ACT Ride Begins this Thursday!!

Thursday July 29th- Sunday August 1st

Starting off this Thursday at 6:30am at Olin Park, come cheer out all those who are riding in AIDS Network's ACT 8 Ride.  These individuals will be riding over 300 miles over 4 days to raise money for AIDS Network.  For more information on how YOU can help volunteer or donate to a rider or cheer a rider on, go to here ACT 8 RIDE.

International AIDS Conference XVIII in Vienna, Austria

2010 International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria

Right Here, Right Now

July 18-23

This is the 18th year that there has been a gathering of scientists, doctors, activists, people living with HIV and researchers coming together to talk about not only new research that has come out, but also discuss on a global level, what needs to be done to stop the spread of HIV and to provide access to treatment to those living with HIV.

This year the International AIDS Conference is being held in Vienna, which was chosen because of the role “Vienna has played in bridging Eastern and Western Europe, and {it} will allow for an examination of the epidemic’s impact in Eastern Europe.”

Next year, the International AIDS Conference will be held in Washington D.C. Start planning now to be a part of the world’s largest HIV/AIDS Conference.

Here’s some articles/issues that have come up at this year’s conference that I want to share.

Tenofovir Vaginal Microbicide Gel in South African Woman Results

This is probably the biggest news that has come out of the entire conference so far. It has been many years that scientists and researchers have pushed forth to try and find a microbicide gel that could be used to stop the spread of HIV. This has been very important, as it presents a way for women and men to protect themselves from HIV infection in countries where sexual intercourse is not always consensual.

The results were good, in that there is a 39% success rate for blocking HIV infection which is the best results that a microbicide has ever gotten. This has cause a great amount of excitement and the knowledge that research in microbicides will increase.


Bill Gates and Bill Clinton call for cost effective strategies in the fight against HIV/AIDS

From the Article:

In speeches Monday, at the XVIII International AIDS Conference here, the founder of Microsoft Corp. and the former U.S. president said the current economic crisis putting pressure on donations doesn't change the need to reach more patients with treatment and prevention.

But they said finding efficiencies in delivering treatment and prevention programs would help get services to more patients even if funding remains flat. "Right now, there isn't enough money to simply treat our way out of this epidemic," Mr. Gates told conference attendees. "If we keep spending our resources in exactly the same way we do today, we will fall further behind in our ability to treat everyone."

Mr. Gates and Mr. Clinton are now major global health philanthropists who head foundations that fund a variety of research, treatment and prevention programs in HIV/AIDS and other diseases.



France ACT UP takes over briefly a session of HIV ambassadors to talk about France’s inability to provide more money for HIV treatment and also the lack of effort of the ambassadors to do anything.



At 16 minutes in, ACT UP France among other AIDS Activists take over the session for a few minutes to try and bring up topics that are not being discussed. The ambassadors for HIV within this group are put on the spot when activists demand why there is inaction among them to push government bodies to do more for HIV treatment and prevention. I have to say that the rest of the session is quite boring and really doesn’t do anything to progress discussion on what is being done when it comes to advocacy of HIV. There is discussion of organizations that do HIV research, there’s half hearted talks around whether diplomacy is still active around HIV/AIDS.

Here is the speech that one of the spokespersons gave:

Today activists from organizations of people living with HIV including ACT UP Paris are interrupting this symposium because Patrice Debre the French AIDS ambassador of AIDS in this position for 40 months now. In that time, more than two million people died of AIDS because they did not have access to medicine.

The activists demand today that the French AIDS ambassador answer to the following question. How will it be possible to enroll new people in treatment with no additional money and why fight here against policies to lower the price of drugs?

2010 was supposed to be the year of the universal access to treatment against HIV and AIDS, TB and malaria.

2010 will be the year of G8 countries broken promises. 2010 is the year of funding group initiative for the global fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

To this date, French has not given any single sign showing that it would improve significantly its contribution to the global fund. Without an increase of at least 40-percent of its contributions, it is not possible to apply new WHO guidelines to begin treatment earlier and to ensure access to second line and third line drugs for all who need it.

2010 is the year of the war against generics.

Indeed 2010 is the year of ACT UP and fighting toward agreements in FTAs, free trade agreements, between India and European Union. These agreements if signed will hinder dramatically the prediction and the expectations of cheap, generic drugs.

So we still ask today for France to triple its contribution to global funds to fight AIDS, TB and malaria and to renounce with the UN to free trade agreements with India, to US, France and Europe to jointly ACT UP. Thank you very much.

National HIV/AIDS Strategy released today!

U.S. 's Strategy to Fight HIV/AIDS

It has been close to thirty years since HIV impacted the United States.  In that time, there was never a concise, National HIV/AIDS strategy in addressing HIV.  There are currently many governmental organizations that all have some part in trying to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States.  Centers for Disease Control is on the forefront in providing Evidence Based Interventions for HIV Prevention.  The National Institute for Health (NIH) and Health and Human Services (HHS) have been on the forefront in doing HIV/AIDS treatment clinical trials, dispersing Ryan White and ADAP funds to individuals states and overall trying to help ease the burden of HIV/AIDS for thousands of people.  But there was nothing that ever tied these government agencies and the white house together into a comprehensive strategy in fighting HIV/AIDS.  Untill today.

At 1pm today, the WHITEHOUSE will issue statements concerning the release of the HIV/AIDS Strategy.  While listening into this livestream, make sure to also join the conversation that will be happening at HIV Prevention Justice's website. This is a big day for HIV/AIDS activists all over the country.  Here's hoping we won't be disappointed. 

To get a copy of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, you can go  HERE and download one.

Presidential Advisory Committee voting on a Resolution concerning ADAP

Dr. Deborah Parham

Dr. Parham Hopson is responsible for managing the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act of 2006 (Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program).

PACHA (Presidential Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS) voted to pass a resolution today that "advised" President Obama to

1. Provide adequate emergency federal ADAP funding in FY2010 ($126,000,000) to eliminate wait lists, reverse cost containment measures, and meet anticipated increased demand for live-saving treatment in FY 2010.

    2.  Provide adequate federal Ryan White Program funding in FY2011 and beyond to meet
         growing demand for Ryan White Program provided care, treatment and essential support  
         services.

     3.  Provide states with the ability to immediately expand access to Medicaid for people living
          with HIV and AIDS through the enactment of the Early Treatment for HIV Act.

For a copy of the rest of the Resolution, go here: http://www.aids.gov/federal-resources/policies/pacha/meetings/june-2010-resolution.pdf

For a copy of the discussion that happened and subsequent comments from those listening in, go here: http://www.preventionjustice.org/

National HIV Testing Day!!! June 27th

AIDS Network is continuing our excellence in HIV Prevention efforts by Acknowledging National HIV Testing Day with a Week of Activities.  Here is a listing of places we will be doing FREE HIV Testing!

June 22
1 - 4 p.m.

Joining Forces for Families
818 W Badger Road

June 24

8 - 11 a.m.

Madison Health Services
3113 E Washington Avenue

and

1 - 4 p.m.

Allied Drive Wellness Center
2225 Allied Drive

June 25

Noon - 4 p.m.

Harambee Center
2202 S Park Street

July 1st
10:30pm - 1:30am

Plan B
924 Williamson St.


And like always, we will be offering Free HIV testing here at AIDS Network every Weekday.  Check the bar to the right for times. 

And here are some statistics from the National Institute of Heath during a presentation they did about National HIV Testing Day.

1 our of 5 people who are living with HIV do NOT know their Status

Last year, 82.6 million adults 18-64 years of age reported they had been tested for HIV.

75% of people who tested positive for HIV were linked to medical care.

Is Lube increasing your risk for STD's and HIV?

The short answer:  Maybe.

A report was presented at a conference in Pennsylvania on Rectal Microbicides that stated that doing tests on some lubricants have shown that they have a high toxicity rate that has increased the breakdown of the integrity of cells in the mucosal lining of both vaginal and anal walls.

The short of it.  Astroglide has been shown to be the most toxic lubrication and shown to be on the same degree of toxicity as the dreaded Spermicide, Nonoxynol-9. 

For a synopsis of the multiple articles that have been released on this as well as media reports, go to HERE. 

Strategy Lab update from CHAMP

On the third Wednesday of every month, CHAMP (Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project) holds a call to discuss current topics, articles, and other issues that relate to the HIV/AIDS community.

First up was a discussion on a paper that was created titled "LGBT Marginalization Brief" by the HIV Prevention Justice Alliance.  The HIV Prevention Justice Alliance is a sub working group from CHAMP.  This paper wishes to address the focus that needs to be placed on LGBT individuals and the overarching issues that effect this community that contributes to the high rates of HIV infection.
The HIV Prevention Justice Alliance is looking for comments on this brief, so feel free to go to the website above and leave your comments.  Comments need to be in by JULY 6th. Some parts of this paper I wanted to point out by section is:

Statistics:

1.  Gay and Bisexual Men including other MSM comprise 48% of the one million people living with HIV and 54% of the 56,000 new HIV infections in the U.S.

2.  Gay and Bisexual men are 50 times more likely than any other group in the U.S. to become HIV positive.

3. HIV prevalence rates among transgender women exceeds 25 percent nationwide. 

LGBT Marginalization as a Driver of HIV

1.  Focus on the effect of Family marginalization of LGBT youth and the results of high rates of violence towards LGBT youth by family members, homelessness among LGBT youth and how this can relate to mental health issues that is shown to increase the rates of High Risk behavior this group will partake in.

2.  Invisibility of Same Sex relationships by society pushes these relationship issues "underground"  Discrimination by Health Care Providers towards LGBT individuals leads to inadequate health care for this population and inadequate means to address high risk activities individuals in this community may be experiencing. Also the lack of research surrounding the LGBT community and all encompassing life situations/behaviors that can contribute to HIV infection.

Recommendations for Action:

1. Heath and Human Service should implement a comprehensive anti-stigma and anti-discrimination initiative focused on eliminating disparities in health outcomes of LGBT populations.

2. Improve sexual health programming and hold HIV Prevention more accountable.

3.  Provide more strategic programming for LGBT populations.

4. Reform and Repeal laws and policies that reinforce stigma and discrimination including repealing Section 2500 of the federal Public Health Service Act ("No Promo Homo") which hinder HIV prevention by prohibiting the open discussion or "promotion" of any type of sexual behavior.