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Mapping HIV Infections By NeighborhoodEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The New York Times recently published an interesting article focusing on a research effort in San Francisco which has mapped by city neighborhood, the average viral load of people with known HIV infection. The idea is to show not where the most HIV infections are, but instead to identify the areas where HIV infection is not being adequately treated. Studies like this - looking at community viral load - could have important implications for targeting resources for treatment and prevention. Providing appropriate treatment — and the support services people need to get the most from their care — would be expected t...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - November 18, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: eric Tags: HIV prevention HIV Health Source Type: blogs

Policy Update: Progress in the fight against HIV/AIDSEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The HIV/AIDS community continues to make progress in the policy fight against the epidemic. Critical funding has been maintained or enhanced at the state and federal levels, and discriminatory policies targeting HIV+ people are coming undone. Read on for more detail on key areas of policy progress, as well as struggles that still need your help. National HIV/AIDS Strategy Comment Period Closing Friday AIDS Action Committee is proud to be a leading member of the Coalition for a National AIDS Strategy, the grassroots organization founded two years ago that successfully lobbied presidential candidates Obama and McCain to comm...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - November 13, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Dustin Kight Tags: Uncategorized action advocacy agenda harm reduction HIV prevention policy HIV Health Syringe Exchange Source Type: blogs

National Equality March: A Call to Action at the AIDS Rally & VigilEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This past weekend, tens of thousands (some estimates have it at hundreds of thousands) of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied people from across the nation converged on Washington, DC for the National Equality March (NEM), the first national LGBT rights march in DC since 2000. On Saturday, October 10th, 15+ organizations hosted a rally and vigil for HIV/AIDS on the Ellipse, not even a block away from the White House. Cleve Jones, one of the co-chairs of the NEM and founder of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, said of the rally, “The weekend of course is about achieving full equality for LGBT Americans...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - October 13, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Dustin Kight Tags: Uncategorized action advocacy agenda HIV prevention policy HIV Health women youth race Syringe Exchange LGBT Source Type: blogs

Good News for HIV+ Immigrants with Green Cards PendingEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The Office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) at the Department of Homeland Security has issued a memorandum regarding green card applications for HIV+ immigrants. The memo directs immigration officers to defer any adjustment to a green card application based on whether the applicant is HIV+ or not. This is good news for HIV+ immigrants waiting to see what the final Health and Human Services ruling will be on this issue. Currently HIV+ individuals are barred from traveling or immigrating to the United States. In June of this year, the Department of Health and Human Services issued new rules removing HIV f...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - September 23, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Dustin Kight Tags: Uncategorized policy LGBT immigration Source Type: blogs

Routine Testing Town Halls Inform AAC’s Ongoing DeliberationsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This summer AAC’s Public Policy department held a series of town hall meetings in Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Gloucester, and Brockton to discuss the feasibility of implementing routine testing for HIV in medical settings, such as a doctor’s office. The intent of the meetings was to solicit feedback from the HIV/AIDS community regarding recent changes to the Centers for Disease Control recommendations in favor of routine testing in these settings. According to the CDC, the changes in their recommendations, which are nonbinding, were made in an effort to decrease the number of people who do not know their HI...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - September 16, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Monique Tags: Uncategorized advocacy agenda HIV prevention CDC policy HIV Testing Source Type: blogs

A Tribute to Senator Kennedy, Champion of People Living with HIV/AIDSEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
I will always remember Ted Kennedy as he stood in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1968 delivering the eulogy for his brother Robert. In describing his brother, he quoted George Bernard Shaw, “Some men see things as they are and ask why. I dream things that never were and say why not”. His voice cracked but he stood tall and shouldered that legacy until his death. The broad shoulders that had made him a star Harvard football player would bear not only the responsibility for his entire family, but the burdens of all those in America who were denied the rights guaranteed to them by our forefathers in the Declaration ...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - August 26, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Rebecca Tags: Uncategorized action HIV prevention policy media race LGBT Source Type: blogs

