Wildcats Get Tested for STDs on Mall

Wednesday’s Get Yourself Tested Resource Fair at the University of Arizona provided students with information regarding safe sex and STDs, and free testing for chlamydia and gonorrhea was offered through the Pima County Health Department (PCHD).

“You can’t tell just by looking at someone if they have an STD,” said Campus Health educator and fair coordinator Carolyn Hardesty. “The only way to know is to get tested. We just want to bring awareness to the importance of getting tested.”

The Pima County Mobile Clinic was on hand to receive urine samples and contact information for results follow-up from students. “We really support teens and young adults in getting tested and treated if they have STDs,” said PCHD Director of Family Planning Dr. Shauna McIsaac

In addition to receiving condoms and personal lubricant, students had access to a quiz on STDs. “I learned that one in two sexually active people will have gotten an STD by the age of 25,” said freshman Ashley Miranda. “If people don’t know these things, they won’t get tested; but if they do, then they will, so it’s safer for everybody.”

“I feel this event is important because a lot of people are scared to get tested or ask their parents for money to get tested,” said freshman Emily Edlund.

In addition to PCHD, fair participants included the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation and Planned Parenthood.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Life on Street Rough on People with HIV

Consequences of homelessness - such as not having access to sleeping quarters, regular meals, clean clothing and hygiene essentials - had the greatest single effect on the physical and mental health of homeless HIV patients, according to a University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) survey.

The study’s 288 homeless male participants were given physical and mental health scores between zero and 100. The median physical and mental health scores were 43 and 46, respectively. Unmet basic needs most greatly affected scores, lowering the physical health score 3.8 percent, and the mental score by 3.5 percent. Although regular use of antiretrovirals raised mental health scores 1.7 percent, the drugs only negligibly affected physical health scores.

Elise Riley, the study’s lead author and an associate professor in the UCSF HIV/AIDS division at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH), said keeping patients healthy and halting the spread of the virus requires a simultaneous focus on subsistence needs and HIV treatments. Spending on medication is “not going to be doing as much good if we don’t have more opportunities for housing or other needs,” said Riley.

SFGH HIV Clinic Medical Director Dr. Brad Hare agrees. He said the recession exacerbates the struggle to regulate treatment for patients who must prioritize basic necessities. “This study validates what we’ve seen,” said Hare. “It recognizes just how important the structural barriers are to HIV care.”

Dr. Edward Machtinger, UCSF’s Women’s HIV program director, found comparable associations between trauma and poor health outcomes for HIV-positive women in other studies. Machtinger said health providers must “ask the real questions” about patients’ needs and prioritize linking them to existing services.

“Our focus in medicine needs to be broader than simply seeing patients in clinic and prescribing medications,” Machtinger said.

The study, “Social, Structural and Behavioral Determinants of Overall Health Status in a Cohort of Homeless and Unstably Housed HIV-Infected Men,” was published in PLoS One (2012;7(4):e35207).

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Global Fund for AIDS, TB, Malaria 'Not in Crisis'

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria is “not in crisis” and once again is receiving commitments from key donors, Deputy General Manager Debrework Zewdie said Wednesday in Washington.

At a Council on Foreign Relations roundtable, Zewdie said the fund has received new or renewed multi-year pledges from Germany, Japan, Spain and Britain. The United States, the fund’s largest donor, has maintained its financial support during an internal crisis in which the Global Fund was found to have lost tens of millions of dollars due to fraud, waste, and corruption.

In response, the Global Fund implemented major restructuring plans to deal with issues of mismanagement that led to inadequate oversight. Zewdie noted that the fund’s grant-making monies used to be evenly split between administrative and programmatic costs. Now, administrative costs account for one-quarter of total grant activities.

Furthermore, the Global Fund is shifting its focus to “high impact” areas and reducing its staff, who previously numbered around 600, said Zewdie.

“Dr. Zewdie delivered a clear message that the Global Fund’s transformation is well underway, with a strong focus on impeccable grant management,” said Mark Isaac, interim president of the Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. “She also underscored how critical ongoing US leadership is to ensuring support from other nations and to reaching those most in need around the world with lifesaving services.”

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Governor Deval Patrick Signs Law to Allow HIV Test with Verbal Consent

On Friday, Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law an HIV testing bill that he said “will lead to more lives being saved.” The measure eliminates the need for physicians to obtain patients’ written consent for testing; instead, only verbal consent is needed. “By removing barriers to screening, we will continue to decrease rates of HIV in our communities,” Patrick said.

