Indian children suffering from HIV posing for the camera
According to a joint report issued by the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, and UNICEF, said that India, the world’s second most population nation after China, had made progress in scaling up access over the years, but added that given its robust generic drug industry it could have done better.

“India has done well in scaling up access to the ARV therapy over the last seven years,” says a senior WHO official, suggesting there is still a huge gap to address.

The universal gap between those needing urgent ARV treatment for HIV/AIDS the world over and those unable to have any access to it has climbed to over 15 million people and there is an urgent need for funds to the tune of USD$10 billion, says Rifat Atun, a senior official of the Global Fund which is the main provider of assistance to countries afflicted with HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.

India now ranks third in “scaling up access”, after South Africa and Kenya during the last five years.

However, it needs to cross some distance for ensuring universal access for all its HIV/AIDS sufferers.

The HIV/AIDS worldwide logo
Around 3,200,074 have received ARV therapy in India at the end of last year as compared to 2,034,581 patients during the previous year. However, between 1.1 and 1.4 million HIV/AIDS patients have no access for ARV therapy in India.

Given the number of health professionals and the state of the art generic drug industry in India, the performance on the HIV/AIDS front could be far better in comparison with other low-income countries in Southern Africa, say analysts.

India must consider issuing compulsory licenses for ensuring free access to second and third-line treatment for HIV/AIDS patients whose number is steadily climbing. Compulsory licensing enables a national government to revoke a license issued to a patent holder and thereby, allow other parties to produce and sell a patented product for non-commercial purposes.

Several industrialized nations resorted to compulsory licensing to enable their national health departments to procure medicines at low prices so as to provide free of cost in government hospitals.

India is yet to issue a compulsory license despite its rising HIV/AIDS patients who now need second and third-line treatment.

In 2006, Thailand issued compulsory license for the production of patented drugs for its HIV-infected population. Later, Brazil also issued compulsory license for the production of patent-drugs produced by an American pharmaceutical company despite enormous pressure from the US.

“Ultimately, the decision to issue a compulsory license depends on the national government,” says Mari Angela Simao, a senior UNAIDS official.

The Church is still very silent on this issue when it is expected to be at the forefront of the problem.

It is time that all the Churches should shun politics and differences and join hands inter-denominationally and come out with innovative strategies and ideas to maximize the awareness among all classes of people. Church should also think of building hospices for the HIV/AIDS infected, apart from schools, dispensaries that are usually started as a social wing. These should be constructed where people can have access and take maximum benefit out of such facilities.

Trevain Raj Kumar
Trevain Raj Kumar a Christian who founded Neolife Mission to cater to the needs of these HIV/AIDS infected/affected people and also runs a Terry’s Kids Home for these victims in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh state. His ministry is run in conjunction with He Intends Victory (www.heintendsvictory.com) which is based in Irvine, California, and is one of the early pioneers of Christians working in the HIV/AIDS field.

Trevain is an Indian by origin and was working in the IT field, when God called him into full time ministry in 2002. He set aside his secular job and in faithfulness towards God’s call he started Neolife Mission.

Many children received help and support through Neo Life Mission and they could make this happen with their self support.

In learning more about this work, I was amazed and touched by the way God is using and working through Trevain’s Neolife Mission. Here is one of those who got blessed by the service of Neo Life Mission.

Sarita today with her Bible
Sarita, an HIV infected lady came to Trevain for counseling and she revealed that her husband had left her after finding out that she had been with HIV. She told him that she “did not want to die” and leave her young children behind. She had severe tuberculosis at the time and the lymph glands on her neck were swollen and one or two had even burst, emitting a foul smell. She was in a hopeless condition with her CD4 count at only 97. [CD4 cells are a type of white blood cell that fights infection. Another name for them is T-helper cells. CD4 cells are made in the spleen, lymph nodes, and thymus gland, which are part of the lymph or infection-fighting system. CD4 cells move throughout your body, helping to identify and destroy germs such as bacteria and viruses. Keeping your CD4 count high can reduce complications of HIV disease and extend your life.)