AIDS Action Council Issues Ryan White Funding AlertEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This afternoon, AIDS Action Council, the national advocacy group, issued an alert to its supporters regarding Ryan White funding. Here’s their alert in full: Congress Must Extend the Ryan White CARE Act Immediately The current Ryan White CARE Act sunsets on September 30, 2009. That’s just 6 weeks away. The Ryan White Program provides essential medical and support services to hundreds of thousands of individuals each year. The services are a critical part of our HIV health care safety net. Congress must extend the Ryan White Program as a Stand-Alone bill by September 30, 2009 to avoid gaps in coverage. This ...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - August 18, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Dustin Kight Tags: Uncategorized action advocacy agenda policy HIV Health Source Type: blogs

HIV-Treating Clinicians Support Health Care Reform, Remain Concerned About HIV-Specific TreatmentEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Yesterday the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (IAPAC) issued a press release stating the group’s support of ongoing health care reform efforts. Based on a survey, IAPAC found that nearly 91% of their 4,000 US members feel that health care reform is urgent (from somewhat to extremely), while 73% support (the hotly debated) public health insurance plan option. Despite general support for reform, individual members expressed a range of concerns about how reform outcomes will affect their profession and HIV/AIDS treatment, in particular. One nurse expressed concern about the possibility of limited he...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - August 11, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Dustin Kight Tags: Uncategorized HIV prevention policy HIV Health media Source Type: blogs

NYTimes & Wash Post Come Out Strongly Against New Restrictions on Syringe Exchange FundingEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would end the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange programs — a major victory for public health advocates. Unfortunately, Representatives who do not want to see the ban go away were successful in attaching an amendment to the bill prohibiting federally-funded syringe exchange programs “from operating within 1,000 feet of colleges, universities, parks, video arcades, day-care centers, high schools, public swimming pools and other institutions.” In America’s dense, urban communities where IV drug use and HIV infection rates run high, such...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - August 7, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Dustin Kight Tags: Uncategorized advocacy harm reduction HIV prevention policy Syringe Exchange Source Type: blogs

Senate Throws Wrench in Effort to Lift the Syringe Exchange Funding BanEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies approved a spending bill this week that maintains the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange programs nationwide. Just last week the Subcommittee’s companion in the House approved a bill that strikes the ban, marking “the first time in 20 years that the federal government is on the verge of recognizing syringe exchange as an important, evidence-based tool in HIV prevention…,” said Rebecca Haag, AIDS Action Committee President & CEO and Executive Director of AIDS Action Council, the nation...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - July 30, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Dustin Kight Tags: Uncategorized action advocacy agenda harm reduction HIV prevention policy Syringe Exchange Source Type: blogs

8/6, 7pm @ The Estate: Show Your Support for Boston’s Bid for Gay Games IXEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Boston 2014, the group organizing the city’s bid for Gay Games IX, is hosting a Kick-Off Rally at The Estate, a popular nightclub at 1 Boylston Place, from 7:00pm to 8:30pm on Thursday, August 6th. The Gay Games are the LGBT community’s Olympics, traveling to different locations from one Games to the next. Also contending for the 2014 spot are Cleveland and DC. The decision will be made in less than 3 months! AIDS Action is encouraging you to participate in the Kick-Off Rally and otherwise help bring the Gay Games to Boston for a number of reasons. A major sporting event, the Games will boost the local economy,...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - July 25, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Dustin Kight Tags: Uncategorized LGBT event Source Type: blogs

UPDATED! Federal Repeal of Syringe Exchange Funding is in Serious TroubleEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
UPDATED: US House of Representatives ENDS the Federal funding ban on Syringe Exchange. Read the AIDS Action Council press release here. Previously: The repeal of the Federal Ban on Syringe Exchange Funding is in serious trouble. Please act now to make sure that the repeal of the federal ban goes through. Call your Representative in the US Congress and tell them to reject the Souder Amendment that prohibits HHS funding for distribution of sterile needles. This amendment is being considered today. Call Now. To find out who your Congressional Representative is visit the US House website: http://www.house.gov/. There i...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - July 24, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Dustin Kight Tags: Uncategorized action advocacy harm reduction HIV prevention policy HIV Health Syringe Exchange Source Type: blogs

