Dr. Grant Colfax: New Director of White House Office of National AIDS Policy

via PR Newswire

San Francisco AIDS Foundation applauds President Obama's selection of Dr. Grant Colfax to become director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy. Dr. Colfax is uniquely suited to continue the momentum established under his predecessor, Mr. Jeffrey Crowley, in advancing the ambitious goals outlined in the president's National HIV/AIDS Strategy and moving us closer to an AIDS-free generation.

"Dr. Colfax has been instrumental in the decline of new HIV infections in San Francisco in recent years," said San Francisco AIDS Foundation CEO Neil Giuliano. "His unique blend of experience serving on the front lines of the epidemic, implementing the national strategy at the local level, working as a direct service provider within the Ryan White CARE system, and conducting cutting-edge research makes him the right person at the right time to lead the Obama administration's efforts to end HIV/AIDS in the United States."

The Office of National AIDS Policy provides essential leadership in addressing the U.S. HIV/AIDS epidemic. As director, Dr. Colfax will be required to take a fresh look at how resources can be targeted to reduce HIV infection rates, increase access to treatment, and decrease HIV-associated health disparities related to sexual orientation, race, gender, and socio-economic status in hard-hit communities across the country. His track record in San Francisco demonstrates he is well suited for this challenge.

"Dr. Colfax will play a critical role over the next several years to ensure the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and HIV service integration to address the health care needs of people living with HIV," said Ernest Hopkins, director of legislative affairs at San Francisco AIDS Foundation. "Having worked closely with him on complex issues and having seen his consensus-building skills among diverse populations, including communities of color, I am confident that the AIDS community will have a strong advocate within the administration. I know Dr. Colfax will work to ensure that the coming changes to our health care system are made thoughtfully, carefully, and with a strong focus on improving the health status of the most vulnerable people."

As director of the HIV Prevention and Research Section at San Francisco Department of Public Health, Dr. Colfax elevated the role of community-based health research in local planning and funding decisions and instituted innovative, evidence-based HIV prevention tools, such as measuring and mapping community viral load and enhancing HIV testing and linkage to care, making San Francisco's HIV prevention planning and service system a model for jurisdictions across the nation. When developing the city's most recent HIV prevention plan with diverse stakeholders, Dr. Colfax was mindful to ensure its consistency with the emerging National HIV/AIDS Strategy. Throughout his career, he has maintained his role as a physician at Ward 86 at San Francisco General Hospital, the nation's first HIV/AIDS-specialized clinic.

San Francisco AIDS Foundation stands ready to work with Dr. Colfax, the White House, and other community partners across the country to reduce new HIV infections, increase access to care for all people living with the disease, and reduce HIV-related health disparities.



[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

HIV/AIDS Treatments Compromised by Budget Cuts

via Nature News, by Erika Check Hayden

Preventing the spread of HIV used to mean testing people for infection and encouraging them to practise safe sex. Increasingly, it also means prescribing drugs, as studies show that giving infected people or their uninfected partners antiretroviral drugs as soon as an infection is diagnosed can help to check the spread of AIDS.

Yet at this week’s annual Conference on Retro­viruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle, Washington, there was growing concern that financial austerity in the United States and elsewhere is eating away at the funding needed for a worldwide prevention effort.

Many scientists and advocates agree that there is now an “awesome possibility to prevent the spread of HIV”, says Sharonann Lynch, HIV policy adviser for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders) in New York. “If we decrease the money invested in treatment now, we are squandering the best opportunity we’re going to have to get ahead of the wave of new infections.”

Last month, US President Barack Obama’s 2013 budget request proposed a 10.8% cut to direct international aid for HIV programmes under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) which, together with previous cuts, would slice more than US$1 billion from the fund’s 2010 level (see ‘Sliding support’). And last November, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said that it would not hand out any more funds for scaling up AIDS treatments until 2014 because of tightening budgets in donor countries (see Nature 480,159–160; 2011).

The shortfalls come as a slew of results presented this week reinforce a growing consensus about the power of early treatment for HIV infections. The latest data are part of a trend that accelerated last May, when HPTN 052, a clinical trial run by the multinational HIV Prevention Trials Network, showed that giving antiretroviral drugs to people who are HIV-positive can stop them from passing the virus to their uninfected partners (M. S. Cohen et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 365, 493-505; 2011). In light of such results, the World Health Organization is expected to issue new guidelines for managing HIV in couples soon.

Read the Rest.