Trevain told her about Jesus Christ and asked her to accept Him as her own personal savior. Later he encouraged her to follow Christ and taught her how to pray and to put her trust in the Lord. She there and then made her decision to follow Jesus and within three months, she started to gain strength and her TB report showed no traces of the disease.

In fact, she began to put on weight and when she went to the doctor for her CD4 again, and the doctor asked her whether she was taking any special medicine as her health was improving. She said that her only “special medicine was Jesus Christ”. A year after her first test, she went again to test her CD4 count and the doctors were again spellbound since her count raised to an amazing 847.

Sarita was very happy and started attending a local church near her home.

Trevan baptizes Sarita
She then came back to Neolife Mission and requested Trevain to baptize her and he was delighted to do so. Now she is a true believer, her son is studying and is being well supported by Neolife. She recently got a house keeping job in one of India’s prestigious IT centers, Infosys, and is earning a handsome salary.

Sarita’s is just one of many lives that have been transformed and blessed by this caring ministry. You too can join to bring in change.

For more details on Neo Life Mission’s work please visit: www.neolifemission.org

Or if you want to know more about this project or help Neolife Mission please send an e-mail to: trevain@gmail.com

Note: ANS founder, Dan Wooding, has written a moving book called “He Intends Victory” about people living with HIV/AIDS and how Jesus touched them. To get a free copy, go to: http://heintendsvictory.org/products-page

The services offered include diabetes education and screening, blood pressure tests, pregnancy testing, HIV and tuberculosis testing, adult immunizations and health education. The staff also assists in finding a medical home that provides ongoing health care services for anyone who lacks medical insurance and does not have a health care provider.

No appointment is needed. Some services are free, including HIV rapid testing with results in 20 minutes. Other services offered at other locations are on a sliding fee scale based on income. Licensed volunteer physicians from the Senior Friendship Centers provide basic medical care when the mobile medical unit is at the Salvation Army in Sarasota. A registered nurse is available at all sites.

The following is a schedule of dates and locations for the mobile unit:

SARASOTA

Thursdays, Oct. 7, 14, 21 and 28, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

Salvation Army
1400 10th St.

Mondays, Oct. 4 and 18, 9:30 a.m.-noon

Selby Goodwill Jobs Center

1781 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way

Mondays, Oct. 4 and 18, 1-3 p.m.

Newtown Estates Park

2800 Newtown Blvd.

Monday, Oct. 11, 9:30 a.m.-noon

Orange Avenue Housing Authority property

1912 N. Orange Ave.

Mondays, Oct. 11 and 25, 1-3 p.m.

Arizona Multi-Services Center

3900 N. Washington Blvd.

Monday, Oct. 25, 9:30 a.m.-noon

McCown Tower

1300 Blvd. of the Arts

LAUREL

Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2-5 p.m.

U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food distribution program

Sandra Sims Terry Community Center

509 Collins Road

NOKOMIS

Wednesday, Oct. 20, 9:30 a.m.-noon

The Community Pharmacy of Sarasota County

225 Tamiami Trail S.

VENICE

Tuesday, Oct. 5, 9:30 a.m.-noon

Goodwill Center – The Rialto

650 S. Tamiami Trail

Tuesday, Oct. 5, 1-3 p.m.

Habitat for Humanity ReStore

1400 Ogden Road

ENGLEWOOD

Tuesdays, Oct. 12 and 26, 9:30 a.m.-noon

Englewood Goodwill Center

410 Indiana Ave.

Tuesdays, Oct. 12 and 26, 1-3 p.m.

Englewood Helping Hands

700 E. Dearborn St.

NORTH PORT

Friday, Oct. 1; 9:30 a.m.-noon

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food distribution program

St. Nathaniel’s Episcopal Church

4200 S. Biscayne Drive

Wednesday, Oct. 13, 9:30 a.m.-noon

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

Walmart Supercenter

17000 Tamiami Trail

Wednesday, Oct. 13, 1-3 p.m.

Grande Court Apartments at North Port

5203 Greenwood Ave.

For more information, contact the Sarasota County Call Center at 941-861-5000, or visit www.sarasotahealth.org to view the calendar or to submit a special event request. Anyone without computer access can visit a health kiosk at any of the eight Sarasota County libraries or at any Senior Friendship Center.

