Caroltime’s Weblog

I don’t know if you have caught this information on the news or not, but there have been new reports regarding HIV positivity in America.  Here is some information I recieved from the CDC (Center for Disease Control):

Please make it a point to read this.  AIDS is not a disease of “other people”, its a disease of all people.  Every single day I encounter people from every walk of life, every economic background, every sexual preference, every race and every gender.  HIV does not have a preference.  If you have cells, it wants YOU!  So, take a moment to truly realize that HIV is still alive and well and attacking people everyday.  AND IT’S A PREVENTABLE DISEASE!  So, jimmy up next time you do the deed and read this info!

National Association of People with AIDS Statement on the CDC’s Revised Estimate of HIV Incidence in the United States..:

Evidence of the Need for Inclusion of People Living with HIV/AIDS in the Development of a National AIDS Strategy

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) broke their silence on the long embargoed and highly anticipated updated estimate of HIV incidence in the United States at the 17^th International Conference in Mexico City on Saturday, August 2, 2008. New technology and methodology has revealed an estimated 56,300 new HIV infections occurred in 2006, as opposed to the previous estimate of 40,000.   The findings go on to report that the number of new infections has ranged between 50,000 and 58,500 since the beginning of the 1990s.  This report sheds light on what gay and bisexual men of all races and ethnicities and African American men and women face each day: HIV/AIDS for them is not a possibility but a reality. 

The updated HIV incidence estimate underscores the need to meaningfully engage people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in the development and implementation of a National AIDS Strategy.  The Denver Principles – on which the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) was founded – recommends that people with AIDS be involved at every level of decision making and be included in all AIDS forums with equal credibility, enabling them to share their own experiences and knowledge.  This concept served as the basis for the formation of AIDSWatch, the largest annual constituent-based congressional education event in the United States.  Each year, people with HIV/AIDS travel to Washington D.C. to integrate their lived experiences with national policy initiatives to address stigma and civil rights, access to quality care and treatment, appropriate prevention education for persons with the virus, and PLWHA involvement.

NAPWA also started National HIV Testing Day (NHTD) fourteen years ago to encourage individuals to learn their status and improve their health outcome opportunities.  Currently, one-third of people living with HIV are unaware they have the virus.  Yet research shows that knowledge of HIV status is linked to lower risk for acquiring and transmitting HIV. NAPWA believes that persons living with HIV play a significant role in averting future HIV infections. We must apply the knowledge that we have acquired after twenty seven years living with AIDS through a different lens, strengthening our successes and improving our short-comings.

There has been a myriad of reactions to the release of the updated HIV incidence estimate from community leaders.  While many weren’t surprised that previous estimates were too low, the release confirmed that the government has not yet done enough to respond to HIV/AIDS in the United States.  “Given what we know about HIV/AIDS in 2008, it is inexcusable to allow ideology to lead our response to the domestic epidemic,” says Frank Oldham Jr., NAPWA President & CEO.  Mr. Oldham goes on to express that, “Abstinence-only-until-marriage programs will not suffice. We must equip our youth with comprehensive sex education. We have to maximize our resources by investing only in evidence-based prevention strategies that work for ALL persons at-risk.”  More than half of the 56,300 HIV estimated infections in 2006 were among gay and bisexual men of all races and ethnicities, and the community has witnessed an absent response to homophobia and other structural and systemic barriers that continue to perpetuate HIV-risk among this population. Additionally, AIDS services have been essentially flat-funded over the last decade, when accounting for inflation.  A commitment to an effective response to AIDS in America must come with adequate resources targeted at those with greatest need, and a strong investment in research until there is a vaccine or a cure.

Currently, there are 32 states in the U.S. that possess criminal statues on HIV transmission.  NAPWA works to address HIV-related or non-HIV-related policies that stigmatize or cause undue stress to people living with HIV/AIDS. “People are still afraid to be honest about having HIV and are unnecessarily placing others at risk,” says Jack Tocco, an AIDS advocate newly diagnosed in 2005.  Jack goes on to say, “to me it seems that stigma and discrimination play a larger role than we think when it comes to new infections, we have to change the conversation about people with HIV.”Through removal of structural, systemic, or interpretive barriers, many persons with and at-risk for HIV continue to fall outside of access to prevention, healthcare, treatment, and support services. NAPWA is currently working in partnership with The Center for HIV Law & Policy and other partners to develop an HIV manual addressing HIV transmission. 

Highly Active Anti-retroviral Treatment (HAART), also known as “the drug cocktail” first came onto the scene in 1996.  The availability of which has drastically reduced individual progression to AIDS as well as deaths.  Despite documented evidence in a 2004 AIDS journal which indicates that HIV therapies reduce infectiousness by 60%, approximately half of people living with HIV that are eligible for HAART are not receiving it.  NAPWA in partnership with the Treatment Access Expansion Project is seeking the passage of the Early Treatment for HIV Act (ETHA) (S.860; H.R.3326), the bill has been deadlocked in Congress for more than a decade. Access to quality and comprehensive healthcare and treatment should be a guaranteed right for American people, not an earned privilege.  In many areas of the country, low-income pre-disabled people with HIV remain ineligible for Medicaid until they develop AIDS.  Medicare Part D beneficiaries suffer from limited formulary access due to cost-sharing challenges.  Ryan White recipients continue to attempt to piecemeal their care in a system that is supported by discretionary funds, and hold onto hope with each reauthorization that they will continue to be able to access life-saving care and treatment. 

Last week, President Bush signed the Lantos/Hyde U.S. Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act (S.2731), which expands the country’s commitment to fighting AIDS abroad through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) by 48 billion dollars over the next five years.  All countries receiving PEPFAR must submit a plan to address HIV/AIDS in their country as a prerequisite to receiving funds; the United States does not have such a plan.  The presidential candidates have been asked to endorse the National AIDS Strategy, and if elected, produce a comprehensive and coordinated plan to address the domestic epidemic. Presidential candidate Barack Obama has endorsed this request, and the AIDS community and all American’s are waiting for presidential candidate John McCain’s commitment. For more information, including a list of individuals and organizations that have endorsed the National AIDS Strategy, please visit http://www.nationalaidsstrategy.org/.

Find more information from CDC about the updated HIV incidence estimate at:
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/incidence.htm.

Note:  Virginia and North Carolina both are included in the 32 states that have criminal charges for non-disclosure of one’s status.

And yes, the HAART Therapy does reduce infectiousness, but drug adherance is a major problem for a lot of positive people, so…condom usage is still important.