AIDS Organizations Enlist Sen. Kerry in Securing LGBT Rights AbroadEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Massachusetts Senator John Kerry is Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which greatly influences American policies and practices abroad. In the last week, HIV/AIDS and LGBT rights organizations (including AIDS Action Committee) sent two letters to Sen. Kerry urging him to adopt LGBT rights provisions in a pending Foreign Relations Authorization Bill, which influences the State Department among other things. The letters emphasize the ongoing connection between gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) and the growing AIDS pandemic, especially in countries that generally deny homosexuality and/or crim...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - July 23, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Dustin Tags: Uncategorized HIV prevention policy HIV Health race global AIDS Source Type: blogs

AIDS Action Council Responds to Congressional Committee’s Mixed Progress on Needle Exchange FundingEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The following is a press release from AIDS Action Council, which advocates on a national level for people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS and the organizations that serve them. Rebecca Haag, President and CEO of AIDS Action Committee of MA, is also the Executive Director of AIDS Action Council. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 20, 2009 Contact: Ronald Johnson, (202) 530-8030, ext. 3094, rjohnson@aidsaction.org William McColl, (202) 595-4167, wmccoll@aidsaction.org AIDS Action Congratulates Chairman Obey and the Appropriations Committee on Ending the Syringe Exchange Federal Funding Ban Expresses Disappointment Regarding New...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - July 20, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: AIDS Action Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs

Update: Questionable AIDS Charity Still Wants Your MoneyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Back in March, AIDS Action Committee’s Dan Scanlan, Senior Development Officer, brought to your attention the questionable AIDS charity, Center for AIDS Prevention, operating out of Beverly Hills, CA. Journalists at ProPublica, a leading nonprofit newsroom for investigative journalism, had published an initial report calling the Center’s advertising and fundraising activities into question. Despite attempts to further investigate the Center since March, little has been done to regulate its activities, which include major, national media campaigns (soliciting donations) and a website that regularly features inac...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - July 17, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Dustin Tags: admin action advocacy agenda policy media Source Type: blogs

Why is HIV/AIDS absent from the CDC’s health report for people over 55 years old?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Last week, CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics issued a 32-page report entitled “Health Characteristics of Adults Aged 55 Years and Over: United States, 2004–2007.”The report summarizes overall health status, health care access and use, and a range of health behaviors among persons 55 years and older. It also provides information about a number of specific health conditions, including hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, hearing and vision impairment, loss of natural teeth, psychological stress, and difficulty maintaining physical of social function. The CDC researchers found significant healt...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - July 14, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: eric Tags: admin action harm reduction HIV prevention CDC HIV Health HIV Testing Source Type: blogs

AIDS Action Council Applauds Removal of Ban on Federal Funding for Syringe Exchange ProgramsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
AIDS Action Council commends Chairman David R. Obey (D-WI) and the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations sub-committee members on removing the ban on the use of federal funds for syringe exchange programs from the Labor, Health and Human Services FY 2010 Appropriations bill. In Chairman Obey’s prepared remarks he stated, “This bill deletes the prohibition on the use of funds for needle exchange programs. Scientific studies have documented that needle exchange programs, when implemented as part of a comprehensive prevention strategy, are an effective public health intervention for reducing AIDS/HIV infectio...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - July 10, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: AIDS Action Tags: action advocacy harm reduction HIV prevention policy Syringe Exchange Source Type: blogs

AIDS Action’s Policy Brief on Routine HIV TestingEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
How HIV testing is conducted in the third decade of HIV/AIDS is an important issue that AIDS Action Committee has been paying attention to. Click here to see our policy brief about what AIDS Action’s take is on what a comprehensive HIV testing system should look like. Last week, the Department of Public Health issued a clincial advisory recommending that providers incorporate HIV testing as a routine part of primary and urgent medical care and offered guidance about including testing consent into the general consent form patients sign when entering care. Join in on the discussion at one of our upcoming Town Hall ...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - July 6, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: admin Tags: Uncategorized policy Source Type: blogs

