, and it was accompanied by various lobbyist crackdowns which were, arguably, actually a loosening of rules on lobbyists. Voters fell, or rather, opted, for it.

The last successful initiatives may have been two from the later 1980s. Proposition U in 1986 was a slow-growth measure backed by then-Councilmen Zev Yaroslavsky and Marvin Braude but rejected as an ordinance by a majority of their council colleagues. The councilmen circulated petitions, got their signatures, put it on the ballot and won. The measure cut in half the building rights on most commercial property in the city.

In 1988, Yaroslavsky and Braude returned with an initiative to block Occidental Petroleum from drilling off Pacific Palisades. It won. Occidental’s counter-initiative was defeated.

Why are there so few city initiatives? It’s a lot of work, and it’s expensive, to qualify one for the ballot. Proponents must gather enough valid signatures of registered Los Angeles voters to equal 15% or more of the number of voters who voted for mayor in the previous election. Most state petitions fail, but those that succeed do so in part because the stakes are high enough to attract big money. In Los Angeles that happens far less often.

But we have seen quasi-successful referendum petitions in Los Angeles in the last decade-plus. Unlike an initiative, a referendum — at least as the term is generally used in California — is a petitioned ballot measure in which voters are asked whether to keep or overturn a law adopted by the City Council.

In 1999, the council awarded, without bid, a contract extension to the Nederlander family to continue operating the Greek Theatre in Griffith Park. House of Blues wanted the contract, but instead of (or in addition to) suing, it gathered signatures. When the petition qualified, the council saw the error of its ways and agreed to discuss a bidding process. In the end, the two companies agreed on a joint operations deal and the referendum was dropped.

In 2003, the council adopted a ban on lap dancing. The lap dance, uh, industry gathered a sufficient number of valid signatures to suspend the law pending a public vote. That was enough for the council, which again backed down and negotiated an ordinance more palatable to the adult club operators.

So we do voter petitions in Los Angeles, but they rarely get to the ballot.

Currently, the Los Angeles city attorney is trying to block the AIDS Healthcare Foundation measure from going on the June ballot, and some members of the City Council are discussing whether to merely adopt the condom mandate into law. At some point the parties are likely to try talking the whole thing out. That’s the L.A. way. Everything’s a negotiation.

By QMI Agency for The Sudbury Star

Prosecuting HIV-positive people for not disclosing their status to their sexual partners stigmatizes those with HIV/ AIDS and those most at risk of contracting the virus and doesn’t protect people from becoming infected, a respected Canadian doctor argues in an article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

In an opinion piece published Monday, Dr. Julio Montaner and two of his colleagues at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/ AIDS at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver write that although “remarkable medical advances” in the treatment of HIV/AIDS have made it a manageable illness, the number of people charged with and prosecuted for allegedly exposing their sexual partners to the virus has increased.

“Canada now ranks among the world leaders in the rate of such prosecutions,” Montaner and his colleagues, M-J Milloy and Thomas Kerr, write in the article titled Ending Canada’s HIV trials.

Two cases of people charged with sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault for not informing their partners of their HIV status will be heard at the Supreme Court on Feb. 8.

In one case, a woman was convicted by the lower courts, but acquitted by the Court of Appeal, which found that she had not exposed her partner to “a significant risk of serious harm” because her viral load was undetectable during the period covered by the charges, according to a case summary.

“While some aspects of this case may well deserve a full and fair prosecution, there is no evidence that criminal prosecutions for HIV-nondisclosure protect individuals from infection,” the doctors say.

Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) was introduced in 1996 and altered the world of HIV treatment and prevention by “reliably suppress(ing) viral replication, rendering viral load in the blood of people living with HIV/AIDS undetectable,” the article says. “In other words, long-term use of HAART puts HIV disease into full, long-term remission.

“People living with HIV/AIDS on effective HAART treatment for six months without other genital tract infections pose a negligible risk of transmitting HIV, and therefore these people should not be found guilty for exposing sexual partners to HIV.”

The doctors argue that Canadian criminal statutes already “have appropriate measure to deal with people with HIV who are aware of this status and act with intent to harm others” and the Criminal Code shouldn’t stigmatize or discriminate against people living with HIV.

The doctors also say high-profile media coverage of cases of people charged with sexual assault for failing to disclose their HIV status to a sexual partner “may deter individuals from HIV testing.”

“These criminal prosecutions generate stigma and discrimination that interferes with best medical practices and, as such, has multiple unintended negative consequences,” the article says. “Prosecutions put the life of people living with HIV/AIDS at risk, increase the risk of HIV transmission and health-care costs and ultimately place the public at higher risk.”

From The AIDS Institute National Policy Office, Washington DC

Washington, DC– “Progress in preventing HIV in the United States will be set back, while little will be done to provide additional care and treatment to people already living with HIV/AIDS in our country,” said Carl Schmid, Deputy Executive Director of The AIDS Institute, commenting on the final Fiscal Year 2012 spending bill to be voted on by Congress today. “This is especially disappointing in light of the optimism expressed by national and global leaders just two weeks ago on World AIDS Day,” he continued.

At the insistence of the House of Representatives, the bill would reinstate a federal funding ban of syringe exchange programs, a scientifically proven method to prevent HIV and other blood borne infections, while not increasing drug use. Additionally, the bill would resurrect failed abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, but only at a minimal level of $5 million.

Despite an estimated 50,000 new HIV infections each year and over 240,000 people unaware of their infection, funding for HIV prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) would be cut by $10 million. Surprisingly, this cut would be to its school health HIV program. The CDC reports that young people aged 13–29 accounted for 39% of all new HIV infections in 2009.

The bill flat funds the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program except for a $15 million increase, originally proposed by the Senate, for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP). The Ryan White Program provides care and treatment to over 550,000 low-income people with HIV/AIDS. According to NASTAD, there are currently 4,155 people in 12 states on ADAP waiting lists and over 445 people in six states who have been disenrolled from the program due to budget constraints and growing enrollment.

On World AIDS Day, President Obama, recognizing the need for additional funding for both care and treatment for low income people with HIV/AIDS in the U.S., announced $50 million in additional funds for the Ryan White Program. As part of that announcement, ADAP would receive an additional $35 million. While it is not known yet how the funds will be distributed, taken together, the $50 million in new ADAP money could eliminate the ADAP wait lists if it is distributed to the wait list states.

“We are extremely grateful to both President Obama and the Congress for continuing to recognize the importance of providing medications to people with HIV/AIDS and the serious funding gap for ADAP,” commented Michael Ruppal, Executive Director of The AIDS Institute. “While it is far from enough to meet the growing need, these increases are a very positive development.” According to HRSA data, the number of ADAP clients served nationally has grown an astounding 40 percent from FY07-CY10.

Under the bill, funding for medical research at the National Institutes of Health would increase by $299 million.

The final bill, which is a product of negotiation between the House and the Senate, is far better than the one introduced earlier this year by House Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Denny Rehberg. That bill would have decimated the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program by cutting its budget from $105 million to $20 million, eliminate all Title X spending, and the entire Prevention and Public Health Fund. Additionally it would have prevented implementation of much of the Affordable Care Act.

The bill also includes an across the board 0.189 percent cut, meaning all programs are subject to being cut even further.

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The AIDS Institute is a national nonprofit organization that promotes action for social change through public policy research, advocacy and education.

For more information and to become involved in AIDS advocacy work, please contact The AIDS Institute at: (202) 835-8373, or by email at: Info@theaidsinstitute.org or www.TheAIDSInstitute.org.

By Patrick Arden for City Lights

Besty Idelfonso spent months sleeping on the floor of her mother’s Bronx apartment. Homeless and on a regimen of antiretroviral drugs, she needed a stable place to stay. A social worker referred her to the city’s HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA), which provides rental assistance to poor New Yorkers with the disease, and Idelfonso pinned her hopes on the program. Having her own apartment would mean she could be reunited with her four-year-old twins.

But then, last spring, HASA decided to start paying only 50 percent of the normal fee for apartment brokers.

“The brokers expected me to pay the other half,” says Idelfonso, whose sole source of income is the monthly $359 in cash she gets from HASA. The broker’s full fee equaled one month’s rent; her half would have come to $550. “I didn’t have the money. I kept looking for places where they would accept the half fee, but it was a big problem.” Finding an apartment under the HASA program took her seven months.

Stories like Idelfonso’s are at the center of a bitter dispute between the Bloomberg administration and AIDS housing groups over the effects of a nine-month-old policy shift that slashed fees for real-estate brokers. The groups say that now brokers are refusing to find apartments for their HASA clients, mostly homeless people whose compromised immune systems require them to avoid shelters. Landlords, they add, are also reluctant to accept a HASA voucher instead of an upfront security deposit.

HASA serves nearly 46,000 people, and more than half live in private apartments paid for in whole or in part by rent subsidies. The city says the new policy changes have had no impact on housing homeless people with symptomatic HIV or AIDS. Idelfonso and others claim the city has created a crisis. The resulting standoff has taken a surreal turn, as the two sides describe different worlds.

A Broad Shift in Policy

The changes came as the Bloomberg administration lost legal and political battles to reduce HASA spending. Earlier this year a federal judge stopped an effort to trim the number of HASA caseworkers, and over the last two years the City Council restored $7 million in cuts to supportive housing services. Nonetheless, while the city’s caseload climbed 6.5 percent in the last three years (a rise of about 2,000 people), spending per case declined 3.3 percent in 2011, according to the Independent Budget Office.

In March, the city’s Human Resources Administration (HRA), which oversees HASA, implemented the new rule on brokers’ fees and security deposits, hoping to save an annual $4.8 million. The policy affected all of its housing programs and was not aimed specifically at HASA. “HASA has seen little change in the number of requests to approve new housing since the policy went into effect,” says a HASA spokesperson.

But nonprofit service providers insist that the city is out of touch with reality. “Many clients do housing searches on their own or with community-based case managers, not with their HASA case managers,” says Kristin Goodwin, director of policy and organizing at Housing Works. “It seems disingenuous to me for them to claim that it is a rare occurrence when we hear it daily from our case managers and our clients in housing searches.”

Differing Realities

The dispute came to a head at a July 26 meeting of AIDS service providers, when Shubert Botein Policy Associates presented the findings of a survey conducted for Housing Works after the first two months under HASA’s new rule. Of the 238 case managers who responded, 94 percent called the change a significant barrier to finding housing, more than half said it had prevented the placement of at least one client, and 61 percent said it was taking significantly longer to find apartments than the previous year.

A “bizarre interaction” then unfolded between the survey’s author, attorney Virginia Shubert, and HASA’s new deputy commissioner Jacqueline Dudley, recalls Sean Barry, executive director of VOCAL-NY (formerly the New York City AIDS Housing Network). “The deputy commissioner said, ‘Look, we haven’t heard this is a problem from clients or providers,’ and she was saying that in a roomful of housing providers. The room erupted. She just wouldn’t hear it.”

Harriet Cohen says the effects of the policy change were immediate. “Over a period of four or five weeks, 35 brokers dropped us,” says Cohen, housing director for the AIDS Center of Queens County. “Many of the brokers that we were dealing with just don’t want to deal with us anymore. It’s a terrible problem. I haven’t done the count since, but I hear all the time from my people who say, ‘I made five calls, and no one wants to work with me.’”

The policy’s fallout convinced the group Harlem Works, one of the city’s largest service providers, to raid its own funds. Since March, the number of apartment brokers willing to deal with its HASA clients plummeted from 85 to 5. In desperation, the group began to pay full fees to brokers. As of last week, Harlem Works had spent $27,623 for brokers’ fees to secure 41 apartments.

In an August follow-up meeting with HASA officials, service providers asked for the contact information of brokers who were still working with the agency. “We got a list of four brokers,” says Goodwin. “The list wasn’t even given to us in writing, but was dictated to someone.” Housing Works distributed the phone numbers. “Everyone who tried to contact these brokers has not been successful in even getting a hold of them. One broker’s office had an outdated phone number,” Goodwin says. “We asked again, and the HASA advisory board also asked, and so far we have not seen a real list of brokers.”

In response to a City Limits inquiry, HASA said “about three dozen” brokers are currently working with its clients, but “due to legal consideration” it would not provide the list. “If they have a list,” Goodwin asks, “why are they not sharing with the community?”

Part of the trouble is that many brokers are unlicensed, explains Cohen, and therefore do business through the offices of permitted agents. “You’re already splitting your fee with that licensed broker, so let’s say you find a new HASA apartment: You’ll get 50 percent of the 50 percent. Who wants to do that? How hard do you want to work? Will you work with us at all?” There’s also the bureaucracy and delay involved in getting paid from the city. “We lose apartments all the time to people who can pay upfront,” Cohen says.

Stive Joseph, the coordinator of housing placement assistance at Bronx Works, says that since March the group’s list of brokers has dwindled from about 80 to eight. “The landlords and brokers willing to work with HASA recipients were already scarce. They have to overlook bad credit scores and other factors like criminal histories. The brokers are instrumental because they’re the middlemen,” he says. “But when the new policy was implemented, a lot of brokers no longer wanted to work as our advocates. Some who would work with us ended up asking for the clients to pay the other half of their fee.” HASA’s prohibition against this practice hasn’t stopped brokers from saying, “Give me $200 now, the rest later. It’s just between you and me,” Joseph claims.

Willing Brokers Hard to Find

How much should brokers make for their services? The city says the HASA housing program still presents “a significant opportunity for them to earn fees.”

HASA acknowledges “a few instances in which brokers who are unclear about this policy have attempted to collect the full fee from clients,” but the agency’s rule is clear: Clients can’t pay brokers. “Whenever that has occurred, HASA staff has stepped in immediately to remedy the situation,” says a spokesperson. “Presently, these problems are a rare occurrence.”

The real problem, say the housing groups, is that the best brokers don’t need HASA’s business.

“HASA made a gamble that they had enough market influence to make this policy change and most brokers would go along with it,” says Barry. “But they neglected the fact that HASA clients already face a high level of discrimination among brokers and landlords. It’s illegal, but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t a daily occurrence.”

A big reason for the bias among landlords and brokers, Barry explains, is that many HASA tenants fall into arrears because rent contributions take up most of their disability checks. He thinks HASA should cap the client’s contribution to 30 percent of income.

When contacted by City Limits, one broker was blunt, painting the “typical” HASA client as a “pain,” unwilling or unable to even pay for the credit check required by landlords. Though the broker had worked with the HASA program in the past—and requested anonymity because he wouldn’t rule out working with HASA in the future—the fee was a “last straw. . . . I don’t have the time to volunteer.”

Joseph tried to eliminate the broker problem by approaching landlords directly. “But the landlords wanted the full month’s security,” he says. “The new voucher is just a promise.”

The voucher system always existed, responds an HRA spokesperson, but most landlords took advantage of an exception to the rule that allowed for cash deposits. “Payment of cash rental deposits kept social service dollars needlessly unavailable to the city. Now the legal relationship is between the landlord who owns an apartment and the client/recipient who is leasing it. Also, under the current procedure, landlords continue to have a guarantee that they will be covered for demonstrated lost rent or damages.” HRA calls the voucher a “sensible, cost-effective approach that takes into account the needs of tenants and landlords.”

Cohen says the voucher mandate has set a higher hurdle for her group in Queens, where small landlords with two-family homes don’t want to deal with getting estimates for repairs and filling out paperwork in order to get paid. “They just don’t want to play ball with us at all,” she says. “The security deposit was an incentive to take our clients. Now the city’s not giving that money upfront; they’re giving it at the back end, and they’re holding their breath, hoping that people won’t bother redeeming it.”

Seeking Stability

William White spent nearly five months in an SRO while he looked for an apartment. His partner of 11 years died in June, and he had to vacate their home because only her name was on the lease. Both HIV-positive, they had met in emergency housing. “I called her my wife,” he says.

He wanted out the SRO—“if you’re trying to get your life together, that’s not the place you want to be“—but brokers kept asking for him to pay the other half of their fee. He refused, though two of his friends paid half fees to get their apartments.

“A lot of realtors know our situation—HIV positive, in SROs, and wanting to find a place to stay—so that means if we really want a place to stay, we have to play their game,” he says. “I was just one who wouldn’t play the game because I knew the rules.”

He finally found an apartment in Tremont for $1,100 a month. A Navy veteran, he collects $985 a month in disability, and HASA pays a portion of his rent. “I pay $625,” he says. “After I pay Con Ed, my phone bill, and cable, I have like maybe $100 left to live off of.” He says apartment brokers and landlords in his neighborhood prefer Section 8 to HASA; under Section 8, the broker collects his full fee. “Everything’s about money.”

Still, White’s grateful to have a stable apartment. “I do what I have to do to live,” he says. “I don’t look at it as a disease: I look at it as a second chance.”

We went to the Senate this morning and we have heard that negotiations on the appropriations bill, including riders like syringe exchange, are taking place at the highest levels. Syringe exchange may be in danger. We need to get calls to the offices below. Please take a minute to make some calls ASAP while there is still time!!

If possible, it would be great to make 4 calls (in this order) to the President, Senate Majority Leader Reid, Senator negotiators and leadership from your state, and Speaker Pelosi.

Calling the President:
Please call President Barack Obama: 202-456-1414
The message for the President is: My name is _______. I live in . Thank you for your past support of syringe exchange. I support maintaining current language that allows local officials to make their own decisions to use federal and local Washington DC funds for Syringe Exchange. Please do not allow the Senate or House to change the current law in the Fiscal Year 2012 Appropriations negotiations. Thank you.

Calling Senate Majority Leader Reid and Other Senators: *Harry Reid (D-NV) Majority Leader: 202-224-3542.