“Over a quarter of the people in New York City are already identified when they have advanced to AIDS. That means for the time from the time they are infected until they are identified when they have AIDS it has already been eight to 10 years most of the time. They have been often unknowingly infecting other people. By identifying it earlier it benefits not only the individual, but it benefits the whole society and helps stop the epidemic,” said Dr. Monica Sweeney of the New York City Health Department.

The law not only requires providers to routinely test patients ages 13 to 64, but to link those positively identified to care if they accept it. Organizations like GMHC have already been working to handle an increase in new cases.

“We really want to identify those unaware of their status and get them linked to care and to do that you want to streamline the process as much as possible,” said GMHC HIV Prevention Director Lynnette Ford

The concept of more streamlined testing is not new to the city. The health department along with the public hospital system have also already been engaged in pilot programs to do more routine testing, particularly in high-risk areas. The “Project Brief” program at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx helps doctors reach out to a larger number of patients. They use a computer-based model to educate about testing, assist with counseling and link them to care if needed.

By routinely testing most of the patients who come into the hospital at Jacobi Medical Center, over the past five years, they’ve already identified more than 200 patients with HIV who otherwise wouldn’t have known their status.

“We’ve had a tremendous amount of success at linking patients into long term care for their disease. Our linkage rates are in the low to mid 90s which is excellent when you look at the national data,” said Dr. Ethan Cowan of Jacobi Medical Center.

Health officials say they expect infection rates to remain the same at about 1.3 percent of the general population. The main difference is more of those New Yorkers will know their status and get the care they need.

LTFU accounted for an increasing proportion of overall programme attrition: from 9% at six months to 29% at 3 years on antiretroviral treatment.

The study was conducted by researchers from the International Epidemiologic Databases to Evaluate AIDS collaboration of South Africa (IeDEA-SA).

South Africa has the largest antiretroviral programme in the world. From 2004 when the public programme began until 2007 an estimated 370,000 people started treatment. Yet no data on programme outcomes exist at the national level. As in other resource-poor setting there is little evidence about trends over time – mortality, loss-to-follow-up and retention.

Recently revised WHO treatment guidelines as well as South African national guidelines raise the concern of how the anticipated expansion of services will be met while keeping large numbers of patients in care. The time trend reported by the IeDEA-SA researchers suggests that increasing loss to follow-up will come with further expansion.

The increased demands will require a strengthened health care system capable of dealing with chronic disease, the researchers note. In most resource-poor countries the system is set up to deal with acute care and episodic illnesses. Keeping patients in care is a measure of a programme’s success.

LTFU is not a new phenomenon. However, a better understanding of LTFU at the national as well as at the programme level is key to successfully re-directing health systems toward long-term chronic care management, they add.

The IeDEA researchers reported a declining trend in mortality rates over time. This may be a true decline, but the possibility of an association between programme expansion and an increasing inability to determine mortality correctly is likely, they note. Increasing numbers of LTFU may lead to an underestimate of mortality.

The researchers stress the urgent need for linkage to death registries and where they do not exist, their establishment in low- and middle-income countries.

However, they note it is the size and pace of scale-up in South Africa that is responsible for high rate of loss to follow-up (LTFU).

Enrolment has increased 12-fold over a five year period with a cumulative total of 44,000; 63% of whom enrolled in the last two years. The twelve month LTFU rate increased annually from 1% in 2002/2003 to 13% in 2006.

The longer the time on antiretroviral treatment, the greater the proportion of the overall programme loss was due to LTFU: from 9% at six months to 29% at 36 months on antiretroviral treatment.

Such rapid increases in numbers placed additional burdens on an already overburdened system.

Monitoring and retention of patients in care was severely handicapped; capturing and accurately reporting data was problematic. Increasing numbers of LTFU could be because of death, lost to care, administrative error or inadequate patient monitoring systems, the researchers note.

The distinction between those LTFU due to administrative error and those truly lost to care needs to be made. Those truly lost to care, the authors note, are more likely to be non-adherent and at higher risk of death. A further consequence is the development of drug resistance, which then hinders programme success.

