Positively Aware Online News Brief. Current HIV News and events
POSITIVELY AWARE February 6th 2012
Follow us.National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
Controversy Surrounds AIDS Memorial Park in NYC
HealthHIV Survey of HIV and Primary Care Doctors Finds Concern
New Protein Discovery Could Lead to New HIV Drugs
National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
February 7 marks the 12th year since National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day was first established. Events around the country will focus on education, testing, increasing involvement, and getting and keeping HIV-positive people in treatment.
To find an event near you, or to register your event, go to blackaidsday.org.
On the Internet
Webinar: I Am My Brother’s Keeper: black MSM and the Faith Community Addressing HIV/AIDS
Monday, February 6
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EST
This 90-minute web panel discussion will examine Black men who have sex with men (MSM) ideologies on the faith community’s role and response in addressing HIV/AIDS and related stigma.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at: www3.gotomeeting.com/register/735268350
Webcast: “Living with HIV/AIDS – Social Security Can Help”
Tuesday, February 7
Time: 10:00AM MST
The webcast will be accessible directly from the Social Security website at socialsecurity.gov/denver.
For more information on Social Security’s initiatives and programs, please visit our website at socialsecurity.gov.
Webcast/Radio Show: “The seX Factor: HIV Among Older Adults”
February 7, 2012
Time: 3:00-5:00pm CST
Location: WVON Midway Broadcasting (Legacy room)
1000 E. 87th St.
Chicago, IL 60619
All are welcome at this live studio radio/webcast, but viewing audience space is limited.
Three ways to participate:
Onsite audience at WVON Live Radio Broadcast
On the radio at 1690AM
Streaming live Webcast at southsidehelp.org and wvon.com
The New York Times, Architectural Record, and The New York Observer all reported that the AIDS Memorial Park Design Competition jury announced on January 30 that they’ve selected a Brooklyn design team from studio a+i as the winner of its design competition for the AIDS memorial park on the old site of St. Vincent's Hospital. The design, called “Infinite Forest,” features a park bordered by three mirrored walls, creating the illusion of a forest in the middle of New York City.
But according to a Village Voice blog, the chances of the design actually being executed are slim. The developer in charge of actually building the park, Rudin Management, says that they will “ignore the results of the contest and move forward with their own design, by landscape architect Rick Parisi.” Parisi's plan is much more generic, calling for some 600 seats amid mixed plantings.
To find out more, including how to donate to the memorial, go to aidsmemorialpark.org.
HealthHIV Survey of HIV and Primary Care Doctors Finds Concern
Concerns over increasing needs and decreasing resources and funding are key findings from the Second Annual HealthHIV State of HIV Primary Care survey. The survey uncovers concerns about the readiness of the HIV workforce and its ability to treat the growing number of people living with HIV, including an estimated 600,000-800,000 HIV-positive people set to be covered by the 2014 expansion of Medicaid.
“The survey reveals that reimbursement for HIV services is a major factor between the HIV workforce and number of people needing HIV care. Among HIV treatment providers, two-thirds report an increase in their HIV caseloads and more than a third report inadequate reimbursement as a barrier to expanding their practices. As demand for HIV care providers continues to increase, new HIV care providers are scarce. Twenty-two percent of primary care providers cite reimbursement as a significant barrier to providing HIV services,” according to the survey summary.
"The competing concerns of increasing HIV caseloads and decreasing funding are placing stress on the landscape of HIV care. If we hope to continue meeting the needs of people living with HIV, and prevent its spread, we must increase HIV-related education and training of primary care providers," said HealthHIV Executive Director Brian Hujdich. "We are approaching full implementation of the Affordable Care Act and more needs to be done to increase access to quality HIV care, including augmenting the specialist workforce with primary care providers who screen for and treat HIV disease - what HealthHIV terms the 'HIV Primary Care Provider.'"
In addition to the disparity between need and resources, the survey also identified trends about testing, treatment and barriers to care.
To read more survey results, go to http://www.healthhiv.org/modules/info/files/files_4f23133a3e093.pdf.
New Protein Discovery Could Lead to New HIV Drugs
A team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health recently discovered a new protein that enables HIV to destroy human cells. The discovery provides scientists with an important look into the complex interactions between HIV proteins and human proteins, an understanding that could potentially lead to new HIV drug therapies. The study was published in the January 19, issue of Nature.
HIV is a small pathogen that includes about 15 proteins which can act in various combinations with the more than 30,000 proteins in human cells. APOBEC3G is a human protein that has the power to mutate HIV’s genome and prevent infection. However, an HIV protein called HIV-1 viral infectivity factor (Vif) typically degrades APOBEC3G before it can do its job.
Focusing on the interaction between Vif and APOBEC3G, the study researchers found that another protein called CBF-ß was a key factor necessary for the degradation of APOBEC3G to take place.
“I’ve been working in this field for over 25 years and I am certain that there is still even more left to this story,” explained Xiao-Fang Yu, MD, DSc, professor in the Bloomberg School’s W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology and lead author of the study. “This is an exciting time to be in HIV research.”