The Message for all of the Senators including Senator Reid is:
My name is _______. I live in . I support maintaining current language that allows local officials to make their own decisions to use federal and local Washington DC funds for Syringe Exchange. Please do not change the current law in the Fiscal Year 2012 Appropriations negotiations. Thank you.

Alaska
Lisa Murkowski ®: 202-224-6665
Arkansas
Mark Pryor (D) : 202-224-2353
Hawaii *Daniel Inouye (D) Appropriations Chairman: 202-224-3934
Illinois *Dick Durbin (D) Majority Whip, Financial Services Subcommittee Chair: 202-224-2152
Mark Kirk ®: 202-224-2854
Iowa *Tom Harkin (D) Labor, HHS Subcommittee Chair: 202-224-3254
Louisiana
Mary Landrieu (D): 202-224-5824
Montana
Jon Tester (D): 202-224-2644
Nebraska
Ben Nelson (D): 202-224-6551
New York *Chuck Schumer (D) Democratic Policy Committee Chair: 202-224-6542
Kristin Gillibrand (D): 202-224-4451
—- (Note although not a negotiator or leadership, Sen. Gillibrand has been very responsive on HIV/AIDS issues ask her to weigh in with Schumer and her appropriations colleagues.)
Rhode Island
Jack Reed (D-RI): 202-224-4642
South Dakota
Tim Johnson (D-SD): 202-224-5842
Vermont
Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.): 202-224-4242
Washington
Patty Murray (D-Wash): 202-224-2621

Calling Speaker Pelosi:
Please call Speaker Nancy Pelosi: 202-225-0100
The message for the Speaker is: My name is _______. I live in . Thank you for your past support of syringe exchange. I support maintaining current language that allows local officials to make their own decisions to use federal and local Washington DC funds for Syringe Exchange. Please do not allow the Senate or House to change the current law in the Fiscal Year 2012 Appropriations negotiations. Thank you

Thank you for your attention to this issue. Please call now – Share with your friends. We absolutely need to keep up the calls as long as we can!

Dear Friends,

Billions for weapons and war, or billions for AIDS drugs? That’s what’s on the table in the coming 3 or 4 days. It’s being reported that the Congress has agreed to an appropriations bill for the Defense Department—and it’s $6 billion above what the Senate was planning on!

Does that mean that Washington has forgotten the plan to cut billions from the Federal Budget? Nope: it just means they plan to take it out of critical health and development programs instead. Right now the State & Foreign Operations bill—where most of the global AIDS money for PEPFAR and the Global Fund comes from-is looking at major cuts.

Meanwhile, the Health & Human Services (HHS) bill—where $300 million in funding for the Global Fund should be—has been classified as not being “security” and therefore (in a crazy twist of logic) they’re stripping out all the international security spending including the Global Fund!

Can you call your member of Congress right now?

Tell them we won’t stand for billions in life-saving health programs being cut so defense contractors can make a killing off more bombs and fighter jets.

Find your representative here.

Then call: (202)224-3121 for the capitol switch board

Tell them you want: *No cuts to the Global Fund from HHS or State funding bills!

*No cuts to PEPFAR!

And remind them that we won’t stand for funding defense contractors on the backs of people living with HIV.

Thank you!

By Paul Lamar Roberson for Our Weekly (LA)

I write this letter based on my affected but not infected status. I write this letter because I would like to initiate a discussion about HIV/AIDS in the Black community. I write this letter, because of the impact this disease has had on both my life and my family’s lives.

When I learned about the disease in school, I thought that it only affected injection drug users, homosexuals, prostitutes and those who lived in the Third World. It was not until my own uncle was diagnosed with AIDS that the disease and its impact became a reality to me. I saw the physical manifestation of the disease on his tall frame—the dark dry skin, lesions and his dramatic weight loss. I heard the thick mucosal cough and saw the despair and fear in his dark brown eyes.

The doctors were preparing for the worst, because the disease had progressed so far that the medicine they would normally give patients with his condition would have overwhelmed his system.

At that point, my family was faced with an important decision. We could either prepare for a funeral or put our faith into action and ask God for a miracle. Fortunately, we chose the latter. We united as a family and actively participated in my uncle’s healing and resolved to beat his health challenge. In all, we fervently prayed, cooked for him, cleaned his house and surrounded him with love and let him know that we cared and we were invested in his well being, long-term care and improved standard of living.

Through our faith, we saw God’s miraculous power. Not only did his disposition improve, but the doctors were astonished at his prognosis and were then able to put him on a potent cocktail that attacked the virus that was trying to take his life.

Following this chapter, I decided to educate myself and advocate for those infected with this dreadful disease. It was at this time, that I became a strong believer in education, prevention and treatment. I also decided to do my part and make a concerted effort to inform my friends and associates about this disease and prevent others from going through what my family went through, and is going through.

That summer I was afforded the opportunity to further this goal by joining an organization called the Campaign to End AIDS—Youth Action Institute. This caucus was comprised of youth from around the world, who are both socially and politically aware and passionate about finding a cure for HIV/AIDS. In June 2009, I traveled to the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, for a youth action institute to receive intensive training in lobbying, grassroots organizing, utilizing the mass media and the like.

Following the program, each participant in the summer institute was required to volunteer with an ASO (AIDS Service Organization) and to return to their respective communities and develop a program to combat HIV/AIDS. I volunteered at AIDS Project Los Angeles. In this capacity, I worked directly with clients and helped to provide them with a multitude of essential public services to assist them in areas of housing, mental health, dental, legal, counseling and clinical care.

The clients I saw on a day-to-day basis were predominantly White and Hispanic. This point is important, because it highlights the disparities in care in our communities. The service and resources are available. However, Blacks were not utilizing them and this partly explains the disproportionate infection rates, and inclement deaths as a result of AIDS. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), Black Americans at that time made up 55 percent of those newly infected, despite being just above 13 percent of the population.

Additionally, HIV/AIDS was the leading cause of death among Black women ages 25 to 34. Minority youth between the ages of 13 and 24 were also fast beginning to feel the brunt of this national pandemic. Silence, ignorance and complacency are not the answer or an excuse. Services, testing and treatment are available, and we as a community must take the initiative to value our lives and futures and access these options just as other cultural populations do.

In order to assure that the Black community is not further left behind, we must utilize the resources that we already have. That is why my project seeks to utilize the historical, spiritual and social cornerstones of our community—the Black church. My project aims to help facilitate a discussion about this disease, its effects and impact on our community and hopefully result in reduction of infection rates and an increased consciousness and understanding of the pandemic in Black America.

My project is simple. Once or twice a month our churches need to pray for a cure and include in Sunday bulletins and other church publications statistics about infection rates and information about the many resources that HIV-negative and positive members of the church can use to either prevent initial infection and or prevent the onset of AIDS and the potential for premature death or opportunistic infection.

I am aware that this is not going to be easy, because it instigates conversations about topics and themes that have been historically taboo in the church—issues revolving around sex, sexual behavior, sexuality, social stigma, drug use and the like. This is not the solution to the problem in our community, but a way to begin to remedy the catastrophic affect of HIV/AIDS and initiate a continued discussion and mobilization against this preventable disease.

Do not wait until someone you know or love is infected. Be a part of the solution. Bring an end to this pandemic in our community and begin the mobilization of Black strength.

About the Campaign To End AIDS

The Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA) is a diverse, exciting coalition of people demanding that our leaders exert the political will to stop the epidemic, in the U.S. and abroad, once and for all. The Youth Action Institute (YAI) is a youth subset whose purpose is to educate and eradicate the pandemic among the youth population. For more information about the C2EA, please call (877) END-AIDS (363-2437).

About AIDS Project Los Angeles

AIDS Project Los Angeles programs and services are designed to promote self-sufficiency for people living with HIV/AIDS, to support positive medical outcomes, and to keep people living with HIV/AIDS in care and treatment programs. APLA provides services in multiple locations, including the David Geffen Center in Koreatown (our main site), at the S. Mark Taper Foundation in South Los Angeles, at AV Hope Services in the Antelope Valley and throughout West Hollywood. For all services, eligibility requirements apply. For more information, including hours and directions, please call (213) 201-1600 or visit our website.

California HIV/AIDS Statistics
• Based on the new system of name reporting, there have been a total of 41,711 reported cases of HIV.*
• In Los Angeles, there have been a total of 17,212 cases of HIV and 57,411 cases of AIDS, as of June 2011.*
• African Americans make up approximately 7 percent of California’s total population, yet represent 18.4 percent of HIV cases and 18.3 percent of cumulative AIDS cases in the state.*

*Source California Office of AIDS June 2011 Monthly HIV/AIDS Statistics Report. **Source California Department of Public Health.

By David Evans for Poz Blogs

I wish terribly that I could tell you that a cure for HIV is right around the corner. Alas, I can’t. What I can tell you, however, is that for the first time in decades we are beginning to see flickers of hope and real promise. What’s needed at this point is care and support to nourish those flickers into flame and a quick pace to ensure that they don’t get snuffed out before they’ve had a chance to blaze a path to victory.

Here’s what I do promise: if you will take just ten minutes to fill out the survey found here you will be doing something concrete that may help us ensure that cure-research is as speedy as possible.

At issue is how much risk the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will allow people with HIV to take and to what degree they will allow each individual make their own choice about that risk. We don’t yet know how the FDA will make decisions about these kinds of risks, as the branch of the FDA charged with overseeing the development of many of the possible therapies hasn’t offered people with HIV the chance to give input.

For a brief summary of the kinds of research that have great promise and that are soon to enter human testing click here.

At a large think tank this past April, activists and researchers decided universally that the process for helping ensure that people are adequately informed about the risks they may take in research is not what it could be, and that this, along with a lack of input from people with HIV could put the brakes on promising research.

In one of several first steps to fix that problem, I and several other activists have put together this survey to help us better answer the question of what people with HIV would be willing to do—to what degree would they be willing to put their bodies on the line in service to a larger cause—and what factors are associated with greater and lesser willingness for such risks.

We hope you’ll take the time to fill out the survey. We’d particularly like to ensure that our survey reaches all types of people with HIV and has diversity of race, gender and age. Of course this survey won’t directly and immediately lead to a cure for HIV, but the mile-deep Grand Canyon was made by trillions of drops of rain, and every person we get to answer the survey represents one of those raindrops. We hope you’ll make your voice heard.

To see more Poz Blogs and to check the latest Poz Magazine Online, click here.

To become a member of the Campaign To End AIDS and receive the C2EA Monthly Newsletter click here.

By Helen Zille for South Africa Today (South Africa)

Compare these two scenarios.

Woman “A” has been in a steady relationship for a few years. One day her partner forces her to have sex against her will. She goes to the police station and lays a charge of rape. She immediately finds support from a range of organisations for her courageous determination to “break the silence”. The media comment favourably. She is feted for facing the stigma and becomes a role model for rape survivors. In short, she is a hero.

Woman “B” has also been in a steady relationship. One day she goes for an AIDS test, and learns she is positive. She finds out that she contracted the virus from her partner who chose to remain silent about his status. She would never have consented to unprotected sex had she known. Betrayed and violated, she also knows that if she takes a stand, she will stand alone. If she lays a charge or sues for the violation of her physical integrity, she will be accused of “stigmatising HIV”, “driving the pandemic underground” and “violating” her partner’s “right to privacy”. In short, unless she meekly accepts her situation, she is a villain.

In fact, under South African law, if her partner refused to reveal his status, she would only be able to force him to test for HIV if he raped her.

This is a consequence of the “progressive” line on HIV/AIDS, touted by people who actually have much in common with religious fanatics or fascists. In their blinkered focus on a free-floating single issue, they lose sight of the broader public good. Of course, they believe they are motivated by a commitment to “human rights”. But they are very selective in whose “rights” they promote. They claim to “own” the moral high ground, but they hunt in a vicious pack to prevent anyone questioning their assumptions. Slacktivists is too gentle a word to describe them. They are more like an AIDS Gestapo.

That is why I am interested in a matter that is scheduled to come before a Durban court soon. In the first case of its kind in SA, a Cape Town woman is suing a Durban man for R2.56-million for infecting her with genital herpes, which like AIDS is an incurable, sexually transmitted disease. Herpes is typically dormant in the system, with intermittent, painful flare-ups, similar to a cold sore on the lip. In Britain recently, a young man was controversially sentenced to 14 months in jail for passing on genital herpes to his partner.

Although this is the first case of its kind in South Africa, the press reports of the Durban matter have passed almost unnoticed. There has been no outcry about stigmatising genital herpes or driving it “underground”.

But then, this woman is middle-class and white. And her former partner is rich and white – a chief executive of a large company.

“So what?”, you ask. “Why bring race into it? Surely the sexual transmission of diseases is primarily an issue of behaviour, NOT race?”

I thought so too. I thought we had, at last, got over the racial stereotyping that characterised AIDS denialism under Thabo Mbeki, who was determined to prevent the debate focusing on the need for behaviour change. Anyone who dared venture into this territory was accused of perpetuating the racist myth that African men are “rampant sexual beasts, unable to control our urges, unable to keep our legs crossed, unable to keep it in our pants,” as he once memorably told Parliament. That accusation was intended to shut down the debate. And it did.

There is no irony like a South African irony, but this one beats them all: During the Mbeki era, anyone who dared argue that AIDS was a function of sexual behaviour and NOT of race was labelled a racist!!

The election of President Zuma, whose lifestyle reinforced the stereotype Mbeki wished to eschew, inevitably meant that the denial would deepen.

As the Durban court case illustrates, it is publicly acceptable for a white man to be called to account for infecting his partner with a sexually transmitted disease. But, not vice versa, according to the AIDS Gestapo. Who actually is being racist?

The Gestapo approach is riddled with such contradictions. But it still comes as a surprise to find traces of Gestapo logic in the writings of an eminent and respected scientist like Dr Helen Epstein who has written by far the most compelling and rational treatise on AIDS. Her book, The Invisible Cure, explains so many things about the disease that once seemed inexplicable to me, and there has not yet been a credible rebuttal.

Her book seeks to explain why the AIDS pandemic is disproportionately centred in Southern and Eastern Africa. She comes to the conclusion that the major driver of AIDS is multiple concurrent sexual partners. She coined the term “AIDS superhighway” to describe such sexual practices, at approximately the same time that Mbeki was so determined to prevent the debate going in that direction.

It is to Epstein’s credit that she persisted, nevertheless. But it also explains why she is at such pains to prove she is not a racist. She seeks to avoid the “Mbeki stigma” by repeatedly explaining that Americans have more partners over their lifetimes than people in Africa. Serial monogamy, she explains, is far less likely to transmit AIDS than multiple concurrent partners.

Her case is convincing. Thus it comes as a surprise to find that she was prepared to use the Mbeki trick against me (and accuse me of “reviving stereotypes of the promiscuous African”) simply because I refuse to demean myself by desperately trying to prove I am not a racist when I state a case that should have nothing to do with race. I simply ignore the tired and tedious reversion to the “race card” by people who have run out of credible arguments.

As in so many other cases, we can learn from Mandela’s early example in the HIV debate. In 1992, addressing a meeting of 50,000 people in Zwide, Eastern Cape, Mr Mandela pledged that the ANC would face the AIDS issue uncompromisingly.

He said: “We as an organisation are going to take this matter seriously. Even the Government has not enough resources to deal with it. The misconception that our men can go around having many women, that is polygamy, must come to an end. It was all well in the olden days of our fathers but today it is dangerous.” As with so many other issues, he was prepared to confront the emerging AIDS pandemic head-on.

But not for long. Interestingly, I can find no other example of Mr Mandela ever explicitly raising this issue in this way again. In fact, during his Presidency he seems to have paid scant attention to AIDS. I have often wondered whether the AIDS Gestapo managed to silence him too.

They will probably also go for Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, after his comments last week, when he announced the latest AIDS data and effectively conceded that the government had failed to bring down the infection rate through current strategies. He optimistically described the statistics as an indication of “stabilisation”. But the fact is, SA has fallen far short of its stated aim of halving the HIV transmission rate by 2011. The only province that has done so, is the Western Cape.

The news in Motsoaledi’s announcement, however, was his breakdown of the statistics for different age categories. Comparing statistics of 2008 with 2010, he voiced particular concern at the 30% increase in prevalence amongst women aged 40 – 44; and the 33% increase in prevalence rates of women between 45 and 49 years of age.

The Minister did not mince his words. Unfaithful husbands, he said, were to blame for the upward trend of HIV prevalence in older women.
Motsoaledi said that, although the whole country knew the ABC mantra “to abstain, or be faithful and condomise” the country needed to “revisit that message”.

“Condoms are working. The question is faithfulness,” he said.

“We need to target the older age groups, the married couples,” and specifically to “target the men”. “We know that they have been very stubborn”, he added.

Minister Motsoaledi, in his many statements, is coming to terms with the fact that our current strategy isn’t working. Even Uganda, the “poster country” for what Helen Epstein describes as “pragmatism, urgency and compassion” in dealing with AIDS, is concluding that their approach has failed. It must be a mortal blow to the AIDS Gestapo that the Ugandan Parliament is reportedly about to pass a law requiring mandatory AIDS tests and criminalising the knowing transmission of the virus.

But in South Africa, we can always rely on someone to find a way to default to the race card. And believe it or not, an acclaimed scientist is now moving towards a point of implying that the HI Virus is, in itself, racist. I am not making this up!

Dr Francois Venter (once also the victim of attacks from the AIDS Gestapo when he supported mandatory testing) has now succumbed to their logic. If you can’t beat them, join them. He seems to be finding the ultimate cop-out to avoid the debate on behaviour change and reinforcing denialism.

