Julie Davids's blog

Heading back to the U.S.: Thoughts from William Smith of SIECUS

by Julie Davids
Sat, 08/09/2008 - 7:05pm

hello everyone -- here's a note below that Bill Smith of SIECUS asked me to post to the blog:

He writes:

"As we pack up and head back to the U.S., advocates, scientists and civil servants from our country working on HIV/AIDS are returning to a place where the empirical face and scope of HIV has changed. While here, our own government released HIV surveillance data confirming that our epidemic is worse than we thought, with 40% more new infections each year than previously estimated. That is 16,300 more Americans who became HIV positive annually.

From a numbers perspective, it is alarming, but the rate of new infections was something experienced by AIDS service organizations across the country during this same time frame. For them, it is confirmation that the constant clarion call for a real investment in stemming the epidemic was warranted and now embarrassingly long overdue.  read more »

Thanks to all our AIDS2008.com bloggers, hosts and readers!!!

by Julie Davids
Fri, 08/08/2008 - 6:22pm

As many of our fantastic AIDS2008.com correspondents prepare to leave Mexico City, I want to thank everyone for all your hard work at the International AIDS Conference, and for finding the time in a very very hectic setting to share your experiences, thoughts, ideas and resources with people around the world on the blog.

We hope that your travels go smoothly, and that you will continue to share your post-IAC wrap-up thoughts with the blog -- and hope to continue to work with all of you as we continue the fight for HIV prevention justice.

Thanks to the AIDS activists of Mexico City for welcoming and hosting us, and for the opportunity to join together in solidarity in the weeks, months and years ahead.

And thanks to all of our readers -- please feel free to continue to share your thoughts as comments on our posts!

 

 

"Let's Give Them A Round of Applause": Videocast of Protesters at U.S. AIDS session

by Julie Davids
Thu, 08/07/2008 - 3:25pm

Kaiser has put up the full broadcast of the session The USA HIV Epidemic in 2008 from the conference last night. At about 3 minutes 30 seconds, the protesters enter and speaker U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee asks everyone to give them a round of applause, and continues to refer to them and quote from their signs throughout her speech...

 

 

"Dr. No" Condemns U.S. Gov't Participation in AIDS Conference

by Julie Davids
Tue, 08/05/2008 - 4:13pm

United States Senator Tom Coburn (R, OK) has just put out his latest report condemning spending on HIV/AIDS in the United States.

Announced via a press release alledging that "Americans with HIV/AIDS suffer on waiting lists while bureaucrats party," the conservative Senator who is almost single-handedly responsible for blocking the participation of most U.S. government scientists in the International AIDS Conference is inflamed that any U.S. officials were allowed to go.

By Coburn's count, there are 116 U.S. government employees who are at the IAC, thereby making up one half of one percent of the total number of attendees at the IAC.

MedNewsToday has a good story on the "intellectual travel ban" spurred by Coburn. Reporter Michael Smith notes:  read more »

U.S. Presidential Candidates issue statements on domestic epidemic in wake of incidence announcement

by Julie Davids
Sun, 08/03/2008 - 8:39pm
Today, the presumptive nominees of the two ruling political parties of the United States issued statements in respond to CDC's release of data confirming higher rates of HIV incidence in the U.S.
McCain still has not called for a national AIDS strategy, which is a leading priority of hundreds of local, state and national HIV/AIDS groups, and has not released an HIV/AIDS platform. Obama's HIV/AIDS platform includes both domestic and global components, and is linked at the very bottom of his website page on health care.

Do the candidates' statement go far enough towards a viable plan for combatting the domestic epidemic? Read the full post and decide for yourself -- comments welcome!
Obama Responds to CDC Numbers on HIV/AIDS

Senator Obama released the following statement on the Center for Disease Control's report about new cases of HIV/AIDS in the United States.

"We have now learned that 56,300 new HIV infections occurred in the United States in 2006, not 40,000 that had been previously cited. These new figures should bring new focus to our efforts to address AIDS and HIV here at home.

Growing U.S. HIV Epidemic in Gay, Bisexual Men Heightens Call for National AIDS Strategy Bridging Race and Sexuality

by Julie Davids
Sun, 08/03/2008 - 9:59am

There was a flurry of press activity yesterday due to the release of the long-awaited revision of HIV incidence estimates for the United States...

This morning, CHAMP put out a release calling for a national AIDS strategy that would bridge race and sexuality. Here's some of the key quotes; the full release is available in the AIDS2008.com press room:

Walt Senterfitt, CHAMP board co-chair and an epidemiologist living with HIV who served as a Visiting Scientist at CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention:

“The new estimates confirm that a vast majority of new infections in the U.S. occur in gay and bisexual men, and that Blacks are significantly more heavily impacted than other racial/ethnic categories. However, the data fail to clearly link the two, perpetuating a longstanding, damaging polarization. We need CDC to clearly show the HIV incidence numbers in gay men and other MSM of color.

A substantial number of Black people infected every year are gay or bisexual, and a substantial proportion of gay and bisexual men infected are Black. In fact, the heaviest impact is at the nexus of the two – being both black and a man who has sex with men. Yet this population is significantly marginalized, even stigmatized within both larger populations of which it is an integral part. A national AIDS strategy must tackle this fundamental challenge."

Jim Pickett, Director of Advocacy at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago:  read more »

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AIDS2008.com is an independent community resource sponsored by Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP) for the 2008 International AIDS Conference. read more »

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