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  • Rethinking the 4th of July 7:17 - 4.07.2008 My Pet Virus: The True MySpace of Shawn Decker - MySpace Blog

    For most folks, the 4th of July is all about putting on your favorite pair of jean shorts, getting drunk, setting off fireworks and getting laid. For me the 4th is all about the pranks. This time of ...

  • Terrence Higgins Trust Offers One Hour HIV Testing In Hastings, UK 7:00 - 4.07.2008 HIV / AIDS News From Medical News Today

    On Monday July 7, Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) is launching 'Fastest', a new one hour HIV testing service aimed at men who have sex with men in East Sussex. 'Fastest' will run on the first Monday of every month between 17.30 and 19.30 at Hastings Voluntary Action in Priory Street, Hastings.

  • Study Examines Death Rates For People Newly Diagnosed With HIV 7:00 - 3.07.2008 HIV / AIDS News From Medical News Today

    In the five years after their diagnosis, people living with HIV in developed countries and receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy are no more likely to die than HIV-negative people, according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Reuters reports (Kahn, Reuters, 7/1).

  • Editorials, Opinion Piece Respond To Senate Republican Block Of PEPFAR Reauthorization Legislation 7:00 - 3.07.2008 HIV / AIDS News From Medical News Today

    Several newspapers recently responded to the decision last week by some Senate Republicans to block consideration of legislation that would reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Summaries appear below.

  • Funny Miss Virginia 2008 Video 7:37 - 2.07.2008 My Pet Virus: The True MySpace of Shawn Decker - MySpace Blog

    To compete in the Miss Virginia pageant, you have to win a local title first. The new Miss Virginia entered this year's competition as the reigning Miss Arlington. Miss Arlington is run by a very coo...

  • Second Life (Part 2 of "We Are Living in a Virtual World") 7:02 - 1.07.2008 Blog.AIDS.gov

    This week we build on our June 10 post about virtual worlds and focus on the well-known site, Second Life . To better understand how Second Life can help share HIV information and provide support to those who are HIV-positive,...

  • DC HIV/AIDS Administration Out of Condoms 7:11 - 1.07.2008 Fight HIV in DC

    The DC Department of Health HIV/AIDS Administration long troubled Condom Distribution Program has hit yet another roadblock. They ran out of condoms.

    A local HIV/AIDS organization that was told they could pick up thousands of condoms this week was told this morning that the HIV/AIDS Administration is cleaned out and will not have any condoms to distribute for at least a week.

    The shortage raises questions about the overall distribution of condoms. On two separate occasions in 2006 and in 2007, the HIV/AIDS Administration pledged to distribute a million condoms. As a basis of comparison The New York City Health Department distributes anywhere from three to five million condoms each month.

    But while the HIV/AIDS administration pledged on two separate occassions to distribute a million condoms it now seems pretty obvious based on the numbers that they never even had a million condoms to distribute.

  • Meet the New Miss Virginia 7:38 - 30.06.2008 My Pet Virus: The True MySpace of Shawn Decker - MySpace Blog

    Every year, Gwenn and I travel to Roanoke to witness the crowning of Commonwealth royalty at the Miss Virginia pageant. Miss Virginia is part of the Miss America system. It's a scholarship program. O...

  • More States Reject Abstinence-Only Federal Funding; No Change in Fenty Policy 7:38 - 25.06.2008 Fight HIV in DC

    The Associated Press reports that an increasing number of states are rejecting ill-advised Abstinence-Only-Until Marriage funding; and rightly so. There is no scientific evidence that abstinence-only-until-marriage programs—those that censor information about contraception—are effective in preventing HIV or teen pregnancy.

    Numerous youth organizations in the District of Columbia have asked Adrian Fenty to also reject these funds, but to date there has been no change in the District of Columbia policy. (I personally asked Adrian Fenty to reject these funds at a Gertrude Stein Democrats Meeting on May 14th, 2007)

    The Associated Press reports:

    Some $50 million has been budgeted for this year, and financially strapped states might be expected to want their share. But many have doubts that the program does much, if any good, and they're frustrated by chronic uncertainty that it will even be kept in existence. They also have to chip in state money in order to receive the federal grants.

    Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, a Democrat, made his decision to leave based on the congressionally mandated curriculum, which teaches "the social, psychological and health gains of abstaining from sexual activity." Instructors must teach that sexual activity outside of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects.
    A total of twenty two states have rejected these funds. Most recently, New York State rejected the funds. In addition two states, Arizona and Iowa, have announced their intention to forgo their share of the federal grant at the start of the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

    This funding comes with strings attached that are simply unacceptable. The messages required by abstinence-only-until-marriage funding are damaging to gay and lesbian youth. Further, they are Ineffective, Unethical, and Poor Public Health.

    I sincerely hope that the District of Columbia will listen to the concerns of the community and reject this funding once and for all.

  • Reaching Bloggers for National HIV Testing Day 7:50 - 24.06.2008 Blog.AIDS.gov

    Last week, AIDS.gov hosted a Webinar for bloggers in advance of National HIV Testing Day (on June 27). We reached out to bloggers for this event because so many people today depend on bloggers for their news, information, and opinions....

