CDC’s Seven Banned Words

Nation’s Leading HIV/AIDS Organizations Condemn Efforts to Ban Words at CDC, Erase Transgender and Diversity

Washington, DC — Five of the nation’s leading organizations focused on ending the HIV and STD epidemics in the United States – AIDS United, NASTAD, the National Coalition of STD Directors, NMAC, and The AIDS Institute – expressed alarm over reports that the Trump Administration barred staff at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) from using certain words in its FY2019 budget justification to Congress.

While we continue to be in contact with the Administration, CDC, and other agencies regarding these reports, restrictions on these terms, in any manner, demonstrate this Administration’s troubling lack of commitment to science and we are seeking further clarification. Thanks to bipartisan support in Congress and the Executive Branch we have made incredible progress against HIV over the last decade. But budget proposals delineate policy priorities, and in rejecting science and evidence along with other commonly understood health language, this Administration calls into question its commitment to science and the health of all communities, including racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities.

Discouraging use and reference to “evidence-based” or “science-based,” is concerning enough. However, any attempt to remove “transgender” and “diversity” from CDC vocabulary would represent an outright dereliction of the stated duties of the agency. Such efforts are unacceptable and cannot go unanswered. Transgender people and people of color live under constant threat of systemic and specific discrimination and violence. Erasing them from official CDC documents ensures ongoing discrimination and undermines the ability of CDC to effectively respond to their health needs.

Evidence suggests the transgender community is particularly vulnerable to HIV and STDs. As citizens and residents of this nation, they should be treated with fairness and respect. As human beings, they are entitled to dignity and affirming care. AIDS United, NASTAD, NCSD, NMAC, and The AIDS Institute remain committed to ensuring that diversity is celebrated by our public health system and that its work is rooted in science, not politics. We stand with transgender staff, constituents, clients, and family, and will not relent in our demands that their health and the health of all marginalized and minority communities be prioritized by this Administration and the U.S. government.

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AIDS United (AU), NASTAD, the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD), NMAC, and The AIDS Institute (TAI) are national non-partisan, non-profit organizations focused on ending HIV in the U.S. They have been working in partnership to identify and share resources to sustain successes and progress we have made in HIV and STD prevention, care and treatment in the United States. 

NMAC Announces Aging Mini-Grant Awardees!

 

Today, NMAC is honored to announce the recipients of the 2017 HIV 50+ Strong & Healthy Mini-Grant Program. The mini grant program allows our 2017 USCA HIV 50+ scholars to get involved in their community by developing and implementing a project to educate and engage HIV 50+ community members who need to connect with other peers. The grantees are affiliated with an organization that will act as the fiscal sponsor for the grant. NMAC understands that our movement needs leaders who are living with the virus. Our HIV 50+ scholars have important lessons to share with our HIV community.

Fourteen applications were awarded up to $2,500 in the categories of community education, community outreach, and community engagement.  The grantees and the projects are:

  1. Robert Riester, Aurora CO, “From the Past by Our Future” a storyteller videos project.
  2. Dean Edward, Columbia, SC, “Engage to Lead” a project of engagement of HIV 50 Men.
  3. Nancy Shearer, Santa Monica, CA, “Positive Singles Mixer” a project to empower people living with HIV to expand their social networks, reducing feelings of stigma and isolation.
  4. Michael G. Smith, Santa Fe, NM, “Phoenix Rising 2.0” a project to enhance and encourage financial stability.
  5. Erik Jannke, Palm Spring, CA, “Manual on HIV & Aging” an explanatory manual on HIV & Aging.
  6. Cynthia Marker, Lakeside, CA, “Fellow Advocate Mentorship (FAM)” a project to increase health literacy, self-efficacy, and social support networks among women living with HIV who are 50+.
  7. Randal Lucero, Albuquerque, NM, “50 + Healthy and Strong Summit” a project to bring community leaders, 50 + individuals living with HIV and their allies together to improve the lives of older adults living with HIV.
  8. Lilibeth Gonzalez, New York, NY, “Thriving at 50 and Beyond” a full-day community education event for 50 HIV-positive people aged 50 or older.
  9. Teresa Sullivan, Philadelphia, PA, “Sister to Sister: Women of Color Long Term – Survivors Building Our Voices of Resilience” a project to provide interactive educational sessions, on health and wellness to Women of color over fifty years old and living with HIV and end self- isolation.
  10. Rob Quinn, Boston, MA, ““Healthy Aging with HIV Community Wellness Day” a one-day weekend event targeting holistic health services, resources, and education for PLWH 50+ and Long-Term Survivor.
  11. Bryan Jones, Cleveland, OH, “Building leader for tomorrow among people of color” a project to instill purpose in those over 50 to empower those under 35 who are not engaged in planning bodies or decision-making opportunities.
  12. Jesus Guillen, San Francisco, CA, “The Chronicles of the Phoenix” a project to educate, engage and entertain.
  13. Jennifer Chang, Los Angeles, CA, “Puppy Love” a communal meet-and-greet, and dog-walking event for 50+ survivors of HIV/AIDS who are otherwise socially isolated.
  14. Esther Ross, Greenville, NC,” ‘Leaders Advocating and Mentoring other leaders for Personal growth and Support (LAMPS)” a project to educate persons of Color living with HIV over the age of 50 to mentor, train and support one other peer.

