National HIV/AIDS Strategy Unveiled
Pressure Grows to End ADAP Waiting Lists
Live Webcasts from the International AIDS Conference Start July 18
Partners for AIDS 2012 Selected
Advocacy Group Reports On the Search For a Cure
Study Indicates Gay Couples Need HIV Prevention
Correction to July 6th E-Update RE: Atripla Assitance Program
National HIV/AIDS Strategy Unveiled
On July 13, the National HIV/AIDS Strategy was announced by Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS); Jeff Crowley, Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP); and Dr. Howard Koh, Assistant Secretary for Health at DHHS.
The strategy is the result of 15 months of collaboration between ONAP, state and local governments, medical providers, community- and faith-based organizations, pharmaceutical and insurance industry representatives, advocates, and people living with HIV.
The vision statement for the policy is ambitious and lofty: “The United States will become a place where new HIV infections are rare and when they do occur, every person, regardless of age, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or socio-economic circumstances, will have unfettered access to high quality, life-extending care, free from stigma and discrimination.”
The three main objectives of the strategy are:- reducing HIV incidence
- increasing access to care and optimizing health outcomes
- reducing HIV-related health disparities
The strategy met with mixed reviews from the HIV community. While many applauded President Obama for being the first president to establish a national strategy to fight HIV, as well as an Office of National AIDS Policy, there was great concern that the strategy would be impeded by inadequate funding. Consensus was that while this is a step in the right direction, much more work remains to be done in order to implement the strategy.
To read the full text of the strategy and the implementation plan, go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/onap/nhas/.
Pressure Grows to End ADAP Waiting Lists
According to an article published in Congressional Quarterly Healthbeat News on the eve (July 12) of the unveiling of the National HIV/AIDS strategy, the Obama administration is “coming under growing criticism that it is not doing enough to end waiting lists for life-prolonging medications dispensed to low-income Americans under state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs).”
Legislators from both sides of the aisle have urged emergency funding in addition to the $25 million recently allocated by Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, but there is disagreement on where the money should come from.
According to the article, 79 members (78 Democrats and one Republican) of the House, including most of the Congressional Black Caucus, wrote a letter imploring President Obama to “include $126 million in his emergency funding request to Congress.” How and from where that money would be allocated is a question that remains unanswered.
But according to a press release issued on July 12 by the Community Access National Network (CANN), “he did not heed this call when his request was released.” The network is a coalition of AIDS organizations and drug companies that lobbies for more ADAP money.
In contrast to the House efforts, Republican senators Richard Burr and Tom Coburn have introduced legislation (Senate bill 3401) advocating the appropriation of existing unused stimulus funds to cover the $126 million in increased ADAP outlays.
As of July 1, 11 states had 2,090 people on ADAP waiting lists. These numbers continue to grow.
Live Webcasts from the International AIDS Conference Start July 18
The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), in partnership with the International AIDS Society, is the official webcaster of the XVIII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010). Beginning Sunday, July 18, KFF will provide worldwide, online access to the daily events that take place at the conference in Vienna, Austria.
Kaiser will also provide webcasts, podcasts (in English and Russian) and transcripts of roughly 50 other sessions. View these and other live webcasts during the conference. Â For a complete guide to coverage, visit http://www.kff.org/aids2010.
| Sunday, July 18 | – | Opening Session: 19:30 – 21:00 (1:30 p.m. ET; 17:30 GMT) |
| Monday, July 19 | – | Plenary: 08:30 – 10:30 (2:30 a.m. ET; 06:30 GMT) Speakers include Former President Bill Clinton Special Session: Building on Success: A Roadmap for HIV Prevention: 13:00 – 14:00 (7:00 a.m. ET; 11:00 GMT) Speakers include Bill Gates |
| Tuesday, July 20 | – | Plenary: 09:00 – 10:30 (3:00 a.m. ET; 07:00 GMT) Speakers include Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Aaron Motsoaledi, South African Health Minister. |
Additional sessions will be webcast live Wednesday – Friday, July 21 – 23. All live webcasts will be archived and available for viewing within a few hours.