AIDS Action Council Welcomes Move to Lift HIV Travel and Immigration Entry BarEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
AIDS Action Council commends Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on today’s publication in the Federal Register of a proposed rule to remove HIV infection as grounds for denying entry to the United States by visitors and immigrants. The draft rule also removes HIV testing from the scope of any required medical examinations for visa applicants and immigrants. There is a 45-day public comment period on this proposal. Since 1987, the United States by either policy or law has restricted entry of HIV-infected individuals. The restriction also affects persons seeking to change their immigration status to beco...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - July 2, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: AIDS Action Tags: Uncategorized action advocacy policy Source Type: blogs

Are We Suffering From AIDS Amnesia?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Saturday, June 27th is National HIV Testing Day and Newsweek has a great piece on their blog about what they call “AIDS Amnesia” Quoting Dr. Susan Blumenthal, former U.S. assistant surgeon general and chair of the Global Health Program at the Meridian International Center, from an article on the state of AIDS in the U. S.: “Each year, more than 2 million people die from this disease. While significant attention has been focused on the newly emergent H1N1 “swine” flu that has resulted in the deaths of 238 people globally, every 15 seconds a person is infected with HIV worldwide and every nine and a hal...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - June 26, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: AIDS Action Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs

Massachusetts Needs an Integrated, Comprehensive HIV Testing PlanEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
More than 8,000 of the estimated 25,000 Massachusetts residents who are living with HIV do not yet know their HIV status. About one third of people who are newly diagnosed with HIV each year have already progressed to an AIDS diagnosis making it more difficult and costly to manage and treat their disease. These statistics are especially alarming in a state that has pioneered health care reform and has arguably one of the best HIV service systems in the country. It is imperative that we find new ways of identifying people living with HIV and connect them to care. Effective, integrated HIV screening in a variety of setti...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - June 17, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Monique Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs

Emory University looks at same sex civil marriage bans and HIV ratesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In an interesting story, bans on same-sex marriage can be tied to a rise in the rate of HIV infection a new study by two Emory economists has found. In the first study of the impact of social tolerance levels toward gays in the United States on the HIV transmission rate, the researchers estimated that a constitutional ban on gay marriage raises the rate by four cases per 100,000 people. You can read the full story here (Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog)
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - June 8, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Keith Tags: admin agenda HIV prevention HIV Health HIV Testing media Source Type: blogs

AIDS Action Wins Two Best of Boston AwardsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
AIDS Action Committee is thrilled to be the recipient of not one but two of The Phoenix’s Best of Boston 2009 awards. Thank you to everyone who voted for AIDS Action Committee as Best Local Non-Profit, and AIDS Action’s resale store Boomerangs as Best Thrift Shop! The Phoenix praised AIDS Action Committee for its “expanded testing hours at [The MALE Center], AIDS Action’s South End center for gay and bisexual men,” and called Boomerangs not only “Jamaica Plain’s Centre Street hot spot for housewares, used and vintage clothing, and a plethora of knick-knacky miscellany,” but “a...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - April 29, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: admin Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs

HIV: The Racial DivideEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
April is National Minority Health Month, a time to examine the health of communities of color both nationally and in Massachusetts. People of color continue to live shorter and sicker lives in Massachusetts and the United States. Even when insurance status is equal, Blacks, Latinos and Asians face poorer health outcomes for nearly every health indicator. HIV is no exception. Blacks and Latinos comprise just 12% of the Commonwealth’s population, but make up more than 53% of people living with and being diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in the Commonwealth. 83% of women recently diagnosed with HIV/AIDS are women of color. Gay men - ...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - April 23, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Deborah Tags: race Source Type: blogs