  • More Than Half of AIDS-Related Deaths in Washington, D.C., Not Reported 7:20 - 18.06.2008 Fight HIV in DC

    We've long known that HAA has problems with reporting. I've talked numerous times on this blog about the problems with the x-pres data entry system. Now this, from Kaiser Daily:

    More than half of the AIDS-related deaths that occurred in Washington, D.C., from 2000 to 2005 were missed by the city's system for reporting such deaths, according to an analysis by the district's Department of Health and CDC that was published recently in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the Washington Post reports. The underreporting of AIDS-related deaths suggests that the epidemic "may be taking a far greater toll" on the district than health officials had originally thought, according to the Post.

    For the analysis, city health officials worked with CDC to review all death certificates from 2000 to 2005 in an effort to identify deaths that appeared to be AIDS-related. They compared that number with the deaths that had been reported and discovered the discrepancy, the Post reports. According to the analysis, of the 2,460 deaths from AIDS-related illnesses that occurred between 2000 and 2005, 1,337 had not been reported because the city's system for tracking them was "inadequate," the Post reports. Officials launched the investigation because of health officials' increasing concern that they were undercounting the number of district residents living with HIV and those dying of AIDS-related causes, in part because they discovered boxes of unexamined paper records. Shannon Hader, senior deputy of the health department's HIV/AIDS Administration, said the analysis "tells us our surveillance system wasn't complete enough," adding, "We're clearly underreporting."

    According to the Post, at least 12,500 district residents have developed AIDS -- one of the highest rates in the country -- and officials estimate that between 3% and 5% of people living in the city are HIV-positive. Hader said that in order to curb the spread of HIV in the district and ensure that HIV-positive people receive appropriate care, the department needs an "accurate count." In addition, the amount of federal HIV/AIDS funding the district receives is based on such estimates, Hader said, adding, "We want everything they owe us."

    In response to the findings, Hader said the district has initiated several efforts to improve its reporting system, including a mass mailing in January to about 4,000 physicians and laboratories to try to increase the number of reported diagnoses. Officials also have begun routinely reviewing death records and have launched a campaign to try to identify more people for treatment.

    "What we need to do is get more people who don't know they have HIV diagnosed and into care and treatment," Hader said, adding, "Every time you go into a health care provider, they should be offering to test you for HIV. We want to drive down the number of people living with HIV and [who] don't know about it" (Stein, Washington Post, 6/14).

    Online The analysis is available online.

  • 20 students. 6 universities. 8 short videos. 1 cause. National HIV Testing Day Personal Public Service Announcements 7:53 - 17.06.2008 Blog.AIDS.gov

    Dr. Kevin Fenton, Director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention , with a PPSA participant To help get the word out about National HIV Testing Day (June 27), the CDC and the University of...

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MISSION STATEMENT:
DC Fights Back (DCFB) is an all-volunteer network of people living with HIV/AIDS and their allies working to engage ourselves and our communities in every aspect of HIV advocacy for District residents and to end stigma to ensure the best possible treatment and care for those living with HIV/AIDS and implement the best possible science-based HIV prevention for everybody.
Reports
Read the RAND Corporation health assessment of DC here
Full Report from DC DOH on the local HIV/AIDS epidemic

 

Check out this great video of our 2007 World AIDS Day Protest

DC HIV/AIDS Epidemic at a Glance
  • 1 out of 20 District residents is infected with HIV. That's 5% of the population (citation)
  • 1 out of 50 District residents is already living with AIDS (citation)
  • If DC were a country it would rank in between DR Congo and Uganda in terms of HIV prevalence rate! (citation)
Contact us by email at dcfightsback(at)gmail(dot)com

Co-chair George Kerr marching to get arrested on World AIDS Day 2007

Center-Co-chair George Kerr marching on the White House. Left of picture Erin Burns the National Organizer for Student Global AIDS Campaign. Right side Alex Lawson in a t shirt that reads, "hands tied DC teachers."

Alex Lawson DC Mayor Fenty Danielle Pleasant

DC Mayor Adrian Fenty with Alex Lawson and Danielle Pleasant at the 2007 DC HIV/AIDS Summit

DC Fights Back's Geno Dunnington and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton

Geno Dunnington and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton at World AIDS Day 2007

 


Alex Lawson, George Kerr, Director of the HIV/AIDS Administration Dr. Shannon Hader, Geno Dunnington
Back Row- Cherie Lindsay, Larry Bryant at DC Fights Back's Resource Day 2007

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Larry Bryant, Karyn Pomerantz, Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry, Geno Dunnnington at DCFB/MWPHA's March and Speak Out 2007
George Kerr Larry Bryant
Larry Bryant and George Kerr help facilitate the November Speak Out 2007

Jose Marco from ACT UP Philly and Alex Lawson protest at the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration holiday party. Visit

Jose Marco from ACT UP Philly and Alex Lawson protest at the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration holiday party. Visit puertoricoaidscrisis.com for more information.

Larry Bryant pours rum in the street in protest

Larry Bryant pours out rum in protest over inaction at the Puerto Rico AIDS crisis. Read POZ's coverage of the action here

Alex Lawson getting arrested in for an act of civil disobedience

Alex Lawson getting arrested for an act of civil disobedience in front of the White House on World AIDS Day 2007