In a newspaper article, published last week, Venter said: “There is accumulating evidence that people in our region are more vulnerable to HIV per sex act than our European, Asian or American counterparts… It would appear it matters far more where you live than who you sleep with. It is extremely plausible that something about the HIV species wandering our South African bedrooms may be more virulent, or the genes in our population more susceptible, or some environmental factor we haven’t discovered makes sex many-fold more risky.”

What a great excuse for avoiding tackling the much tougher issue of personal responsibility! I will humbly eat my words and apologise if science proves Dr Venter to be correct. In the meantime, please excuse my scepticism.

It is fitting to end this newsletter with one of Mandela’s great insights on leadership in the context of the AIDS pandemic. In 2004 he said: “They must dare to be different, and they must be prepared for the course to be difficult. They will be faced with tough decisions, and they must come up with bold and innovative responses. This is what leaders are for, and the AIDS epidemic will test their leadership skills to the limit.”

As usual, he was right.

By C2EA National Secretary Marsha Jones for The Dallas Examiner

December 1, 2011 marks the 23rd commemoration of World AIDS Day (WAD) and this year also marks 30 years of identifying the virus that causes AIDS. The 2011 theme for WAD is “Getting to Zero”, getting to zero new infections, getting to zero stigma, and getting to zero AIDS related deaths. WAD is a day that the world will stop and reflect on AIDS, the lives lost, those still living along with the challenges and successes. Many people around the world will gather for moments of silence, candlelight visuals, brunches, lunches, and dinners in recognition of WAD. Many others will hold marches, rallies, sit-ins, and speak outs addressing 30 years of continued broken promises by politicians seeking election.

There will be press releases, press conferences, and grand speeches reminding us of the many successes that have come about to combat HIV/AIDS and those to come. This one day of the year world leaders will stand in every country around the world and make strong statements to the fact that this epidemic must end. Yet amidst all of the activities and hoopla every 9 and a half minutes someone in the United States will become infected with HIV. Ending stigma, no more new infections, and AIDS related deaths….How do we “Get to Zero”?

Where Do We Start ?

The theme for WAD has determined that three things that must happen to reach its goal. Yet, 30 years later and many people continue to die from AIDS related illness alone, ashamed, and abased because of stigma. HIV/AIDS related stigma causes people to be subjected to discrimination, negative treatment, and isolation. Stigma is a direct result of people’s reluctance to being tested for HIV; prevent people from accessing care and treatment and disclosing their status. Access to affordable and quality housing and healthcare is also impeded by stigma.

Ending stigma will play a great role in ending this epidemic people should not be ashamed or afraid to live. Stigma serves as a driving force to preventing zero new infections and AIDS related deaths. Stigma is the vehicle which society uses to warrant indignities such as homelessness, poverty, mass imprisonment, gender inequities and sexism all determinants of continued new HIV infections. While it is very important to end stigma that is just the beginning to the challenges that we face as we move beyond 30 years of this very preventable public health crisis. While we also work tenaciously to achieve our goal of “Getting to Zero”.

When Do We Start?

We start now, challenge yourself on WAD to do more than take in an event or wear a red ribbon. Find a cause that you can believe in that you can support as it relates to ending this epidemic. Educate yourself and your community on the issues that are driving the epidemic not only domestically but also internationally. In the midst of all that will take place over the span of maybe the next three to four days keep in mind that there will be homeless people living with HIV/AIDS that will not have access to the meals being served in commemoration of WAD.

There will still be people on AIDS drug assistance programs that are waiting to receive life sustaining medications. The doors of many organizations that provide much needed services for people living with HIV/AIDS will be closing. These doors and programs will close because policy makers lack the will to do the right thing. Do not forget while listening to the skillfully articulated speeches on WAD that hundreds of people will become infected with HIV. Getting to zero will take action and it must start now. It will start by demanding that elected officials, policy shapers, and community leaders create policy that will address the social and structural determinants that create risk for people to become infected with HIV.

Elected officials must understand that housing, economic stability access to affordable quality healthcare is a necessity and not a luxury. On December 1st and thereafter take action and commit yourself to ending this epidemic by “Getting, all things that contribute to HIV/AIDS, To Zero”.

Marsha Jones is co-founder and Executive Director of The Afiya Center.

By Dan Stamm for NBC News (Philadelphia)

View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com.

The Milton Hershey School was founded by the chocolate tycoon as a school that “nurtures and educates children in social and financial need to lead fulfilling and productive lives.”

But it seems that fulfillment won’t be coming for a 13-year-old honor student from Delaware County who is infected with the virus that causes AIDS.

“I feel no other teenager should go through this, being denied just because they have HIV,” the boy said in an exclusive interview with NBC Philadelphia’s Denise Nakano.

His lawyer has filed a discrimination suit in U.S. District Court that alleges that the Hershey School “violated multiple anti-discrimination laws” by not admitting the boy based on him being HIV Positive.

The lawsuit was filed under a pseudonym and the boy and his mother’s identities weren’t revealed per their request.

Read the entire discrimination complaint

The private boarding school doesn’t deny that they rejected the boy’s admission because of concerns for the health and safety of fellow students. They even petitioned to have the court review the case, they said.

Milton Hershey School released a statement Wednesday saying in part that “in order to protect our children in this unique environment, we cannot accommodate the needs of students with chronic communicable diseases that pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others.”

(The entire statement from the Hershey School is listed below.)

Ronda Goldfein from the AIDS Law Project is representing the boy and his mother in the federal discrimination lawsuit.

“If you have a school that’s open to the public, then it’s open to the public,” Goldfein said. “If you have a student that has a particular need and requests assistance, then you accommodate. You don’t simply say we don’t like you, we don’t like your diagnosis, you can’t come here.”

“It makes me angry, like really, really angry because they don’t understand how great he is,” the boy’s mother said.

The 13-year-old has lived with HIV all of his life but doesn’t feel it defines him.

He excels in school, is active in sports and is learning to speak two foreign languages. He was hoping to go to Hershey — a cost-free, private boarding school for children from low-income families — to advance his education.

“They didn’t look at whether my client presented any threat, they just said 13-year old boy with HIV, oh no, that’s too dangerous,” Goldfein said.

The lawsuit calls for Hershey to admit the boy and give unspecified monetary damages.

“I think that it was wrong to put me through emotional distress,” the boy said.

Here is the entire statement from the Hershey School:

Today, Milton Hershey School had planned to file a request in federal court asking the court to review our decision to deny enrollment to a child who is HIV positive because of concerns for the health and safety of our current students.

We had been in discussions with the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, which is representing this 13-year-old boy. Recognizing the complex legal issues, the School was preparing to ask the court to weigh in on this matter. Unfortunately, attorneys for the young man took the adversarial action of filing a lawsuit against the School.

The decision to deny enrollment was a challenging one for us to make. Like all our enrollment decisions, we need to balance our desire to serve the needs of an individual child seeking admission with our obligation to protect the health and safety of all 1,850 children already in our care.

Attorneys for this young man and his mother have suggested that this case is comparable to the Ryan White case. But this case is actually nothing like the Ryan White case. Milton Hershey School is not a day school, where students go home to their family at the end of the day. Instead, this is a unique home-like environment, a pre-K to 12 residential school where children live in homes with 10 to 12 other students on our campus 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

In order to protect our children in this unique environment, we cannot accommodate the needs of students with chronic communicable diseases that pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others.The reason is simple. We are serving children, and no child can be assumed to always make responsible decisions which protect the well-being of others.

That is why, after careful review and analysis, we determined we could not put our children at risk.

The eight “Robin Hoods” who were arrested at yesterday’s World AIDS Day civil disobedience action near City Hall, say that that NYPD officers at Manhattan’s 7th Precinct did not give them dinner, as they are required to do. Instead, the cops at the precinct punished them by eating two large pizzas that had been sent by the activists’ supporters.

The pizzas were two large cheese pies from the revered pizzeria Mini Munchies, which earned four and half stars on menupages.com

The NYPD malfeasance did not stop there—the Robin Hoods also say that the cops drank the 1 liter bottles of Sprite and Coke that were sent to accompany the pizzas. Moreover, the NYPD did not offer the thirsty Robins water and went so far as to tell them that the vending machines were completely sold out of water and soda.

“We could see the empty pizza boxes in the trash, and the empty plastic bottles,” said Charles “Robin Hood” King, President and CEO of Housing Works, in a near-perfect British accent. “We confronted the officers at the precinct about stealing the pizzas and they just smiled and laughed at us and didn’t deny it.”

Housing Works, which fronted $30 for the soda and pies, is demanding restitution from the NYPD, an apology, and a pledge to deliver food hot in a timely manner to all people they arrest.

The hungry Hoods were made up of people from Housing Works, VOCAL-NY and Occupy Wall St., including Felix Rivera-Pitre, who was assaulted by an NYPD officer in November. “I will never trust the cops again,” he said.

In the tradition of the working-class hero of Sherwood Forest, the activists were demanding the implementation of a Financial Transaction Tax on Wall Street and a New York State millionaires tax in order to fund the fight against AIDS here in New York and worldwide. New York City and the federal government have backed away from their commitment to fighting HIV/AIDS in dramatic ways during the past year. Read the full protest story and see videos and photos.

Well past dinner time, as the protestors were being marched chain gang style from the precinct to a paddy wagon waiting to take them to Central Booking aka The Tombs, they chanted “Stealing is bad. Cops stealing? That’s just sad.”

The flustered cops belatedly offered to provide another set of pizzas but the Robins refused.

“We weren’t touching their dirty pizza,” said King. “We knew it was cheesy hush money. But some day I will have a bite of Mini Munchies, God as my witness.”

As of this posting, three of the Robin Hoods had been released, while the others awaited freedom.

By Brad Soroka for WJTV.com (Jackson MS)

HIV was officially discovered 30 years ago Thursday. While research and medicine have greatly improved, millions are still living with the disease worldwide.

The latest statistics show 33 million people living with HIV. An estimated 10,000 of those are right here in Mississippi. According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in five infected people don’t even know they’re HIV positive.

Luke Versher has been living with HIV for 23 years. We asked him what life was like 24 years ago.

“Living great,” he told us. “My life laid out before me. I was looking to move to DC, get a job there and start life.”

Then he learned he was infected.

“The minute you say ‘I’m HIV positive’, people back away from you,” says Versher.

He says there’s a stigma associated with HIV. People are afraid to learn they have the disease because they’re afraid of how their friends and family might treat them.

“I know cases of people who – once their family has found out – they made them use paper plates, forks, spoons…or so-and-so just used that, so let’s throw it away,” says Versher.

Versher has accepted life with HIV and now speaks publicly to raise awareness. He hopes Mississippi lawmakers will hear his message and work to eliminate the negative image of the HIV patient so more people are willing to be tested.

“Mississippi did a great campaign on obesity. If they would put 1/4 of the effort behind that into HIV, to inform, just imagine the amount of people that would come out with that fear of being tested,” says Versher.

He encourages everyone to get that test.

For information about AIDS Action In Mississippi and to sign up for AAIM 4 Life coming this Spring, contact Luke Versher by email or call 601.944.1403.

By Mitch Weber for FOX 4 (Kansas City)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Since the AIDS crisis started 30 years ago the face of the disease has changed. Successful treatment and survival rates are a two-edged sword, however, as some experts say that complacency has set in.

FOX 4?s Mitch Weber introduces us to a woman who has lived with the disease for more than 22 years.

Today AIDS activists from DC Fights Back, Housing Works, the Metropolitan Washington Public Health Association, friends and allies held a rally in front of the D.C. Department of Health demanding city officials house the 922 people on the AIDS housing wait list. Activists also demanded that emergency, transitional, and permanent yet affordable housing is made a priority in the development and implementation of a city wide comprehensive HIV & AIDS strategy to end the epidemic in the District.

It’s been widely reported that Washington DC’s HIV rates are occurring at epidemic proportions. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 3 – 5% of DC residents are living with HIV. And although increased testing campaigns are finding more people living with HIV in the District, city and federal officials – including the Mayor’s HIV & AIDS Commission formed earlier this Spring – have been reluctant to utilize proven effective structural interventions like safe and stable housing for those most marginalized and affected by the HIV & AIDS epidemic.

Research has shown:
Housing is HIV prevention – People who have stable housing are less likely to acquire HIV infection or to transmit HIV to others — regardless of other risks. HIV prevention strategies will not succeed without attention to housing and other important factors.

Housing is health care – For people living with HIV, housing is one of the strongest predictors of their access to treatment, their health outcomes, and how long they will live. To obtain and benefi?t from life-saving HIV treatments, people living with HIV must have safe, stable housing.

Housing for people living with HIV & AIDS saves lives and money – HIV housing interventions prevent costly new HIV infections, improve HIV health outcomes, reduce mortality, and decrease the use of expensive emergency and hospital services. Action to meet HIV housing needs costs far less than inaction, and is a wise use of limited public resources.

Homelessness is both a cause and effect of HIV infection – People coping with homelessness are at greater risk of becoming infected with HIV. Also, people living with HIV & AIDS experience high rates of housing loss and instability.

For more information and resources regarding HIV & AIDS housing, please go to the National AIDS Housing Coalition website.

Dust off your keyboards, connect your webcams, and charge up your Flip cameras! The Campaign To End AIDS (C2EA) is entering 2012 with the goal of supporting and sharing the voices and perspectives of people living with HIV & AIDS from around the world. C2EA is seeking authors and writers to contribute HIV & AIDS advocacy related articles for its website visible and accessible worldwide.

Ultimately 2012 will be a historic year in life of the HIV & AIDS epidemic in the U.S. and abroad. The C2EA Website will document the struggles and successes in text and images from those living with HIV & AIDS, their loved ones, their allies, and those working on the front lines in their communities to ensure a better quality of life for those most affected and impacted.

For those interested in submitting, please contact C2EA at info@campaigntoendaids.org or call 1877.ENDAIDS (363.2437) for more information on how to post your stories.

Click here to become C2EA member as an individual or organization.

By MikaelaI Conley for ABC News

Baltimore has ambitious plans for its public health sector in the next three years: By 2015, city officials plan to cut new HIV/AIDS infections by 25 percent. While public funds are limited, government leaders say they’re confident that the detailed plan, which seeks to reallocate placement of intervention programs and revamp city programs, will reduce the transmission of a disease that has plagued Baltimore for decades.

The city announcement comes just in time for World AIDS Day, celebrated each year on Dec. 1.

“For the last 30 years, the HIV epidemic has been rampant in Baltimore city and we haven’t managed to get out of the top 10 cities [for highest rates of HIV in the U.S.],” said Dr. Oxiris Barbot, city health commissioner for Baltimore. “We wanted to take a fresh look at what we’re doing to reduce the epidemic.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Miami has the highest HIV rate of all U.S. cities. More than 64,000 Miami residents carry the deadly virus.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced the new plan Tuesday to combat a disease that affects more than 13,000 Baltimore residents, and more than 1.1 million nationwide.

In accordance with the new plans, Baltimore city officials will extend needle exchange programs; use mobile medical services and primary care to implement HIV testing and diagnoses; and target locations such as schools, sex clubs, prisons and other areas where there may be a higher-than- average rate of unprotected sex and drug use. Particularly high-risk populations include gay and bisexual men, African American men, and those who participate in unprotected sex with many partners and intravenous drug use.

While Barbot acknowledged that the 25 percent reduction within three years is an “aggressive benchmark,” she said the city needed to set the bar high because the epidemic has been so devastating to the city.

Barbot also noted a particularly jarring detail about Baltimore’s HIV/AIDS patient population from past city-wide research—about 27 percent of newly diagnosed patients have full-blown AIDS by the time it is discovered. Those people could have been unknowingly carrying the HIV virus years before diagnosis, said Barbot.

“There is currently a movement for aggressive intervention,” said Dr. Myron Cohen, chief of the division of infectious diseases at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “We’ve gone for 30 years with about 50,000 new cases every year. I applaud Baltimore for trying to move forward courageously and creatively. Their plan serves as a model for others to look at.”

While Baltimore officials say they could use millions more in funding to revamp the program, about $6 million to $7 million in city funding is available for HIV/AIDS initiatives. They plan to stretch resources and reallocate outreach efforts. Clearer guidelines and strategic budgeting have been considered to make the most out of the resources available.

“Unfortunately, national funds to the state of Maryland were cut by 10 percent, so now we have to look at what we have and what’s the smartest way to utilize that money to make the difference,” said Barbot.

By Elizabeth Landau for CNN

Atlanta (CNN) — Her blue-green eyes are as clear as her name would suggest, but her wants and needs are muddy as she walks with aching joints on the streets of Atlanta, trying to resist the urge to get high.

Like many people living with HIV/AIDS in downtown Atlanta, she’s less concerned with her disease than about where she’s going to sleep, what she’s going to eat and how she’s going to stay clean. It’s been a few days since she’s had cocaine or alcohol, and she wants to keep that up. But when you’re living on the streets, surrounded by dealers and users, it’s hard to say no to a source of good feelings you’ve known for decades.

“What am I gonna do if I don’t use? Who am I gonna be, if I’m not gonna be an addict?” Crystal, 46, asks one crisp day in October, her icy hands hoping to find gloves later. “I’ve been an addict all my life, which just leaves you with a lot of empty time, a lot of space in your life; that seems like a dangerous thing to me. People get in trouble when they don’t know what to do, or where to go.”

Crystal — CNN is not using her last name — is stuck in a cycle of addiction, drugs, homelessness and disease. She got HIV by selling sex to buy more drugs, a risk factor that isn’t the only predominant way of contracting the virus, but something Wendy Armstrong sees commonly at Grady Health Care System’s Ponce De Leon Center, one of the largest HIV/AIDS treatment facilities in the United States.