The researchers conclude that there is a need for further research at both the programme and national levels to understand LTFU adding that “Innovative, effective strategies are needed to follow and retain patients in large HIV treatment programmes while rapidly expanding access to antiretroviral services (in low- and middle-income countries.”

At the programme level, in spite of good early outcomes, adherence levels are also declining along with an increase in poorer treatment outcomes.

In an observational cohort study, of two well-established antiretroviral programmes in South Africa, one in the community and the other in the workplace, Mison Dahab and colleagues found that poor treatment outcomes (viral load above 400 copies/ml or having stopped treatment within the first six months) were more common in the well-resourced workplace programme (40% compared to 17%).

The study was designed to identify baseline factors predictive of poor treatment outcomes. Knowledge of these factors would help providers address these issues before starting patients on antiretroviral treatment, so improving adherence and retention in care and treatment outcomes. Yet little evidence exists about which baseline factors might be predictive of poor outcomes.

The researchers found that baseline predictive factors were unique to each programme. While excessive drinking and having seen a traditional healer was associated with poorer outcomes in the community, being male and knowing someone on antiretroviral treatment showed better outcomes. Poorer outcomes in the workplace were associated with being uncertain about the benefits of ART and a traditional healer’s ability to treat HIV (aOR 7.53, 95% CI: 2.02-27.98; aOR 4.40, 95% CI: 1.41-13.75, respectively).

Barriers to remaining on treatment and in care were primarily structural in the community setting. Testing and getting into care were more likely to be self-motivated compared to the workplace setting where provider-initiated testing and counselling (PITC) was the entry point. This would suggest, according to the researchers, that where PITC is available there is a need for additional adherence support.

Additionally in the workplace a longer time between diagnosis and starting antiretroviral treatment was associated with better outcomes (2-12 weeks compared to under two weeks (aOR 0.13, 95% CI:0.03-0.56)). This highlights, they note, the challenges of providing adequate antiretroviral counselling support before starting treatment when the need to start ART is immediate.