Combatting ComplacencyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Finally, HIV/AIDS in the US is getting some attention from the government and the media, in light of waning public engagement: AIDS at Home: The Obama administration starts to combat complacency in the United States, The Washington Post, April 14, 2009 When it comes to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States, there is an alarming complacency among Americans. Perhaps it’s the success of antiretroviral drug treatments. In the eyes of many, those drugs have transformed the disease from one with no cure to a manageable ailment. Or maybe it’s the view that AIDS is more of a worry in Africa or Southeast A...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - April 20, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: admin Tags: agenda media Source Type: blogs

A Day in the Life of AIDS Action CommitteeEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The money raised each year by AIDS Walk Boston supports a diverse and far-reaching range of programs and services. Here’s a snapshot of a typical day at AIDS Action Committee, to show the many ways AAC provides care for over 2,500 clients and reaches out to thousands of others in the community. 9:15 a.m. A client’s neighbors have become violent and threatening because of his perceived sexual orientation, and extreme anxiety is affecting his health. His client advocate and the Rental Start-Up Program Coordinator begin the process of finding him a new apartment and providing first and last months’ rental costs, to ensu...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - April 17, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: admin Tags: admin advocacy agenda HIV prevention policy HIV Health women volunteerism HIV Testing counseling sex education media homeless youth race privacy Source Type: blogs

One Small Step for MicrobicidesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The results are in, and it’s good news for microbicides development, as well as for prevention advocates around the globe. At this year’s Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), researchers presented promising data on a candidate microbicide known as PRO 2000, showing that women who used the gel had a 30% reduction in HIV transmission. Microbicides are experimental substances designed to prevent or reduce the likelihood of HIV transmission and often other sexually transmitted infections. Microbicides are applied vaginally or anally, prior to sex. These substances will hopefully one day provi...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - April 13, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Ashley Smith Tags: HIV prevention microbicides Source Type: blogs

Act Now to Stop Misleading “AIDS Charity”Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
For those who care about the cause of HIV/AIDS, it’s vexing that an issue of such importance, gravity and urgency rarely seems to earn headlines, let alone placement on the front pages of national newspapers. That’s why many of us were surprised to see that HIV/AIDS had finally made it to the front pages of the New York Times website, for well over a week running now. Has there been a revolutionary medical or policy advance? Not exactly. It turns out that all it would have taken to get HIV/AIDS onto these front pages was money. And a blind eye. The New York Times has been running ads (a lot of them) for an or...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - March 30, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Dan Scanlan Tags: advocacy HIV prevention media Source Type: blogs

Lives, indeedEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The New York Times Magazine publication of “A Thousand Drops,” an excerpt from Bernard Cooper’s forthcoming memoir about life with his partner Brian, appeared appropriately enough, in the “Lives” column. The piece is startling because it gives us a glimpse of something we rarely see in the mainstream or any other media: a story of gay men living in the AIDS epidemic. It’s both a testament to and an indictment of our response to how far we’ve come in the last decade and a half that “gay men and AIDS” now seems like a retro topic. Cooper, whose poignant and hilarious 1996 memoir “Truth Serum” demons...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - March 13, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Chris Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs

AIDS Action applauds Jeffrey Crowley’s appointment as Director of National AIDS PolicyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
AIDS Action congratulates Jeffrey Crowley, an openly gay man with significant knowledge and experience in health care and HIV/AIDS for his appointment as Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP). He joins a well respected and dedicated team in the Executive Office of the President’s Domestic Policy Council (DPC) and reports to Director Melody Barnes who has a long standing commitment to HIV/AIDS. “Jeff Crowley’s appointment is the beginning of delivery on a promise made by President Obama to people living with, affected by and at risk for HIV/AIDS – that their needs will be included in the heal...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - February 26, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: admin Tags: admin advocacy agenda HIV prevention policy HIV Health HIV Testing media Source Type: blogs

The Search for an HIV Vaccine ContinuesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
by Jim Maynard The HIV Vaccine research community was excited to learn of Dr. Bruce Walker’s recent grant of 100 million dollars from Cambridge high tech software developer Philip Ragon and his wife Susan to fund the Ragon Institute. Such a generous and committed donation – 10 million dollars per year for 10 years– will allow Dr. Walker and his collaborators at MGH, MIT, and Harvard to do the basic research needed to advance the knowledge needed for the development of a safe and effective vaccine against HIV infection. This initiative and similar collaborations around the world are answering basic immunological...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - February 18, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: AIDS Action Tags: HIV prevention Source Type: blogs