NMAC is very excited to be able to fund these projects and look forward to a fruitful collaboration. Successful projects will be showcased at the 2018 USCA. NMAC wants to thank Gilead for their support of these mini-grants. We can change the world and end the epidemic as we support and build community in the over 50-year-old people living with HIV.

Yours in the Struggle,

Moisés Agosto-Rosario
(202) 836-3669
Director of Treatment

Nation’s HIV Leaders Raise Alarm Over Lack of HIV, STD Mention in HHS Strategic Plan

Nation’s HIV Leaders Raise Alarm Over Lack of HIV, STD Mention in HHS Strategic Plan

Washington, DC – Five of the nation’s leading organizations focused on ending the HIV and STD epidemics in the United States have collectively expressed their grave concern with the lack of focus on HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Strategic Plan, FY2018-2022. Despite the crucial importance of the intersectional issues of HIV and STDs, including hepatitis, to our nation’s public health, the report is relatively silent on these issues.  The document contains no mention of other STDs, mentions HIV only twice and hepatitis just once.

This lack of specificity regarding these diseases is of paramount concern, as is the failure to reference even once, the unique health needs of America’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender populations, who bear the greatest burden of the nation’s HIV and STD epidemics.  The report only barely mentions the health needs and disparities facing racial and ethnic minorities.  At the same time, the Plan seems to prioritize faith-based approaches that have the potential to lead to discrimination against religious and sexual minorities.

In comments submitted to HHS, AIDS United, NASTAD, the National Coalition of STD Directors, NMAC, and The AIDS Institute urged the Trump administration to adjust its approach. At a time when STD rates have increased to their highest levels ever and four out of every 10 people living with HIV are not engaged in care, we should be refocusing our national resources on addressing these challenges, not turning our attention away from them. The HHS Strategic Plan is an opportunity to not only reinforce the national goals and priorities of the United States, but it is an opportunity for the United States to effectively plan to end the HIV epidemic and to address the worsening trends in STDs.  Unfortunately, the latest version fails to accomplish either goal.

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AIDS United (AU), NASTAD, the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD), NMAC, and The AIDS Institute (TAI) are national non-partisan, non-profit organizations focused on ending HIV in the U.S. They have been working in partnership to identify and share resources to sustain successes and progress we have made in HIV and STD prevention, care and treatment in the United States.

One Week Left to Register for the 2017 Biomedical HIV Prevention Summit!

We are less than 2 months away from our 2017 Biomedical HIV Prevention Summit. If this year’s USCA was any indication, we know our movement is eager to come together and continue doing the work to end the epidemic. The Summit will highlight the innovations and achievements in biomedical and behavioral sciences in order to engage our movement about the best practices and lessons learned that will ultimately lead to success. We want you to be a part of this intimate and necessary event. Register by November 3 so you can reserve your place for this year’s Biomedical HIV Prevention Summit. Last year was the first time that NMAC had to cut off registration for one of our conferences due to capacity and we expect to do the same this year! As part of this low registration fee of $275 you will receive access to 4 plenary sessions, participation in over 30 workshops, engagement in an intimate exhibit hall, and receive breakfast and lunch each day.

A central goal of this year’s Summit will improve on the successes of last year’s meeting by broadening the focus from just PrEP to include biomedical prevention options. It’s time to think about the expanded integrated role that PrEP, PEP, and Treatment as Prevention (TasP) has in building pathways to ending the epidemic.  Workshops on building comprehensive HIV plans, PrEP in the South, TasP and the Undetectable = Untransmittable movement are just a few of the topics that will be covered. Check out the Summit program and Listing of Workshops online here.

The Summit is a unique meeting that is very different from USCA.  We are keeping those aspects that worked well during the Summit’s first year.  Plenary sessions will continue to be intimate conversations with the audience and will allow for interactive audience dialogue with the panel presenters at the end of the session.  This year we’ve added a small exhibit hall with seating to facilitate important conversations and information sharing.

Stay tuned for information on the conference app launch. The official Summit hashtag is #2017HIVSummit.
We sincerely thank this year’s Summit sponsors for making the meeting possible.

 

Presenting Sponsor

Benefactor
                       
 Supporter
           
Ally

HIV and STD Organizations Denounce Trump Administration’s Actions to Degrade the Affordable Care Act

HIV and STD Organizations Denounce Trump Administration’s Actions to Degrade the Affordable Care Act

Following repeated legislative defeats to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), President Trump is taking steps to further sabotage the ACA.  This includes ending cost sharing reduction (CSR) payments to issuers and issuing an executive order that would destabilize the health care marketplace and erode patient protections.

Both actions would have devastating effects on people living with or at risk of HIV and STDs.  Ending the $7 billion in CSR payments would serve to increase premiums and force the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program to bear a greater share of insurance costs.  It would drive insurance companies out of the state health care marketplaces and in turn, put the marketplaces out of business.

In addition to this action, President Trump signed an executive order that directs federal agencies to expand association health plans and short-term limited insurance.  Such plans would not have to meet “essential health benefits,” virtually ensuring they will be useless for people with pre-existing conditions, including people living with HIV and STDs.  The executive order creates the opportunity for younger and healthier people to exit the more regulated marketplaces and destabilize the entire insurance market

We urge the courts to end the illegal action to halt payment of the CSRs. We also call on Congress to quickly approve bipartisan legislation to stabilize the marketplace and extend CSR payments. People living with HIV and other STDs, particularly people of color, often face multiple barriers to accessing the care and treatment they need to stay healthy. The President’s actions would only strengthen these barriers, making it even more difficult for these communities most impacted by HIV to receive the care they need.

AIDS United (AU), NASTAD, the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD), NMAC, and The AIDS Institute (TAI) are national non-partisan, non-profit organizations focused on ending HIV in the U.S. They have been working in partnership to identify and share resources to sustain successes and progress we have made in HIV and STD prevention, care and treatment in the United States. 

NMAC Announces the Building Leaders of Color (BLOC) 2017-2018 Program
            
NMAC is looking for people of color living with HIV who are dedicated to leading on HIV issues in their communities to participate in its BLOC program. These leaders must be willing to serve as representatives in their local communities by actively engaging in decision-making processes to ensure services for people of color living with HIV are created and protected.

The 2017-2018 BLOC program will select 90 leaders of color living with HIV who are ages 18 and older. The BLOC program is designed to identify new, emerging, and seasoned leaders of color living with HIV with the goal of cultivating, supporting, and training them to be full, active, and engaged participants on planning bodies, medical and support care teams, boards of directors, and other entities meant to address the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Goals. In the new year, the BLOC Program will host the following comprehensive trainings:

  • One (1) national training for transgender women of color living with HIV.
  • Three (3) regional trainings for people of color living with HIV.
  • NEW!!! – BLOC Youth.  One (1) – youth focused leadership program where we will recruit and train young up-and-coming leaders of color living with HIV. This program is designed for those between the ages of 18-24.
  • One (1) Train the Trainer (TOT) Session for selected program graduates and Ryan White Part A & B grantees (applications coming soon)

 Applications for the BLOC program are now being accepted through October 15, 2017. To be considered for the program we encourage you to apply now via the below link.

To learn more about the program, NMAC is offering BLOC Application Introduction Webinars. These webinars are meant to inform you about BLOC programming and expectations. To receive more information about these register at the following link:

October 2, 2017 & October 5, 2017 at 3:00 PM EST

Partner Organizations

   

     

 

What’s in it for You?

Selected participants will:
  • Learn skills and information important to the wellness, leadership, and personal/professional development of people of color living with HIV.
  • Engage in innovative leadership development sessions focusing on national public health trends, policies, and directives focused on impacting the domestic response to HIV.
  • Become part of a growing national community of people living with HIV (PLHIV) dedicated to creating better systems and institutions for PLHIV.
  • Have access to leading national PLHIV coalitions, nonprofit leaders, as well as federal agencies working on behalf of people living with HIV.
  • Receive coaching and mentoring from seasoned PLHIV leaders and gain several other skills and opportunities to support leadership goals.

For additional information and resources for the BLOC Program please visit www.blochiv.org.

Yours in the Struggle,

Linda H. Scruggs MHS, Consultant
Acting Director,  Leadership Pipeline

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under contract number U69HA304700100. This information or content and conclusions are those of the authors and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.

It Broke My Heart

Like many of you, I watched the weekend’s events unfold in Charlottesville with great sadness and disbelief.  White supremacists believe that the color of their skin gives them a privilege in our society.  They hold on to symbols like the swastika and the confederate flag to reaffirm their false narrative that being white makes them superior.

Most of us understand that these beliefs are wrong, vile, and un-American.  Yet the consequences of America’s racial divide are very real.  We are fighting an epidemic where black women are 20 times more likely to get HIV than white women.  Gay men of color, particularly black gay men, are the largest number of people living with HIV in America.  Eighty percent of transgender women diagnosed with HIV were African-American or Latina. Diagnoses among Latino MSM increased 13 percent from 2010 to 2014.

We understand that your skin color does not make you superior, so why and how does your skin color impact your health outcomes?

Our movement talks about the social determinants of health as a way to tiptoe around discussions about race.  Maybe it’s easier to talk about poverty, unemployment, or a lack of education.  NMAC believes those conditions exist because of racism.  Until we address race, racism, and its impact on our nation’s health, we will never end the HIV epidemic in America.

Dr. David Williams from Harvard University will speak at the opening plenary of this year’s United States Conference on AIDS.  Dr. Williams has done some of the definitive work on race and health.  NMAC also invited the People’s Institute to present their ground-breaking teachings on Undoing Racism.  In fact, there is a whole pathway on race.   It’s not enough to be culturally sensitive; the movement needs to understand race and privilege and their impact on health.  It’s time to get rid of our fear of talking about race by talking about race.

We must not shy away.  Whether we want to have it or not, this conversation is happening and sometimes in very destructive ways.  Our movement must lead on race in order for us to end the HIV epidemic.

Yours in the struggle,

Paul Kawata