December 1, 2005
CHANGE THE WORLD
 |
CANDLE OF HOPE: Thursday, Dec. 1, people worldwide commemorate those lost to AIDS |
Thursday, December 1, is the 18th annual World AIDS Day. This year's theme is "Keep the Promise"—an apt one at the end of a year in which, the U.N. announced Monday, record strides were made in preventing and treating the disease worldwide even while the number of infections and mortalities continues to stagger the mind. Over 40 million people worldwide are now infected with HIV/AIDS, the U.N. reported, while last year alone, 3.1 million people were diagnosed with the disease and 4.9 million were infected.
While prevention progress was reported in some hard-hit nations in the Caribbean as well as in Zimbabwe and Kenya—where HIV rates among pregnant women in urban areas have dropped from 28 percent in 1999 to 9 percent in 2003—most affected nations still lack the full arsenal of prevention tools they need to stem the tide of new infections. On the treatment front, 1 million people in the developing world are now receiving medications, the U.N. reported, even though millions more still lack treatment, and the World Health Organization recently apologized for missing its much-touted "3 x 5" target of treating 3 million people by the end of 2005.
Why did the W.H.O. initiative fail? A report released this week by the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition weighs in.
NYC: GROUND ZERO
 |
NEVER FORGET: Last year's HW vigil |
In New York City—often called "ground zero" of HIV/AIDS in the U.S. because it is home to 10 percent of the estimated 1 million-plus Americans with HIV/AIDS, and because 1 in 5 new infections in the U.S. occurred there in recent years—Housing Works will mark World AIDS Day with its 12th annual 24-hour "Reading of the Names" vigil at the southern tip of City Hall Park.
Starting at midnight on Thursday, December 1, through midnight Friday, December 2, hundreds of Housing Works staffers and community members will read from a seemingly interminable list of names of those lost to AIDS, starting each hour with this statement lamenting the worldwide toll of AIDS—and urging city, state, federal and international leaders to step up to the four core demands of the Campaign to End AIDS to bring the global pandemic to a final halt.
All are welcome to attend and join in the commemoration and the urgency of this annual event that is taken very seriously by the Housing Works community. At 3pm on Thursday, December 1, HW CEO and Campaign to End AIDS co-chair Rev. Charles King will hold a press conference with community leaders including City Councilwoman Annabel Palmer, Harlem United executive director Patrick McGovern, and New York City AIDS Housing Network cofounder and executive director Jennifer Flynn and her NYCAHN associates.
"We'll be gathering for three reasons," says King. "One is to remember and honor the legions of family, friends and lovers we've lost to this fight. The second is to highlight how fully funded and science-based prevention tools can turn back the numbers," he says, noting that new CDC stats showing a drop in HIV rates among injection-drug users can likely be attributed in part to the expansion of clean-needle distribution programs, such as the excellent network of such programs that New York City has funded and championed in recent years.
"But third, and most important, we'll be gathering to hammer home the same message of the Campaign to End AIDS that we've been repeating like a mantra all year: That the only thing we lack in turning this epidemic around worldwide is the political will of our leaders, on all levels. That's why we'll be out there for a full 24 hours—to let the City Council, mayor, governor and our president know that we're holding them accountable."
HOUSE PROUD
 |
AIDALA: She worked on the study |
On the eve of World AIDS Day, the National AIDS Housing Coalition has released a groundbreaking study concluding that hosuing helps reduce the risk of getting HIV and increases access to needed medical care.
A result of the National Housing and HIV/AIDS Research Summit held last June, the report, entitled Housing is the Foundation of HIV Prevention and Treatment, supports the development and implementation of a new HIV prevention and care strategy in the U.S. based upon the proven effectiveness and primary importance of housing as a structural HIV prevention and treatment intervention.
"The report should be the basis for new comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention strategies on all levels of government," said NAHC executive director Nancy Bernstine. Summit researcher Angela Aidala, PhD, agrees: "This growing evidence refutes the predominant 'risky person' model for understanding the co-occurrence of homelessness, HIV infection, and poor health outcomes among persons living with HIV/AIDS who lack stable housing."
The report urges four new policy demands: 1) Make subsidized, affordable housing available to all low-income people living with HIV/AIDS, 2) Make housing homeless persons a top HIV-prevention priority, 3) Incorporate housing interventions as a critical element of HIV healthcare, and 4) Continue to collect and analyze data to assess the impact of various models of housing an HIV prevention and healthcare intervention.
Click here for the full press release about the study, which you can read in its entirety by clicking here.
ENGEL'S DA MAN!
 |
ENGEL: Words of wisdom |
And finally, because he has been such a consistently strong leader on AIDS issues, it would simply shameful if we didn't end this WAD dispatch with an excerpt from the World AIDS Day statement of Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), who urges that more be done to stop the epidemic and that the Ryan White CARE Act be swiftly and robustly reauthorized:
"World AIDS Day gives us a chance to evaluate what needs to be done to make substantial progress on combating HIV/AIDS, both at home and abroad. As a member of Congress on both the House International Relations Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over public health, I have been a constant advocate of critically needed federal assistance. Much has been done on both the federal and state level, but we continue to fall short on making inroads for HIV prevention and early treatment."
Click here for Engel's entire statement.