More than 40,000 people in Georgia have HIV or AIDS; 67% of them live in the 28-county metropolitan area that includes Atlanta, according a 2009 report by the Georgia Department of Community Health’s HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Unit. The epidemic is concentrated in Fulton County, which includes the city’s downtown, as well as DeKalb, Gwinnett and Clayton counties, said Paula Frew, a researcher at Emory University School of Medicine.

Male-to-male sexual contact is the most common mode of transmission among men, but for women living with the disease in the metro area, some 27% are “high-risk heterosexual,” meaning they’ve had sexual contact with someone with known risk for HIV.

High rates of poverty, sex trafficking, food insecurity and continued stigma attached to the disease all help make Atlanta a center of the Southeast epidemic. And it feeds on itself: When there’s already a high prevalence of HIV, the chance that any single sexual encounter will lead to transmission of the virus is greater.

“We see a whole lot of homeless people at our clinic. It’s very, very, very common that patients are unstably housed,” said Armstrong, an associate professor of infectious disease at Emory University School of Medicine, and an investigator at the Emory Center for AIDS Research.

But because Crystal doesn’t have noticeable symptoms from her disease, she, like many others with HIV in the United States, doesn’t see that as her priority. Her story highlights how addiction can lead to a path of risky behaviors that feed on one another, and can result in a chronic life-threatening illness that affects more than 1.1 million people in the United States.

Making sense of a diagnosis

Crystal was once going to visit the Ponce clinic but missed her scheduled time, and says she can’t get another appointment.

Staff can see only patients whose CD4 count (a measure of white blood cells available to fight infection) has ever dipped below 200; in other words, those who have full-blown AIDS, Armstrong said. To Crystal’s knowledge, she has not reached that point. The clinic is currently seeing 5,100 patients already, Jacqueline Muther, interim administrator at the Grady Infectious Disease program says.

Crystal also met with a counselor from a different AIDS organization but was put off when given a list of shelters to call herself.

“Sometimes, people have tried to help her, and she wants it on her terms only,” said a close friend who has known Crystal for more than three years but did not want to be identified in this article. “You can’t really do it that way.”

Desperate for drug money, Crystal used to sell sex to support her addiction. She thinks she got HIV from a man who offered her money and told her he was HIV-positive. And she didn’t care.

“The addiction takes over your mind and your thinking and perpetuates itself,” she said. “The money he was giving me was more powerful than the consideration of the chance that I would become HIV-positive. That’s the mind of the addict.”

Crystal got her first diagnosis while in jail about two years ago. Her recollections of why she was arrested at various times are fuzzy, but Fulton County has a record of her charged with possession of cocaine in November 2009. Crystal says she does remember that the nurse who delivered her HIV diagnosis results smiled, as if she were taking perverse pleasure in it. Crystal didn’t react.

“Did you hear me? You’re positive,” the nurse said. Crystal began to cry.

She went with her close friend to get confirmation at the health department in January 2010. Crystal was initially upset to learn that the result was positive, but her friend reassured her that people can live a long time with HIV. After learning about the disease more, she felt better about dealing with it.

“The way I was living my life, I was living to die anyway. I was very promiscuous. I was buying drugs on the street when you have no idea what’s in them. Now I’m much more careful,” she said in August 2011. But by November, her attitude had become more one of denial — she insists that she’s not sick; she feels the pain of arthritis in her joints, but no symptoms she relates directly to HIV.

“Someone else says there’s a virus in my blood,” she says, her Southern twang broadening when she speaks passionately.

“ ‘Positive’ is being happy and open-minded and open to things happening in my life. ‘Positive’ is continuing to go forward and do the right thing. Do the next good thing, continue to live, that’s what being positive is to me.”

Most people in the United States develop AIDS within one year of diagnosis because they are tested so late in the course of the disease, Armstrong said. How fast that progression occurs varies from person to person.

According to Armstrong, current recommendations suggest that everyone with a count of CD4 cells (an important part of the immune system) below 500 should get treatment; below 200 means the person has AIDS. But that’s not the whole story of how HIV harms the body; just having a chronic disease with viral implications increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and bone disease, Armstrong said.

A very small number of people with the disease are “elite controllers,” who appear to control the virus because of special properties in their immune system, and may have lived several decades without progressing to AIDS, taking no HIV medications. But they represent only about 3% of people with HIV according to the International HIV Controllers Study.

Crystal does not have full-blown AIDS, according her and her close friend, and does not know her CD4 count.

“I’m not living in this diagnosis,” she said in early November, while staying with a friend downtown. “I’m not going to let this control my life, make my choices for me, make my decisions.”

Her close friend, who describes Crystal as “bright and very attractive,” desperately wants to get Crystal off drugs and off the streets permanently, and is trying to help her.

“We have to love people where they are, even if they can never get into recovery. The fact that she’s not successful won’t stop me from loving her and just hugging her and helping her,” the close friend said.

A past in broken fragments

Jail in autumn 2009 gave Crystal a diagnosis. Jail in October 2011 gave her 10 days to think about her 8-year-old daughter, whom she hasn’t seen since the girl was 3 months old. During the incarceration, she slept well and ate well, and she returned to the streets with renewed optimism.

“I want one day to be someone that I would let my daughter see,” she said. “I’d like to be someone that my family would claim. My mother would say, ‘Yes, that’s my daughter.’ My sister might say, ‘Yes, that’s my sister.’ “

Her memory is imperfect. There are periods of her life that she believes are still in her brain somewhere, but that her memory can’t access. “It’s all there,” she says, “like on a tape recorder. I just don’t have access to all of it.” Head injuries, alcohol and drugs have all clouded some of her thinking about the past.

Growing up in Jacksonville, Florida, Crystal began smoking marijuana at age 15; it gave her the immediate gratification she was looking for. She would smoke pot every day and drink on the weekends. Drugs, she believed, were the “in thing.”

“It made me feel good,” she said. “As a child, I didn’t grow up learning how to feel good about myself.”

From beer keg parties, she moved on to heavier drugs: acid, powdered cocaine, speed. She could get a gram of powdered cocaine for $50 and supported her addiction by working.

Cocaine, both powdered and crack, is an independent risk factor for HIV transmission because of the associated behaviors and social disorganization that it creates, said Dr. Vincent Marconi, associate professor in the division of infectious diseases at Emory University School of Medicine.

Crystal’s mother was a busy woman, in Crystal’s memory. She was a high school graduate but did not attend college, and worked extensively in accounting, Crystal’s remembers. She said her father worked in the printing business, and also bought a tavern and worked graveyard shifts, sleeping in the day and working in the evening.

“We went without nothing. We built a pool in the backyard. We had things, dogs, clothes. I had everything I needed,” Crystal said.

She says she graduated from high school in 1983. There is a record of her being arrested in Florida for possession of marijuana in April 1985.

But Crystal has barely any memory of 1983, ’84 and ’85, the years leading up to a major car wreck.

“When I woke up in the hospital, I was a child again inside my head and I had to grow up again,” she said. “I would do something and realize: This is a mistake.”

She moved to Atlanta about three months before the accident. She learned that, one week before, she’d brought her car — a 1975 Ford Capri, an ugly orange “bubble” hatchback with stick shift — from Florida. Driving on Interstate 75 close to Windy Hill Road, where her mother’s office was, she was in an accident with a truck on September 10, 1985.

Left with a severe head injury, Crystal spent three months in the hospital, including six weeks in a coma. She said her jaw was broken for nine years, and it took 10 years for the reconstructive surgery that would repair her face. She had bone graft surgery three times.

She tried to hold various jobs — she was a cashier and an ice cream truck driver, among other things — but never developed concrete skills. And she moved around the Atlanta area — Midtown, Chamblee, Roswell Road.

Into the early 2000s, she continued using drugs and was arrested several times on drug-related charges in the Atlanta area. She had been on and off the streets when she found out that she was pregnant. The child’s father was from Mexico, she said; Crystal isn’t sure if he’s still in the country.

She moved in with her mother in Gwinnett County. At that time, she stopped using crack but still drank a little, occasionally. But she also failed to report for to DeKalb County court when required and was jailed overnight while about seven months pregnant.

She went into labor on her own birthday in 2002 and gave birth the next day.

What happened next, Crystal doesn’t want to talk about. She was still making “bad choices” and had an “altercation” with her mother, resulting in her mother taking legal action against her. Her mother mentioned the 1985 car accident in the petition, stating that the head injury, combined with substance abuse, has given Crystal problems with judgment and memory. She also wrote that while on alcohol or drugs, Crystal can get violent and abusive.

In July 2002, the Gwinnett County Superior Court gave her mother temporary custody over Crystal’s infant daughter. The court also issued a six-month protective order barring Crystal from approaching her mother within 100 yards or having any contact.

“My mother doesn’t want anything to do with me. She doesn’t claim me,” Crystal says, tears spilling over from her eyes. “That’s my mother!”

Crystal would spend much of the next year in confinement. In August 2002, the State Court of Gwinnett County ordered her to serve six months at the Gwinnett County Correctional Institute, minus the approximate month she’d already served. But because of a probation violation in DeKalb County, she would then spend October 2002 to May 2003 in jail there.

A handwritten letter with loopy “f“s and “g“s, which she wrote from jail in DeKalb County, remains in her file in Gwinnett County. Crystal writes, “I am going nuts worrying about my baby and am doing all I know to do.” She wrote that she had tried to inquire about the welfare of her daughter, but hadn’t heard anything from the Division of Family and Children Services in Gwinnett and DeKalb.

“I stopped smoking ‘crack’ because I wanted this baby more than I wanted a ‘hit,’” she wrote. “I believe I have changed my life.”

As far as she knows, her mother is still taking care of her daughter.

“Until I can be the mother she deserves, I’m not going to be in and out of her life. I see that a lot on the streets: mothers having more children to get bigger checks,” Crystal says. “I love my daughter. I loved her enough to walk away. God willing, we will be restored. I pray constantly that she will have no hard feelings.”

She left jail in 2003 without a permanent place to live.

On the streets

Crystal has tried a few shelters, but she didn’t like all the rules that went along with staying at them: She doesn’t want to have to talk to a counselor. She doesn’t like having a bedtime and getting in line for food. One shelter wouldn’t let her keep her possessions underneath her bed. Another dismissed her because, according to Crystal, a woman said she snored too loudly.

All the while, she’s had HIV in her body for about two years, at least, and said she hasn’t felt sick as a result.

“If they’re feeling somewhat OK — they might be a little bit sick — they don’t look at the long-term plan in their life,” Marconi said of people living with HIV/AIDS in situations like Crystal’s. “They might be focused on, ‘What do I need to do to eat today? What do I need to do to get access to drugs today?’ “

Sometimes, an unstable housing situation prevents people from getting HIV medications because some drugs need to be refrigerated, and “you don’t want to start them on HIV meds if they’re going to take them incorrectly,” said Lane Tatman, a triage nurse at the Ponce De Leon Center.

Crystal’s hideaway used to be under a bridge behind the building that used to house the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper, by the CSX train tracks. She lived there with her friend Frank, who used to drink constantly and panhandle in front of the AJC. Crystal hasn’t seen him in a while, because a church group took him to a program where he stopped drinking.

Despite her generally upbeat attitude, life on the streets has not treated her well. Besides numerous arrests, Crystal said she has been physically and sexually assaulted multiple times.

“Every day I see the scars on my body. I totaled three cars. A guy cut my throat once,” Crystal said.

“I wouldn’t have been in those places if I hadn’t been out trying to hustle some money or some dope.”

Barbara Heath, a specialist at Recovery Consultants of Atlanta who first met Crystal about two years ago, remembers her showing up at the county health department bleeding with two black eyes; she had been “beaten to a pulp.”

“She’s very willful and stubborn. She’ll get into arguments with people,” a close friend of Crystal’s said. “That’s how I think she gets beat up a lot. She’s very combative.”

That stubbornness prevents her from accepting the help that many people close to her want to offer.

Heath had tried to get her into a recovery program, which would require a weeklong detox and work with a treatment team. The paperwork was all filled out when Crystal backed out.

“I don’t know what else it would take. The only thing I can do is just be here when she calls. Just be a friend or someone she can talk to,” Heath said.

Toward recovery

Crystal has a few personal mottoes that she’ll often repeat during a conversation. One of them is: “Bad choices lead to more bad choices.” Another is: “If you don’t want a haircut, don’t hang out in the barbershop.”

Eight years ago, few people would sell anything smaller than a $10 rock of cocaine, the size of a small pebble. Some addicts cut that in half. Today, there are dealers who sell $1 hits — it’s “not enough to make you crazy, but gosh, I could have bought a cup of coffee with that dollar,” Crystal said.

“Drug addicts make choices that are irrational. I like to get high. You forget, or it doesn’t matter. I know what’s going to happen when I start using drugs: You make bad choices, you make tradeoffs, you spend money that you don’t really have to spend just to get that euphoria.”

One event that gives Crystal’s day structure is a recovery meeting in the basement of the Catholic Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, where she’s been going several times a week. She’s been going to groups like this through Church of the Common Ground, a spiritual organization for homeless people, for years.

The format uses the framework of Alcoholics Anonymous — reading the 12 steps, introducing yourself when you speak, having a sponsor. Some meetings are called “Double Trouble,” dealing with addiction in addition to other mental illnesses.

A year ago, Crystal spoke about using alcohol and drugs when she feels bored, since there’s nothing positive or healthy to do, recalls Darrell Stapleton, who has attended the Double Trouble meeting several times. Stapleton connected with that instantly — he had been doing the same thing.

At a recent meeting, Stapleton — dressed in a pressed white shirt and jeans, and now living in Stone Mountain — celebrated one year of being clean. Crystal and dozens of others in recovery applauded as he stood up to accept a white poker chip symbolizing his sobriety.

Stapleton pocketed his chip, but usually someone with a record of being clean for a year or more will pass the token on to someone who’s just starting out.

“I would say that he should have given it to Crystal,” says Gail Herrschaft, a recovering drug addict who’s been clean for 15 years. She is the director of Double Trouble In Recovery, and led the meeting that day.

Herrschaft and Crystal share a keen understanding of drug addiction.

“You’ll prostitute. You’ll do anything. Rob, steal, anything,” Herrschaft says.

“Lie, cheat,” Crystal adds.

“Lie, cheat, exactly,” Herrschaft echoes. “Anything to get dope. It’s like, it’s a driving force. I’ve got to get another one. Gotta get another one. Once you start, it’s like, ‘OK, I’ll do one and then I’ll go pay my bills.’ Well, that doesn’t happen. The next morning, you wake up and you say —”

“‘What have I done?’ “ Crystal finishes.

“‘I don’t have any food for the kids, I can’t pay the rent,’” Herrschaft adds. “It’s a vicious cycle. And that’s when you start doing things that you said you’d never do.”

From shooting dope with dirty needles, Herrschaft contracted HIV 19 years ago. After finding out her diagnosis, she smoked and drank in Georgia and four surrounding states because she thought she was going to die.

“I was like, let me just get super high and just tear everything up and —”

“Go out with a bang,” Crystal finishes.

Herrschaft turned her life around after an intervention from her children. She also learned that she had hepatitis C, and stopped drinking. Today, she’s in good health and sees her doctors regularly.

Crystal later said she had asked her own mother and sister to go to codependency meetings for families to see how they could help her, but they weren’t interested.

The last time she spoke to them by phone, they were still angry.

CNN could not reach them for comment.

Survival mode

She walks with her left shoulder higher than the right, her hips and knees and other joints aching with arthritis. But she doesn’t hesitate to bend over and pick up a stray resealable plastic bag, swiftly depositing it in the black garbage bag she’s clutching. For her, nothing is trash.

She eats at various food lines. She used to sit at Woodruff Park all day long, but police have cracked down on that. But she’ll still pick up a book at the outdoor reading room, or go to the library down the street. Her tastes are varied: historical romance, nonfiction, James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell. In August, she checked out “Dead Reckoning,” the 11th book in the Sookie Stackhouse series.

Or she’ll read her Bible in her “cat hole,” a place where she stashes her stuff so no one takes it. Other homeless people have gone through her things and stolen them. But she shrugs it off; she’s thin and 5-foot-8, so it’s easy to find clothes at church giveaways.

On the street, it’s hard to say who’s really a friend.

“They think they know me, but they only know what they see out on the streets. This is a role. Everybody’s playing a role,” Crystal says. “This is not who I am. This is not who I grew up to be. This is Crystal on the streets. Crystal in survival mode.”

She speaks of a man who can drink three six-packs of beer in a day, and will swing at her when he doesn’t have alcohol. The rational choice is to walk away and sleep alone, Crystal says.

But options become scarce as Atlanta’s leaves turn from green to red and then fall off with the coming of winter. These days, she’s staying with a friend downtown, she says, when it’s raining and she can’t stay on the street. And despite her dedication to the recovery meetings, she said recently that’s she’s not finding recovery there.

“I don’t know that I need treatment. I just need to act on the knowledge that I have. But if I sleep outside and I’m cold and I’m miserable and I’m dirty in the morning, if you don’t got nothing, you don’t got nothing to lose,” she said.

Besides reuniting with her daughter one day, Crystal hopes that people will learn from her story through this article, and not go down the same path of addiction. She has been public about her diagnosis at church, and doesn’t want anyone else to have to live through hearing the words “you’re HIV-positive.”

“If I can use my bad experiences to prevent someone else from bad experiences, maybe it wasn’t such a bad lesson for me to learn,” she said.

