Protesters, researchers and politicians converged on Mexico City this week for a conference on HIV and AIDS. Meanwhile, the CDC released a report confirming that the HIV infection rate is far higher than it originally thought. (Photo by Eduardo Verdugo/AP)
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David Reznik served on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS between 2002 and 2007 and is the founding director of the Grady Health System Infectious Disease Program Oral Health Center.
He serves as the HIV/AIDS policy adviser for the Log Cabin Republicans and can be reached via this publication.
NEW
GOVERNMENT
statistics
show
startling
increases
in
HIV
estimates.
Shame
and
blame
won’t
fix
this,
action
and
funding
will.
I
started
treating
AIDS
patients
in
the
early
days
of
the
epidemic,
helping
so
many
young,
frightened
individuals
both
live
with
hope
and
die
with
dignity.
I
have
seen
a
community
respond
to
a
crisis
with
unstoppable
determination,
effective
activism
and
remarkable
compassion.
I
have
seen
the
advent
of
effective
therapy
turn
what
was
once
an
almost
certain
death
sentence
into
a
more
manageable
and
chronic
disease.
I
have
had
the
privilege
of
working
with
and
learning
from
my
patients
for
more
than
22
years.
Yet
the
past
several
years
have
shown
me
that
lessons
learned
are
easily
forgotten.
Too
many
young
men
and
women
in
their
20s
are
coming
to
my
clinic
with
advanced
HIV
disease.
In
many
ways,
it
seems
as
if
it
is
1988
all
over
again.
My
experiences
are
not
unique.
Other
doctors
around
the
country
have
noticed
a
similar
increase
in
the
number
of
advanced
HIV
cases.
And
now
the
Centers
for
Disease
Control
and
Prevention
has
released
a
long
awaited
report
showing
a
spike
in
HIV
rates
—
something
those
of
us
in
HIV
care
have
known
for
some
time.
THESE
NEW
NUMBERS
make
it
clear
that
our
nation’s
efforts
to
control
the
spread
of
HIV
in
the
U.S.
have
failed.
The
revised
CDC
estimates,
which
were
officially
released
on
Aug.
2
in
the
Journal
of
the
American
Medical
Association
(JAMA),
show
approximately
56,000
new
cases
of
HIV
each
year.
That
is
a
40
percent
increase
over
the
previous
estimate
of
40,000
new
cases
per
year.
Based
on
new
surveillance
data,
the
CDC
also
says
that
for
the
past
15
years
the
annual
number
of
new
cases
is
actually
25-50
percent
higher
than
previously
thought.
Simply
put,
the
U.S.
epidemic
is
and
has
been
worse
than
previously
estimated.
The
CDC
attributes
the
increase
to
an
upsurge
in
testing
and
enhanced
surveillance,
yet
better
data
alone
cannot
explain
what
I
see
every
day.
There
will
be
plenty
of
blame
and
anger
from
activists
and
communities
impacted
by
this
news
and
to
a
degree,
rightfully
so.
The
impact
of
HIV
disease
is
overwhelming
on
men
who
have
sex
with
men
of
all
racial
and
ethnic
backgrounds
and
especially
African-American
men
and
women.
It’s
inexcusable
for
the
United
States
to
lack
a
national
plan
to
address
this
ongoing
crisis.
The
absence
of
leadership,
at
all
levels
of
society,
is
intolerable.
Stigma
continues
to
drive
this
disease.
Also,
too
many
people
think
HIV
is
no
longer
a
problem
in
the
U.S.
We
must
overcome
this
incorrect
perception
not
just
during
this
brief
flurry
of
media
attention,
but
for
the
long
haul.
TO
WIN
THE
war
against
HIV
we
must
develop
a
national
AIDS
strategy
to
fight
HIV/AIDS.
Our
strategy
for
combating
the
disease
must
use
available
tools
such
as
rapid
HIV
testing
and
fully
implement
and
appropriately
fund
policies
such
as
the
CDC’s
recommendation
to
make
HIV
testing
a
part
of
routine
health
care.
We
must
target
evidence-based
prevention
efforts
to
those
most
impacted
by
this
disease.
However,
the
CDC’s
HIV
prevention
budget
has
remained
stagnant
for
far
too
long.
A
recent
analysis
conducted
at
Johns
Hopkins
University
revealed
that
the
CDC’s
HIV
prevention
budget
buying
power
fell
17
percent
between
fiscal
years
2002
through
2007.
Ryan
White
programs,
which
provide
life-saving
medical
care
and
services
to
the
most
vulnerable
people
living
with
HIV/AIDS,
have
not
received
enough
funds
to
keep
up
with
the
ever-growing
epidemic.
These
programs
have
reached
a
breaking
point.
We
have
the
tools
to
keep
HIV
in
check,
yet
our
nation
seems
to
lack
the
will
to
combat
this
epidemic
at
home.
Growing
up
in
a
family
that
lost
many
members
during
the
Holocaust,
I
remember
being
taught
to
never
forget
and
make
sure
such
horrific
events
never
happen
again.
Losing
my
partner
and
so
many
of
my
friends
and
patients
to
AIDS,
I
often
wonder
why
we,
as
a
community
impacted
by
HIV,
have
not
followed
the
same
lesson.
We,
owe
it
to
those
who
died
before
researchers
developed
the
life-saving
medications
that
have
rescued
millions
of
people.
We,
owe
it
to
those
who
struggle
while
living
with
HIV
today.
We
have
the
power
to
make
a
difference
now,
before
we
lose
another
generation
to
what
is
today
a
preventable
disease.
The
following comments were posted by our readers and were
not edited by the Washington Blade. We ask that you
treat others with respect; any post deemed offensive will
be removed.
RZ on 8/8/083:53 PM:
All parents and educators, every part of the nurturing village must create a supportive environment so that if children do turn out to be gay they do not feel cut off from all sources of social support and feel they are sick and evil. Shame and self-loathing do not encourage safe sex among gay men or honesty with female partners about same sex experiences.
RZ on 8/8/083:52 PM:
If society wants gay men to protect their health and to be socially responsible, society has to teach them self-respect and grant them first class citizenship with equal rights under the law. Targeting prevention messages to high risk communities won’t do this. All kids need to grow up knowing that if they turn out to be gay, it won’t prevent them from being valued, contributing members of society. This requires participation from the highest levels of every sector of society – the president, Congress, schools, churches, sports, media.
All parents and educators, every part of the nurtur