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‘No sexual advance’
Mr Singh, who invited the media to his premises yesterday, denied that he had made sexual advances to the woman. He said he did not consider asking her to rub his leg as inappropriate, but added that perhaps he should not have asked her as it created a problem with his wife. When asked why he did not ask his wife to rub his leg, the man said his wife was not at home and he could not contact his therapist. “Now look at me wife, she look better than most 16-year-old girls, why would I want to be making any advances?”
His wife was more concerned that the young woman did not tell her about the incident. “Why she took my husband’s money and did not tell me anything and skinning and grinning with me?” The man said when the massage was administered his 10-year-old son was in the house.
Responding to claims that he called the young woman into a room to view pornographic videos with him, he denied it occurred. When asked by one of the officials present if he watches pornography in the home, he man initially said it “is my personal business.” After his wife said there are no such DVDs in their home, he claimed he would not watch such videos in the house where he has three young children.
Stain
The man said that the publication of the story has caused immeasurable damage to his business although neither he nor his business was identified. “About thirty people call me yesterday and say boy this sound like you,” he said.
According to his wife, they employed the young woman after she was recommended by an aunt. The woman said the young woman’s cousin was initially hired but was not performing satisfactorily. After she complained, Mrs Singh said, the aunt suggested that she fire her and hire the young woman. Mrs Singh said she agreed to pay the maid $20,000 a month and three weeks after she started working, the maid approached her and requested that she give her mother her salary because her sister was ill and in hospital. “So I pay her for the month before the month was up,” the woman said before producing a charge sheet of all the money she had given to the woman. In all, the woman said the tally was $86,100, while the maid had only earned $65,000—three months and one week’s salary—and as a result the couple said she owes them $21,000.
They denied that their maid was imprisoned, saying that from time to time they would send her to run errands, which involved them giving her large sums of money. “Why didn’t she run away then? Why she come back?” he questioned. His wife said it was only last Friday that she visited their business place in a taxi to see her mother.
The wife said the maid’s mother indicated that her son was ill and she had to go home, but claimed the young woman offered to stay on until she found a replacement. The young woman had told officials that when she indicated she wanted to leave her employers informed her that she had to remain until they could replace her.
The Singhs did not deny that they took away the woman’s cellular phone, as according to the wife, “I don’t want her talking and laughing when she should be doing my work.” The husband said they gave the woman a phone as they wanted to monitor who she called or who called her and if they had “attempted to get a printout from her phone it would have been an invasion of privacy.” They admitted too that they had locked away their land-line, stating that they have had bad experiences in the past.
Meanwhile, Mrs Singh said the woman was entitled to two days and a night off each month and while she at first denied that the young woman worked from Sunday to Sunday, she admitted that the woman helped out on Sundays “because we still have to eat.” According to her, the maid’s day starts from about 06:30 hrs and ends at 17:00 hrs. The maid, Mrs Singh also said, would watch Indian soap operas with her every night from seven o’clock until half-past ten.
The couple said that they only took the maid once to a property they have in Bel Air for her to clean same. They added that they do not make National Insurance Scheme (NIS) payments for their maids because “they [the maids] can’t afford it.”
HIV Test
The couple also indicated that all prospective maids have to do an HIV test before they are employed and if they test positive, they would not be hired. “Madam, that is my home and they have to help prepare my meals and if they cut their finger or something, I wouldn’t want to get HIV from some stupidness like that. I have my children. I can’t get people like that working for me,” Mr Singh said, when told that it was discriminatory not to hire persons because of their HIV status. “I tell them about the phone and the HIV test before they are hired. They don’t have to take the job if they don’t want,” Mrs Singh added.
“I will never hire another [derogatory name for people of Amerindian heritage] again,” the angry businesswoman said and when told that she should not refer to persons in such racist terms, she said she was called a [derogatory term] by someone in her store and she took no offence. “Amerindians are exploiting business people. Them alone have all the rights?” she asked, while charging that the woman was making claims because she wanted to extract money from the couple. “They are only staining people’s name,” Mr Singh said, adding that persons like their maid was deterring business people from hiring certain people [he said he would not name the race]. “They [the certain kind of people] have too much of protection and they don’t know what they are doing. They are full of themselves,” he said.
Mrs Singh denied calling the woman names but in front of the officials she referred to the woman as a “sucker” while her husband called her “an idiot.”
The couple has also now accused the woman of stealing two video games and a pair of gold earrings.

Source: stabroeknews.com

Hugh McFall, 48, beat his daughter Francesca, 18, to death before hanging himself, the inquest heard
McFall left a note next to the bodies of his wife Susan and daughter Francesca reading: ‘I love you more than anything I have ever loved. I couldn’t let you suffer. Daddy XX’.
But the inquest heard that the outwardly respectable company boss may have led a sordid secret life after records showed his computer had been used to access HIV testing websites, escort agencies and torture sites.

Beaten to death: McFall’s wife Susan, 58, pictured here with her daughter Francesca, was also killed
A news article relating to Christopher Foster, a millionaire businessman who murdered his family and set his house on fire after falling into financial ruin had also been researched.
The killer had lived just a few miles from the McFall home.
The inquest heard that McFall, 48, ran a business called Growing Places in Oswestry, Shropshire, and had supplied nearby family-run superstore Stans with flowers and plants for more than 15 years.
The contract accounted for 90-95 per cent of his income.
He and his family led an enviable lifestyle, regularly taking holidays to destinations such as Monte Carlo and going skiing.
Miss McFall, 18, had attended the £12,000-a-year private Oswestry School and was a former head girl there.
Her father drove a £30,000 Land Rover and was a member of the Shropshire Sailing Club.
He became such a trusted supplier at Stans that, as the family-run store expanded, its bosses allowed him to deliver goods without counting the orders. But in January 2010, the store conducted a review of its sales and the performance of each of its departments.
Justin Smart, general manager of the store, told the inquest he believed the company had overpaid McFall ‘well over half a million pounds over seven years’.
They summoned him to a meeting on February 4 this year, the day before his death, and asked him where the money had gone. He denied any wrongdoing and offered to supply invoices.
But as he couldn’t account for the missing money, they suspended him as a supplier with immediate effect and told him they would be consulting the police.
His parting words to the store owners were: ‘That’s me finished.’