Thirteen “Robin Hoods” were arrested today after blocking traffic on Broadway not far from Manhattan’s Wall Street neighborhood. The arrest followed a raucous march that started in Zuccotti Park and featured people with AIDS affected by Mayor Bloomberg’s cuts to AIDS services, as well as activists from Housing Works, VOCAL-NY, ACT UP NY, Health GAP, Queerocracy as well as the Occupy Wall Street movement.

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“We were not afraid of Bloomberg’s blue-clad Sheriffs of Nottingham today,” said Charles “Robin Hood” King (in a near-perfect British accent), president and CEO of Housing Works and among those arrested. “Bloomberg opposes taxes that force the rich to pay their fare share and supports policies that rob poor New Yorkers with AIDS of income and lifesaving services, such as housing. He is a veritable scoundrel.”

In the tradition of the working-class hero of Sherwood Forest, the marchers and the 13 Robins were demanding the implementation of a Financial Transaction Tax on Wall Street and a New York State millionaires tax in order to fund the fight against AIDS here in New York and worldwide. New York City and the federal government have backed away from their commitment to fighting HIV/AIDS in dramatic ways during the past year.

“It’s a lie when we’re told there isn’t enough money to fight AIDS,” said Felix Rivera-Pitre, a VOCAL-NY leader who is living with HIV/AIDS and currently in a homeless shelter. “The reality is that Wall Street crashed our economy, and now politicians are saying there’s less money for basic needs like healthcare and housing, or for keeping their promise to fund HIV/AIDS treatment overseas.” Felix was arrested today for the second time in two weeks during protests related to OWS.

Mayor Bloomberg has cut more than $10 million for HIV/AIDS housing and services during the past year, plus an additional $3 million more in his November Financial Plan, while opposing the state 30% rent cap affordable housing legislation that would prevent homelessness for thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria just announced that it would not make new grants during the next two years due to broken pledges by donor governments. This unprecedented step will deny millions of people living with HIV/AIDS lifesaving treatment at a time when Secretary Clinton recently declared that it was the US government’s policy to achieve an “AIDS-free generation.” Activists are calling on Sen. Schumer to support a Financial Transaction Tax on Wall St. in order to generate funds that can be used to end the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. and abroad.

The protesters are being held at the 7th Precinct on the Lower East Side.

Quotes from arrestees and organizers

“Science now shows we can end AIDS, and it’s now US policy to have a generation free of HIV/AIDS. The government needs to implement a financial transaction tax on banks to create the necessary revenue needed to make this end of AIDS a reality,” said Michael Tikili of Health GAP.

“In fat times and in lean times, Billionaire Bloomberg swings his budget ax at poor people with AIDS. This year we join forces with the 99 percent who are rising up to demand economic justice. People want to live in a society where health care, housing and support services for people with AIDS are considered a priority over bankers’ investment portfolios,” said Housing Works New York City Director for Policy and Organizing Kristin Goodwin.

For more information on C2EA involvement at the 2012 International AIDS Conference, click here.

All AIDS 2012 conference registration info and downloads are available here.

More than 25,000 participants and 2,000 journalists from approximately 200 countries are expected to convene at the conference, which is predicted to be a landmark event in the history of HIV and AIDS both in the United States and globally.

“Turning the Tide Together”, the theme of the conference, emphasizes that we have reached a pivotal moment in time and that seizing this potential and actually turning the tide on HIV and AIDS will require commitment and action on many levels. The conference will be an important and high profile opportunity to reflect on the tension between recent scientific advances which could theoretically end the epidemic, and the current global economic crisis which threatens the funding necessary to implement this scientific knowledge.

“In the last couple of years we have seen some incredibly important breakthroughs in science,” said. Elly Katabira, International Chair of AIDS 2012 and President of the International AIDS Society (IAS). “The results of the CAPRISA trial presented at AIDS 2010 and the data from IAS 2011 proving beyond a doubt that treatment is prevention have shown us that we now have the real potential to change the direction of HIV. Science has provided us with the tools, what we need now is a global political and economic commitment to action. A turbulent economic climate must not halt funding for research and implementation”.

The return of the International AIDS Conference to the United States after more than 20 years represents a victory for public health and human rights and it is the result of dedicated advocacy to end the nation’s misguided entry restrictions on people living with HIV.

“Hosting AIDS 2012 in the U.S will be an occasion to highlight the disparities in access to treatment and care which exist in the country.” said Diane Havlir, Local Co-Chair of AIDS 2012. “We hope for a broad and active participation from all of those affected by the HIV epidemic, particularly people living with HIV and AIDS, policy-makers and key affected populations”.

Together with delegate and media registration, 1 December is the opening day for online abstract submissions. Over half of all conference sessions will be abstract-driven and all of the submissions will go through an extensive peer-reviewed process in order to guarantee the highest caliber of state-of-the-art science. The online abstract submission closes on 15 February 2012 and reopens on 19 April 2012 for late breaker abstract submissions.

In addition to the conference sessions, AIDS 2012 will feature a set of workshops open to delegates. Workshops will fall under professional development, community skills and leadership skills. Online submissions for workshops open on 1 December 2011 and close on 15 February 2012.

AIDS 2012 will host a Global Village, open to conference delegates and the general public, aimed at intensifying the involvement of key affected populations and other stakeholders in the conference. The conference also presents a Youth Programme with the goal of strengthening the participation of young people and youth issues in the conference through activities such as youth-driven sessions. From today it is possible to submit applications for both the Global Village and the Youth Programme. Both the submissions close on 15 February 2012.

With over 7,000 square meters of prime exhibition space AIDS 2012 offers both commercial and non-commercial organizations the opportunity to showcase their products and services to a wide public. Exhibitor applications open on December 1 and close on 25 May 2012. Exhibition space is limited so early bookings are strongly encouraged.

Various satellite meetings will take place in the conference center during AIDS 2012. These satellite meetings are fully organized and coordinated by the organization hosting the satellite. The satellite slots are available for a fee and the applications open on 1 December and close on 31 March 2012.

From 8 December online applications for scholarships will be open. The International and Media Scholarship Programme is open to everyone around the world and is aimed at making the conference accessible to people from resource-limited settings and communities. Priority is given to those whose participation will help enhance their work in their own communities. A limited number of scholarships will be also available for media representatives.

More information on registration process and registration fees is available by clicking here.

By Sarah West for AlertNet

Sarah West is media manager at International HIV/AIDS Alliance. The opinions expressed are her own.

HIV alone accounts for 61,000 maternal deaths every year, with HIV positive mothers four to eight times more likely to die during childbirth than HIV negative women. Despite the medical advances that are available to test women for HIV and prevent mothers from passing HIV to their unborn child, every day 1000 children are born HIV positive. The figures are mind boggling. This World AIDS Day, on December 1, the International HIV & AIDS Alliance is focusing attention on the impact HIV has on women and girls.

Click here to see pictures illustrating some of the work of the Alliance.

Click here to see more about AIDS Alliance.

Click here to join the Campaign To End AIDS to stay connected to stories of HIV & AIDS advocacy, activism in the United States and around the world.

By Kiundu Waweru for The Standard (Kenya)

Until recently, it was taboo for a Muslim to voluntarily go for tests to ascertain his or her HIV/ Aids status.

But Ms Rehema Rashid was one of the first people to buck the trend — at least in the sprawling region.

Rehema is a trailblazer who preaches over hills, plains and valleys that everyone, including Muslims, is at a risk of being infected with HIV.

My Health caught up with the mother of three — who hails from Kwale — in Mombasa last week.

At Msambweni District Hospital, she tested positive. Post-test counsellors advised her to live positively and join a support group.

But she belonged to a religion whose adherents did not believe they could easily contract HIV.

How would she live with her family with this kind of stigma? After many false starts, she joined a support group in Mombasa.

Mr Mahmoud Abdillahi Mahmoud, an HIV and Aids activist, comments on how Muslims viewed the disease in the past.

“We have in the past believed HIV is for sinners but as leaders, we have realised that our people are being infected in silence.”

Mahmoud is the secretary-general of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK), Mombasa County.

When going to the local Comprehensive Care Centre Units in government hospitals that were then seriously stigmatised, Rehema would wear a face veil that left space for her eyes only.

Rehema joined a support group in 2009, two years after testing positive.

It took this long because of the resistance she got from her family, especially her husband. Since then, he has turned into a strong HIV and Aids activist.

In the meantime, when Muslim leaders realised that their people were being infected with HIV in large numbers, they joined forces with Aids, Population and Health Integrated Assistance (APHIA) Coast in 2009 and implemented a comprehensive HIV prevention programme using faith-based approach straddling four Coast districts.

Ninety Imams, 60 women leaders and 60 Madrassa teachers have since received training.

One of the projects was door-to-door HIV testing and counselling targeting willing couples at Kibokoni, Old Mombasa Town, a Muslim stronghold.

Here CIPK and APHIA Coast met with a formidable challenge.

“We would knock on a door and we would be ushered in but as soon as we stated our mission, doors would be slammed shut on our faces,” says Mr Abushir Masoud, the project co-ordinator.

“They would say they were faithful to their spouses and who did we think we were to put a wedge between them?” adds Mwanasiti Juma, a CIPK assistant project co-ordinator.

By Jacque Wilson for CNN

Dorchester, South Carolina (CNN) — The fan by the window pushed humid air uselessly against the church pews.

Diana Martinez made small talk as Tommy Terry shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The man sitting next to Martinez cracked a joke. Nobody laughed.

A clock on the back wall ticked minutes away in a mocking cliché.

Only three people had shown up for this month’s HIV/AIDS awareness meeting. Usually, there are 10 to 12 — a surprisingly good turnout for a congregation of 25, which just goes to show how many people the disease affects in this small Southern town.

It’s a problem all across the Bible Belt. In 2007 — the most recent data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the rate of diagnosed AIDS cases in the Southeastern United States was much higher than in other regions of the country: 9.2 per 100,000 people, versus 2.5 in the Midwest, 3.9 in the West and 5.6 in the Northeast.

Rural areas like this have it particularly bad. The CDC reports that while HIV diagnoses have slowly decreased in metropolitan areas since 1985, rural areas are still showing an increase because of stigma, poor education and a lack of funding.

Standing at the front of the Bibleway Holiness Church, Pastor Brenda Byrth kept a close eye on the door. She had hoped she’d made enough progress that her group would feel comfortable opening up about their experiences.

Another woman slid silently into a pew in the back, the fourth and last member to arrive.

A reporter was in town, and the rest had a secret to keep.

*****

If Byrth was being honest, she would tell you that she really doesn’t want to be where she is. A big-city soul, she has trouble explaining why she lives in Dorchester, South Carolina, population 2,593.

“I’m pretty sure you can’t get more rural than this.”

Her mom is the reason she’s here. Byrth spent part of her childhood in Dorchester before leaving to go to college. She wasn’t planning on coming back. She eventually moved to Europe with her husband, Carl, and their five girls. But when her father died of lung cancer and her mother, Marie, had a stroke, Byrth returned to South Carolina in 2000 to take care of her.

At the time, Marie was the pastor of Bibleway Holiness Church. Marie told her daughter that she would have to take over — to continue the work Marie had started. Byrth said no.

“I said, ‘I’d give my life for you, but I can’t do that,’ “ she remembers. “I saw how my mom had run herself into the ground. I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to go on a cruise, take a vacation. Mom just said, ‘You’ll do it.’ Turns out, she was right.”

The way Byrth tells the story, it all started with a red clay road. If you know anything about red clay, you know it gets muddy fast. So when Dorchester’s Marion Road got rained on, it literally washed away. That meant no school for the kids, no church services, no vehicles in or out.

That was a problem when an elderly resident died, and the ambulance couldn’t reach him for three days because a thunderstorm had flooded the area.

“Some of the men in our community rolled up their pants legs, got the stretcher and went and got him, and brought him out to the end of the road.”

Byrth was outraged.

She attended county council meetings every month for two years before the council finally agreed to pay to put asphalt on the road. Then she started hearing about other parishioners who were too old or sick to leave their houses. She began delivering food and clothing to people in a 40-mile radius of the church.

“My mom always said: Just standing around and looking doesn’t help the problem, you’ve got to get involved,” Byrth says with a sigh and a glance to the heavens. “Even when it’s someone else’s problem, it’s your community, and you’re a part of that community.”

It was during a visit to the “sick and shut-in” that Byrth had her first encounter with AIDS in Dorchester.

It was 2009. A couple had moved to town, and Byrth heard through the grapevine that the husband was ill.

When she got to the house, the middle-aged man was lying on excrement-soiled sheets, struggling to take shallow breaths.

His wife had packed up and left.

If this were a movie, Byrth would have made the visit earlier. The man would have lived — bolstered by antiretroviral drugs and a caring hospital staff.

Instead, his death was simply another symbol of the fear surrounding HIV/AIDS in rural South Carolina.

“I said if things can’t change, then I need to leave, because I can’t live like this.”

Byrth stayed in Dorchester.

****

The stigma starts with sex, says Dr. Leandro A. Mena, an expert on infectious diseases at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Many socially conservative residents of the Deep South have a hard time talking about sex with their children, never mind discussions about condoms with complete strangers.

How prevalent is HIV/AIDS in your county? Take a look at our interactive map.

“That’s one of the first barriers to really having an open discussion about how HIV is transmitted,” Mena says.

The second barrier is religion. Some in the South believe they could go to hell because of their actions, he says, be they drug use, premarital sex or homosexuality.

“Imagine the challenge that this may present in terms of HIV prevention. How can you persuade someone — who believes that no matter what you do, in the end you’re going to hell — that you have to do something to protect yourself?”

Tommy Terry has a love/hate relationship with religion and the pastors who preach it in Dorchester County. A faithful man, he attends Byrth’s HIV/AIDS meetings as a tribute to his partner, Michael, who died in 2005.

The couple spent 10 years together. Terry could do nothing as he watched Michael fade away, losing weight and friends at an equal rate.

Sitting on the concrete porch outside the Bibleway Holiness Church, Terry struggles to keep tears from falling as he talks about the last few months of Michael’s life. Terry called pastors from around the county to come pray at Michael’s side in the hospital. They all refused.

“When somebody has AIDS, they just walk away from you,” Terry says in his gentle drawl. “They don’t want nothing to do with you.”

Byrth’s husband, Carl, used to be one of those people. He believed that if you were in “the lifestyle,” you deserved what came. But working closely with Terry and others affected by HIV/AIDS has changed his perspective.

“These are just people — they went down a different way, but they’re not bad,” Carl says. “This disease does not care who you are, where you are from, how much money you make. It does not discriminate.”

iReport: Have you been affected by AIDS? Tell us your story.

It’s a fine line for Byrth, who avoids preaching outright to those she helps but won’t shy away from provocative Scripture in the pulpit. She disagrees with the lifestyle, she says, not the person.

“Religion has its place, but when people need help, they need help,” Byrth says. “The first thing that I tell them is Jesus loves you. That’s the Gospel. At this point, they need to know somebody loves them, somebody cares. And the second thing Jesus said? ‘Come as you are.’ “

****

A silver cross swings from the rearview mirror as Byrth pulls into a gravel driveway. She drives hundreds of miles a week, shuttling HIV patients to doctors’ offices. There are experts in Charleston, but most of her neighbors want to travel the extra 30 miles to Columbia, a bigger city where there’s less chance of running into people they know.

After the appointments, she listens to them claim they have everything from cancer to a bad case of the flu.

“They say, ‘Oh, the doctor doesn’t know what he has.’ They know, and the doctor knows,” Byrth says, shaking her head. “They keep it to themselves, and they don’t take care of themselves. [By the time] it gets bad and they go to the hospital, you can’t reverse it.”

Lack of treatment is one of the biggest reasons the rural South has such a prevalence of HIV/AIDS, says Dr. Bill Yarber, senior director at the Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention.

Rural residents face special challenges in getting the proper care. Even if there is a doctor close to home, he or she usually isn’t a specialist in infectious diseases. A mistrust of modern medicine also adds to patients’ fears, Yarber says.

In many Southern states, economic conditions make affording treatment difficult. HIV antiretroviral drugs cost $800 to $900 a month, and there’s a waiting list for AIDS Drug Assistance Programs.

Back at the Bibleway Holiness Church, Byrth lays out pamphlets by the door. Not everyone will feel comfortable talking to her, so she wants the information available to slip into a handbag or back pocket.

Once in awhile, she has a visitor from another congregation who whispers as he walks out: “Please don’t tell my pastor.”

Parishioners have left her church since Byrth began pushing for a more open attitude about HIV/AIDS.

“A lot of the folks here are what they call ‘RTC’ — resistant to change,” Carl says. “[But] you’re not going to end a disease like that by keeping it hush-hush and sweeping it under the rug. Because the more you try to hide it, the bigger the pile gets.”

The couple recently bought another property that they’re renovating in nearby Summerville, South Carolina. They plan to call it the Angel House but keep it listed as personal property.

“We’re not saying ‘This is an AIDS house,’ “ Byrth says. “We just couldn’t do that.”

Angel House will be a temporary refuge for people who have fled from their families after being diagnosed and veterans who don’t have a home.

“I think that’s the biggest thing and the greatest thing anyone can do — stick by somebody in their time of need,” Byrth says. “Because when you become isolated and you don’t have anybody, I think you tend to go downhill faster than if you had the support, the love, the encouragement there.

“It might be a bad situation, but you won’t do it alone.”

By Fungai Kwaramba for The Zimbabwean

In a move that has been described by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights as a clampdown on freedom of assembly, the police on Tuesday banned an intended march by HIV and AIDS activists who want the government to increase funding to the health sector.

Irene Petras, the director of ZLHR, said that they sought clearance from the police for the peaceful march, but the officers restricted them to a gathering at African Unity Square.

