AIDS: The Cavalry is Not Coming to Save Us

Pernessa Seele, who founded the group Balm in Gilead, writes on Anderson Cooper 360 Blog:

The world has been very consumed with the devastation of AIDS in Africa. Great! However, there should be a worldwide out-cry that 1 in 20 persons living in Washington, DC, our nation’s capital, is living with the AIDS virus. Over 80% of these persons living with HIV in Washington, DC, are Black Americans.

The HIV prevalence rate in Washington, DC, (5%) is fast approaching the levels of infection in Uganda (5.4%).

read the entire article at Anderson Cooper 360:.

WWC Seeks Focus Group Participants for Next Week

Project R.E.D., Whitman Walker Clinic's new community education and outreach program for HIV prevention, is looking for volunteers to participate in focus groups on Monday July 21st and Tuesday July 22nd. They have four target groups for this campaign and are looking for focus group participants from these groups:

* 18 – 24 year old gay men
* Single gay men of color
* 24 – 35 year old heterosexual African-American women
* Heterosexual African-American men under the age of 40

The purpose of these focus groups is to talk with people in these target groups to determine what messaging would be most effective as well as determine what vehicle would be best for delivering that message. So, there will be questions about attitudes toward sexual behavior, what things people respond more to; and what type of imagery or wording would get's people's attention or resonates with them, etc. This is completely confidential and participants will be compensated for their time.

If you know of some people who are potential participants, please call Karen Solod during the day at 301-441-4660 or call Kathie at the same number in the evenings during the week or anytime over the weekend and say Whitman-Walker Clinic sent you. If there are any questions, indicate it is for the RT Strategies Focus Groups.

She Fourteen, She's Dying, and She Still Doesn't Know Why

I hear a lot of stories about HIV and AIDS in DC but this one I had to share with you. A staff person at a local medical facility today told me about a fourteen year old in the District of Columbia who is losing her battle against HIV/AIDS. Tragic as this is, it still happens, especially in the District. DC still has a higher HIV/AIDS Death Rate than any state.

What makes this case particularly tragic is that the young woman does not even know she is HIV positive. (She was born with HIV, a challenge that continues to plague our city. While there are treatments that prevent HIV positive pregnant moms from passing HIV on to their children in most cases, The District of Columbia also has the highest perinatal HIV transmission rates in the country).

And in this case, her mother has decided not to tell the young woman about her HIV status, and the Doctor is unfortunately obliged to respect her wishes.

I've heard second-hand information about several such cases at both Howard University Hospital and Children's National Medical Center. Despite the fact that young people in DC have the right to confidentially access sexual health services beginning at 13, there are young people aged 13, 14, 15, and even sixteen, that have not been told they are HIV positive.

Sometimes the parents may be concerned about how the children react. Sometimes the parents may be concerned about their own HIV status being revealed to friends and family. Either way, it continues to happen.

In the case of this fourteen year old girl, it seems to me outrageous that she could leave us and never know the truth about her HIV status.

But it is also outrageous to have sexually active teenagers in the District of Columbia who are HIV positive and don't even know it.

Given what we know about young people in DC from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data it's quite possible these youth are sexually active for several years before they even find out they are HIV positive. It's hard to believe, but true. And it may be yet another factor contributing to our high HIV/AIDS rates in the District.

Young adults have a right to accurate and honest information about their health and well-being. They should also have a right to know their HIV status.

Breaking the Silence on HIV

emPower Magazine Editorial Director/Publisher DeShuna Spencer writes about HIV in the District of Columbia:

Recently, while boarding the subway, an ad inside of the train car caught my attention. In big black letters the poster read: 1 in 20 people live with HIV. From first glance, one might’ve thought the ad was referring to an African country where HIV is devastating entire families and communities. But the statistics were actually referring to the District of Columbia, my own backyard. After conducting further Google research at home, I learned that Washington DC has the highest AIDS rate among major cities. And what’s even more alarming, 9 out of 10 women who test positive in the District are black.

Continue reading this article at emPower

really, your kids are having sex. like seriously.