The law brings Massachusetts in line with 2006 CDC recommendations that states update their laws to make HIV testing more routine and common. General consent for medical care, which covers screenings for most conditions, also should be sufficient for HIV testing, according to federal health officials.

But some doctors’ groups remain critical of the law, noting it still requires a patient’s written informed consent each time HIV-related information is shared. That means a physician must obtain written consent before talking with another provider about issues such as medicines, which the doctors say creates a barrier.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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US: Do Not Mix Merck Hepatitis Pill with HIV Drugs

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Thursday it is changing the label for Merck & Co.’s hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment Victrelis following studies indicating it should not be taken with some common HIV drugs.

“Co-administration [of the two drugs] ... is not recommended at this time because of the possibility of reducing the effectiveness of the medicines, permitting the amount of HCV or HIV ... in the blood to increase,” FDA said.

Victrelis (boceprevir) was approved last May. FDA and Merck first warned about the issue in February after results of a drug interaction study of healthy patients who took Victrelis and the widely used HIV drug Norvir (ritonavir) as part of a combination protease inhibitor regimen. The study found Victrelis reduced the concentrations of HIV drugs in the blood.

A second, small clinical trial of 98 people presented last month also contributed to FDA’s labeling decision, though its results were not as conclusive as the drug interaction study. Some of the HCV/HIV co-infected patients were given Victrelis plus peginterferon/ribavirin, while others received only peginterferon/ribavirin; all patients were given a type of HIV drug. Of 64 patients taking Victrelis, three had a rebound in their HIV, compared to four of the 34 taking the older combination HCV treatment.

Merck said it plans to conduct a larger drug interaction study of Victrelis with other HIV drugs. FDA said it will report any new information about Victrelis and those treatments when it becomes available.

To view the announcement, visit: http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm301616.htm?utm_campaign=Google2&utm_source=fdaSearch&utm_medium=website&utm_term=victrelis&utm_content=6.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Cambodia HIV/AIDS Prevalence Drops to 0.8 Percent as of 2011: Report

The secretary-general of the National AIDS Authority said Tuesday that HIV/AIDS prevalence among Cambodians ages 15-49 fell from 2.5 percent in 1998 to 0.9 percent in 2008 to 0.8 percent last year.

“This reflects our strong and continual commitment to fight the disease,” said Dr. Teng Kunthy. He added that 96 percent of the nation’s 76,800 HIV/AIDS patients have received antiretrovirals.

NAA estimates show that the 2,608 AIDS-related deaths recorded in 2011 represented an 11 percent drop from 2010, while new HIV infections declined by 12 percent to 1,517. Cambodia’s ongoing struggle against HIV requires about $80 million a year, Teng said, most of which comes from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and from development partners.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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UNAIDS Head Says Nigeria Has Ability to Stop Mother-to-Child HIV/AIDS Transmission

In Abuja on Thursday, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe said he believes Nigeria can end mother-to-child HIV transmission by 2015.

“I want you to continue to advocate for Nigeria and Africa and through the governors’ wives to prevent HIV in the states, to increase the budget to make sure that we have a strong primary health care service for pregnant women to have access to these services,” said Sidibe, who led a UNAIDS delegation to meet with Nigeria’s first lady, Patience Jonathan.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Needle Exchange Considered in Larimer County

The Larimer County Board of Health has scheduled a public hearing on the question of whether the county should support a needle-exchange program.

Under a 2010 state law, NEPs are permitted with public health oversight and the approval of the local health department. Legal NEPs are operating in Boulder, Denver, and Grand Junction.

The Northern Colorado AIDS Project is advocating for the Larimer County NEP as a way to reduce transmission of HIV and hepatitis C.

The hearing will take place at 5:30 p.m. on May 15 at the courthouse office building in Fort Collins. County officials expect a large crowd and are asking those who wish to offer input to put their comments in writing.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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When Online Becomes Offline: Attitudes to Safer Sex Practices in Older and Younger Women Using an Australian Internet Dating Service

STI prevalence among older Australian women is increasing, the authors wrote, in part because women are finding new partners after losing a spouse to death or divorce. These women may be less likely to use condoms with their new partners and therefore at risk for STIs. Among women using an Internet dating service, the current study compared the characteristics of women age 40 and older with those ages 18-39, and it determined factors associated with protective safer sex attitudes.