“We were prevented from the initial request which was to march and hand over the petition which we feel is very important. It’s very disappointing that the authorities continue to restrict freedom of assembly, even for something as critical as public health financing,” said Petras.

Police have upped the ante on restricting freedom of assembly, they argue that they intend to maintain peace, but observers view this as a clampdown that is meant to further restrict the democratic space in Zimbabwe.

New York, NY — Stars packed the house at Housing Works 8th Annual Fashion For Action VIP opening reception last night. The four-day charitable fashion event, silent auction and designer sale raises funds for lifesaving services for homeless and low-income New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS. The FREE sale event continues through Nov. 19 at The Altman Building, 135 West 18th St.

Attendees included Honorary Chair Thom Browne, co-chairs Patricia Clarkson, Rachel Roy and Eva Jeanbart-Lorenzotti, Fern Mallis (Mallis LLC), Mark Ruiz (The A list), Carmen Marc Valvo (Designer) Loris Diran (Designer), Alex McCord (Real Housewives of NYC), Derek Warburton (Stylist), Rod Keenan (Designer), Marisol Deluna (Designer), Simon van Kempen (Real Housewives of NYC) and Malan Brenton (Project Runway).

Clarkson and others took a moment to record videos for Housing Works’ World AIDS Day Memorial. World AIDS Day takes place in two weeks, on Dec. 1. “We have to remember the extraordinary people our world has lost and it’s a remarkable day of awareness and remembrance,” said Clarkson in her video.

View Event Photos

Video: Patricia Clarkson
Video: Thom Browne
Video: Rachel Roy
Video: Carmen Marc Valvo
Video: Alex McCord and Simon van Kempen

Fashion for Action boasted product donations from over 150 sought-after fashion brands. “Their participation inspires hope and opportunity in those currently living with the disease,” said Housing Works Thrift Shops VP for Retail David Raper.

Notable Fashion For Action board members include Matthew Bernardo, Housing Works SVP Business Enterprises; Michael Carl, Vanity Fair Fashion Market Director, Kevin Harter, Bloomingdales VP of Men’s Fashion; Juan Herrera, MTV Networks, Vice President Office of Global Inclusion.

By Eli Okun for The Brown Daily Herald

As HIV spreads to new demographics, including students, nonprofit activists and government workers are seeking to raise public awareness about the disease and lower new infection rates despite dwindling financial resources.

The annual number of new cases of AIDS in Rhode Island has decreased by 89 percent since 1993, according to a 2010 Rhode Island Department of Health report released in September. With the decline in total cases, public consciousness about the virus has also diminished, even as new at-risk populations emerge, according to state officials.

The recent decrease in total cases is largely due to needle exchange programs and greater access to clean syringes, which have helped cut new cases of HIV among intravenous drug users by 50 percent since 2005. But 2010 data also show an increase in HIV infections among youth and college-age populations.

Emerging Trends

The Miriam Hospital, a Brown-affiliated teaching hospital, conducted a study on 53 new HIV cases. The study found that eight of those cases were undergraduate and graduate students, seven of whom were gay and bisexual men. In 2010, there were eight new cases of HIV among patients ages 13-19, the first time a number for that group has been reported in the past several years. Data are not reported for a specific group if there are fewer than five new cases in a year.

It is unclear whether this spike is a harbinger or an anomaly, experts said. “I don’t want to be an alarmist, but it may be an emerging trend to focus on,” said Thomas Bertrand, executive director of AIDS Project Rhode Island.

Adolescents, especially gay and bisexual men, merit more attention with regards to HIV, said Curt Beckwith, associate professor of medicine at Alpert Medical School and the Miriam Hospital. “In a sense, it’s a new generation of patients that we’re seeing,” he said, adding that an uptick in infections among students at local colleges and universities necessitates “targeted intervention and prevention on campuses, which is new.”

Aida Manduley ’11, a sexual health advocate at the nonprofit Sojourner House, said young people today are not sufficiently aware of the continuing danger the disease poses. “I think a lot of people are growing complacent regarding the treatment of HIV,” she said, “because they didn’t experience the time when it was all over the media.”

Gabe Spellberg ’13.5, a volunteer at AIDS Project Rhode Island, said he sees a lack of urgency about preventing AIDS in the LGBTQ community at Brown, despite widespread knowledge of the issue and access to condoms. “Among the gay community, there’s just this attitude that you can hook up with whatever people you want, and you’ll be okay,” he said. “It’s good to be sex-positive, but the more people you hook up with, there’s no denying that the higher your risk will be.”

Treating At-Risk Populations

Black and Hispanic women comprise two high-risk populations that are disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS, though disparities between racial groups are often more pronounced in southern states than in Rhode Island. An Oct. 27 forum in Woonsocket addressed the disease’s high prevalence among these women.

Manduley said a variety of factors make black and Hispanic women — especially those who are economically disadvantaged — more susceptible to contracting HIV.

“It’s basically a matrix of socio-cultural factors that comes into play,” she said. “Addressing HIV means addressing poverty, means addressing domestic violence.”

Because the problem is so multifaceted, many of the organizations that work to treat and prevent the disease have initiatives that provide a wide range of services for at-risk communities. Paul Fitzgerald, the executive director and CEO of AIDS Care Ocean State, said his nonprofit attempts to tackle the problem by focusing in particular on helping patients with housing, drug use and childcare issues.

In Rhode Island, men have made up roughly 75 percent of new HIV positive tests for the past several years. With the exception of 2009, when a spike in diagnoses of Hispanics contributed to an overall increase in the HIV incidence rate, whites have generally been a plurality of the new cases.

HIV incidence in newborns has dropped to about zero over the past several years as a result of state-mandated availability of testing for pregnant women, said Bertrand, who described the policy as one of several “tremendous successes.” But he noted that Rhode Island has trailed Massachusetts in reducing its new HIV cases.

In 2008, Rhode Island ranked 37th nationally in the number of HIV cases it has ever reported to the Center for Disease Control. The state ranks 43rd in population.

Bathhouses are more prevalent in Rhode Island than in other states, Fitzgerald said, adding that these establishments attract people from other states and serve as breeding grounds for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Moving forward, Fitzgerald said he sees a need for a major push to halt the disease via better access to testing, greater public awareness and a stronger focus on prevention. “If we can change behavior enough, I think we can end this disease,” he said.

Shrinking Budgets, Changing Strategies

Meanwhile, the state government is changing the way it addresses the disease, an issue of particular concern to First Lady Stephanie Chafee P’14, a former nurse who has worked with HIV/AIDS patients since the 1980s. This spring, the Rhode Island General Assembly divided responsibility for preventing and treating the disease between two separate departments. The impending change will reassign certain responsibilities previously held by the Department of Health.

“The Department of Health will continue to perform surveillance and monitoring of HIV/AIDS transmission and prevalence, while the management of pharmaceutical and social service benefits will be under the auspices of the Department of Human Services,” wrote Beryl Kenyon, public information officer for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, in an email to The Herald.

Nonprofit workers said it was not immediately clear how the impending change would affect AIDS prevention efforts. Cuts to the state budget have meant decreased funding to fight HIV and AIDS in recent years. The Sojourner House lost all its HIV/AIDS funding in January due to budget cuts. The organization had to craft a new HIV/AIDS program over the summer that included financial literacy training in order to receive state funding again.

In 2009, the CDC provided Rhode Island with roughly $2.7 million to fight the disease, much of which the state funnels to various nonprofit groups. Even as money becomes tighter, Rhode Island groups are still seeking out new methods of prevention and treatment.

Fitzgerald said some doctors are now considering providing antiretroviral drugs to fight HIV to people who have not contracted the disease but are considered high-risk based on their sexual activity or drug use. He noted that the move is very controversial, especially because some question its cost-effectiveness.

More immediately, though, most organizations are focused on ramping up efforts to prevent transmission, especially on college campuses. Manduley said administrators should be careful not to restrict their focus solely to gay students. “Brown has been really good in terms of providing free testing and giving referrals to people,” she said. “In general, schools should be making HIV an issue for all students.”

By Marsha Jones for The Dallas Examiner

This has been a very interesting week in the world of HIV/AIDS we are now approximately one month or less from the commemoration of the 23rd World AIDS Day (WAD) and Monday, November 7th marked 20 years ago that Magic Johnson announced to the world that he was living with HIV. Much has changed since Magic made this announcement but so much has remained the same. People are still living in constant fear of their HIV status, black heterosexual men will not talk about their status at all for the fear of being labeled gay, bisexual, or the infamous “brother on the down low”. Black people are still contracting HIV at alarming rates and dying much too soon from AIDS related illnesses.

While, research has presented treatment that should allow greater access and options there are thousands of people on drug waiting list hoping to receive the medicine before they succumb to the disease. There are thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS not in care and not receiving treatment, in Dallas County alone there are more than 6000 people out of care and many without a place to live. Housing for people living with HIV/AIDS was a problem then and is a problem now. We refuse to talk about the crisis that homelessness present for people living with HIV/AIDS and the majority of these people are black and other minorities.

Every person, regardless of age, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or socio-economic circumstance, will have unfettered access to high quality, life-extending care, free from stigma and discrimination.
National HIV/AIDS Strategy

What about housing for people living with HIV/AIDS?

According to The National AIDS Housing Commission “For people living with HIV, housing is one of the strongest predictors of their access to treatment, their health outcomes, and how long they will live.” Data proven by research has shown that stable housing is the essential foundation to maintaining healthy outcomes for people living with HIV/AIDS. Yet, access to stable housing is one of the most unmet needs for people living with HIV/AIDS in and in Dallas that is also the true. Housing Opportunities for People Living With AIDS (HOPWA) is a federally funded program to meet the needs of low income people living with HIV/AIDS and it is the only program of its kind.

The program is designed to meet unmet housing needs and this can range from short-term emergency utility assistance to a long-term stable housing voucher program. In Dallas a person living with HIV/AIDS in need of long-term housing will be placed on a waiting list and can remain on that list for as many as three years waiting for their name to come to the top of that list. There are 280 people on the long term housing waiting in Dallas currently and with the present economical crisis that list could grow.

In Dallas there are more than 15,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, more than 6,000 of them out of care, and of more than 5,000 surveyed have housing needs and more than 3,900 of those needs are not being met. This year’s theme for WAD is “Getting to Zero” getting new infections to zero, getting stigma to zero, and getting AIDS related deaths and sicknesses to zero. With one of greatest needs not being met that has been shown to improve health outcomes, decrease AIDS related deaths and decrease risk of new HIV infections, will we get to zero?

How Do We Get There?

We have to change the conversations that happen when we talk about HIV/AIDS, because those conversations ultimately determine how people with HIV/AIDS should be treated. This includes creating policy and programs that can extend and improve the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS. If we continue to see HIV as a disease of choice we will continue to stigmatize, shame, and blame people living with HIV/AIDS, cutting funding to services that can save lives.

Twenty years ago Magic Johnson disclosed that he contracted HIV via heterosexual sex and not too much has changed. Men, especially black men who do not know their status, are not being tested for fear of being unfairly labeled. More than 50,000 people per year are becoming newly infected by a virus that is preventable and more than 50% of these people are black people. Young people are still becoming infected at alarming rates, while political leaders are bragging about success rates of sex education programs that research has proven inadequate.

We have a national strategy in place that provides the blueprint for realizing a world without AIDS, but we have policy shapers that lack the will to make it happen. Last, but not least homelessness must be ended, if we expect to realize a world without AIDS. Providing people with stable housing can improve the health and wealth of our nation.

By Juan Francisco Veloso Olguin for The Santiago Times

Activist groups this week strongly criticized the Chilean health ministry’s newest HIV/AIDS prevention campaign, condemning it as yet another off-target attempt to take on HIV/AIDS without addressing real prevention techniques or the key audience — gay and bisexual men.

The campaign will cost US$826,000 for four months of TV, radio and print ads, all aimed at preventing the disease’s spread among Chileans.

Local organizations battling HIV/AIDS protested the campaign’s nearly-exclusive “get tested” focus during a national campaign launch led Monday by Health Minister Jaime Mañalich and National Youth Institute Director Luis Felipe San Martín.

Throwing condoms into the air, the groups expressed their anger that the campaign fails to focus on condoms as a key tool to prevent the spread of the disease. Testing, they said, will not prevent the AIDS virus from spreading.

Fernando Muñoz, political coordinator for the Chilean movement for sexual diversity (MUMS), said the campaign “does not teach or promote self-care techniques” related to condum use and fails to promote “a change in attitude to avoid the risk of acquiring of the illness.”

Marcos Becerra, the director of the Chilean Corporation for AIDS Prevention, also lamented that condoms are not a part of the Chilean public health system, El Mercurio reported.

The critics also insist the campaign does not focus on the group of people most affected by HIV/AIDS: gay or bisexual men. Health ministry data show that 70 percent of all Chileans affected by the illness are gay or bisexual men.

“Homophobia is behind all this,” Muñoz said. “The campaign avoids talking about sexual orientation,” “negating the clear presence of sexual diversity in this process.”

Another controversial part of the campaign is the introduction of a compulsory HIV test for all pregnant women.

Mañalich said the government aims to assure that “every child born in Chile from 2013 is free of AIDS” and called for the turnaround for HIV test results to be reduced from 45 days to 15 days.

But Muñoz insisted that the new measure “denies (women) the right of autonomy and to make decisions over their own bodies.” He also said the rate of HIV transmission through an HIV-positive mother is low — in Muñoz’s words, almost nonexistent — and the strong emphasis on pregnant women is illogical.

Muñoz insisted that the focus of the campaign must be changed and real steps must be taken to tackle the HIV issue, including sexual education for young people and making condoms more easily accessible for people of all sexual persuasions.

Housing Works is pleased to announce Fashion for Action 2011 with Honorary Chair Thom Browne and Co-chairs Patricia Clarkson, Rachel Roy, and Eva Jeanbart-Lorenzotti

What: Four-day charitable fashion event, silent auction and sample sale that raises funds for Housing Works’ lifesaving services for homeless and low-income New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS.

When: VIP Opening Night Reception November 16, 2011 6PM – 9PM

Press call time 5:30 PM

Where: The Altman Building 135 West 18th Street

Scheduled to attend:
Thom Browne, Patricia Clarkson (Oscar nominated-actress), Rachel Roy, Eva Jeanbart-Lorenzotti (Project Accessory) Mike Ruiz (The A-List) Amber Rose (model), June Ambrose (stylist/author) Mickey Boardman (Journalist), Michael Carl (journalist), Alex McCord (Real Housewives of NYC), Derek Warburton (Stylist), Jeffrey Costello & Robert Tagliapietra (Designer), John Bartlett (Designer), Loris Diran (Designer), Marisol Deluna (Designer), Simon van Kempen (Real Housewives of NYC), Rod Keenan (Designer)

B-Roll available for Broadcast

For more visit: www.fashionforaction.com

Housing Works filed a lawsuit today against Phoenix House, a national alcohol and drug treatment provider, as well as the director of its Brooklyn facility, on behalf of a transgender Brooklyn resident.

The suit alleges that Phoenix House violated both New York State and City human rights laws when it engaged in blatant transgender discrimination against one of its program participants, Ms. Wilson. Ms. Wilson is seeking damages as well as the implementation of changes such as staff trainings and written procedures at Phoenix House to ensure the proper treatment of transgender program participants.

“Phoenix House and its Brooklyn director violated Ms. Wilson’s fundamental human right to express her gender identity, and expelled her from the program as a result of her attempts to do so,” said Housing Works Staff Attorney Ignacio Jaureguilorda. “Phoenix House is supposed to help people but instead exacerbated Ms. Wilson’s struggles with substance use.”

Ms. Wilson, who has identified as female since she was 14, entered Phoenix House as an alternative to incarceration. Despite her gender identity, Ms. Wilson was prohibited from dressing as a woman, and prohibited from participating in a women’s support group, even after she won the support of the women in that group.

The lawsuit describes Phoenix House’s repeated unwillingness to make accommodations for Ms. Wilson’s gender identity, culminating in the decision to terminate her from the program despite the fact that, during her stay at Phoenix House, Ms. Wilson had made significant – and more than sufficient – progress in her rehabilitation to merit advancement.

Distraught by her treatment at Phoenix House, Ms. Wilson left without permission, and, as a direct result of the discrimination she suffered there, relapsed into drug use, failed to complete her drug treatment requirement, and was incarcerated for two and one-half years.

Housing Works is a leader in the fight for transgender human rights in New York City and New York State. It codrafted the Gender Expression Nondiscrimination Act, which would prohibit discrimination against transgender New Yorkers and has passed the State assembly three times.

Housing Works warmly invites community members, friends and supporters to commemorate World AIDS Day by participating in our new World AIDS Day Video memorial project.

Visit the video memorial and record a video.

Watch Housing Works President and CEO Charles King’s moving video about his partner Keith Cylar.

Our online memorial allows anyone to easily create a personalized video message about AIDS for World AIDS Day, as well as submit the names of friends, family and colleagues who have died of AIDS to be permanently included on the website.

The memorial also features hundreds of people living with HIV/AIDS and Housing Works staffers reading our annual memorial list of names of people who have died of AIDS. New names that are submitted through the website will be read out loud in the weeks leading up to World AIDS Day 2012.

“I hope our World AIDS Day memorial helps everyone mourn the lives and opportunities lost to AIDS, and inspires everyone to keep on fighting to end the epidemic. You can express your grief, anger, love, sense of community—whatever you’re feeling. Expressing ourselves is how we heal and support each other in this long battle,” said King.