Making Change Real: AIDS in Black America in 2009Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This weekend the Black AIDS Institute issued its yearly report on the state of AIDS in Black America: Making Change Real. The report addresses both the good and bad elements of this year’s landscape: while the new administration and Congress are supportive of HIV/AIDS issues, the CDC’s announcement of a 40% higher new-infection rate than previously thought, and the ongoing racial disparity in HIV infection rates are sobering facts. The report includes in-depth statistics on HIV infection rates and race, and positive steps taken by the Black community in the past year to fight the disease. Download the PDF. (S...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - February 9, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: AIDS Action Tags: HIV prevention race Source Type: blogs

My Brothers, My Sisters: National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness DayEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
February 7, 2009 will commemorate the ninth annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. In the year that has passed since last February 7th, what have we learned? What has changed? Are we any closer to defeating the “Black Plague” of our times? Well, we have learned that the number of new infections per year in the U. S. was 40% higher than we previously were told. We know that nearly half of those new infections are Black Americans, and more than half of those infections are in gay or bisexual Black men. What has changed? Well as the national HIV epidemic has progressively become a disease of color, young Black gay ...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - February 6, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Larry Tags: HIV prevention race Source Type: blogs

Round Two: Must read about the continued HIV/STD funding debateEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
I highly recommend reading the CHAMP’s February “HHS Watch” special issue, which is devoted to the highly politicized debate over the inclusion of HIV/STD funding in the national economic stimulus bill. The titles of the articles put the issue right out there: • “The View from Under the Bus: HIV and STD Funding Becomes Lightning Rod for Stimulus Foes,” by Julie Davids of CHAMP (Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project) • “Shovel-Ready, But Shoved Aside? HIV Prevention is Real Work,” by David Ernesto Munar of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago • “Why Invest in HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB prevention?”...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - February 6, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: eric Tags: HIV prevention policy Source Type: blogs

Let’s Talk About JobsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
If you haven’t already read this item on the Huffington Post, I highly recommend you review it when you have a few minutes: Let’s Talk About Jobs. It’s a posting called “Let’s Talk about Jobs” by Johnathon Briggs, the Director of Communications at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. I think he does a great job pointing out how some legislators are politicizing the proposal to include in the economic stimulus bill $400 million for HIV and STD screening and prevention – claiming that it has no place in a bill that is supposed to create jobs. Briggs makes a great case for how these prevention dolla...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - February 2, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: eric Tags: HIV prevention policy Source Type: blogs

Lobbying Guide: Fight budget cuts to HIV/AIDS programs.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This Thursday, January 29 from 10am-12pm is AIDS lobby day at the Massachusetts State House, Nurses Hall. Please join us to fight budget cuts to HIV/AIDS prevention and services: • Black, Latino and gay citizens are more likely to become infected with HIV/AIDS than any other groups. • The State Budget has been and is going to be cut drastically in the next few months. The Governor has said everything is “on the table.” • These may include cuts for life-saving AIDS prevention, education, services and treatment. Continuing FY09 and FY10 budget cuts may result in significant budget cuts to public health ...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - January 27, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Deborah Tags: advocacy Source Type: blogs

ABC News takes a look at PreP trials now going on.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
ABC News’ reporter Lauren Cox takes a look at the ongoing investigational trials for Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PreP). Behavior issues and cost issues are also discussed in the article. The full text of the article is here. (Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog)
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - January 21, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Keith Tags: action agenda harm reduction HIV prevention CDC policy side effects HIV Health HIV Testing counseling sex education media youth Source Type: blogs

