White House Announces HIV/AIDS Community Discussion Forums
Sebelius Names Chair of Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS
University of Illinois at Chicago Receives Grant to Study AIDS Nutrition
Sioux City, Iowa Health Center Profiled
Former Drug Dealers Become HIV Counselors
White House Announces HIV/AIDS Community Discussion Forums
According to an Associated Press/Washington Post report on August 21, the White House has announced that it will begin holding "a series of community discussions on HIV and AIDS throughout the country." The “National HIV/AIDS Community Discussions" are intended to provide public input on a national HIV strategy. In a statement issued by the White House, President Barack Obama said, "HIV remains a serious challenge to the American people and I am committed to developing an effective National HIV/AIDS Strategy."
The first forum was held on August 25 in Atlanta, in conjunction with the 2009 National HIV Prevention Conference. Others will occur in Washington, New York, San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, Houston, Albuquerque, NM, Jackson, MS, Fort Lauderdale, Minneapolis, Columbia, SC, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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Sebelius Names Chair of Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS
From the Kaiser Family Foundation Daily HIV/AIDS Report of August 26, Reuters reports that Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has named Helene Gayle, president and chief executive of the charity CARE USA, as Chair of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. According to Reuters, "Gayle, former head of AIDS research at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," who also "headed AIDS efforts at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation," will advise President Obama "on fighting the virus, which has infected an estimated 1 million Americans and 33 million people globally."
Making the announcement at the HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta, Sebelius said, "As we organize numerous ways to engage the American people in confronting the HIV epidemic in our country, the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS will play a critical role in developing and implementing a National HIV/AIDS Strategy," adding, "Dr. Gayle brings an intense commitment to fighting HIV/AIDS and unique experience in advancing public health. I look forward to her leadership and counsel."
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University of Illinois at Chicago Receives Grant to Study AIDS Nutrition
According to an Associated Press report on August 25, a $600,000 grant has been awarded to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) to study how to inform and educate AIDS patients about food safety issues.
A statement released by UIC pointed out that people living with AIDS are “at greater risk of getting life-threatening infections from food-borne illnesses,” due to their immune systems being suppressed.
Lead investigator of the study Mark Dworkin says that many people with AIDS aren’t aware of food safety issues. Research results will help new guidelines to be developed to improve awareness and will be made available at clinics and AIDS service organizations.
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Sioux City, Iowa Health Center Profiled
On August 27, a KPTH.com post by Erika Thomas reported on the efforts of the Siouxland Community Health Center in stopping the spread of HIV. While most of the people living with HIV in the U.S. live in urban areas, Dr. Thor Swanson says, "The CDC is saying some of the more rural states are seeing substantial increases in numbers."
In addition to the billboards seen around Sioux City that say, “Can’t wait to meet your friends! Signed, HIV” the health center offers free HIV testing and Dr. Swanson also hosts a monthly HIV conference to keep health care providers updated about the disease.
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Former Drug Dealers Become HIV Counselors
In a story by Darryl Fears in the August 26 Washington Post, it was reported that an innovative approach to spreading the HIV prevention message has been implemented in the D.C. area. In Wards 7 and 8 of the city, where infection and crime rates are among the highest and where many residents are ex-convicts, former drug dealers are being recruited to act as HIV counselors.
A. Toni Young, executive director of the nonprofit Community Education Group, runs the 11-month-old program and helped conceive it. Young told the Washington Post that she knows what critics will say: A former drug dealer is bound to slide back into criminal behavior. "I think that's the problem," she said. "We have to provide an opportunity for them to do something different from what we've known them to do. . . . We're not just trying to give people a job. We're trying to change them, and change a community's dynamic."
According to the story, “about 20 men and women, most of whom have criminal records, have completed the program's training course since it began in October.” Young said, "If I've managed to hold onto 18 out of those 20, I'll live with that. You have to consider that these workers have distributed more than 100,000 condoms east of the Anacostia River, they have tested more than 2,000 residents of wards 7 and 8, and they have referred more than 100 people to substance abuse care and treatment, and this area needs that."
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