[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

An end to AIDS is within our reach

via The Washington Post, by Desmond Tutu

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine last month has demonstrated that antiretroviral treatment can prevent the spread of HIV, in addition to saving those infected from sickness and death.

Armed with this new data, President Obama should lead the world in a massive effort to expand access to treatment and rid humanity of AIDS — the most devastating disease of our time.

But just as the end of AIDS has finally come within reach, we are witnessing an unprecedented drop in financial and political support for the cause.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the Kaiser Family Foundation reported in August that donor funding for HIV/AIDS leveled in 2009 and then declined — 10 percent — in 2010 for the first time ever. The United States, which accounts for more than half of global contributions to fight the disease, disbursed $700 million less in 2010 than in 2009. And projected U.S. funding in 2011 is roughly $28 million less than in 2010.

This is a great shame, as millions of people receiving treatment worldwide depend on these funds to stay alive.

Our support should be increasing. AIDS remains the leading cause of orphanhood and of death among women of reproductive age. It is a major driver of opportunistic infections — particularly tuberculosis — and keeps tens of millions of Africans mired in poverty.

Read the rest.


[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

2011 LGBT Pride Month: Obama's Proclamation

Via The Bilerico Project.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release - May 31, 2011

LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH, 2011

-------

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

The story of America's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community is the story of our fathers and sons, our mothers and daughters, and our friends and neighbors who continue the task of making our country a more perfect Union. It is a story about the struggle to realize the great American promise that all people can live with dignity and fairness under the law. Each June, we commemorate the courageous individuals who have fought to achieve this promise for LGBT Americans, and we rededicate ourselves to the pursuit of equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Since taking office, my Administration has made significant progress towards achieving equality for LGBT Americans. Last December, I was proud to sign the repeal of the discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. With this repeal, gay and lesbian Americans will be able to serve openly in our Armed Forces for the first time in our Nation's history. Our national security will be strengthened and the heroic contributions these Americans make to our military, and have made throughout our history, will be fully recognized.

My Administration has also taken steps to eliminate discrimination against LGBT Americans in Federal housing programs and to give LGBT Americans the right to visit their loved ones in the hospital. We have made clear through executive branch nondiscrimination policies that discrimination on the basis of gender identity in the Federal workplace will not be tolerated. I have continued to nominate and appoint highly qualified, openly LGBT individuals to executive branch and judicial positions. Because we recognize that LGBT rights are human rights, my Administration stands with advocates of equality around the world in leading the fight against pernicious laws targeting LGBT persons and malicious attempts to exclude LGBT organizations from full participation in the international system. We led a global campaign to ensure "sexual orientation" was included in the United Nations resolution on extrajudicial execution -- the only United Nations resolution that specifically mentions LGBT people -- to send the unequivocal message that no matter where it occurs, state-sanctioned killing of gays and lesbians is indefensible. No one should be harmed because of who they are or who they love, and my Administration has mobilized unprecedented public commitments from countries around the world to join in the fight against hate and homophobia.

At home, we are working to address and eliminate violence against LGBT individuals through our enforcement and implementation of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. We are also working to reduce the threat of bullying against young people, including LGBT youth. My Administration is actively engaged with educators and community leaders across America to reduce violence and discrimination in schools. To help dispel the myth that bullying is a harmless or inevitable part of growing up, the First Lady and I hosted the first White House Conference on Bullying Prevention in March. Many senior Administration officials have also joined me in reaching out to LGBT youth who have been bullied by recording "It Gets Better" video messages to assure them they are not alone.

This month also marks the 30th anniversary of the emergence of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which has had a profound impact on the LGBT community. Though we have made strides in combating this devastating disease, more work remains to be done, and I am committed to expanding access to HIV/AIDS prevention and care. Last year, I announced the first comprehensive National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States. This strategy focuses on combinations of evidence-based approaches to decrease new HIV infections in high risk communities, improve care for people living with HIV/AIDS, and reduce health disparities. My Administration also increased domestic HIV/AIDS funding to support the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program and HIV prevention, and to invest in HIV/AIDS-related research. However, government cannot take on this disease alone. This landmark anniversary is an opportunity for the LGBT community and allies to recommit to raising awareness about HIV/AIDS and continuing the fight against this deadly pandemic.

Every generation of Americans has brought our Nation closer to fulfilling its promise of equality. While progress has taken time, our achievements in advancing the rights of LGBT Americans remind us that history is on our side, and that the American people will never stop striving toward liberty and justice for all.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2011 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to eliminate prejudice everywhere it exists, and to celebrate the great diversity of the American people.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.

