sexuality

Tuesday's symposium during the afternoon provided plenty of food for thought. Deloris Dockrey from the US, Shaun Mellors from South Africa, Carlos García de León from Mexico and Veronica from ICW who substituted for Promise Mthembu all gave their reasons and thoughts behind the movement to provide sexual and reproductive right services and information to People Living with HIV-AIDS.

One of my thoughts on seeing this panel composed of only PLHIV was that it was a shame more people couldn't see this: the way these men and women are strongly going on with their lives and advocating for others to do the same is inspiring. They spoke candidly about their positive status, the impact it has had on their lives and how in spite of popular belief, men and women with HIV don't lose the wish or right to marry or find a partner and found a family if they so desire.

One of the main ideas proposed during this panel was that PLHIV should have access to family planning centers and health information specific to their condition. They should be able to go to a clinic and ask about birth control methods and interaction with ARV drugs, the usage of condoms, recommendations on IUD placement and what cares they should take if they wish to have a family, space children out or should they require pregnancy termination.
 read more »

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 »