NewsTrust - HIV/AIDS - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Independent)

HIV Rates for Black Women in Parts of the US Much Higher than Previously Estimated

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

newswise.com - By University of Medicine, Dentistry of New Jersey - Press Release - Mar. 12 (Press Release) - “We have known that black women in the US are disproportionately impacted by HIV, however, the magnitude of this disparity in areas hardest hit by the HIV epidemic underscores the gravity of the problem.”

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Sex, drugs and HIV -- let's get rational

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

TED - By Elizabeth Pisani - Apr. 05 (Advocacy) - Armed with bracing logic, wit and her "public-health nerd" glasses, Elizabeth Pisani reveals the myriad of inconsistencies in today's political systems that prevent our dollars from effectively fighting the spread of HIV. Her research with at-risk populations -- from junkies in prison to sex workers on the street in Cambodia -- demonstrates the sometimes counter-intuitive measures that could stall the spread of this devastating disease.

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The Politics of AIDS and Health Care Reform

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:15:16 -0700

Huffington Post - Sep. 23 -

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Study reports on the (in)effectiveness of abstinence pledges for teenagers | Kinsey Confidential

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

kinseyconfidential.org - By Dr. Debby Herbenick - Jan. 05 (Comment) - The study conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins University found that teenagers who made pledges to remain abstinent until marriage were just as likely to have non-marital sex, but less likely to use condoms or other forms of birth control once they did start having sex.

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Ex-UN AIDS Chief Slams CDC as Being "Completely Irresponsible" for Withholding Data Showing US Gov't Had Understated Number of New AIDS Cases by 40%

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Steven Lewis, Amy Goodman - Aug. 05 (Interview) - The CDC reportedly knew about the increased number of cases since last year but waited to make the announcement until the opening of the International AIDS Conference in Mexico. We speak with Stephen Lewis, the former UN envoy on AIDS in Africa and and co-director of AIDS-Free World

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A Better Health Agenda for the Americas

Wed, 21 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Alexander Sanger - May. 21 (Opinion) - The new "Health Agenda for the Americas" is more significant for what it omits: sexuality education, safe abortion access, emergency contraception, and measures to combat domestic violence, than for what it addresses

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AIDS/HIV tips from Indiana University

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:46:00 -0700

Indiana University News Room - By Tracy James, Elisabeth Andrews - Sep. 11 (Editorial) - Denial and stigma are major issues in dealing with the AIDS problem in rural America. Many rural residents deny the possibility of HIV/AIDS being part of their community. Hence, many do not practice risk-reduction behaviors, falsely believing they have little chance of contracting HIV, said William L. Yarber, senior director of the Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention at Indiana University Bloomington. Stigma is a serious problem for people with HIV/AIDS in all communities, but particularly in rural areas, said Yarber, also a researcher at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction. "People with HIV/AIDS in rural communities carry an extra burden with their disease in that many are stigmatized as unworthy of community support and adequate health care," he said. People diagnosed with AIDS who live in rural areas now account for 8 percent of all cases nationwide, up from 5 percent in 1996. Despite these growing numbers, most AIDS control strategies have focused on urban communities. "AIDS in rural America is often isolated and forgotten. As a consequence, rural prevention efforts are under-funded," Yarber said. RCAP is the only prevention center in the country to exclusively address HIV/AIDS and STDs in rural communities. "Our center fills a void in AIDS/STD prevention and research," Yarber said. Yarber, a professor in the Department of Applied Health Science in IU Bloomington's School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, can be reached at 812-855-7974 and yarber@indiana.edu. For information about RCAP, visit http://www.indiana.edu/~aids/.

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Bondi Beach and the Bra Boys

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 08:58:22 -0700

Regan's HIV Blog - By Regan Hofmann - Jul. 31 (Opinion) - As the International AIDS Conference came to a close this past Wednesday I sat out on the docks of Cockle Bay trying to resist feeding my French fries to the seagulls while reflecting on news I'd heard in one of the final sessions. I'd just seen a presentation of the latest data on testing for a high sensitivity reaction to Ziagen/abacavir, given by the drug's manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline. To reduce a half-hour presentation into several sentences, scientists have determined that it is now possible to very accurately predict whether or not a patient will have the high sensitivity reaction to abacavir that they have seen in some who take the drug--without having to expose a patient to the drug itself. It's big news. Even though the high sensitivity reaction happens only in a very small number of patients it can be dangerous, even deadly, if patients stop taking the drug and then restart the drug later. The mere possibility of this has kept people (many unnecessarily) off the drug. The new tests (done via blood or oral swab) would be conducted before a patient went on the drug; the results would help doctor and patient know whether abacavir was a viable option for that patient.

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MCC Statement on the Death of Tammy Faye Bakker Messner

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 05:29:39 -0700

Worldwide Faith News - By Rev. Elder Nancy L. Wilson - Jul. 30 (Statement) - ...Tammy Faye was always herself; that's what attracted people to her. And that's what often got her in such trouble with religious fundamentalists. She not only preached God's unconditional love and grace, she consistently lived those values in her own life. Through life's ups and downs, she managed to convey a kind of innocent open-heartedness that endeared her to millions, including many in the LGBT communities, and certainly in Metropolitan Community Churches. Many of her obituaries noted, as did the Los Angeles Times, that she had been "the only member of the televangelist community to embrace AIDS patients, interviewing a gay man on her PTL show, "Tammy's House Party," during the early days of the AIDS crisis in the '80s."