“The identification of CBF-ß is only one piece of the puzzle, but it’s an important one,” said Sean L. Evans, a PhD candidate in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology and an author of the study. “The human protein APOBEC3G is designed to weaken HIV, and the virus has evolved a mechanism for defeating this anti-viral factor.”
The next step, now that scientists have identified CBF-ß, will be to test various inhibitors and potential drug therapies to determine which ones disrupt the interaction between CBF-ß and Vif, and, therefore, which ones can prevent the degradation of APOBEC3G.
“Understanding these interactions is essential to the intelligent design of drugs that can fight HIV,” continued Evans. “If we can stop Vif from degrading APOBEC3G, HIV would be severely crippled.”
Dr. Rob Garofalo is a physician who cares for adolescents and young adults affected by HIV. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2006 and at a particularly low point in his life, he searched the Internet for "puppy Chicago" and an image of Fred popped up. Although he had never previously had a pet, Garofalo credits Fred with bringing both peace and joy to his life again.
Fred's healing properties have now led to a creative project aimed at helping teens who are HIV-positive and uninsured. By selling “Fred Says” greeting cards online, Garofalo is raising money to help this vulnerable population. According to their website, doc and dog have four goals:
- to raise as much money as possible for HIV-positive teens without health insurance;
- to be as popular as 'Boo' on Facebook (he’s Fred’s idol)
- to have their efforts noticed by Ellen Degeneres, and to go on her show (Fred just loves her)
- to sell enough cards that they can make a significant, beneficial impact on teens with HIV
Garofalo is an attending physician at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, and Director of both the hospital’s Adolescent/Young Adult HIV Program, and the Gender, Sexuality, and HIV Prevention Center. Dr. Garofalo is a strong advocate for HIV-positive adolescents through primary patient care and innovative HIV prevention research projects.
To help Dr. Garofalo and Fred reach their goals, go to fredsays.org.Ishaug Steps Down as AIDS United President and CEO
Mark Ishaug is stepping down as President and CEO of AIDS United, effective February 29, 2012, according to an announcement from the organization on January 30. Ishaug has accepted a position as Chief Executive Officer of Thresholds, a Chicago-based non-profit focused on serving people with mental illness.
Following Ishaug's departure, Victor Barnes, Senior Vice President, will serve as Interim President and CEO.
"AIDS United has had a phenomenal inaugural year, and Mark has been a tremendous leader. We understand and respect his decision to pursue a new position that brings him back to his home state and his family," said Douglas Brooks, Chair of AIDS United's Board of Trustees. "I am confident that Victor Barnes and the AIDS United staff are well positioned to build on our 2011 successes, begin implementation of our three-year strategic plan, and advance our ambitious mission to end AIDS in this country."
AIDS United was launched in January, 2011 from the merger of two leading national HIV/AIDS organizations, The National AIDS Fund and AIDS Action, uniting the core strengths of strategic grantmaking and capacity-building with HIV/AIDS policy expertise. In 2011 the organization cultivated an unprecedented number of public and private sector partnerships—with investments totaling over $6M—that directly support its programs and policy work and advance the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.
To learn more or to support AIDS United programs, visit aidsunited.org.
Lost in the vortex of Republican primary skirmishes was a rather significant victory for the Democrats and women’s reproductive rights. Oregon Democrat Suzanne Bonamici won a special election to take over the Congressional seat of Democrat David Wu, who resigned in July over a sex scandal. Bonamici joins Democrats Janice Hahn of California and Kathy Hochul, who both beat Republicans in their races, as the third candidate backed by EMILY’s List, an organization that supports pro-choice women candidates and which has helped elect 80 pro-choice Democratic women members of Congress, 15 senators, nine governors, and hundreds of women to state and local office.
States have enacted record numbers of bans and restrictions over the past year, and all the candidates for the Republican nomination have vowed to curtail abortion rights to various extents and ban federal funding for abortion providers, even though no such funding exists.
On January 30, Democratic Senator from New Jersey Robert Menendez signed on to S. 598, the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and ensure respect for individual states’ regulation of marriage. There are now 31 sponsors, all Democrats—no surprise there.
On February 1, by a vote of 267-159, House members passed H.R. 1173, tellingly called the “Fiscal Responsibility and Retirement Security Act of 2011”—could they mean that only the “fiscally responsible” deserve retirement security? The bill repeals a provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) called the CLASS Act. Twenty-eight Democrats joined a unanimous Republican vote in supporting the repeal.
CLASS stands for Community Living Assistance Services and Supports. It would have paid $50 a day— $18,250 a year—for long-term care services for anyone who had paid premiums for five years. Participation was voluntary, and it was inevitable that the program would attract older, sicker people, sending CLASS into a deadly spiral of elevated costs and unaffordable premiums. Though the Senate will probably block the repeal, enough Senate Democrats may join their House colleagues in voting for it (even the White House has admitted that the paltry premiums wouldn’t begin to cover the cost of the program—some estimates conclude that premiums would have to be $3,000 a month for the program to break even) that CLASS could become the first domino to fall in the Republican strategy to do away with the health care reform law altogether. Plan B, folks, what is it?