Since the mid-90s, Housing Works has asked community members to send us the names of their friends, colleagues and loved ones who died of AIDS. Those names were read at a 24-hour vigil in New York’s City Hall Park. This year, Housing Works moved the memorial online in order to include anyone, around the world, who wanted to participate.

Members of the public are warmly invited to help us commemorate World AIDS Day, December 1, at our Bookstore Cafe, our 12 Thrifts Shops in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and on our website.

Sponsored by the United Nations and other global organizations, World AIDS Day takes place every Dec. 1. Organizations worldwide host events that commemorate those who have died from AIDS, show solidarity with those living with the disease, and inspire us to fight to end to the epidemic.

Join us for the following events:

World AIDS Day Donation Drive
All Housing Works Thrift Shops will be closed for shopping on Dec. 1 in remembrance of those we have lost to AIDS—but all stores will have staff on hand during store hours to collect donations of clothing, accessories and home goods.
View Thrift Shop hours.

World AIDS Day Memorial Video Project
Housing Works has launched a moving new video memorial that allows members of the public to create personalized video messages about how AIDS has impacted their lives. Create a message at home, or stop by our Bookstore Cafe on December 1 to create a video.
Visit our Video Memorial.

World AIDS Day Screening: Untitled
At 7pm, on World AIDS Day, our Bookstore Cafe will screen the film Untitled, a collaboration of artist Jim Hodges with Carlos Marques da Cruz and Encke King. The film is an unforgettable kaleidoscope of pop songs, TV clips (think Dynasty and Golden Girls) and archival footage evoking the activism of the early years of AIDS.
See Untitled event details

Facts about AIDS

Since the epidemic began, 60 million people have been infected with HIV, and 30 million people have died from the disease.
Since the epidemic began, nearly 620,000 Americans have died of AIDS.
In 2009 alone, 1.8 million people worldwide died of AIDS and 2.6 million were infected with HIV.
More than 1.1 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV/AIDS.
More than 125,000 New Yorkers are living with HIV/AIDS.

Last Friday in downtown Chicago during the United States Conference on AIDS, dozens of AIDS activists, allies, people living with AIDS, and loved ones marched from the conference hotel to President Obama’s Re-Election 2012 Campaign Headquarters to demand further leadership on ending the AIDS epidemic in America and around the world.

AIDS activists from the Chicago AIDS Caucus, Health Gap, C2EA, St. Hope Foundation (Houston), Act Now Georgia, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Act Up Rhode Island, DC Fights Back, and others from around the country gathered in the lobby of the Sheraton Towers in downtown Chicago to the chants of “Treat AIDS, End AIDS, AIDS Drugs Now!” (See video here.)

The enthusiastic group of activists were blocked at the escalators leading to a Gilead pharmaceutical sponsored lunch plenary where many were ironically listening to ‘call to action’ speeches. “If you can’t chant and cheer about ending AIDS at an AIDS conference, where can you?” remarked one marcher.

Undaunted, the march took the streets to the Obama Campaign headquarters. Once there, they delivered a ‘Super Human’ cape to one of President Obama’s staff and thanked them for the historic announcement made last Tuesday by Secretary Hillary Clinton. They also share stories from people living with HIV & AIDS around the United States about what they need to remain healthy and in treatment. (See photos by Christine Campbell here.)

Among the stories shared included solution-based ideas:

Ending AIDS Drug Assistance Wait Lists across the United States;

Expand the Medicaid safety net now;

Scale up global treatment as promised;

Stop opposing the production of generic drugs.

Importantly, recent studies have shown that once in treatment, people living with HIV are 96% less likely to transmit the virus to others. In addition, AIDS activists will further urge President Obama to make an announcement on World AIDS Day (December 1st) outlining how the United States will achieve the now official policy of creating an AIDS free generation. Despite the new science, there has been a dramatic scale back in funding for the Republican created PEPFAR program in Congress and programs like Medicaid are on the chopping block.

This march is part of a campaign leading up to the International AIDS Conference in July of 2012, just four months before the election, to draw attention to the fact that we now know that we can end AIDS and to work with our leaders to ensure that they step up funding and support to reach this attainable goal.

For more updates on coming HIV & AIDS activism, sign up for the monthly C2EA Newsletter.

As you read this, 12 members of Congress – the Super Committee – are meeting in the back rooms of Congress, plotting the future of America. Are they villains or heroes for people with HIV? Are they coming to the rescue, or plotting doom? We know that you – and your elected officials – want a happy ending, and that means the Super Committee must reduce the deficit by including real revenue increases while also protecting vital programs for people with HIV from severe cuts.

Send a message asking Congress to be Super Friends to people living HIV by protecting the future of health and social services.

Click here to be a Super Friend!

Join the HIV Prevention Justice Alliance!

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Remarks on an AIDS-Free Generation
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda Maryland

Thank you, Francis, for that introduction—and Tony for those inspiring opening remarks. It’s not easy to follow one of the top 20 federal employees of all time. Government Executive magazine got it right. That’s a richly deserved recognition, Tony.

It is an honor to be here with all of you today—in a room filled with some of America’s best scientists and most passionate advocates, true global health heroes, in an institution that is on the front lines of the fight against HIV/AIDS. I especially want to recognize Ambassador Eric Goosby, our Global AIDS Coordinator, and his predecessor, Mark Dybul; Lois Quam, the executive director of our Global Health Initiative; Tom Frieden from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe. Thank you all for your service and leadership.

I also want to acknowledge two people who could not be with us: First, USAID Administrator Raj Shah, who has had such a positive impact on our health and development work. And, second, I am delighted to announce our new Special Envoy for Global AIDS Awareness: Ellen DeGeneres. Ellen will bring her sharp wit and big heart—and her impressive TV audience and 8 million followers on Twitter—to raising awareness and support for this effort. I know we can look forward to many wonderful contributions from Ellen and her loyal fans.

The fight against AIDS began three decades ago. In June 1981, American scientists reported the first evidence of a mysterious new disease. It was killing young men by leaving them vulnerable to rare forms of pneumonia, cancer, and other health problems. At first, doctors knew virtually nothing about this disease. Today, 30 years later, we know a great deal.

We know, of course, about its horrific impact. AIDS has killed 30 million people around the world and 34 million people are living with HIV today. In sub-Saharan Africa—where 60 percent of the people with HIV are women and girls—it left a generation of children to grow up without mothers, fathers, or teachers. In some communities, the only growth industry was the funeral business.

Thirty years later, we also know a great deal about the virus itself. We understand how it is spread… how it constantly mutates in the body… how it hides from the immune system. And we have turned this knowledge to our advantage—developing ingenious ways to prevent its transmission, and dozens of drugs that keep millions of people alive. AIDS is still an incurable disease, but it no longer has to be a death sentence.

Finally, after thirty years, we know a great deal about ourselves. The worst plague of our lifetime brought out the best in humanity. Around the world, governments, businesses, faith communities, activists, and individuals from every walk of life have come together, giving their time and money—along with their heads and hearts—to fight AIDS.

Although the past thirty years have been a remarkable journey, we still have a long, hard road ahead of us. But today, thanks both to new knowledge and to new ways of applying it, we have the chance to give new lives and new futures not only to millions of people who are alive today, but also to an entire generation yet to be born. Today, I would like to talk about how we arrived at this historic moment and what the world can and must do to defeat AIDS.

From its earliest days, the fight against HIV/AIDS has been a global effort. But in the story of this fight, America’s name comes up again and again.

In the past few weeks, I’ve spoken about various aspects of American leadership, from creating economic opportunity to preserving peace and standing up for democracy. Our efforts in global health are another pillar of our leadership. They advance our national interests, making other countries more stable and the United States more secure. They’re an expression of our values—of who we are as a people. And they generate enormous goodwill.

At a time when people are raising questions about America’s role in the world, our leadership in global health reminds them who we are and what we do. We are the nation that has done more than any other country to save the lives of millions of people beyond our borders.

Our efforts begin with the American public: from people living with the disease, to researchers in academic medical centers, to individual donors, to businesses and foundations. Philanthropies like the Clinton Foundation, which has helped make treatment more affordable by supporting innovative ways to manufacture and purchase drugs, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has underwritten breakthrough research.

But no institution in the world has done more than the U.S. government. We have produced a track record of excellence in science. Researchers here at the NIH conducted pivotal research that identified HIV and proved that it causes AIDS. The first drug to treat AIDS was supported by the United States. Today we are making major investments in the search for a vaccine; for tools like microbicides, which give women the power to protect themselves; and for other lifesaving innovations.

Alongside our research and development work, the United States has led a global effort to bring these advances to bear in saving lives. When my husband was president, he appointed America’s first AIDS czar and more than tripled U.S. investments in preventing and treating AIDS worldwide. And in 2003, with strong bipartisan support from Congress, President Bush made the momentous decision to launch the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR.

At the time, only 50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa were receiving the anti-retroviral drugs that would keep them alive. Now more than 5 million do, along with more than a million people in other regions. And the vast majority receive drugs financed by either PEPFAR or the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria—which the United States helped create.

And PEPFAR is having an impact far beyond AIDS. It has expanded on the World Health Organization’s efforts to treat and prevent tuberculosis, which is the leading cause of death among people with AIDS. PEPFAR has also helped build new facilities throughout our partner countries that see patients not just for HIV/AIDS but for malaria, for immunizations, and much more. To staff these clinics, we helped train a new cadre of professional health workers, who are making their countries more self-sufficient. In some countries, the same trucks that deliver AIDS medicine now also deliver bed nets to prevent malaria. For all these reasons, PEPFAR is one of the platforms upon which the Obama Administration built our Global Health Initiative, which supports one-stop clinics offering an array of health services while driving down costs, driving up impact, and saving more lives.

I say all of this because I want the American people to understand the irreplaceable role the United States has played in the fight against HIV/AIDS—and the need to keep going.

To be sure, we have done it in an ever-expanding partnership with other governments, multilateral institutions, implementing organizations, the private sector, and civil-society groups—especially those led by people living with the virus. But the world couldn’t have come this far without us, and it won’t defeat AIDS without us.

What’s more, our efforts have helped set the stage for the historic opportunity the world has today: to change the course of this pandemic and usher in an AIDS-free generation.

By an AIDS-free generation, I mean one where, first, virtually no children are born with the virus; second, as these children become teenagers and adults, they are at far lower risk of becoming infected than they would be today, thanks to a wide range of prevention tools; and third, if they do acquire HIV, they have access to treatment that helps prevent them from developing AIDS and passing the virus on to others.

HIV may be with us well into the future. But the disease that it causes need not be.

This is an ambitious goal, and I recognize that I am not the first person to envision it. But creating an AIDS-free generation has never been a policy priority for the United States government—until today.

This goal would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. Yet it is possible, because of scientific advances largely funded by the United States and new practices put in place by this administration and our many partners around the world. While the finish line is not yet in sight, we know we can get there, because we know the route we need to take.

It requires all of us to put a variety of scientifically proven prevention tools to work in concert with each other. Just as doctors talk about combination treatment—prescribing more than one drug at a time—we all must step up our use of combination prevention.

America’s combination-prevention strategy focuses on a set of interventions that have been proven most effective: ending mother-to-child transmission, expanding voluntary medical male circumcision, and scaling up treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Of course, interventions like these can’t be successful in isolation. They work best when combined with condoms, counseling and testing, and other effective interventions. They rely on strong systems and personnel, including trained community health workers. And they depend on institutional and social changes like ending stigma; reducing discrimination against women and girls; stopping gender-based violence and exploitation, which continue to put women and girls at higher risk of HIV infection; and repealing laws that make people criminals simply because of their sexual orientation.

Even as we recognize all these crucial elements, today I want to focus on three key interventions that can make it possible to achieve an AIDS-free generation.

First, preventing mother-to-child transmission. Today, 1 in 7 new infections occurs when a mother passes the virus to her child. We can get that number to virtually zero, while saving mothers’ lives too.

In June, I visited the Buguruni Health Center in Tanzania. There I met a woman living with HIV who had recently given birth to a baby boy. She had been coming to the clinic throughout her pregnancy for medication and information—because she wanted her boy to get a healthy start in life, and most especially, she wanted him to be born HIV-free. When we met, she had just received the best news she could hope for: Her son did not have the virus. And thanks to the treatment she was getting there, she would live to see him grow up.

This is what American leadership and shared responsibility can accomplish for all mothers and children. The world already has the necessary tools and knowledge; last year alone, PEPFAR helped prevent 114,000 babies from being born with HIV.

Now we have a way forward too: PEPFAR and UNAIDS have brought together key partners to launch a global plan for eliminating new infections among children by 2015. And we continue to integrate prevention and treatment efforts with broader health programs, which not only prevents HIV infections, but also keeps children healthy and helps mothers give birth safely.

In addition to preventing mother-to-child transmission, an effective combination-prevention strategy has to include voluntary medical male circumcision. In the past few years, research has proven that this low-cost procedure reduces the risk of female-to-male transmission by more than 60 percent—and the benefit is life-long.

Since 2007, some 1,000,000 men around the world have been circumcised for HIV prevention. Three fourths of these procedures have been funded by PEPFAR. In Kenya and Tanzania alone, during special campaigns, clinicians perform more than 35,000 circumcisions a month.

In the fight against AIDS, the ideal intervention is one that prevents people from being infected in the first place. The methods I’ve just described are two of the most cost-effective interventions we have, and we’re scaling them up. But even once people do become HIV-positive, we can still make it far less likely that they’ll transmit the virus to others—by treating them with anti-retroviral drugs. This is the third element of combination prevention that I want to discuss today.

Thanks to U.S. government-funded research published just a few months ago, we now know that if you treat a person living with HIV effectively, you reduce the risk of transmission to a partner by 96 percent.

Of course, not everyone takes the medication exactly as directed, and so some people may not get the maximum level of protection. Even so, this new finding will have a profound impact on the fight against AIDS. For years, some have feared that scaling up treatment would detract from prevention efforts.

Now we know beyond a doubt: If we take a comprehensive view of our approach to the pandemic, treatment doesn’t take away from prevention. It adds to it. So let’s end the old debate over treatment versus prevention and embrace treatment as prevention.

There’s no question that scaling up treatment is expensive. But thanks to lower costs of drugs, bulk purchasing, and simple changes like shipping medication by ground instead of air, we and our partners are reducing the cost of treatment. In 2004, the cost to PEPFAR for providing ARVs and services to one patient averaged nearly $1,100 a year; today, it’s $335 and falling. Continuing to drive down these costs is a challenge for all of us—from donors and developing countries to institutions like the Global Fund.

Treating HIV-positive people before they become ill also has indirect economic benefits. It allows them to work, support their families, and contribute to their communities; and it averts social costs, such as caring for orphans whose parents die of AIDS-related illnesses. A study published just last month weighed the costs and benefits and found that—quote—“the economic benefits of treatment will substantially offset, and likely exceed, program costs within 10 years of investment.” In other words, treating people will not only save lives—it will generate considerable economic returns too.

Now, some people have concerns about treatment as prevention. They argue that many people transmit the virus to others shortly after they have acquired it themselves, but before they have begun treatment.

This is a legitimate concern, and we are studying ways to identify people sooner after transmission and help them avoid spreading the virus further. But to make a big dent in this pandemic, we don’t need to be able to identify and treat everyone as soon as they’re HIV-positive. In places where the pandemic is well established, as it is in most of sub-Saharan Africa, most transmissions come not from people who are newly infected, but from people with longstanding HIV infections who need treatment now or soon will.

We already have the tests we need to identify these people. If they receive and maintain their treatment, their health will improve dramatically, and they will be far less likely to transmit the virus to their partners.

Let me be clear: None of the interventions I’ve described can create an AIDS-free generation by itself. But used in combination with each other and with other powerful prevention methods, they present an extraordinary opportunity. Right now, more people are becoming infected every year than are starting treatment. We can reverse this trend. Mathematical models show that scaling up combination prevention to realistic levels in high-prevalence countries would drive down the worldwide rate of new infections by at least 40 to 60 percent. That’s on top of the 25 percent drop we’ve already seen in the past decade.

NORFOLK, VA (November 7, 2011)

On Monday, November 7, 2011, at 12:00pm, activists, advocates, and people living with HIV and AIDS representing the Campaign To End AIDS (C2EA) – Virginia, will be protesting outside of the City of Norfolk Health Department about the increasing numbers – over 1000 Virginians currently – to the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program despite a budget surplus of $311 million dollars.

“We can not and must not balance budgets on the backs of the poor and marginalized in the state of Virginia,” says C2EA VA member Gregg Fordham. “More and more people are finding it harder and harder to obtain these life saving medications and the future is not looking good.”

For more info about C2EA in Virginia, contact Greg Fordham at info@campaigntoendaids.org.

SAVE THE DATE: Tuesday July 24 2012
International AIDS Conference, Washington DC

Join thousands of people living with HIV, activists, advocates, and loved ones in the streets of D.C. to demand that our President be the one to end the AIDS pandemic.

To get involved in organizing or to add your organization as a supporter, join the Campaign To End AIDS.

WHAT YOU CAN DO?

Endorse the mobilization: Click here to endorse the ‘We Can End AIDS’ march & mobilization.

Join As An ‘Anchor Group‘: and help plan one of the fingers of the actions. Email We Can End AIDS to learn more. (Don’t see a piece?- you can create it!)

Travel To DC: Organize a bus trip to D.C, come out of the Convention Center to show leaders in Washington, DC and around the world what a global mobilization looks like!

Plan Local Events to Coincide: Not in Washington DC and too far away for a bus? Plan something locally — we’ll put all the actions together on the website and the media for a powerful day of action.

Click here to view the platform.

