June 27th Is National HIV Testing Day

The National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) started National HIV Testing Day (NHTD) in 1995. Every year, on June 27th, local organizations across the nation engage with communities to promote early diagnosis and HIV-testing.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 250,000 of the one million people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States are unaware of their status. NAPWA realizes that lack of access to treatment and care along with social stigma can make living with HIV difficult. With early diagnosis, uncertain individuals will know their HIV-status and should be placed into appropriate treatment and care.

During NHTD, we work with our partners, which include thousands of community-based organizations, businesses, health departments, elected officials, media, and individuals to encourage routine HIV-testing and to promote culturally-apt messages for those affected by and living with HIV/AIDS.

HIV Rates Rise With Gay Intolerance

Bans on same-sex marriage can be tied to a rise in the rate of HIV infection, a new study by two Emory economists has found.

In the first study of the impact of social tolerance levels toward gays in the United States on the HIV transmission rate, the researchers estimated that a constitutional ban on gay marriage raises the rate by four cases per 100,000 people.

“We found the effects of tolerance for gays on HIV to be statistically significant and robust — they hold up under a range of empirical models,” says Hugo Mialon, assistant professor of economics.

“Laws on gay marriage are in flux and under debate,” adds Andrew Francis, also an assistant professor of economics, citing the recent decision by the California Supreme Court to uphold a ban on same-sex marriage. “It’s a hot issue, and we are hoping that policymakers will take our findings into account.”

The study used data from the General Social Survey, which has tracked the attitudes of Americans during the past four decades. The economists calculated that a rise in tolerance from the 1970s to the 1990s reduced HIV cases by one per 100,000 people, and that laws against same-sex marriage boosted cases by 4 per 100,000.

“Intolerance is deadly,” Mialon says. “Bans on gay marriage codify intolerance, causing more gay people to shift to underground sexual behaviors that carry more risk.”

Francis and Mialon previously did an analysis of the optimal penalty for sexually transmitting HIV. Published in March 2008, the study was recently named outstanding paper of the year by the American Law and Economics Review.

The researchers developed a game theory model for sexual behavior, which showed that laws in some states regarding the sexual transmission of HIV are generally inefficient at slowing the spread of the disease.

In Georgia, for instance, failing to inform a partner that you are HIV positive prior to having sex is a felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. The same penalty can apply even if the person who is HIV positive uses precautions such as a condom during sex, and even if the sexual partner does not contract HIV. The law does not apply, however, to people who do not know that they are HIV positive and transmit the virus.Courtesy of Emory University.

AIDS Activists Protest Proposed HIV Funding Cuts In California

Valley AIDS activist rallied in downtown Fresno Monday to protest proposed funding cuts to HIV/AIDS programs.

Hundreds gathered in front of the State of California office on Mariposa St. against an estimated $80.1 million budget cut to HIV/AIDS services for Californians either living with or at risk for the disease.

Last month California’s department of finance released details of the governor’s proposed cuts of general funds from the state office of aids.

The budget cut includes $12.3 million in general fund support to the aids drug assistance program, and eliminates general fund support for other programs totaling more than $67.8 million.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed cutting funding to the programs to help balance the state budget, but AIDS activists say this could be a death sentence for many Californians.

Under the governor’s current proposal HIV/AIDS programs such as the Aids Drug Assistance Program, the Early Intervention Program, and HIV counseling and testing are set for reductions or elimination. Courtesy CBS47tv.

Overly Restrictive U.S. Govt Rules Keeping Canadians from U.S. AIDS Conference

Housing Works, an AIDS non-profit based in New York, is reporting on their website that up to 60 Canadians living with HIV have been denied entry into the United States, contrary to stated U.S. policy that foreigners living with HIV would no longer be barred from entering the country. The groups are calling on Secretary of State Clinton to resolve the matter and on President Obama to do away with Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) regulations that are effectively keeping the HIV travel ban in place.

The 60 Canadians had planned to attend the North American Housing and HIV/AIDS Research Summit in Washington, D.C. from June 2 to June 5.

In July 2008, President Bush signed a law authorizing the Department of Health and Human Services to lift the decades-long ban on foreigners living with HIV entering the United States. The U.S. is one of only 14 countries* in the world that bar entry to persons with HIV, a fact that has drawn broad condemnation from both domestic and international human rights organizations.

Yet the ban still has not yet been stricken from DHHS regulations; instead, the Department of Homeland Security put into place a series of measures designed to “streamline” the process for entry into the U.S. for people living with HIV. In March, DHHS officials indicated that granting a “designated event HIV waiver” for the Housing Summit was underway. Such waivers are designed to allow people living with HIV to attend conferences in the U.S.

On Friday, May 22, 11 days before the summit start date, the Ottawa Embassy informed the OHTN that each of the 60 people in its delegation to the Washington, D.C. AIDS Housing Summit would have to comply with the new visa process.

The visa process requires, among other things, a face-to-face interview; a photo; a $131 money order from a specific Canadian bank; an agreement not to extend the visit for any reason; completion of a health form, and a pledge that the applicant has adequate health coverage. Because the group was notified so close to the conference time, organizers said it would be nearly impossible to meet the requirements set by Homeland Security. It remains to be seen whether any of the participants made it to the conference which starts today in Washington..