November 2003

News Around the Country

Seattle: A task force of gay community leaders and health workers in King County, Washington, has released a “strongly worded Ômanifesto’” calling for men who have sex with men to take more responsibility and make greater efforts to stop the spread of HIV. The number of infections diagnosed among Seattle-area MSM at public health clinics increased 40% from 2001 to 2001.

Atlanta: The demographics of HIV/AIDS is changing in Georgia, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution (10/27). Although blacks make up only 29% of Georgia’s population, they accounted for about 76% of the state’s new AIDS cases in 2001; black women accounted for 84% of all AIDS cases among Georgia women. Between 15% and 20% of the city’s homeless people are thought to be HIV-positive. “We’re seeing more and more individuals who don’t have the life skills it takes to handle” antiretroviral drug regimens, a clinic program manager said.

Albany: Community groups in Albany, NY, have created Capitalize on Community, a new HIV/AIDs prevention project targeting the city’s black community, the Albany Times Union reports. Blacks make up 28% of the city’s total population but 40% of the population aged 25 to 29 who are living with AIDS. Hayward Horton, a faculty member at SUNY-Albany who announced the project, said that blacks are at higher risk because of lack of resources, the belief that they will not contract HIV, and a high incidence of high-risk behaviors. The group also plans to raise funds for future research and to interview community and church leaders and people living with HIV/AIDS to find out why leaders in the black community “tend to ignore the issue.”

Los Angeles: California’s HIV/AIDS prevention efforts, which have focused on curbing high-risk behavior, are being revamped to train HIV-positive people not to spread the virus, the Los Angeles Times said (9/29), in response to a change in CDC strategy. The U.S. government has decided to invest heavily in initiatives to identify people who are already HIV-positive. Drew Johnson of the California Office of AIDS said, “The reality is that every newly diagnosed HIV case is the result of someone who is positive that’s spreading the disease. We need those with the disease to help us stop or at least slow its spread.” Dr. Octavio Vallejo, a faculty member at the UCLA AIDS Institute, responded, “This one-size-fits-all policy assumes everyone is knowledgeable about the disease and wants to get tested regularly. That’s not the case.”

Denver: Colorado health officials are also planning to shift their HIV prevention focus from sex education programs in high schools and rural areas to programs for people who are already HIV-positive. Within a year, Colorado doctors will begin incorporating HIV testing into regular patient visits using rapid HIV tests, which can yield results within 20 minutes.

Jackie Long, speaking for the Colorado AIDS Project, told the Rocky Mountain News (9/25) that “programs geared toward winning the trust of young people at risk of getting AIDS” will suffer.