We demand a world in which the lives and health of individuals, workers, families and communities are prioritized over ideology and the interests of the wealthy and corporations. But across Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe—and right here in the United States and the capital of Washington, DC—this is often not the case. We have the science, the treatments, and the resources to end the HIV epidemic, but not the political will. This must change.

Around the world and across the U.S., millions are waiting in line for AIDS medicines that cost pennies per pill to make—but they go without, due to the lack of political will to ensure affordable generic medications for all. We demand better.

New science and decades of research shows we can halt the pandemic. Condoms, sterile syringes, HIV treatment that prevents transmission, stable housing, microbicides, and more—we can protect our communities. And we can end violence and ensure the rights of LGBT people, women, people of color and members of other marginalized communities. But that doesn’t fill campaign coffers, so we don’t get the funding needed to end AIDS—even though it would save money as well as suffering. We demand better.

Economic injustice fuels the AIDS crisis—but our health and human rights are traded away for tax cuts for billionaires and free trade deals. Our world can afford to fund our health systems, pay our nurses, and ensure housing, food, and education for all. But instead we see the wealthiest failing to pay their fair share. A tiny .005% tax—to fund AIDS and health care in the US and worldwide—is too heavy a burden on the bankers and speculators that rake in billions? Meanwhile, the same Free Trade Agreements that threaten jobs and the earth are trading away our access to affordable generic medicines. We demand better.

When the world comes to Washington, DC in July 2012 for the International AIDS Conference, we will mobilize to fight AIDS and for economic justice! Join people living with HIV and HIV/AIDS organizations, unions, student groups, faith communities, and other activists.

By Phil Reese for the Washington Blade

Jeff Crowley, Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy at the White House, announced today that he will leave his position at the end of the year.

“After developing and releasing the ‘National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States’ and spending a year and a half on implementation, now is an appropriate time for me to move on to the next phase of my life,” Crowley wrote in an open letter to colleagues on Thursday.

“I cannot fully express how honored I feel to have been given the task of leading the process to develop our country’s first comprehensive National HIV/AIDS Strategy,” Crowley’s letter continued. “I am grateful to the HIV community and our many, many partners inside and outside of government that helped us develop a roadmap for moving forward at this critical juncture in our Nation’s response to the domestic HIV epidemic.”

Crowley — who played double duty in the administration as the Senior Advisor on Disability — also discussed his work in that arena in his announcement.

“I am also grateful to the many members of the disability community with whom I have worked on issues related to health and long-term services and supports, civil rights, housing, and other issues.”

Crowley’s departure comes just weeks after his boss, the top domestic policy advisor in the White House, Melody Barnes, announced her own resignation. Both separation will leave the administration with two major leadership openings on the domestic policy front next year.

“Jeff has been integral to establishing the country’s first comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy,” said Brian Hudjich Executive Director of Washington D.C. based AIDS services research organization, HealthHIV. “He was accessible, approachable and clearly committed to receiving input from the community in helping address the needs of everyone impacted by HIV.”

The White House praised Crowley’s achievements in the administration in shaping national AIDS policy.
“Jeffery Crowley led the White House’s Office of National AIDS Policy at a critical time in the fight against the pandemic,” said Melody Barnes, outgoing director of domestic policy. “Working with stakeholders and communities across the country, he and his team developed our country’s first comprehensive National HIV/AIDS Strategy to stop the spread of HIV and get those infected the care they need. His dedication and expertise has left a roadmap that will help our nation combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic and will make a difference in the lives of millions of people.”

Crowley once served as Deputy Executive Director for Programs at the National Association of People with AIDS, and may now follow several other prominent HIV/AIDS officials who have gone back into the world of think tanks and not-for-profit organizations. In June of 2010, Shannon Hader, a former official with President Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief resigned her position as top HIV/AIDS official for the District of Columbia to take a position with health care think tank The Futures Group. Crowley could also pursue work in policy for people with disabilities after he leaves his position at the end of the year.

Crowley’s letter states the White House has already begun the process of finding his replacement, and will keep the implementation of the national strategy a priority in the coming months.

Crowley’s resignation will leave room for new health care experts to take a role in influencing domestic policy on AIDS/HIV. AmfAR Vice President and Director of Public Policy Chris Collins could be one candidate. Many consider Collins’ 2007 paper ‘Improving Outcomes: Blueprint for a National AIDS Plan for the United States,’ the foundation on which the National HIV/AIDS Strategy was built.

Also likely to be considered would be Crowley’s deputy director, Greg Millet, who has worked closely with the roll out of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy since its earliest days.

Distributed by The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A judge on Thursday granted a request from three AIDS patients to block changes to Ohio rules that they say would drastically reduce eligibility for a government-funded program that pays for HIV and AIDS medications for those in need.

The Franklin County Common Pleas court ruling blocks the state Department of Health from implementing the rules pending resolution of a lawsuit the men filed Wednesday. A hearing has been set for Nov. 15.

The rules were set to take effect Friday.

The men, who also work as advocates for AIDS patients, argue the new AIDS Drug Assistance Program rules will “arbitrarily deny funding for potentially life-saving medications” to low-income, uninsured and underinsured Ohioans with HIV or AIDS-related symptoms. They also argue they weren’t properly adopted.

They say the rules result in some of the nation’s most severe medical and financial-eligibility changes to a government medical assistance program and argue that they will give the health department director unilateral control over who receives funds.

Plaintiff William Booth said new restrictions mean the health department will decide “who lives or dies.”

“The medical and financial criteria that are at the heart of these rule changes in Ohio are murder by proxy, plain and simple,” Booth said in a statement.

An attorney general’s spokeswoman was unable to immediately comment after business hours. A telephone message was left after business hours for a health department spokesman.

AIDS drugs can cost more than $20,000 annually, and patients often need to take several prescriptions.

Drug Assistance Programs operate in all 50 states using both federal and state funds.

Several cash-strapped states have recently cut back their programs through steps such as capping enrollment, dropping patients, instituting waiting lists, lowering the income ceiling for eligibility and no longer covering certain drugs or tests.

The lawsuit says Ohio rules that were to go into effect Friday were finalized last month and would allow a further reduction in financial eligibility guidelines and impose medical guidelines to determine waiting list priority.

The group says the state has no current waiting list but has had a list as high as 485 within the past year.

Plaintiff David Baker argues that the changes are not cost-effective for the state or taxpayers.

“It is cheaper to prevent the progression of illness with medications than it is to pay for advanced illnesses that may require emergency room visits or hospital stays that come with far higher costs to the state down the road,” he said.

By Jordan Howard for the Huffington Post

WASHINGTON — Mississippians are set to vote on a ballot measure this November that would redefine the word “person” in the state constitution to include undeveloped embryos. Members of the medical and legal communities have raised concerns that the amendment could have unforeseen, far-reaching implications for women’s health, such as banning certain kinds of birth control, in vitro fertilization and stem cell research.

But state Democrats have been cautious of publicly opposing or even questioning the amendment for fear of alienating Mississippi’s pro-life majority.

In defining a legal human being from the moment of fertilization, Initiative 26, often called the “Personhood Amendment,” would criminalize abortion in Mississippi, with no exceptions for rape, incest or life of the mother. Personhood USA, the advocacy group pushing the amendment, and the Yes on 26 campaign are painting the issue as a black-and-white abortion ban.

“Plain and simple, this seeks to establish human life in the womb,” Greg Sanders, the executive director of the Yes on 26 campaign, told HuffPost. “Obviously there’s no exception for rape and incest. It’s a human life, no matter how it’s created.”

The American Civil Liberties Union has already challenged the personhood amendment in court, and it will likely face a host of other legal challenges if voters approve it in the November 8 election. In addition to flying in the face of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that prohibits states from banning abortions before fetal viability, the measure could ban certain forms of birth control that thin the lining of the uterus, thereby preventing an embryo from being able to attach.

Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, says the language could also have a whole host of legal implications, including some that have nothing to do with women’s health.

“What does it mean for property or inheritance law? What happens when you’re trying to make districts for voting, and you have to consider fertilized eggs as legal persons?” she told HuffPost. “The meaning of the provision could come up in any number of lawsuits.”

The Yes on 26 campaign says the amendment is not intended to outlaw birth control or in vitro fertilization — only abortion and cloning. But Sanders acknowledged in an interview with HuffPost that “there are some things that will have to be worked out at a later date” after the amendment has passed.

The question is whether women in Mississippi are willing to trust politicians to interpret the amendment, after the fact, in such a way that protects their access to birth control pills and potentially life-saving abortions. Cristen Hemmins, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit challenging the amendment, said if the measure had been law when she was brutally raped by two men 20 years ago, the state would have forced her to carry the child she conceived.

“I would have had no options,” Hemmins, 40, told HuffPost. “I just think it’s a travesty that the government would force me to bear a child that I didn’t want.”

According to Hemmins, she was shot twice as she tried to escape the car where the rapists held her. One of the bullets pierced her uterus.

“I’m not sure my body could have withstood a pregnancy,” she said. “My health and my life would have been at stake.”

Hemmins and the No on 26 campaign said they are frustrated with the majority of Democratic politicians in Mississippi for refusing to publicly oppose the amendment.

“There’s been a lot of ‘off the record’ sentiment, but it’s really disappointing to not see state leadership publicly talk about the shortcomings and dangers of this initiative for the women and families of Mississippi,” said Leola Reis, a spokesperson for the No on 26 campaign.

The personhood measure actually has a fair amount of support from Mississippi Democrats. Jim Hood, the Democratic Attorney General, endorsed the amendment in a statement and said he would defend it if it were challenged. A spokesperson for Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree, the Democratic candidate for governor, told HuffPost that that he supports the amendment as well, despite his “concerns about some of the ramifications.”

But of all the Democrats in the State Senate, only two were willing to discuss the ballot measure at all, when called by HuffPost. Bob Dearing (Natchez) said he is “more than likely” going to vote for it himself, even though he recognizes that it’s legally problematic.

“I’m not out there pushing it one way or the other, because I’ve got my own race to run,” he told HuffPost. “It’s going to be met with a court challenge — you know that, and I know that. But when we get to ‘right to life’ issues, there’s very little debate on them and they usually pass pretty handily.”

State Sen. Deborah Dawkins (D-West Harrison County) was the only Democrat willing to publicly oppose the amendment, calling it “completely crazy and unenforceable.” She said that while she normally defers to her constituents on issues like this, she can’t bring herself to support a measure this extreme.

“My position on anything tends to be what the position of the people who elected me is, but sometimes there are these hot-button issues that people are not well-informed about because they don’t know the whole story,” she told HuffPost. “I don’t think they understand that it would put an end to stem cell research and in vitro, and it is to the Republicans’ benefit for them not to understand. But surely some other people besides me realize this is about controlling women, and I don’t particularly like to be controlled.”

Dawkins said that because of where she is in life, having grandchildren, being financially stable and nearing the end of her career, she is able to be more open about expressing her opinions on reproductive choice issues than her Democratic colleagues, who have more at stake.

“They pick their battles,” she said. “They’re at a different place in their life, they’ve got to have a job.”

It’s also possible that Mississippi Democrats are just more socially conservative than Democratic lawmakers in other states, many of whom have spent a disproportionate amount of their 2011 legislative sessions fighting anti-abortion and anti-family planning legislation. A spokesperson for the Mississippi Democratic Party, which has declined to take a position on Initiative 26, said the issue is not as simple as politicians caring only about their own reelection.

“There are Democrats in blue districts that support the initiative,” said Rickey Cole, executive director of the state party. “This issue is not a litmus test as to whether one is a good Democrat or not, and I don’t know if it’s a good litmus test to see if one would get reelected or not. You can practice political science and quote Edmund Burke all day long, but it’s really just a matter of a person’s decision.”

Despite the overall ambivalence of the Democratic Party, opponents of the amendment are holding out hope that at least one or two public officials will step up and defend women’s health.

“Mississippi has dreadfully high rates of STDs, unplanned pregnancies, low birthweight babies, women without health insurance, and tons of other really important health issues that need the attention of the electorate instead of this divisive and misleading initiative,” said Reis. “It’s a selfish and shortsighted move on behalf of the elected officials to put politics before the health of women and families.”

Jordan Howard contributed reporting.

By Daniel Denvir for The Guardian (UK)

Though most American youth continue to learn about sex most everywhere but in school, there is some good news: according to a recent report from the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), the Obama administration and Congress in 2010 eliminated two thirds of federal funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage education, and, in a historic shift, allocated close to $190m for comprehensive sex education.

At the local level, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the implementation of a comprehensive citywide sex ed program this spring. Previously, whether a child received science-based sex ed or nothing at all was an enrollment roll of the dice: some principals ran good programs; others did not.

The proposed curriculum has sparked a rightwing backlash (flames fanned, in part, by the New York Post). Some parents are apparently angry that one approved website discusses pornography, swinger clubs and (dear Jesus) foot fetishes.

Bloomberg, for good policy and for ill, is a steamroller. But other cities lag far behind, including school districts that don’t preach abstinence-only.

Last month, I reported that Philadelphia public schools utterly fail to provide comprehensive sex education. When students are taught what little they are about condoms, it rarely happens before high school. And by then, it’s often too late: 15% of Philly teens lose their virginity before age 13. Pennsylvania state law includes only a vague requirement that students be educated about HIV/Aids prevention.

The Republican presidential candidates would like to keep it that way. They are stalwart critics of science-based and medically accurate sex education, and frequently demonstrate that they never received it.

Texas Governor Rick Perry, when asked by a reporter to cite research supporting his position (he presides over a state with the nation’s fifth highest rate of teen pregnancy), would say only that “from my own personal life, abstinence works”.

Governor George W Bush implemented abstinence-only in Texas, and after he moved to the White House, his successor, Perry, benefited from a big increase in federal abstinence-only funding. Texas, according to a recent story in the Austin Chronicle, has taken in $23.3m in federal abstinence-only funds in the past four years alone.

And it’s not just Christian wishful thinking translated into public policy. Governor Perry’s position on sex education is rather more cynical: he supported a vaccine for HPV touted by his former chief of staff, then working as a lobbyist for vaccine-maker Merck. The move prompted fierce accusations from evangelical Christians, including from GOP presidential rivals Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum, that the vaccine encourages promiscuity.

The Republican need for remedial sex ed is widely apparent. Michele’s husband, Marcus Bachmann, runs a clinic that has been accused of offering “cures” for homosexuality (a charge Bachmann denies); Newt Gingrich, searching for a clean slate like some inverted Henry VIII, philandered his way from Protestantism to the Catholic Church; Mitt Romney, in his role as bishop to Boston-area Mormons, tried to stop a woman from getting a life-saving abortion; Herman Cain now confronts sexual harassment charges; and poor Rick Santorum, a man who does not understand the difference between being gay and bestiality, has earned a comeuppance from columnist Dan Savage who re-branded his surname to mean “the frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the by-product of anal sex”.

Ignorance is no excuse. Neither is it blissful: Choosing the Best, a popular abstinence-only curriculum, compares people who have sex before marriage to chewed-up gum: it “isn’t as appealing as when it is unwrapped and new”. The South, beacon of Christian virtue, has, according to SIECUS, the highest concentration of abstinence-only education and also the riskiest teen sexual behavior.

Not that sexual illiteracy is limited to the political right: take Anthony Weiner. It’s an American epidemic: a self-enforced Victorian morality play amid ubiquitous and crassly commercialised mass eroticism. The stakes of sexual ignorance extend far beyond preventing pregnancy and disease. Young people now frequently text (”sext“) intimate self-portraits to romantic interests with very little understanding of the psychic and social damage that a sexually explicit photo gone viral can inflict. Instead of school districts teaching about the brave new world of sex and technology, however, prosecutors have threatened to charge the unfortunate and underage models under child pornography laws.

And this is about more than sex. As Dana Goldstein writes at the Nation, “a person’s position on sex ed is a proxy for a deeper set of questions”:

“whether or not one supports the changes in gender and economic norms that have brought women into the workplace, delayed the average age at marriage and allowed couples to experience sex without the burden of pregnancy, through the use of hormonal birth control.”

And yet there’s less and less time for such critical thinking in the classroom: health concerns are squeezed by religious fanaticism at one end, and corporate productivity measures at the other. As I reported in Salon, the high-stakes standardised testing regime has decreased time for everything from history to recess. Forget about sex. Though, to be sure, Americans haven’t. While abstinence-only classes encourage students to take a “virginity pledge“, an estimated 95% of Americans end up having premarital sex. It’s time to make sure that sex is safe – and, perhaps, even fun.

Please call you representatives TODAY and urge them to speak to their appropriations committee leadership about adequately funding the McKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistance Program and other programs that fight homelessness. The Senate is deciding funding levels for these programs for 2012 THIS WEEK.

Ending homelessness for families is a bi-partisan issue and the McKinney program is widely regarded as HUD’s most effective program.

Today, the New York Times published its second editorial in a week urging the House and Senate to fully fund essential HUD programs. It also urged Congress to “direct more money into a program that builds and renovates affordable housing,” another reference to proposed cuts to the HOME Investment Partnerships capital program that is so essential to supportive housing. Read more about HOME.

If you are a New Yorker, PLEASE CALL NOW!:

Senator Schumer – 202-224-6542
Senator Gillibrand – 202-224-4451
Congressional switchboard – 877-851-6437

If you are a constituent in the districts of Representatives Jose Serrano, Maurice Hinchey and Nita Lowey (members of the House Appropriations Committee), it is especially important for you to call: Congressional switchboard – 877-851-6437

If you are in another state, just call the Congressional switchboard and asked to be connected to your Senator: Congressional switchboard – 877-851-6437

Every call counts!

Thank you for your support.