By e-mail message, women who had used the Internet dating service RSVP in the previous six months were directed to a survey conducted by Family Planning New South Wales. The survey assessed demographic factors, knowledge of STIs, and attitudes about safer sex practices. Logistic regression was used to analyze factors associated with talking about STIs before sex, as well as refusing unprotected sex with a new partner.

A total of 1,788 women completed the questionnaire; of these, 62.2 percent were age 40 or older. Most (64.8 percent) said they were seeking a long-term partner. Meeting a new sex partner via the Internet was reported by 41.5 percent of respondents. Compared with younger women, those age 40 and older were significantly more likely to discuss STIs with a new partner, but they were less likely to refuse unprotected sex.

“The Internet is a useful venue for women of all ages to meet new sexual partners,” the authors concluded. “Older women are vulnerable to STI acquisition through failure to use condoms with a new partner. Research is needed to determine effective interventions to increase condom use in this age group.”

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Abstinence Alone Does Not Work

Several influential charities have decried a government blueprint for a recovery-based drug treatment system as “dangerously and deeply flawed” and an “ideological attack” on established interventions.

The blueprint document, “Putting Full Recovery First,” was published in March and is supported by eight government agencies, including the Department of Health. It comforms to the official governmental drug strategy published in December 2010.

Opponents include top HIV/AIDS charities the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) and the National AIDS Trust (NAT), and the drugs/human rights charity Release. The coalition wrote to Drugs Minister Lord Henley and Prime Minister David Cameron warning the plan would be “disastrous” for drug-dependent people.

The charities say the plan overreaches governmental strategies to prioritize abstinence and “full recovery” above “proven” drug treatments such as methadone for heroin addiction. Conservative Member of Parliament David Burrowes helped draft the plan and disagrees, adding that charities and service providers collaborated on the document.

The coalition labeled the full recovery concept as disingenuous considering the propensity for relapse and the potential for transmitting blood-borne viruses should “evidence-based interventions” like needle-exchange programs cease. The charities upheld evidence crediting NEPs for the low HIV prevalence among UK injecting drug users (IDUs), and they acknowledged substitute treatments for reducing overdose rates.

Advocates also fear the plan’s compensation of service providers per person becoming “chemical-free” trivializes “the complex nature of drug dependence.” The coalition noted that the absence of a comprehensive cost analysis could find service providers trying to ensure their compensation by excluding those less likely to recover fully. THT Policy Director Lisa Power admonished Britain against abandoning the harm-reduction models that have helped curb the spread of HIV among IDUs, which also helped protect the heterosexual population.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Virtually Stitching the AIDS Memorial Quilt

The 91,000-name AIDS Memorial Quilt, the largest public art display of its kind, is being digitized so that it can be viewed in its entirety.

Images of the quilt’s 47,000 panels have been sewn together virtually using Microsoft Surface, an enhanced commercial computing platform. Viewers of the 60-inch-wide, interactive, touch-screen table can see the quilt, totaling 1.3 million square feet, in its entirety.

The first version of the table will be on display during the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, June 27-July 8. On July 20, some physical quilt sections will be laid out on the National Mall - the whole quilt is too large to fit. Four interactive tables will be placed around the Mall for viewing.

“The idea is that you use the table not as a substitute for looking at the textile panels. You still look at the physical panels - they’re richer than any digital experience. But what our table will allow you to do is search for a particular one. And also get a sense of the scale,” said project lead Anne Balsamo, professor of interactive media and communication and senior research fellow at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Innovation Lab.

Viewers also will have the opportunity to add their own reflections, thanks to a mobile application Balsamo is building. “If you walk by a panel that really moves you, you can type in the panel number, go to the digital page, and leave a remembrance,” she said. “We want to give people a way to get into the stories of the quilt.”

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Most Utahns Support Governor's Veto of Sex Education Bill

In a new Salt Lake Tribune poll, 69 percent of Utah voters sided with Gov. Gary Herbert’s veto of a bill that would have scaled back sex education in public schools.

Support for vetoing the legislation - which would have allowed school districts to drop sex education and required those that kept it to offer abstinence-only instruction - was diverse, encompassing 64 percent of Republicans, 63 percent of Mormons, and 69 percent of both men and women.

“It was not a good policy for us,” Herbert said, adding that the measure “went too far in taking away parental choice.”

Murray school bus driver Paul Krueger collected tens of thousands of signatures through an online petition urging the gubernatorial veto. Noting the conservative nature of mandated sex education in the schools already, Krueger said, “There was just no reason to try and change that.” “The government should not be telling you how to parent,” he said.