Join United We Stand For Health at the State House this Thursday January 22nd at 1pmEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Due to the difficult financial times we face, the Department of Public Health has suffered tremendous cuts to its budget and is expecting more in the next few weeks. Public Health programs prevent illness and disease and serve our most vulnerable residents, including people with HIV/AIDS, children, elders and those who are low-income. A coalition of Public Health programs called United We Stand for Public Health is holding a press conference this Thursday, Jan 22nd, at 1pm, at the State House to urge the Commonwealth to protect public health. Please join us as we stand up for Public Health and protect these progr...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - January 20, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: admin Tags: admin action advocacy agenda HIV prevention policy HIV Health women HIV Testing sex education media homeless youth Source Type: blogs

Talking about World AIDS Day.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Today marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. Here are some thought-provoking posts from around the web: The HIV Viral Load Blog addresses how the global economic crisis affects the significance of this year’s World AIDS Day. At RH Reality Check, Julie Davids talks about why we really need, and may even get, a National AIDS Strategy to address the epidemic domestically. Also at RH Reality Check, Scott La Cross asks what Jesus would do in response to the epidemic. If you’re inspired to do something in your community, the Volunteer Boston blog has several suggestions on how to get involved. And The Alliga...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - December 1, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: admin Tags: action policy volunteerism sex education Source Type: blogs

Students from Smith Leadership Academy visit AIDS Action’s officesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
8th grade students from the Smith Leadership Academy paid a day-long visit the AIDS Action Committee offices in early November. They were accompanied by their homeroom teacher Laura Kacewicz and the head of Smith Leadership, Kamala Sherwood. While at the AAC office a number of staff members spoke to them, including Eric Brus in the HIV/AIDS Library, Tonia Hines & Emerson Miller from Peer Support, and Deb Fournier from Public Policy. Our BE SAFE Mass Promise Fellow Cara Mathews toured them around the offices and organized most of their activities. During the afternoon of their visit, the students made scarves out o...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - November 17, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Keith Tags: admin advocacy agenda harm reduction HIV prevention policy HIV Health women volunteerism HIV Testing Abstinence-only education sex education Source Type: blogs

A “potential cure” for AIDS?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
During the past week, there has been a flurry of media coverage about what some people are claiming is a “potential cure” for AIDS. I’ve seen coverage in a variety of news outlets, from the Wall Street Journal to the Metro and Yahoo News. Having read about dozens – if not hundreds – of “AIDS cures” in the 25+ years of the epidemic, I maintain what I think is a healthy degree of skepticism about such claims. Many past claims of AIDS cures have had little of no scientific basis, often relying instead on magical thinking, secret ingredients, and pseudoscientific techniques. In a relatively few instances, the c...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - November 14, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: eric Tags: HIV Health media Source Type: blogs

A Doctor, a Mutation and a Potential Cure for AIDSEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
(Pictured Dr. Gero Hütter/photo:Sixten Koerper) Writer Mark Schoofs tells of the startling case of an AIDS patient who underwent a bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia and how his story is stirring new hope that gene-therapy strategies on the far edges of AIDS research might someday cure the disease. The full text of the Wall Street Journal Heath story is here. (Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog)
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - November 11, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Keith Tags: admin advocacy HIV prevention side effects HIV Health HIV Testing Source Type: blogs

NY Times explores living with HIV/AIDS in a thought provoking multi-media story.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In the current online editon of The New York Times, their “Patient Voices” series continues with a look at eight men and women who share their experiences living with AIDS. Thought-provoking and unflinchingly honest, the piece opens with the story of Robin Grinstead from Swansea S.C. who shares her small town stories, including the fact that she has not attended her church since her diagnosis was revealed by gossiping friend in March. Other profiles include seven other powerful profiles of what it is like to live with AIDS today. (You will need sound capabilities on your computer ...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - November 6, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Keith Tags: harm reduction HIV prevention policy side effects HIV Health women volunteerism HIV Testing sex education media homeless youth race privacy Source Type: blogs

