National News  | Facing Sequestration, Senate Appropriates Funding for HIV UNITED STATES :: HIV/AIDS
Edge on the Net (07.18.2013) :: By Winnie McCroy | | | Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 sequestration and budget cuts threatened HIV research, prevention, and care even though lower HIV funding would result in “small deficit reduction benefits,” according to Kali Lindsey, director of legislative and public affairs for the National Minority AIDS Council. amfAR: The Foundation for AIDS Research estimated that sequestration would eliminate AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) funding for more than 15,000 HIV-infected people, cause loss of housing for 5,000 households, eliminate 460 research grants, and cut HIV prevention services. Funding cuts for CDC’s HIV prevention programs would total $64.7 million, with $27.6 million less for HIV prevention and $2.4 million less for HIV adolescent and school health programs. The AIDS Institute estimated that sequestration and budget cuts have reduced federal government domestic HIV/AIDS spending by $375 million.
In response to ADAP funding shortfalls, the Obama Administration transferred $35 million in emergency funding to cover medications for HIV patients in 2013. On July 11, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies passed an FY14 spending bill that would increase Ryan White HIV/AIDS program spending by $51 million more than FY13 levels, provide an additional $47 million for ADAP, increase National Institutes of Health research funding, and maintain CDC HIV prevention funding at $755 million. Only four percent of domestic HIV spending targeted prevention.
In contrast, the US House of Representative’s budget recommended an additional $1.1 billion in funding cuts for domestic HIV/AIDS response. It was not clear how the Senate and House of Representatives would resolve the difference in their budget reduction approaches.
HIV advocates outlined research breakthroughs that would not have been possible without federal funding: progress in HIV vaccines, pre-exposure prophylaxis, development of microbicides, treatment as prevention, prevention of vertical transmission, and research into voluntary circumcision for prevention. In 2012, the United States supplied 70 percent of HIV prevention research worldwide. |  Read Full Article | Share this Article     | | Back to Top  |  | | International News  | Thailand's MSM Face Alarming HIV Rates THAILAND :: HIV/AIDS
IRIN Humanitarian News and Analysis (07.19.2013) | | | Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that HIV prevalence among Thai men who have sex with men (MSM) increased from 17 percent in 2003 to 29 percent in 2011, based on a survey of 4,800 MSM clients tested for HIV at Bangkok’s Silom Community Clinic between 2005 and 2011. The study estimated a 12-percent HIV infection rate among MSM ages 15 to 21. Fewer than 43 percent of MSM study participants reported ever having previous HIV screening. Thailand’s National AIDS Management Centre estimated that 41 percent of all new HIV cases in 2012 occurred among MSM.
As a result, the Thai government has begun to redirect HIV prevention funding. In 2009, only 1 percent of Thai government HIV prevention resources targeted MSM, compared with 8 percent in 2011, according to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. However, external donors still funded more than 90 percent of HIV prevention activities, with nongovernmental and community-based groups implementing most programs among high-risk groups. The Thai government also was considering the use of antiretroviral therapy for pre-exposure prophylaxis with high-risk groups.
HIV Foundation Thailand President Nikorn Chimkong reported that casual sex Web sites and gay nightlife venues fostered the HIV epidemic among young Thai MSM. Outreach programs could provide counseling and condoms at party venues, but it was difficult to reach the target population with behavior change messages through social media, according to Alex Duke, program manager at Population Services International Thailand (PSI). PSI was developing ways to complement peer-based interventions with social media and Web sites. | | Read Full Article | Share this Article | | Back to Top | | | Medical News  | Multiple Risky Behaviors Commonly Occur Among People with HIV UNITED STATES :: HIV/AIDS
Healio (07.17.2013) | | | Data collected from the Centers for AIDS Research Network of Integrated Clinical Systems study cohort found that substance use, unprotected sex, and nonadherence to medication regimens were common among HIV-positive people receiving care. The study evaluated substance use behaviors and health consequences among people with HIV. Researchers found that substance use increased high-risk behaviors as well as decreased complete adherence to medication treatments, and concluded that prevention programs need to address these issues.
These conditions could harm current healthcare strategies because of “the assumption that if more HIV-infected people are tested and enrolled in care, treatment will decrease the community viral load,” said Matthew J. Mimiaga, ScD, MPH, assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health and co-author of the study. “Our results support regular screening for [drug use] in primary care settings where HIV-infected patients are treated. Specifically, they support US Public Health Service guidelines that focus on the need for comprehensive HIV-related care that incorporates screening for substance use and mental health as well as referrals to [medical] services.”
The study included 3,413 patients from four cities. The participants comprised 84-percent men and 46.2-percent from minority racial/ethnic groups. Although 76.7 percent of the patients were receiving HIV medication at the time of the study, only 30.6 percent were fully adhering to their regimens. More than one-third of the group reported engaging in anal sex in the past six months, and more than half of these reported engaging in unprotected sex. Of the 19 percent of patients who reported engaging in vaginal sex in the previous six months, 46 percent reported engaging in unprotected sex.