Current law requires that sex education stress the importance of abstinence; permits abstinence-only instruction; allows the discussion of contraception so long as its use is not advocated; and lets parents opt their kids out of the classes.

Bill sponsor Rep. Bill Wright (R-Holden) maintains Utahns did not support the bill because it was misrepresented as restricting choices, when it actually would have expanded choice by allowing school districts to drop sex education.

Wright is considering sponsoring a similar bill next session that may completely erase sex education. “The inherent problem is still there. It’s inappropriate we destroy the innocence of youth to teach contraception in public education,” he said.

Conversely, Salt Lake City poll respondent Grant Nelson hopes “a little education and schooling before the kids become sexually active” will help reverse state problems with unwanted pregnancies and STDs.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Health Care Debate: High Stakes for Those with HIV

HIV/AIDS advocates and patients are closely monitoring the Supreme Court’s review of the Affordable Care Act. President Obama’s health care overhaul includes two key benefits for HIV-positive people: It expands Medicaid to more low-income adults, paving the way for earlier access to treatment, and it eliminates limits on pre-existing conditions that prevent many from obtaining private health insurance. But the act is in limbo as the high court considers its constitutionality, particularly the requirement that most Americans carry health insurance.

“The HIV treatment community sees the act as a critical step in our fight against the AIDS epidemic,” said Scott Schoettes of the gay-rights group Lambda Legal. “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.”

Data from the US Department of Health and Human Services indicate just 13 percent of HIV-positive Americans have private insurance, and around 24 percent have no coverage at all. Many who are eligible rely on public programs like Medicaid and Medicare, while those who meet low-income criteria seek assistance through the federal Ryan White Care Act. Advocates say this patchwork of coverage makes it difficult to effectively address the US epidemic.

“Once on treatment, transmission of HIV is cut to almost zero, but where do these people get treatment?” asked Dr. Michael Saag, an HIV expert at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

“HIV is a disease of poverty,” said Saag, past chair of the HIV Medicine Association, which represents more than 4,800 health care researchers and providers. “That’s why the health care law is critically important.”

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Mandated Sex Education Bill Stalls in Committee

In an 8-8 vote on Wednesday, the House Education Committee deadlocked on a proposal to require sex education in Louisiana public schools. HB 802, by Rep. Patricia Smith (D-Baton Rouge), would require “age appropriate” sex education beginning in the 2013-14 academic year.

The courses would cover abstinence, contraceptives, and STDs, and parents would retain the right to opt their children out. Several members were absent Wednesday; Smith plans to bring up the bill for another committee hearing during this legislative session.

State law currently allows school districts to offer sex education if they wish.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Providing HIV-Negative Results to Low-Risk Clients by Telephone

Health department policies in Australia differ in their recommendations regarding giving patients their HIV test results. Traditionally, all HIV results have been provided in person. The team undertook the current study to trial the provision of HIV-negative test results by telephone to clients at low risk of infection who visited sexual health services, and to assess patients’ preferences for method of delivery.

At two Sydney sexual health services during four months in 2009, all patients assessed as being at low risk for infection were invited to receive their HIV test result by phone. Not receiving results was defined as the failure to learn the results within 30 days of testing.

In all, 763 clients were tested: 328 (43 percent) were excluded following risk assessment; 30 (4 percent) declined to take part; and 405 (53 percent) were enrolled. Among those enrolled, 86 percent learned their test result by phone within 30 days; 97 percent reported satisfaction with delivery of the result by phone; and 93 percent indicated a preference for telephone delivery of their next HIV test result. The test result was positive for only one enrolled client. Independent predictors for receiving results within 30 days were clinic attendance for STI screening (P=0.021), no anogenital symptoms (P=0.015), and not being a sex worker (P=0.001).

“In this study of telephone provision of HIV results to low HIV-risk clients, there were no adverse events, and clients expressed satisfaction with the process plus a strong preference for telephone delivery of future results,” the authors concluded. “There was a decreased rate of failure to receive HIV results compared with other Australian studies.”

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Britain Has Third-Highest Proportion of Sexually Active Teens

Britain ranks third-highest for early teenage sexual activity, according to new studies published in The Lancet. This research and a just-released UNICEF report both make the case for more attention to the needs of youths.

Data from 40 comparably affluent countries ranked England fourth-highest for adolescents who had been drunk by age 13; Wales ranked fifth, and Scotland eighth. Wales also ranked third for weekly drinking by 15-year-olds. England ranked fourth, with Scotland at eighth.