CBS News looks at both McCain’s and Obama’s stance on AIDS in AmericaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
On Tuesday’s broadcast of the “CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,” Medical Contributor Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported on where each presidential candidate stands on AIDS in America. There is a new infection every 9.5 minutes and an AIDS related death every 33 minutes with 1.2 million Americans who carry the virus. Yet HIV / AIDS is America’s “forgotten epidemic,” as the nation spends almost $10 billion annually to fight AIDS abroad, but less than 10 percent of that here at home. Dr. Gupta explored how Senators McCain and Obama intend to stop the epidemic and how they plan to care for t...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - October 15, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Keith Tags: advocacy agenda HIV prevention HIV Health HIV Testing media Source Type: blogs

CBS News to look at both McCain’s and Obama’s stance on AIDS in AmericaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Tonight (10/14) on the “CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,” Medical Contributor Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports on where each presidential candidate stands on AIDS in America. There is a new infection every 9.5 minutes and an AIDS related death every 33 minutes with 1.2 million Americans who carry the virus. Yet HIV / AIDS is America’s “forgotten epidemic,” as the nation spends almost $10 billion annually to fight AIDS abroad, but less than 10 percent of that here at home. Dr. Gupta will explore how Senators McCain and Obama intend to stop the epidemic and how they plan to care for those livi...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - October 14, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Keith Tags: advocacy agenda HIV prevention HIV Health HIV Testing media Source Type: blogs

Why a new approach to prevention is importantEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The current issue of HIV Plus Mag talks about the need to re-emphasize a specifically “gay” marketing campaign with respect to HIV prevention. Jim Picket from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago points out that up to now, the approach has been “the politically expedient path of of pushing a generalized epidemic in which ‘we are all at risk’”. (Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog)
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - October 10, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Keith Tags: action advocacy agenda HIV prevention policy HIV Health HIV Testing sex education Source Type: blogs

Breast Cancer and HIV: The Race CorrelationEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and like HIV Infection, breast cancer affects African American women’s health outcomes differently than white women’s health outcomes. Across the board of health concerns, women of color face a greater likelihood of poorer health outcomes than white women. Recently, there has been more attention paid to understanding the reasons behind racial and ethnic differences in health status and access to care. Which is about time, since “poorer” health outcomes often mean some people are dying from an illness in far greater numbers than others. For example, rates of HIV infection...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - October 2, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Heidi Tags: women race Source Type: blogs

Detailed study on the spread of HIV in the US from the Center for Disease ControlEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
An interesting article ran at the end of last week in the New York Times that takes a look at the not only the racial makeup of new HIV infections, but at the differences in the timeline of exposure for a number of communities. The full text, including quotes from Dr. Kevin Fenton (who is the director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention), is available at the link above. Dr. Fenton is pictured here. (Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog)
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - September 15, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Keith Tags: action HIV prevention HIV Health HIV Testing media Source Type: blogs

Together, We Can Be the Change We NeedEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The following letter to the editor appeared in the New England Blade newspaper (vol 18, issue 04) dated September 10, 2008. It was written by Mark Forry, Program Manager at the MALE Center : As the Program Manager at the MALE Center, and on behalf of my co-workers, I would like thank the Blade for covering our Town Hall Forum, on Tuesday August 26th. For many of us working daily in the fight against HIV, it has become increasingly, and at times frustratingly clear that this epidemic no longer sits at the forefront of discourse in our GLBT community. As I stood in front of the crowd Tuesday night, I was excited and m...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - September 11, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Keith Tags: action advocacy HIV prevention policy HIV Health HIV Testing media Source Type: blogs

Behind the Scenes: MALE Center USE ME Boys on the cover of OUT at NightEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
At the end of July, the MALE Center’s USE ME boys were asked to be on the cover of OUT at Night, the new nightlife publication from the publishers of Bay Windows. The USE ME team is made up of guys who go out to bars and clubs in Boston to help distribute prevention/safer sex materials. The photo shoot took place at the MALE Center on a Monday afternoon, where the staff at the MALE Center, including Director Michael Shankle, had come up with the great idea of having the guys in a blow up kiddie pool surrounded by condoms. Photographer Kevin Day worked with the models to get the shot that would work the best on th...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - September 9, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Keith Tags: HIV prevention Source Type: blogs