Bloger and fellow AIDS activist OC Girl has a great blog post up about doing HIV prevention outreach in the District of Columbia. She writes:

Obviously those kids are sexually active. However, I am forbidden from doing outreach at the school or handing out condoms to anyone under 18. So, when I passed by the school a few weeks ago and saw what I saw, I seriously considered breaking the law.

continue reading this blog post on OC Girl's kick ass blog

CPG Meeting Recap for 7/10/08

Since the current prevention plan has been extended through 2009, the CPG is taking the opportunity to explore ways to increase the group’s productivity and increase/maintain community input involvement. At last night’s meeting the CPG voted on proposed changes to the Bylaw’s concerning CPG membership.

In short, the Executive Committee proposed the following changes:

• Reducing the maximum number of voting members from 31 to 23.
• Holding 6 regular meetings of the full CPG each year (as opposed to 12) with the possibility that additional meetings can be called depending on the committee’s workload.
• Members must attend at least 4 meetings each year. An alternate may represent the member at one meeting each year.
• Eliminate all standing committees.
• Incorporate an allowance for ad hoc committees to be formed to address specific tasks as these situations arise.
• Transforming the Executive Committee into an Operations committee composed of the government co-chair, community co-chair, community co-chair elect, and four members of the CPG, with 2 chosen by the membership and 2 appointed by the CPG chairs.
  

The CPG discussed the proposed changes and decided:

• To keep the membership cap at 31 until/unless we could determine a reasonable justification for changing this number. The thinking behind the proposed change is that we could retain CPG members; however some CPG members are concerned that reducing the membership cap could negatively impact the diversity (community representation) of the CPG.
• The CPG decided to eliminate all standing committees, including the Executive committee.
• The CPG approved the installation of an Operations Committee, but with the following changes: Instead of being a body of 7 members, it has been reduced to a body of 5 members, with two members from the CPG instead of 4. Both members will be chosen/nominated by the full CPG.

Also important to note:
At the present time, all future full CPG meetings will continue to begin at 5:30 PM on the 2nd Thursday of the month in which a meeting is scheduled. The meetings are scheduled around times the CPG is needed to perform CDC mandated CPG tasks. Meetings will be held August 14, September 11 and November 13, 2008. In 2009, meetings will be held February 12, April 9, and June 11.

Currently, the Operations committee will meet monthly via conference call at 11:30AM on the first Thursday of each month. Two members from the CPG will be approved at the August 14, 2008 meeting.

As always, the community is welcome to attend all meetings and engage in the community process. Meetings are held at 64 New York Ave NE at 5:30PM in the 5th floor conference room. Thank you.

National Latino AIDS Awareness Day October 15th

October 15th is National Latino AIDS Awareness Day, a day to talk about HIV/AIDS in the Latino Community.

Latinos in the United States continue to be affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, accounting for a greater proportion of AIDS cases than their representation in the U.S. population overall, and the second highest AIDS case rate in the nation by race/ethnicity. Studies have shown that Latinos with HIV/AIDS may face additional barriers to accessing care than their white counterparts (read the fact sheet here).

To learn more, visit the National Latino AIDS Awareness Day website at www.nlaad.org.

2008 National Latino AIDS Awareness Day Events

National Latino AIDS Awareness Day Congressional Briefing
Tuesday October 14th
Room 2218 in the Rayburn House Office Building, US Congress, Washington DC
10:00 AM to 11:00 AM

2007 National Latino AIDS Awareness Day Event
click here for a description and photos of 2007 DC NLAAD Events
click here for the list of 2007 NLAAD Events

Add this event on Facebook

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Fight HIV in DC Now on Facebook

Fight HIV in DC has a new home on Facebook. To reach our facebook group, click here. And please be sure to invite your facebook friends to sign up for the group as well.

Of course, you can still reach Fight HIV in DC on MySpace, Friendster, YouTube, and Flickr.

DC HIV/AIDS Administration Out of Condoms

The DC Department of Health HIV/AIDS Administration long troubled Condom Distribution Program has hit yet another roadblock. They ran out of condoms.

A local HIV/AIDS organization that was told they could pick up thousands of condoms this week was told this morning that the HIV/AIDS Administration is cleaned out and will not have any condoms to distribute for at least a week.

The shortage raises questions about the overall distribution of condoms. On two separate occasions in 2006 and in 2007, the HIV/AIDS Administration pledged to distribute a million condoms. As a basis of comparison The New York City Health Department distributes anywhere from three to five million condoms each month.

But while the HIV/AIDS administration pledged on two separate occassions to distribute a million condoms it now seems pretty obvious based on the numbers that they never even had a million condoms to distribute.