Partners for AIDS 2012 Selected
In July 2012, the International AIDS Society (IAS) will hold its biennial conference in Washington, D.C. “Following the repeal of the 15-year-old ban on travel to the United States by HIV-positive foreign nationals, the International AIDS Conference is finally returning to the U.S.,” said Mats Ahnlund, IAS Acting Executive Director. “We are thrilled that our local partners will be now be able to highlight the leadership that the U.S. has displayed in global efforts to combat AIDS.”
The Black AIDS Institute, the District of Columbia Department of Health (DOH), the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) of the Infectious Diseases Society (IDSA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP), the U.S. Positive Women's Network (USPWN) and Sidaction have all been selected and confirmed as partners for AIDS 2012.
“With the announcement of these impressive and diverse civil society and local partnerships for AIDS 2012, we can look forward to ensuring that the conference further strengthens the U.S. role in global AIDS initiatives and re-energizes both the global and U.S. domestic response to the epidemic,” said Elly Katabira, Chair of AIDS 2012 and IAS President Elect.
Advocacy Group Reports On the Search For a Cure
Earlier this month, the AIDS Policy Project issued a report entitled “AIDS Cure Research for Everyone.” The advocacy group, which focuses on cure research, describes two aspects of this search. The first is a cure that represents “permanent remission in absence of requirement for therapy,” and the second is a functional cure representing “control of virus rather than elimination, without requirement for therapy.”
According to the report, “The first thing to know about AIDS cure research is that the science is going well.” The report explains the research in simple language and covers what the group was able to learn about U.S. government funding for the research into a cure (considered by the organization to be severely inadequate).
Visit www.AIDSPolicyProject.org for a copy of the report. Also see the upcoming September/October issue of Positively Aware, which will cover the ongoing search for a cure. —Enid Vázquez
Study Indicates Gay Couples Need HIV Prevention
“HIV prevention strategies should not ignore gay male couples whose sexual behaviors can still lead to seroconversions,” says a study by San Francisco researchers published in the July issue of the journal AIDS Care.
According to the study, which recruited 566 gay male couples from the San Francisco region, “gay men in relationships are often ignored when it comes to HIV prevention efforts despite the fact many such couples engage in sex with other partners and continue to put themselves at risk for contracting HIV.”
Less than half of the study couples – 45% – said they were monogamous, while 47% said they had open agreements where they could have sex outside of their relationship. In addition, 8% of the study couples had discrepant agreements where partners reported a different understanding of whether they have an open or monogamous agreement.
“Discrepant couples were particularly concerning in terms of HIV risk,” said the study's lead author, Colleen Hoff, a professor of sexuality studies at San Francisco State University and director of the university's Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality. “When there isn't consensus on what the agreement is, one partner could be involved in risky behavior outside of the relationship and the other partner may be unaware of the resulting risk of unprotected sex within the relationship.”
Gay couples' main reasons for establishing sexual agreements had more to do with positively impacting their relationships than as an HIV prevention strategy, the study found. “We found that gay couples are interested in building healthy, satisfying, and loving relationships,” stated Hoff. "These desires, when nurtured, can lead to strong relationships. Yet the reality is that a broken sexual agreement, or one that isn't clear to either partner, can make both partners vulnerable to HIV.” The study also found that only couples who were both HIV-negative listed HIV or STD prevention among their top three reasons for making a sexual agreement.
The researchers identified several key differences between those couples who practice monogamy and those who had sex outside their relationship. According to the study, “the men in monogamous relationships reported greater levels of intimacy with their partner, more trust, commitment, and attachment toward their partner and greater equality in the relationship. Yet the study found no significant difference in relationship satisfaction between men in open or discrepant relationships and those in monogamous relationships.”
“This is critical to understand in light of the efforts many researchers invest in tying HIV prevention directly to agreements,” conclude the study authors. “If indeed most couples conceptualize their agreements primarily as a relationship dynamic and not a risk-reduction strategy, these researchers may have placed the cart before the horse by emphasizing disease prevention as a focal point of the agreement.”
Correction to July 6th E-Update RE: Atripla Assitance Program
In the July 6 e-update, in the item about the Atripla Assistance Program, the phone number for patients to call was incomplete. The sentence should have been: People who do not have insurance, are underinsured, or who otherwise need assistance may call the Atripla Patient Assistance Program (PAP) toll-free at 1-866-290-4767. Sorry for any confusion.