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Bond of Brothers

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 12:54:37 -0700

HIV Plus Magazine - By Benjamin Ryan - Jul. 29 (Review) - Gil Robertson has been talking about HIV for more than two decades. In the early 1980s the virus hit his family when older brother Jeffrey was diagnosed with what was then known as HTLV-III. "Both of my parents took very seriously the meaning of that word family," he says of their reaction to the news that Jeffrey Robertson probably didn't have long to live. "They set forth a position that we were going to stand by him through this journey and that we were going to circle the wagons, so to speak." Robertson says, though, that he was troubled to discover that his support for his brother--both in terms of his being gay and his ongoing battle with HIV--tends to be atypical among African-Americans. "I just didn't see a lot of African-Americans taking part in that dialogue," he says of his peers' attention to the growing AIDS epidemic.

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Hope For Serodiscordant Couples Wanting a Family

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 09:19:00 -0700

About.com - By Mark Cichocki, RM - Jul. 26 (Opinion) - n this age of effective HIV medications and near normal life expectancies, having a family while living with HIV is a real possibility; as real as it is for any couple. HIV and pregnacy is no longer impossible. In couples whose partners are both HIV positive or couples with a negative man and a positive woman, conception and holds relatively few risks when compared to the reward of being a parent. But what of those couples with an HIV positive man and a negative woman? This type of serodiscordant couple presents a very substantial risk to the negative partner; the woman. There is one option that is beginning to show promise in preventing HIV transmission to an HIV negative woman. Sperm washing is becoming a viable option in those serodiscordant couples wanting to conceive a child and start a family.

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Empowering men who have sex with men to fight AIDS

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 21:02:55 -0700

Bay Windows - By Kevin Frost, Dr. Chris Beyrer - Jul. 26 (Opinion) - In 85 countries of the world, it is illegal for men to have sex with other men. Male-male sexual relationships are stigmatized, driving men to hide their activities from friends, family members and health workers, according to a recent report by the International Lesbian and Gay Association. Because these men are forced to live part of their lives underground, they often lack access to basic services, and, as a result, are at increased risk of HIV/AIDS. Men who have sex with men, or "MSM," is a term that applies to those who identify as "gay," but it also includes many MSM throughout the world whose gender and sexual identities defy Western categorization. For instance, in India there are at least three designations: "Kothis" are effeminate MSM who may nonetheless be married to women and have families; "panthis" are masculine men who have sex with kothis; and "hijras," who are often castrated, are considered to be a third gender altogether.

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Laura Bush Rebukes President On Abstinence-Only Requirement For AIDS Relief

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 14:42:55 -0700

Think Progress - Jul. 04 (Opinion) - In 2003, Congress passed the President's Emergency Programme for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which provides HIV/AIDS drugs and funding to 15 countries plagued by the virus. However, President Bush and the conservative-controlled Congress tacked a restrictive provision to PEPFAR requiring that one-third of prevention funding go to promoting abstinence education. Last month, the House rejected the policy, passing legislation that would allow Bush and future presidents to waive the abstinence-only provision. In response, Bush threatened a veto, claiming "he would veto any legislation that weakens current policy and laws on abortion."

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Enzyme Removes HIV from Cells

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 12:44:45 -0700

Blogcritics Magazine - By John Vaccaro - Jun. 30 (Opinion) - A study published in the June 29 issue of the magazine Science provides the first evidence that Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) can be fought by removing HIV's DNA from infected cells. A group of German scientists have created a mutant strain of a well-known enzyme that acts as a pair of scissors to "snip out" HIV's DNA sequence that was previously inserted into the larger human cell DNA as part of an HIV infection. What makes HIV so insidious is that it insinuates its own DNA into that of the host cell. HIV's DNA hijacks the cell's reproductive mechanism to produce more of the HIV virus. When that host cell divides more of the HIV virus is produced. Current treatments for HIV focus on the use of anti-viral drugs to suppress the HIV virus before it enters cells.

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Contraception: The Coy Leading the Blind

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 16:02:17 -0700

The SubContinental Wire - By Kesav M. Wable - Jun. 18 (Editorial) - Two of the world's largest democracies, India and the United States share more in common than their form of government. Both societies demonstrate a distinctive recalcitrance to programs that promote sex education and awareness despite being faced with significant populations of high at-risk, sexually active citizens.

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Bush's AIDS Money Still Comes with Strings, Say Activists

Thu, 31 May 2007 10:13:02 -0700

OneWorld - By Center for Health, Gender Equity - May. 31 (Opinion) - In response to President Bush's call for a U.S. investment of an additional $30 billion for global HIV and AIDS programs over the next 5 years, the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) called on Congress to remove onerous restrictions on prevention funding under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) that are grossly undermining efforts to stem the spread of HIV. "Increased funding for global AIDS is a necessary but far from sufficient response to the global AIDS epidemic," said Jodi Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Health and Gender Equity. "No amount of money will make up for the ideologically driven prevention policies now promoted by PEPFAR. Today, unprotected sex is the single greatest factor in the spread of HIV worldwide, and is responsible for 80 percent of new infections in

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The invisible AIDS cure

Thu, 17 May 2007 15:00:28 -0700

Salon - By G. Pascal Zachary - May. 17 (Review) - Within a few months of arriving, Epstein was smitten with the extraordinary resolve displayed by Ugandans in the face of a roaring epidemic. Alone among African countries, Ugandans drove down the rate of infection in the 1990s through means that remain both controversial and misunderstood. Epstein was only dimly aware of Uganda's achievement as it was unfolding around her, and years later, when she returned to the country, she wrote, "I felt like a pilgrim exploring a place where a miracle was said to have occurred long ago. Everyone had a different story about it and half the evidence was missing."

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