The United States’ violent death rate for adolescents is 10 to 20 times greater than that of other developed countries; Britain ranked in the middle for this indicator. US binge-drinking rates were high, and its cannabis use rate topped all high-income countries supplying data.

Professor Susan Sawyer of Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and Professor George Patton of the University of Melbourne in Australia maintain that earlier puberty and later marrying have delayed societal transition to adulthood, expanding years of experimentation, substance and alcohol abuse, and early and unsafe sex. Inadequate education and employment prospects also play a role.

The professors assert that “marketing of unhealthy products and lifestyles” targets young people, and that habits begun young result in 70 percent of premature adult deaths. The empowering benefits of social media were noted as coming with inherent potential harms like cyberbullying, pornography, sexually explicit texting, copycat suicides, self-harm, and sleep deprivation.

Upwards of 2.6 million 10- to 24-year-olds died in 2004. Most deaths were due to injuries (including traffic accidents and suicides); pregnancy and childbirth; communicable, nutritional, and perinatal diseases (like tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS); and non-communicable diseases (like diabetes and cancer). Most of these deaths were preventable.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Vermont Debates Letting Parents Say No to Vaccines

Vermont lawmakers are deliberating whether to terminate the “philosophical exemption” that allows parents to enroll children in school or child care without being immunized.

The state Health Department and CDC call for about 20 shots before a child begins kindergarten. Both agencies also note Vermont has one of the highest state exemption rates for childhood vaccinations.

A March state Senate vote (26-4) eliminated the philosophical exemption, but a subsequent April House vote (93-36) retained it. Left unresolved, the legislation will die, leaving Vermont one of 20 states allowing philosophical exemptions from required immunizations.

All states allow medical exemptions, and nearly all offer religious exemptions from immunization. An Associated Press analysis of state health department data for 2010-11 found that Alaska exempted 9 percent of kindergarteners; Colorado exempted 7 percent; and Vermont and Washington each exempted 6 percent.

State Health Department Immunization Manager Christine Finley said Vermont’s percentage of fully immunized kindergarteners fell from 93 percent in 2005 to 83 percent in 2010. While exemption proponents decry a perceived profit-driven pharmaceutical industry, exemption critics assert the decline in state immunizations must be halted to preserve “herd immunity.”

Some theorize that Vermont’s recent outbreak of pertussis (whooping cough), a vaccine target, is related to exemption. “Do you want to wait until you’ve got a measles outbreak?” asked Finley, who added that Vermont had 102 whooping cough cases between January and the beginning of April, more than in all of 2011. Washington had 640 cases from January through March; 94 cases were reported for the same time in 2011.

Gov. Peter Shumlin has endorsed the House’s call for more education on immunization over the Senate’s move to drop the philosophical exemption.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Joining Forces for AIDS Care: Protesters Mark AIDS Advocacy Group's 25th Year

AIDS activist group ACT UP commemorated its 25th anniversary Wednesday by joining Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protestors for a demonstration in lower Manhattan. The recently allied groups are calling for a Wall Street transaction tax that they say could generate $400 billion annually for the provision of universal health insurance.

“Today, we have reinvigorated AIDS activism, building this new coalition with [OWS],” said Eric Sawyer, ACT UP’s co-founder. He said OWS “has been a breath of fresh air for standing up for social justice. Something ACT UP has always done.”

ACT UP, which stands for AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, formed in 1987 to advocate for greater access to HIV/AIDS treatment. “Our first action was Wall Street and protesting high prices for AZT,” said member Andrew Velez.

Wednesday’s march from City Hall to South Street Seaport and back up to Broadway featured some 500 demonstrators holding signs reading “ACT UP & Occupy” and “Tax Wall Street: End AIDS.” Organizers said 19 people were arrested after they chained themselves together and then to a lamppost, blocking traffic near the Stock Exchange.