BARACK OBAMA

[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

Obama's National AIDS Strategy to be Unveiled This Week

via New York Times, by Robert Pear

President Obama will unveil a new national strategy this week to curb the AIDS epidemic by slashing the number of new infections and increasing the number of people who get care and treatment.

“Annual AIDS deaths have declined, but the number of new infections has been static and the number of people living with H.I.V. is growing,” says a final draft of the report, obtained by The New York Times.

In the report, the administration calls for steps to reduce the annual number of new H.I.V. infections by 25 percent within five years. “Approximately 56,000 people become infected each year, and more than 1.1 million Americans are living with H.I.V.,” the report says.

Mr. Obama plans to announce the strategy, distilled from 15 months of work and discussions with thousands of people around the country, at the White House on Tuesday.

Read the rest.

And from the National AIDS Strategy website:

On Tuesday, July 13, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and White House officials will unveil the Obama Administration's National HIV/AIDS Strategy.  Watch the presentation of the plan online at WhiteHouse.gov/live at 2:00 p.m. ET. 

Later that day, President Barack Obama will deliver remarks at a White House reception honoring the HIV/AIDS Community.  The President's address can also be viewed online at WhiteHouse.gov/live at 6:00 p.m. ET. 

Preparing For the Strategy:

On Tuesday afternoon, the Strategy will be posted online at: WhiteHouse.gov/ONAP.  To help prepare community members for the announcement, the Coalition for a National AIDS Strategy developed this Guide to Communicating about the Strategy, which offers ideas on how to leverage the plan to garner local and national attention to urgent issues in our communities.

Other helpful resources include the Gender Monitoring Toolkit and Report Card developed by a coalition of groups to evaluate and monitor the Strategy from a human rights and gender perspective.  Moving Beyond the Status Quo summarizes the recommendations of an independent working group for the Strategy to be maximally effective.

Other community recommendations for the plan are posted at nationalaidsstrategy.org.

Responses to the Strategy

The Coalition for a National AIDS Strategy will host a community conference call on Tuesday, August 10 at 2:00 p.m. ET to share community reactions to the Strategy, reports on the International AIDS Conference taking place in July in Vienna, and discuss advocacy steps needed to move implementation of the Strategy forward.  Stay tuned to this blog for agenda, call-in information, and other details.

IRMA Member Testifies to Obama's AIDS Czar on Rectal Microbicides

Yesterday, on December 3, 2009, Bob Bucklew, Outreach Coordinator for the Cleveland AIDS Clinical Trials Unit and proud IRMA member gave the following testimony to the U.S. Office of National AIDS Policy. He spoke with regard to the National HIV/AIDS Strategy being being developed in the United States. In his allotted 90 seconds, which you can find below, he discussed anal sex and rectal microbicides. 

Way to speak rectal truth to power Bob! You are an inspiration to us all!

I would like to thank the Office of National AIDS Policy for coming to Ohio to hear what we have to say.  I must admit that I am coming to this hearing with a good deal of skepticism.  The history of governmental policy in reaction to the AIDS epidemic has been primarily judgmental of those most at risk for HIV infection, counter to scientific research, and often simply mean-spirited.  

If we are finally to have a National AIDS Policy, one which will actually make an impact, I believe these things must be included: 

The first is the need for universal access to needle exchange programs.The federal ban on needle exchange programs must be lifted immediately.   As people should not be placed at higher risk in red states than blue states, the federal government should insist that states alter their laws to permit needle exchange programs.  

The second is the nonjudgmental acceptance that anal sex is a common, quite natural and normal sex act between two people.   Repeal the ban on federal funding for effective prevention materials for men who have sex with men.    

Increase the priority and funding for the development of rectal microbicides.  Rectal microbicides should no longer be treated simply as an adjunct to the development of vaginal microbicides.  The development of new HIV prevention tools for anal sex is a goal that can stand alone.

Background:

Throughout this fall, the Office of National AIDS Policy has been hosting town hall community discussions in cities throughout the U.S. to provide opportunities for individual citizens to provide White House staff and other policy makers with their recommendations for achieving the President’s three goals for the National HIV/AIDS Strategy: 1) Reducing HIV incidence; 2) Increasing access to care and optimizing health outcomes; and 3) Reducing HIV-related health disparities.  The administration has been hearing from consumers, advocates, providers, and community members in Ohio and scheduled a Town Hall Meeting on Thursday, December 3, 2009 in Cleveland.

