Honor Those Lost to HIV/AIDS - World AIDS Day 2009: A call to action!
On this World AIDS Day, people around the globe are voicing their collective support for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. With over 33.4 million people living with HIV worldwide, and approximately 25 million lives already lost since 1981, the need a preventative vaccine is critical. More than 97 percent of new HIV infections occur in low- to middle-income countries. But here at home, HIV continues to disproportionately impact African-Americans, Hispanics/Latinos and gay and bisexual men across the country.
While treatments have improved the lives of many living with HIV/AIDS, they are complex, costly, and can have serious side effects. Treatment is also unable to keep up with the speed at which HIV spreads across communities worldwide. For every person who starts an HIV treatment regimen, at least two other people are newly infected with the virus. An HIV vaccine remains our best hope for ending the scourge of this disease. Finding a vaccine requires the dedication, cooperation and support of not only the scientists conducting the research and the governments, universities, philanthropies and industry that finance it, but also the communities the epidemic has impacted most.
Each trial-whether in South Africa, Thailand or the United States--will help scientists learn more about HIV infection and light the path toward a vaccine that will hopefully one day be both effective and accessible to all. What goes on inside of the lab helps bring us closer to ending HIV/AIDS, but what goes on outside of the lab is equally-if not more-important. Without educators, community activists, supporters, and most importantly the tens of thousands of volunteers who participated in clinical studies, scientists could not successfully conduct their research.
On World AIDS Day, honor those who have been affected by HIV/AIDS by supporting HIV vaccine research. To get involved and help support the cause, click here.
Protect Yourself: To learn more about HIV/AIDS health and safety, click here.
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On the eve of World AIDS Day (Tuesday, 1 December), a landmark paper documents the failure of low and middle income countries to protect men who have sex with men from contracting HIV/AIDS.
Over a million Americans are estimated to be living with HIV. Worldwide an estimated 33 million people are living with HIV. This coming Tuesday, December 1, 2009 World AIDS Day is set to take place, with the goal being to raise awareness about the terrible disease. There have been many great events that have been planned out for this upcoming World AIDS Day all around the world.
A first-of-its-kind study looking at HIV infection rates found that half of gay men in Chicago who have HIV did not know they were infected, and two-thirds of infected black men were unaware. In addition, infection rates for black men were more than twice the rates for whites and Hispanics.
May 15 marked a loss of profound proportions for the civil rights community, the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community, and the HIV/AIDS movements community. Rodger McFarlane, an early advocate, activist and strategist for the gay community, took his own life in Truth and Consequences, New Mexico, last Friday after battling compounding heart and back problems that were resulting in almost total debilitation 
An alleged gay/bi-sexual "street hustler" in Tampa, Florida is accused of trying to rob a pharmacy with what he said was a needle infected with the AIDS virus has been arrested. Police say Anton Francis Ziherle, 23, walked into the West Coast Pharmacy located on North Florida Avenue Thursday afternoon with his hands in his pockets and told employees about the needle. He then demanded that they give him oxycodone.
A gay doctor in Los Angeles has admitted to chiseling Medicare of thousands of dollars in an AIDS-related billing scam, reports The Associated Press. Dr. George Steven Kooshian of La Quinta plead guilty February 24 to administering diluted doses of medicine to mostly gay patients suffering with HIV, AIDS or hepatitis and billing the federal government and private insurers the full cost of treatment.
MTV recently posted the trailer for Pedro an MTV original movie that dramatizes the story of the late Pedro Zamora, the Real World season 3 cast member who was both openly-gay and HIV-positive. (It's set to premiere on MTV and Logo on April 1.)
Unless you’re a gay man, January is National Blood Donor Month. The FDA still has not budged on their ban on blood donations from gay men. “Men who have had sex with other men (MSM), at any time since 1977 (the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the United States) are currently deferred as blood donors.” “This is because MSM are, as a group, at increased risk for HIV, hepatitis B and certain other infections that can be transmitted by transfusion.”