Sawyer said he believes a tax on stock, bonds, and derivative transactions to fund health insurance “will happen.” He noted ACT UP successfully lobbied for the creation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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HIV News Shorts

Panel Pulls Funding Proposal: Planned Parenthood Funding Would Have Drastically Decreased

The House Finance and Appropriations Committee on Tuesday dropped a plan to enact a priority funding system for federal family planning dollars that would effectively have defunded Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Ohio. About $1.6 million of the $4.3 million in federal family planning funds Ohio received last year went to PPAO to support STD and cancer screenings, pregnancy testing, and other health services. The money cannot be spent on abortions, which are performed at three of PPAO’s 37 Ohio facilities. The priority system was one of 26 amendments bundled into one that passed without discussion or opposition. Rep. Ron Amstutz (R-Wooster), the committee’s chair, said the language mirrored that of HB 298, which is before the House Health and Aging Committee. “What’s important right now is that the language is out of this bill and we make sure it stays out,” said Gary Doughtery, PPAO’s state legislative director. Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life, said his organization will continue to lobby for HB 298.

Forum Set to Discuss STD Rates

The last in a series of forums on chlamydia and gonorrhea rates in north Omaha will take place on April 30 from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Charles Drew Health Clinic, 2915 Grant St. The first 50 attendees will receive lunch. The forums are sponsored by the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health and the Douglas County Health Department.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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AID Atlanta Marks 30 Years of Services, Awareness

AID Atlanta is commemorating its 30th year as an AIDS service organization (ASO) by hosting several events throughout 2012. “We’ve set big goals for our 30th year and beyond,” said Executive Director Tracy Elliott. “We’re looking forward to continuing to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and giving hope to more Atlantans than ever before.”

Events planned during its 30th year include:

*the annual AID Atlanta Honors on June 14,

*the Atlanta Cotillion XI on Sept. 15, and

*the AIDS Walk Atlanta & 5K Run on Oct. 21.

AID Atlanta also plans to hold a candlelight vigil at Piedmont Park to mark World AIDS Day on Dec. 1.

Since its founding as a grass-roots response to the epidemic, AID Atlanta has become one of the largest ASOs in the Southeast.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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California Bedroom Community OKs Porn Condom Law

The Simi Valley City Council late Monday approved Mayor Bob Huber’s proposal to require pornography producers to ensure condom use as a condition of obtaining a film permit. Huber called for the ordinance after Los Angeles passed a similar regulation on Jan. 17.

Los Angeles is home to the US porn industry. After L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed a condom requirement into law, industry watchers predicted the regulation could prompt adult-film studios to move their operations to neighboring Simi Valley.

“The primary purpose here is it’s a health and safety issue. And secondarily, we don’t want them here,” Huber said. “This is a family-oriented community, and we don’t want them setting up their studios in Simi Valley.”

Simi Valley’s new law takes effect in a month. According to Peter Lyons, the city’s director of environmental services, Simi Valley issued 59 film permits last year and just one was for a pornographic production.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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HIV Infection Compounds Poverty in Nepal

Nepal’s 2011 census reported that among its 26.7 million people, 2 million work abroad - many in neighboring India, which is home to 2.5 million HIV-positive people and a hub for sex workers recruited from Nepal.

Nepal’s 2010 progress report for the UN Millennium Development Goals predicts the nation will reach the target of lowering the poverty rate 21 percent by 2015. The report also says Nepal has succeeded in stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS. Yet in western Nepal, where at least half the population lives below the poverty line, the reality is different, especially for women in villages like Rakam Kranali.

Family Health International’s 2004 report “Women and HIV/AIDS - Experiences and Consequences of Stigma and Discrimination - Nepal” found HIV-positive women were denied access to household resources. Women with HIV often are stigmatized as immoral and blamed as spreaders of the virus.

The few remote villages with voluntary counseling and testing centers “are so poorly run that they hardly make a difference” for the women, said Ganashyam Bhandari of the HIV/AIDS Alliance. Many women cannot afford to travel to one of Nepal’s 13 centers capable of measuring CD4 cell counts; most of these are in cities.

Community social worker Rani Devi Bohara blames persistent stigma against women traumatized by infection, social ostracism, and poverty on an apathetic government and a society “unwilling to change.” She notes that antiretrovirals are needed, plus psychological counseling for patients and families, income generation support, and welfare programs.

“We have no choice but to try and survive somehow,” said the leader of a group of HIV-positive widows. “The government is not going to help us.”

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Challenges Facing World's 1.2 Billion Adolescents

On Tuesday, UNICEF released its first-ever report on the challenges facing the world’s 1.2 billion people ages 10-19, a group comprising 18 percent of the global population. “Progress for Children: A Report Card on Adolescents” was issued to coincide with this week’s meeting of the UN Commission on Population Development.

Among the key findings of the report:

*Some 2.2 million people ages 10-19 are living with HIV, and most are unaware of their infection. Girls account for 1.3 million of adolescent HIV cases. Many HIV-positive adolescents contracted the virus at birth, while others were infected through unprotected sex or sharing needles.