The full report, “Substance Use Among HIV-Infected Patients Engaged in Primary Care in the United States: Findings From the Centers for AIDS Research Network of Integrated Clinical Systems Cohort,” was published online in the American Journal of Public Health,” (2013; doi:10.2105/AJPH.2012.301162). | | Read Full Article | Share this Article | | Back to Top | | | Local and Community News  | Sacramento County One of State's Hotbeds for Sexually Transmitted Diseases CALIFORNIA :: STDs
Sacramento Bee (07.19.2013) :: By Cynthia H. Craft | | | In 2012, Sacramento County registered the third highest gonorrhea rate among California’s 58 counties, and the fourth highest chlamydia and syphilis rates. The county also reported approximately 10,000 STD cases. State officials explained that new cases have increased since 2008 due to budget cuts that reduced their ability to track STD sources, thus affecting their prevention efforts. Also, they believed that smartphones were making it easier for young people to meet and have sex.
State data indicate that Sacramento County’s chlamydia rates increased by 27 percent and its gonorrhea rates increased by 8 percent from 2008 to 2011; syphilis rates increased by 16 percent from 2010 to 2011. Youth ages 15–29 have been hardest hit. According to Dr. Miriam Shipp, Sacramento County’s STD controller, the crisis was statewide, nationwide, and even international. Nearby El Dorado, Placer, and Yolo counties also had increases of the same three diseases in 2012, but their totals were significantly lower than Sacramento’s.
The public health department has planned a prevention campaign to provide free STD test kits to women younger than 25 who request them. The department will mail the test to a residence and allow the recipient to check for the results on the Internet. The county also provides free condoms by mail when it receives requests via www.teensource.org. However, none of these efforts has reduced STD rates.
Dr. Cassius Lockett, Sacramento County’s chief epidemiologist, noted that STDs generally affected individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, those who do not use condoms consistently, and individuals living in disadvantaged neighborhoods. He mentioned that African Americans were four times more likely than whites to contract chlamydia and that the disease most affected young African-American women. State officials traced the prevalence of STDs in the county by ZIP code, ethnicity, age, and gender; results showed higher figures in south Sacramento, Oak Park, Florin, and Del Paso Heights. When Lockett mapped clinic locations that screened and treated STDs, he found most of these clinics downtown, where there are fewer STD cases.
According to Raquel Simental, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood, Sacramento had no state- or federally funded STD prevention program. Planned Parenthood runs an education program in schools to teach the dangers of unsafe sex, and will go to any classroom that welcomes them, but Simental noted that more needs to be done to reach sexually active youth.
| | Read Full Article | Share this Article | | Back to Top | | | News Briefs  | $30,000/Year to Treat 1 California Prisoner with HIV/AIDS CALIFORNIA :: HIV/AIDS
KION46 Central Coast News (California) (07.16.2013) :: By Jacqueline Tualla | | | The California Assembly currently is considering a bill that would allow prisoners to have condoms in their cells. California Health Care Services said that the cost to treat one patient for HIV/AIDS is nearly $30,000 per year, not including the cost of staff, diagnostic studies, and other expenses. A pilot study undertaken at Solano State Prison from November 2008 to 2009 examined whether it was more inexpensive to provide inmates with condoms versus the cost of providing treatment to inmates with HIV/AIDS. It cost $.65 per condom, or approximately $220,000 to provide inmates at all 33 prisons with condoms. According to Joyce Hayhoe, director of legislation and communications for California Health Care Services, the condom program would pay for itself by preventing just three cases of HIV/AIDS. Opponents argue that taxpayers should not pay for condoms so that inmates can have sex behind bars, especially since it is illegal for them to engage in intercourse. Currently, the California prison system is treating 1,055 inmates for HIV/AIDS.
| | Read Full Article | Share this Article | | Back to Top | | | | | | | Erie County Sees 'Mini-Outbreak' of Syphilis PENNSYLVANIA :: STDs
Erie Times-News (07.22.2013) :: By David Bruce | | | Pennsylvania’s Erie County Department of Health has reported six syphilis cases so far in July, which are the most cases reported in one month in at least 13 years. Physicians and health officials are concerned with the increase because syphilis is one of the more serious STDs and can lead to life-threatening complications and, if left untreated, death. Brian Stark, D.O., a University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Hamot family physician, also noted that "Another concern is that syphilis is often a co-infection with HIV. Locally, we have seen a steady HIV infection rate, and there's a concern that this means that rate could also increase." Syphilis can be easily treated with only one dose of injected antibiotics in its primary stage, but the disease must first be diagnosed. People with STDs often are reluctant to see their family doctor due to embarrassment, and may ignore syphilis's initial symptoms. Stark stated that the best way to avoid getting syphilis was to follow a few basic rules. "Good old-fashioned abstinence is best. But certainly use protection, know your sexual partners, and if you have any concerns that you might have an STD, get tested." | | Read Full Article | Share this Article | | Back to Top | | | | | |
7/22/2013
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