Are We Bored with AIDS?

I hate to be a scold, especially when I'm as curious as the next guy about Tiger Woods' alleged girlfriend. Still, when we're done with all the gawking, can we take a moment for something more important?

Via NPR, by Harold Pollack

Almost six thousand people died of AIDS Monday. An even greater number became HIV-infected, though most of these men and women won't know this for months or even years. As far as we know, Monday wasn't any better or worse than any other day in this regard. That it happened to be World AIDS Day was almost incidental.

AIDS was certainly incidental to much of the mainstream media. Scanning the nation's three leading national newspapers, HIV and AIDS were virtually absent from the front pages. The health sections included some good stuff, including one story about South Africa's decision to treat all children living with HIV; that was pretty much it in the area of AIDS. There was apparently no room for further AIDS stories, though there was ample space for stories about how loneliness may spread from person to person, how venting at the office is good for your heart, and more. I saw some good reporting on health reform. Not one of these stories examined how the 2009 reforms might address HIV/AIDS. I'm not sure I have seen any such story this entire year. The rest of the paper included other stories. Some concerned Afghanistan. Many involved a golf club wielded by Mrs. Tiger Woods.

Read the rest.

HIV travel ban to be lifted?

via Advocate.com, by Kerry Eleveld

The first step to ending the HIV travel ban in the United States has been taken by the Obama administration. The Office of Management and Budget posted a notice on its site Friday afternoon indicating that the department of Health and Human Services could move forward with steps to change a regulation that has restricted HIV-positive people from gaining entrance into the United States.

Read the rest.

US endorses UN gay rights text

By MATTHEW LEE – via AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Wednesday formally endorsed a U.N. declaration calling for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality, a measure that former President George W. Bush had refused to sign.

The move was the administration's latest in reversing Bush-era decisions that have been heavily criticized by human rights and other groups. The United States was the only western nation not to sign onto the declaration when it came up at the U.N. General Assembly in December.

"The United States supports the U.N.'s statement on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity and is pleased to join the other 66 U.N. member states who have declared their support of the statement," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood.

"The United States is an outspoken defender of human rights and critic of human rights abuses around the world," Wood told reporters. "As such, we join with other supporters of this statement, and we will continue to remind countries of the importance of respecting the human rights of all people in all appropriate international fora."

The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the administration would endorse the declaration.

Gay rights and other groups had criticized the Bush administration when it refused to sign the declaration when it was presented at the United Nations on Dec. 19. U.S. officials said then that the U.S. opposed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation but that parts of the declaration raised legal questions that needed further review.

According to negotiators, the Bush team had concerns that those sections could commit the federal government on matters that fall under state jurisdiction. In some states, landlords and private employers are allowed to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation; on the federal level, gays are not allowed to serve openly in the military.

But Wood said a "careful interagency review" by the Obama administration had concluded that "supporting this statement commits us to no legal obligations."

When it was voted on in December, 66 of the U.N.'s 192 member countries signed the nonbinding declaration, which backers called an historic step to push the General Assembly to deal more forthrightly with anti-gay discrimination. It was endorsed by all 27 European Union members as well as Japan, Australia and Mexico.

But 70 U.N. members outlaw homosexuality — and in several, homosexual acts can be punished by execution. More than 50 nations, including members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, opposed the declaration.

Some Islamic countries said at the time that protecting sexual orientation could lead to "the social normalization and possibly the legalization of deplorable acts" such as pedophilia and incest. The declaration was also opposed by the Vatican.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Traveler's Notes: AIDS Advocacy in the Age of Obama

by David Ernesto Munar
AIDS Foundation of Chicago

via AIDS Connect

Sometimes you do your best thinking on the beach.

So it was a week after the election as I retreated from the 24-hour news cycle to relax with family in Cartagena, Colombia.

Known as the Heroic City, Cartagena readied for its annual independence parades and festivals as I arrived. The laid-back rhythms of this Caribbean colonial port helped soothe my accumulated stress. On a healthy diet of seafood and sun, I gained a renewed perspective about the significance of this transformative period in American history.

"Is he as impressive as he seems?" I was asked frequently. In this predominately multi-racial society where racism nonetheless prevails, President-elect Barack Obama inspires both a sense of pride and enormous awe in the resiliency of the American spirit.

For those of us affected by HIV/AIDS, Obama's ambitious AIDS plan portends a better future. Could our aspirations be dashed, however, under the weight of AIDS complacency and competing priorities?