*Adolescent girls in developing countries often marry and bear children at too young an age, hampering their educational opportunities. Approximately 16 million girls ages 15-19 give birth each year worldwide; 90 percent of births to adolescents occur within marriage. Latin America, the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa have the highest proportion of teenage births.

*1.4 million adolescents die from injuries related to childbirth complications, traffic accidents, suicide, AIDS, gang-related violence, and other causes.

*Though 90 percent of the world’s children are enrolled in primary school, secondary school enrollment drops off dramatically; this is particularly true in developing nations in Africa and Asia. Worldwide, 71 million adolescents do not attend secondary school, and up to 127 million young people ages 15-24 are illiterate - mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Case Western Reserve University Researcher Seeks Trigger for HIV Latency

The American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) has announced its first research grants for 2012. The four $250,000 two-year awards are the latest grants among the more than $340 million the group has given since 1985 for HIV/AIDS education, prevention and treatment programs.

The recipient researchers are:

*A California Institute of Technology team that is studying whether HIV continues to replicate when a patient has an undetectable viral load and, if so, how.

*A Massachusetts General Hospital team that is focused on a newly discovered cell type that is resistant to antiretroviral therapy.

*A team at Ghent University Hospital in Belgium that is developing a new test that can show a patient's viral load beyond levels currently deemed undetectable.

*A Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) team that will seek to identify features of cells that are necessary to maintain HIV latency.

Leading the CWRU work is Jonathan Karn, a professor and chair of molecular biology and microbiology in the School of Medicine. Karn and his 10-person team are using specialized viruses to inactivate genes in these cells to identify targets for drugs that can treat and eradicate HIV, while not affecting anything else.

“The challenge in developing strategies for HIV is that the virus becomes silent. You have no way of touching it,” Karn said. “The immune system can’t see it. Drugs can’t reach it. You have a reservoir sitting around in patients, even if they’ve been on intensive therapy for decades.” During the next five years, Karn's team hopes to figure out how to reverse latency or prevent it from happening.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Dining Out for Life Set for April 26

More than 130 Washington restaurants are taking part in Dining Out for Life on April 26; they will donate a portion of their proceeds that day to Food & Friends, which provides meals to 2,800 city residents living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other serious illnesses.

For a list of participating restaurants, visit http://www.diningoutforlife.com/washingtondc.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Sexual Disease Testing Offered

As part of the national “GYT: Get Yourself Tested” campaign, Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region is offering a variety of free STD and HIV testing opportunities.

For times and locations, telephone 901-725-1717.  Free testing for HIV and syphilis is always available during regular business hours at PPGMR’s office, 2430 Poplar; no appointment is needed.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!

Fear Obstacle to Safe Injection Sites

At the recent 21st annual Canadian Conference on HIV/AIDS Research, experts said fear of drug users is to blame for the lack of a supervised injection site in downtown Montreal.

In September, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Insite, Vancouver’s injection site, could not be closed because doing so would jeopardize the health of its clients.

Montreal’s public health department released a study in December calling for three sites and a mobile unit there. Yves Bolduc, Quebec’s health minister, has registered his support of the plan, while University of Toronto researchers have recommended two sites in Ottawa and three in Toronto. Gerald Tremblay, Montreal’s mayor, has said any injection site must be located in an existing medical facility outside downtown.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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No Mandatory HIV Tests: Plan Would Screen Inmates Being Freed

Shelby County commissioners recently debated a plan to screen inmates for HIV prior to their release.

During an April 18 jail budget discussion, Commissioner Henri E. Brooks proposed pre-release HIV testing of inmates as a way to slow the spread of HIV. “Common sense says we need to do this,” she said.

“It does not appear unreasonable to test them on the way out of the jail because they’ve been in an environment where they could contract HIV,” Commissioner Brent Taylor noted in support.

Yvonne Madlock of the county health department said HIV tests already are offered to inmates who want them. Approximately 2 percent of those requesting an HIV test are found to be positive, she said. She also cautioned that widespread testing could be complicated by false-negative/positive results. The discussion ended without a vote.

In 2008, Brooks called for the distribution of condoms in the county jail. Then-Sheriff Mark Luttrell shot down that proposal, saying sex between inmates is prohibited.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Sex Info Program Set for Palo Alto

“Proyecto Saber y Salud” (“Project Knowledge and Health”) is a new peer-to-peer sex education program being launched by San Antonio’s Palo Alto College with funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The outreach is geared mainly toward minority students - a group disproportionately impacted by HIV, hepatitis C, and substance abuse issues.

