Julie Davids's blog

Today, I had the opportunity to chat with some of the delegates at the National HIV Prevention Conference about their hopes for their time here. Be sure to click through to see the whole post with all 4 clips...

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Today at the National HIV Prevention Conference, the HIV Prevention Justice Alliance released two new position statements:

 

Current Conditions Challenge Anti-HIV Efforts, Threatening Potential Prevention Progress 

Ending the HIV epidemic in the U.S. will be built upon multiple pillars: a comprehensive,
national approach that strengthens HIV prevention, healthcare, housing, research, and the
protection of civil and human rights. Without a strong, national commitment to a full array of
needed strategies, HIV prevention efforts are unlikely to succeed in reducing new HIV
infections.

Click here for PDF

 

 A Call for CDC Action on HIV Prevention Justice

Leading public health officials and community activists agree - we need a paradigm shift in HIV prevention research and policy to inform and improve our practices if we are to turn the tide of HIV transmission.

The HIV PJA recognizes and insists on the need for full-government investment and involvement in HIV prevention. However, we come to the 2009 NHPC to issue a strong and distinct call for CDC leadership as the cornerstone agency of science-based public and preventive health in our nation.  Simply put, CDC must build the demand for HIV prevention across all communities and sectors needed in this fight against HIV/AIDS.

Click here for PDF

(cross posted at RH Reality Check)

By Julie Davids and David Ernesto Munar

ATLANTA (Aug 23)-As members of the new Administration opentheir first federal scientific gathering on HIV/AIDS six-months into the Presidencyof Barack Obama, they face a mix of high expectations and serious challengesfacing HIV-fighting efforts in the U.S. AIDS advocates are poised to assess the course on HIV/AIDS charted by theAdministration and attempt to apply their influence.

More than 3,000 scientists, service providers, publicofficials and advocates have joined in downtown Atlanta for the NationalConference on HIV Prevention (NHPC)sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Withthe newly appointed heads of the Department of Health and Human Services,Kathleen Sebelius, and CDC Director Tom Frieden welcoming delegates tomorrow,the conference opened tonight with a panel of speakers who are all living withHIV, including Magic Johnson and a member of this reporting team, David ErnestoMunar of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (see his remarks here)

The conference marks just over a year since CDC officials,presented at the International Conference on AIDS in Mexico City,unveiled stark new data suggesting the annual number of HIV infections in theU.S. is 40 percent higher than previously estimated, with African Americansshouldering the greatest number of new cases and rates still on the rise amonggay and bisexual men of all races. Based on its new calculations, CDC says that an estimated 56,300 peoplebecome infected with HIV each year, far greater than the long-standing, priorestimate of 40,000 annual infections.  read more »

HIV prevention providers and advocates are prepared to usethe conference to highlight a range of economic and political issues hamperinganti-HIV efforts, calling for a greater focus on prevention work through effortsto strengthen the "pillars" of a comprehensive, combination approach groundedin healthcare access; integration and expansion of voluntary HIV testing,prevention and treatment; and long-overdue attention to social inequalitiesthat can further the spread of the epidemic. And they are seeking to determine, and influence, whatrelative priority HIV-fighting efforts will have for this Administration in themidst of many competing challenges.

I am so sad about the death of Marty Delaney. I am wondering if those of us who are coming to CROI could meet up to remember him together. Here is a quick remembrance - please forgive its incompleteness but it is with a heavy heart that i wanted to send something:

Marty died from liver cancer surrounded by family and friends in San Francisco.

He was a groundbreaking AIDS activist who fought for access to treatment for all in need. He was the founder of Project Inform, which set up its own clinical trials of possible HIV therapy when there weren't any, and he continued throughout his life to go toe-to-toe with the drug companies on pricing issues.

He knew all the data, but could break it down into common language that schooled me as a young activist in Philly and that provided a backbone for the information we shared through Project TEACH at Philadelphia FIGHT. No matter how long he had already been on the road, or if he was sick or tired, he showed up for annual town meetings there for years - representing just one small part of his untiring efforts to connect people with information, and information to power.

He was a great person to argue with. He was unrelenting on what he thought was right. But like my mentor Kiyoshi Kuromiya, he would push through the doors of the corridors of power but then didn't let them slam shut after he got in - he brought others along with him, even if they had disagreements. He was a hard-core negotiator, and a talented communicator.

In later years, Marty was working with people advocating for a variety of diseases to learn from the work of AIDS treatment activists in influencing research and drug pricing. His loss resonates will resonate far beyond the AIDS community, but so deeply within it.
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On November 20, over 1000 low-income people of color living with HIV came to the 100 Days to Fight AIDS rally to stand up for the ambitious HIV/AIDS platform under which Obama campaigned for president, including his pledge for a National AIDS Strategy.

For a change, we approached the nation’s capitol in the lead-up to World AIDS Day with a spirit of hope. In the coming months, we must continue to push forward with an expectation of more – not just more resources for existing HIV/AIDS efforts, but for a more strategic and more coordinated, comprehensive response that will actually bring down the rate of infection, tackle the epidemic in communities of color and in gay men, and bring dignity and medical care to the lives of all those who are infected.

And change is what we need. Since we last commemorated World AIDS Day, it’s been confirmed that HIV/AIDS is worse in the United States than we ever knew.
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CDC has announced its upcoming announcement of new incidence numbers that will show that rates of HIV in the United States are higher than previously estimated. Their "Dear Colleague" letter is below:  read more »