Recently in Prevention Category

Calvin Gerald, a member of the DC Center HIV Working Group, has been chosen to serve on the DC HIV Prevention Community Planning Group (CPG). Calvin will join current CPG member Dan O'Neill, chair of the HIV Working Group.

The HPCPG is the group that guides HIV prevention in the District of Columbia, along with the DC Department of Health's HIV/AIDS Administration (HAA).

Members of the HPCPG include residents of the District who are interested in HIV prevention, researchers and academics, healthcare providers, and staff from community-based organizations. CPG members reflect the diversity of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the District.

The HPCPG is responsible for determining which populations are in greatest need of HIV prevention services, as well as deciding what are the best ways to meet those needs. HAA, in turn, is responsible for implementing and funding programs and services that match the HPCPG’s recommendations.

Four other new members were approved to serve on the CPG. They are: Chris Bryant, Rev. Dana Tolliver, Sharmus Outlaw, and Pernell Williams.

The FUK!T/TOOLK!T safer sex campaign is featured in the current issue of The Advocate.

Dr. Frank Spinelli writes "I was to shocked to read the report out of Washington, D.C., suggesting that the number of AIDS cases there among African-American men is 12 times the national average and the rate of HIV infection is higher than in some parts of Western Africa. So you can imagine my pleasure when I first logged on to DCfukit.org, a community-based prevention program and website developed to stop the spread of HIV among D.C. men who have sex with men."

click here to continue reading this article on the Advocate.com website.

DCPCA Summary of this Washington Times Story: PreventionWorks! is a needle exchange program that focuses on preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS. It's been eight months since Congress lifted a decade-long ban prohibiting the District from using local tax dollars to support needle exchange programs. Critical funds are now starting to reach groups that run those programs, but it remains to be seen how effective they will be. Walter Smith, the executive director of the DC Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, monitors the District's efforts to reduce HIV infection.

There are multiple factors that produced our high HIV/AIDS rate, and it'll take multiple factors to bring it down, says Smith. The reasons include unstable leadership at DC's HIV/AIDS prevention office -- which had 12 directors in 20 years. The District has a high population of black and gay residents, who have high rates of infection. Intravenous drug use is the second most common way HIV is spread in DC, after unprotected sex, according to a HAA report released last year. DC needle exchange advocates say the ban left them without an important tool in a city where roughly 10,000 residents are thought to be injection-drug users.

PreventionWorks! had to scrape by mostly on private donations, but now the District increased the group's budget by $300,000 over three years. That's the largest share of nearly $700,000 the District is allocating annually for needle exchanges. Other organizations receiving help include those that work with specific high-risk groups, such as prostitutes and the homeless. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy argues the programs may actually increase disease-infection rates because they fail to curb risky behaviors associated with needle-sharing.

Labels: needle-exchange