Family home: The house in Oswestry where McFall killed his family
Andrew Faulks, one of the owner’s of Stans, said: ‘We wanted to confront Hugh about the losses.
‘I was very upset. We had a good relationship with Hugh and part of me was hoping he’d come out with something to say we were wrong. We just didn’t want to believe what was happening.’
Coroner John Ellery added: ‘He would have left that meeting knowing that his almost sole customer had stopped dealing with him immediately and that there may have been a criminal investigation with the police.’
After the meeting ended, McFall went back home.
That night, he murdered his 58-year-old bank worker wife with one blow while she lay in bed. He then clubbed his daughter to death with at least five blows over the head, also striking two to the arm as she reached up to defend herself.
He is then thought to have dragged her, possibly while she was still alive, on to the bed beside his wife, before going to his industrial lock-up and hanging himself from the roof.
They were both found in the blood-stained bed with men’s ties around their neck after McFall phoned police telling them: ‘I’ve done something awful.’
The couple had been married for 20 years, though Mrs McFall had children from a previous marriage. Outside the house, he left a note for his brother-in-law saying: ‘Neil – don’t go inside.’
The inquest at Shrewsbury Magistrates Court heard that records taken from home computers show a user repeatedly searching for HIV testing at clinics, torture pictures and browsing escort websites.
The user also looked up how to commit euthanasia and accessed a website about the death of Christopher Foster.
Foster, 50, murdered his wife Jillian, 49, and daughter Kirstie, 15, in August 2008, a year-and-a-half before McFall’s killing spree.
The inquest continues.

Source: dailymail

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The TGA has issued a safety alert about the CORE HIV Rapid Test that is being purchased online and from retail outlets in Australia. The agency says the testing kit is unproven, has never been registered in Australia and is not legal.

Source: 6minutes

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Source: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/cfe62360a5cc0925c67c3d893ca1ad26.htm

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Source: http://arbiteronline.com/2010/09/07/make-sure-youre-not-hiv-positive/

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The Akron AIDS Coalition of Ohio has made mobile testing a major part of its mission. The group provides free at-home HIV testing in the Akron area, which has seen dramatic increases in the number of people infected with the disease, according to the West Side Leader.

“We are the only African-American-based organization that provides HIV testing, as the kids would say, in the hood,” Steve Arlington, the group’s executive director, told the news source. “I tell our staff, you have to test people where they are. Next week, they might change their mind.”

He added that the group’s mobile screeners use the fastest HIV testing methods, which can deliver results in as little as 20 minutes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there are more than 1 million individuals in the U.S. living with HIV, many of whom are unaware of their infection.

Source: http://www.privatemdlabs.com/blood-testing-news/HIV/Mobile-HIV-testing-seeks-to-reduce-rates-of-infection-$19924786.php

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In June, our state legislature passed groundbreaking legislation requiring HIV testing to be offered routinely in medical settings. The law will go into effect on Wednesday, September 1st. Previously, patients were required to sign a separate written consent form in order to get tested for HIV. Now, if you agree to a quick swab test, you will only have to give oral consent. When undergoing routine medical procedures or check-ups, you will be offered a standard HIV blood test to sign off on along with the battery of tests that most patients receive. Once you give your consent, it stays in effect for all your future blood tests.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 100,000 people in New York City alone are currently living with HIV infection, but more than 25,000 of them do not know it. After all, HIV can take ten years or more to progress to AIDS, the syndrome that destroys your immune system and leaves you vulnerable to all manner of opportunistic infections.

Most of these unknowing carriers of HIV feel and look healthy and are, in most respects. But they are missing out on treatments that could prevent them from progressing to AIDS. Plus, they are in danger of transmitting the virus to others, continuing to fuel the epidemic.

Yes, researchers have made enormous progress in treating HIV with anti-retroviral drugs that have extended the lifespan of people with HIV/AIDS by decades. HIV prevention was once driven in part by the fear of the horrible, disfiguring diseases that preceded the untimely deaths of our friends and loved ones. Now, the number of older people living with AIDS is skyrocketing as new infections rise among the young.