AIDS advocates have good reason to be cautious. As the U.S. deployed unprecedented assistance to combat the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, the Administration of President George W. Bush blocked lifesaving and science-based HIV prevention, divested from community-based HIV organizations, and allowed the domestic epidemic to grow without a commensurate expansion in services.

The global AIDS response, while commendable, nonetheless neglected proven harm reduction approaches, undermined access to condoms and family planning, and failed to empower women, girls, and gay/bisexual men in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

I harbor resentment that no amount of caravans, protests, facts, or organizing succeeded in dampening the Bush Administration's (and its allies') powerful and ideologically based resistance to sound HIV/AIDS policies.

After these past eight years, I'm practically programmed to be disappointed.

So I gathered with my mix of emotions – and North American newspapers – in the quiet moments of my Colombian vacation to recalibrate my thinking about our movement's next strategies and approaches.

Read the rest on AIDS Connect.

AIDS advocates inaugurate Obama as the President who will finally change the way the US fights AIDS

(Check out the full press release.)

On November 20, one thousand people living with HIV and allies from across the United States rallied in front of the White House to hold an "inauguration ceremony" for Barack Obama as the president who, during his first one hundred days, will prioritize policies to end the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. and worldwide...

President-elect Obama has made historically bold commitments to reform and expand U.S. AIDS policies. His campaign promised to develop a National AIDS Strategy that includes guaranteed treatment and care for all people with HIV in the US. The campaign pledge goes on to detail a commitment to housing as an integral part of HIV services, an end to the federal ban on funding for syringe exchange, and a call to redirect abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education funding into honest and accurate programs like comprehensive HIV prevention programs.

Internationally, Obama has promised to build on President Bush's global AIDS plan by removing the ideological strings the Bush administration attached to prevention funding. Specifically, Obama has committed to end the Prostitution Loyalty Oath and to support an evidence-based approach to HIV prevention that doesn't overly emphasize abstinence and fidelity at the expense of condoms. He has also pledged to increase funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, a multilateral program which fights the three killer diseases in over 170 countries and which is facing a major funding shortfall...

Gerald LeMelle, Executive Director, Africa Action: "Over the past five years, the U.S. has made great strides in fighting AIDS around the world, yet 33 million people remain infected with the virus, and HIV/AIDS is still the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. Barack Obama has made bold pledges to build on President Bush's global AIDS plan by removing ideological restrictions on comprehensive prevention programs and increasing support for the multilateral Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Starting to implement these promises during his first 100 days would go a long way toward reasserting U.S. moral leadership in the world. Amid international economic turmoil, evidence-driven programs to combat AIDS abroad remain a smart and strategic investment in human security."

For more information, check the 100 Days to Fight AIDS web site.

We will not rest in peace

President Barack Obama can change the way we fight AIDS at home and abroad, and he should make AIDS a priority in his first 100 days.

Join hundreds of activists in DC on Thursday, Nov. 20th 2008 12:30pm
McPherson Square, 14th and I (eye) NW (One block from the White House)
with a march to the White House and Transition Team offices

Go to the site.

Obama Likely To Reverse Some Bush Administration HIV/AIDS Prevention, Family Planning Policies, Adviser Says

President-elect Barack Obama likely will undo U.S. family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention efforts that long linked funding to antiabortion and abstinence-only policies, Susan Wood -- co-chair of Obama's advisory committee for women's health and a professor at George Washington University's School of Public Health and Health Services -- said recently, Bloomberg reports. Wood said that although President Bush's global health programs -- such as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief -- have brought more HIV/AIDS treatment to developing countries than under any other president, spending requirements for abstinence-only education have hampered family planning and the prevention of sexually transmitted infections worldwide.

"We have been going in the wrong direction, and we need to turn it around and be promoting prevention and family planning services and strengthening public health," Wood said. She added that Obama "is committed to looking at all this and changing the policies so that family planning services -- both in the U.S. and the developing world -- reflect what works, what helps prevent unintended pregnancy, reduce maternal and infant mortality, prevent the spread of disease."

According to Bloomberg, one of Bush's policies that has been cited for hindering STI and HIV/AIDS prevention efforts is restrictions on condom education. Gill Greer, director-general of the International Planned Pregnancy Federation, said CDC has pulled some condom information from its Web site. Greer said, "The U.S. administration has certainly succeeded in demonizing condoms rather than showing that they can be part of prevention of both unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections."

Read the rest via the Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report.