Monday, August 31, 2009
Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and the district Department of Health Director Pierre Vigilance on Friday announced that they are "launching a new campaign to increase HIV testing in the district," News8.net reports. "According to a study released earlier this year, 3 percent of district residents are living with HIV or AIDS," according to the news site (8/28). "The $225,000 multimedia marketing campaign is the first phase of a five-year effort. Its advertisements feature [district] residents holding signs that read, 'Ask for the Test,' which already can be seen on television. … The campaign also includes a feature that allows residents to use text messaging to find the nearest HIV testing location to their home" (Gaynair, Associated Press/Washington Examiner, 8/28).
The New York Times examines the "controversy" that began last week when the CDC announced it has "been mulling over whether" to recommend voluntary male circumcision for populations including, "infants and even adult men who are at risk for HIV." The article reports that "public health experts are making a pretty strong scientific case that cells in the foreskin act as a magnet for HIV and, as such, may increase a man’s risk of acquiring the virus from an infected woman if he is uncircumcised." According to the Times, there are also "critics with deep moral and fundamental objections to operating on a baby’s healthy genitals for any reason before the child is old enough to understand or give his consent; they say the harm is irreversible." The article also discusses the history of male circumcision and whether the practice "would make a significant dent in the HIV/AIDS crisis in this country" (Rabin, 8/29).
A related San Francisco Chronicle editorial states, "CDC should ignore the cries of outrage from so-called 'intactivists' and recommend" routine voluntary circumcision for male newborns. The Chronicle continues, "evidence shows that the benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks." In addition, "[s]tudies have shown that circumcision can reduce HIV infection rates for heterosexual men by half," the editorial states, adding, "This shouldn't even be controversial" (8/31).
Solano County, Calif., "no longer offers HIV testing, HIV monitoring, prevention and outreach programs and AIDS case management, said [Peter Turner, supervising health education specialist for the county Department of Health and Social Services], who estimates between 1,500 and 2,000 people are living with HIV in Solano County," the Vallejo Times-Herald reports. "As we speak, there are virtually no programs," he said, noting that the approximately 500 HIV-positive prison inmates in the county are not affected. The reduction in services is a result of cuts made by the state Office of AIDS. The county "might receive some federal money," according to the newspaper (Banes, 8/30).
In Sonoma County, "budget cuts and the recession are hastening the likely closure of the HIV clinic in downtown Santa Rosa, leaving county health officials to search for options to maintain medical services that have kept people alive for two decades," the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports. The Sonoma County HIV Clinic "and other HIV support services have for several years run the risk of losing about $1 million in annual federal funding because they do not serve the minimum required number of AIDS patients" to receive funding from the Ryan White Program, the article states. The "county has begun a review to determine how best to continue providing HIV services," according to the newspaper (Espinoza, 8/29).
KHOU.com examines the Ryan White Program, which expires on Sept. 30: "If Congress doesn't reauthorize it, patients in cities across the country may go without access to their medications, doctors and case management." KHOU.com reports, "What happens if Congress doesn't act fast is a subject of debate," and "there has also been some talk that aspects of the [program] could be absorbed into health care reform" (Sanz, 8/30).
The Kaiser Daily U.S. HIV/AIDS Report is published by the Kaiser Family Foundation. © 2012 Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