Today, fewer people even acknowledge having HIV/AIDS because they are experiencing relatively good health (if they have access to treatment) and do not want to complicate their employment or community lives. That has made HIV prevention much, much harder in 2010, especially among young people who are under the illusion that there is a cure for HIV that involves just taking a few pills. It in fact involves taking drugs almost daily that can have very debilitating side effects for the rest of your life.

Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) was founded 29 years ago by a brave band of gay men led by Larry Kramer who were screaming about the impending epidemic when almost no one in the community or media or government would pay attention to it. Today, there is a vast network of service organizations such as ours along with government programs to help people with HIV/AIDS and prevent new infections. Yet we are all going to have to step up our efforts to meet the new demand for AIDS services brought on by all the people who are going to find out about having HIV under the new testing protocol.

This new AIDS crisis is coming at a time when state and federal funding for AIDS is being cut in the current economic crisis. While New York has one of the best AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP) in the country to make sure that all people with HIV can afford their drugs, other states have long waiting lists to receive these lifesaving treatments. And with most HIV infections disproportionately hitting poorer people of color and others who are disenfranchised, the challenge of getting them the treatment, services, and prevention they need is even more challenging.

The country took a big step forward in this fight on July 13 when President Obama announced the nation’s first National HIV/AIDS Strategy, one that GMHC led the call for. It stresses the need for much more culturally relevant interventions targeting gay men and communities of color and the desperate need for greater cooperation between government, community- and faith-based organizations, and the private sector.

We are all going to have to pull together to meet this new challenge and GMHC will continue to advocate vociferously for the public policies and funding needed to address it. As our city confronts a spike in bias-related violence, prejudice also fuels the spread of HIV. We have to see racism and anti-gay bigotry as the public health problems that they are if we are to get new HIV infections under control. We must also understand the central role that HIV stigma, intertwined with antigay stigma, continues to play in the epidemic.

In the midst of this, GMHC is going through a big transition of our own. Our 15-year lease on West 24th Street is up and we had to move or face tens of millions more in costs. After a difficult search, we found a great new space on West 33rd Street that will save us millions which can be put right back into direct services, and allow us to consolidate on two sprawling floors rather than the 12 smaller ones we currently occupy. We will continue to provide HIV testing and prevention services at a new Wellness Center in Chelsea.

GMHC and all HIV/AIDS service providers need your help and support to meet these new challenges. Concern about AIDS in the US has receded as other crises have come to the forefront and attention has justly shifted to the AIDS pandemic in the Third World. But please remember that the crisis at home is far from over.

I am honored to be leading GMHC at this time. I have a job where I hear virtually each day from people who tell me, “Thank God for GMHC” or “GMHC saved my life.” While we look forward to the day when our services will no longer be needed, the time is now for us all to ramp up our commitment to serving those with HIV and vastly intensify our prevention efforts so that fewer and fewer will test positive.

GMHC is a not-for-profit, volunteer-supported and community-based organization committed to national leadership in the fight against AIDS. We provide prevention and care services to men, women and families that are living with, or affected by, HIV/AIDS in New York City. We advocate for scientific, evidence-based public health solutions for hundreds of thousands worldwide.

For more information, please visit www.gmhc.org.

Source: Healthnewsdigest

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A pastor has angered Christians in South Africa by preaching a sermon entitled “Jesus was HIV-positive” in an attempt to break what he regards as a conspiracy of silence by the South African church.

Xola Skosana said that HIV is stigmatised as evil and a sin in the country that has the world’s biggest caseload.

Skosana, 43, underwent a HIV test in front of his congregation last Sunday at the non-denominational Way of Life church in Khayelitsha , Cape Town. The test was also taken by 100 young people from the impoverished township.

The pastor said he chose the title for his three-part sermon to draw attention to “a very serious issue”.

“In many parts of the Bible, God put himself in the position of the destitute, the sick, the marginalised,” he said. “When we attend to those who are sick, we are attending to him. When we ignore people who are sick, we are ignoring him.”

Skosana cited a passage in the Bible where Jesus says: “I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” But he has had a hostile reaction in some quarters.