“[Researchers] found substance abuse and these chronic STDs are some of the leading causes of the 18-24 year-old age group dropping out of college,” said Timmy Ivory, a program peer counselor. “If we can give them information, it gives them a better chance of completing at least a community college education.”

The $85,000 SAMHSA grant will fund paid peer counselors, monthly workshops, and similar events, as well as underwrite on-campus STD testing conducted by partner health agencies. Palo Alto’s website will feature a virtual health information center for students.

“What research has found is that the students were more receptive to hearing from students,” Ivory said.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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A Shave, Haircut and Health Talk

Through his “Seen on da Streets” program, Fred Evans has secured state funding to take culturally appropriate STD testing into urban communities, so far testing upwards of 11,000 young people.

In December, Evans - the community health coordinator for north Minneapolis’ Fremont Clinic - joined with the University of Minnesota’s Program in Health Disparities Research, the health plan UCare, community health programs, and local barbershops to host “Clipper Clinics.” The clinics, which offer free preventive health services and haircuts to anyone who comes in, “have proven extremely successful,” said Evans.

Brian Davis, proprietor of Brian D’s Old School Barbers, agrees. Happy that health care providers recognize the potential in the relationships black men have historically enjoyed with their barbers, Davis hosted the February Clipper Clinic, and called it “a huge success.”

Although Evans maintains that discussing sexual health with people who “look like you and come from where you’re from” will best connect with the underserved, especially young black men, he said everyone must assume responsibility.

“This isn’t a black, white or Latino issue - it affects everybody, so everybody needs to do their part,” said Evans.

Minnesota communities of color remain disproportionately affected by STDs. The state recently reported that the gonorrhea rate for blacks was 26 times that of whites, and blacks’ chlamydia rate was 10 times that of whites. Since 2008, however, gonorrhea and chlamydia rates for blacks have decreased by more than 45 percent and 16 percent, respectively. Peter Carr, director of STDs and AIDS for the Minnesota Department of Health, said community efforts like the Clipper Clinics are “exactly the kind of approaches we need to try and address this disparity.”

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

Chinese Researchers Eye Anti-AIDS Gel

A Chinese team said Monday that test results assessing the potency of a molecule to block HIV from entering human cells are “encouraging.” University of Hong Kong (UKH), Nanjing University, and City University of Hong Kong researchers, working with Shanghai Targetdrug Co., said the TD-0680 molecule could be developed for a microbicide to “prevent HIV sexual transmission” - the cause of more than 90 percent of HIV infections in China.

Such a gel would give people, particularly women, an “alternative method to protect themselves from the virus, in addition to condoms,” said Zhiwei Chen, director of the AIDS Institute of UKH’s Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine. “The ideal solution is to develop an effective vaccine. Since such a vaccine remains elusive, we must explore other strategies such as topical microbicide,” he said.

According to the team, TD-0680 is several times more potent than maraviroc, an antiviral developed by Pfizer and approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for clinical treatment.

The study, “CCR5 Antagonist TD-0680 Uses a Novel Mechanism for Enhanced Potency Against HIV-1 Entry, Cell-Mediated Infection and a Resistant Variant,” was published online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (2012;doi:10.1074/jbc.M112.354084).

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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Minnesota STD Cases Hit Another Record High in 2011

State STD statistics reached an all-time high in 2011. The 19,547 recorded cases marked a 9 percent increase over 2010’s 18,009 cases, according to a Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) report released April 19.

New STD records have been set for nine of the past 10 years, “an ongoing trend” that MDH official Peter Carr attributes in part to increased chlamydia screening. “If you look for more of it, you’ll find more of it,” he said.

“It’s also likely that there’s more disease transmission and more chlamydia occurring in our communities,” Carr continued. Chlamydia remained Minnesota’s top reported infectious disease in 2011 with 16,898 cases; 15,509 cases were reported in 2010.

Furthermore, syphilis cases of any stage climbed to 366 in 2011, and gonorrhea cases went up 6 percent to 2,283 cases. A separate MDH report will address HIV/AIDS later this month.

“All these infections are preventable,” said Carr, “by delaying the start of sexual activity, limiting the number of sexual partners and practicing safer sex [such as] correct and consistent condom use.”

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!