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Dr. Ron Valdiserri, Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Health, Infectious Diseases, and Director, Office of HIV/AIDS
Policy, US Department of Health and Human Services, offers an excellent new
resource published as a special supplement to the journal Public Health
Reports.
Called "Innovations in Oral
Health Care for People Living with HIV/AIDS," it presents findings from
the Innovations in Oral Health Care Initiative, which involved 15, five-year
demonstration projects supported by the Health Resources and Services
Administration’s HIV/AIDS Bureau, in addition to resources from the Ryan White
Care Act’s Special Projects of National Significance.
The findings showed that innovative
program models can engage and retain people who are living with HIV/AIDS into
oral healthcare services in both urban and non-urban settings. Valdiserri
emphasizes oral health is crucial for a person’s general health and well-being
throughout a lifespan, and it is especially critical for PLWHA. Inadequate oral
health care can undermine the success of health outcomes, nutritional intake,
and HIV treatment regimens. He notes that oral infections may also spread to
other parts of the body, a particularly dangerous occurrence for individuals
with compromised immune systems. View this resource at http://www.publichealthreports.org/issuecontents.cfm?Volume=127&Issue=8.
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!