“The scathing attacks I’ve received from Christians are unbelievable,” he said. “They’re saying you can’t reconcile Jesus and Aids. They assume it means Jesus was promiscuous and had a louche lifestyle with many sexual partners.”

Skosana lost two sisters to Aids. One died last month at the age of 44. The other died in 2003 in her early 20s.

He condemned the national church for failing to tackle the issue when nearly 1,000 people are dying from Aids-related causes every day. The South African government had been accused of Aids “denialism” but has more recently been praised for its prevention and treatment programmes.

“It baffles me why in the church this is the most untalked-about subject,” Skosana said. “If I went to church and never heard the pastor talk about this, I would assume I must go home and die in silence. The message is that it’s an unpardonable sin and we must just forget about HIV/Aids.

“My responsibility as a pastor is to open a Bible and paint a picture of a God who cares for people and wants the best for them, not who judges them and is ashamed of them.”

He called on other churches to be more open about the subject. “I hope this will change the paradigm, especially in the Pentecostal background. I come from the Pentecostal background and I know this discussion is totally alien there.”

Skosana will not disclose the result of his public HIV test in case it puts pressure on the churchgoers who followed his example. They had heard him explain the virus, possible treatments and the importance of knowing their status and were given professional counselling.

Skosana’s stance was praised by South Africa’s National Aids Council. Mark Heywood, its deputy chairperson, said: “I applaud his actions. It’s very important that church leaders set an example, destigmatising HIV and encouraging testing so people know their status.

“There are many churches that have done a lot to combat HIV. The problem is that the church as a whole has not been vocal enough. It’s often been left to individual church leaders and organisations. We would like to hear a clearer message.”

The South African Council of Churches was unavailable for comment.

Source: Guardian

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By Kassim Mohamed

Holding the holy Quran in her right hand, Amina adjusts her veil. She appears like any other ordinary woman on the streets of Nairobi but Amina has had a recent past full of emotional turmoil.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

“A gang of 12 men raped me in turns on January 15, 2008. I passed out. That’s a day I’ll never forget in my entire life,” Amina bitterly says adjusting her veil.

Amina was born and brought up in Mogadishu but moved to Kenya along with her husband and five months old son in 2005. When life became too hard to cope in Nairobi, they relocated to Narok, a small town 200 km west of Nairobi.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

With the help of relatives living abroad, the young family started a business: money came in and life appeared rosy. Kenya became a safe heaven and they considered it a home away from home but just until Kenya’s disputed election results were announced. In front of her maid and three-year old son, Amina was gang raped.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

“My husband was not around, he left just before the Kenyan election for Mogadishu to see the other two wives and children back there. After the incident I didn’t inform him about what happened. I was too scared; he might consider me as an infidel. He doesn’t know up to now”.

In July 2008, the family left for Mogadishu and settled there for a while. However, the constant violence in the Horn of Africa country saw them back to Nairobi, Kenya.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

She went for an HIV test in October 2009 and tested positive and because of the high levels of stigma attached to HIV/AIDS in her community, this 26 year old has not revealed her status to anybody. According to her, the Kenyan elections turned her world upside down.

Medical authorities at Nairobi Women Hospital say more than 300 women were raped during the post-election violence.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

When Radio Netherlands informed Amina about the presence of the Chief Prosecutor of The International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno Ocampo in Nairobi, Amina sighed in relief. But she was soon heartbroken to learn that Moreno Ocampo has categorically stated after his first press briefing on Saturday that he will deal only with the “big fish” – those who bear the most responsibility in fanning the violencehome hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

“I am here in Kenya illegally because my country is unstable. If the International Court can not heal my wounds and bring those who raped me and other women to book, I have little hope that local courts in Kenya will deliver me justice”.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit

Mr Moreno Ocampo is viewed by many Kenyans as the only hope to see those responsible for the infamous post-election crisis in the country punished. Moreno Ocampo has assured the public that Kenya’s case will serve as an example. He further asked the government of Kenya to protect witnesses who agree to give evidence.

Meanwhile, Amina says she will rather go back to Mogadishu than stay in Kenya during the 2012 general election.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit