| February
24, 2006
This Week in Washington
1. Capitol Hill Briefing on African Americans and HIV
In the News
1. California Nearing Switch to Name-Based Reporting
Announcements
1. The Balm In Gilead Holds 17th Annual Black Church Week of Prayer
for the Healing of AIDS
2. Condoms4Life Offers “People of Faith Use Condoms” Materials
3. Grants for the Provision of Community-based, HIV Related Mental
Health Services for Minority Populations.
4. National Conference on Social Work and HIV/AIDS to Convene
in Miami, FL
This Week in Washington
1. Capitol Hill Briefing on African Americans and HIV
On Thursday, February 16, 2006, Inadequate CARE: The Overwhelming
Impact of HIV/AIDS in the African American Community, a briefing,
was held on Capitol Hill. The two-hour event was sponsored by
the Black AIDS Institute, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),
and the National Black Justice Coalition. Staff from AIDS Action,
one of seven briefing co-sponsors, was in attendance.
Organized to provide the latest information
and thinking on HIV’s impact in the African American community,
the briefing targeted two audiences: Congressional staff and members
of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC)’s Historically Black Colleges
and University (HBCU) outreach program. The outreach-program members,
a group of 70 college students, were attending the briefing in
conjunction with the second annual HBCU conference, Claim Your
Truth.* While they were the majority of briefing attendees, there
were also staff members from Congressional offices and national
HIV organizations scattered among them.
Christopher Labonte, legislative director of
the Human Rights Campaign opened the event and introduced the
two attending Representatives: Rep. Barbara Lee, (D-CA) and. Rep.
Mel Watt, (D-NC), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, who
each presented remarks.
Rep. Lee (D-CA) stated that “HIV/AIDS is a state
of emergency in the Black diaspora.” She said members of the Congressional
Black Caucus (CBC) are very concerned about the HIV/AIDS epidemic
in the African American community and, she revealed, they continue
to work to increase the funding for the Minority AIDS Initiative
and to strengthen the Ryan White CARE Act through a “positive
reauthorization.”
The CBC, she continued, saw the importance of
the “global AIDS pandemic.” As a result, the Caucus had created
the Global HIV/AIDS Task Force for which she now serves as chair.
The task force works to increase awareness of the global pandemic,
especially in Africa.
Presenting on behalf of Del. Donna Christensen
(D-VI), Chair of the CBC Health Braintrust, Rep. Mel Watt, followed
Rep. Lee’s comments. He sent out greetings from the 43 members
of the Congressional Black Caucus in general and from Del. Christensen
in particular. He then affirmed the “strong commitment of the
CBC to fighting AIDS globally and domestically.”
In listening first to Rep. Lee’s presentation
and then to the remarks from Del. Christensen, briefing’s attendees
had received messages from most of the CBC’s leading HIV advocates,
Rep. Watt commented. However, he continued, there was another
CBC member from whom they not heard—Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)—who
is equally passionate about this issue. The dynamic leadership
of these three Members is, in fact, what keeps the CBC focused
on the HIV epidemic in the African American community.
The briefing continued with a panel discussion
which included Phill Wilson, executive director of the Black AIDS
Institute, Damon Dozier, director of government relations and
public policy at the National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC), and
Linda Scruggs, deputy director of programs at AIDS Alliance for
Children, Youth, and Families. Dr. Garth Graham, deputy assistant
secretary for Minority Health, Department of Health and Human
Services served as the moderator.
In their presentations, the three panelists
highlighted HIV and AIDS statistics for the African American community.
According to background material provided by HRC, “HIV/AIDS has
had a devastating impact on the African American community. The
statistics are startling. While African Americans make-up less
than 13 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 54 percent
of all new AIDS cases and 42 percent of all people living with
AIDS.”
HRC also reported on a study that was recently
released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The
study found that 46 percent of African American men who have sex
with men in five large U.S. cities are HIV positive. Within that
group, 67 percent were unaware of their status. HRC’s materials
continued with statistics on African American women—67 percent
of new HIV infections among women are Black women.
Mr. Phill Wilson was the first member of the
panel to speak. He reported that his organization, the Black AIDS
Institute, had just released a report in partnership with the
NAACP, titled The Way Forward—The State of AIDS in Black America.
In discussion the report, Mr. Wilson recalled
President Bush’s mentions of “African Americans and AIDS” in his
last two State of the Union addresses. He believes however that
there are “glaring disparities between [the President’s] words
and deeds.…” Consequently, Mr. Wilson maintains that time should
not be wasted waiting for the federal government to respond to
the HIV epidemic in the African American community. Instead, African
Americans must work together to create and implement their own
response to the health crisis.
“This report is about a collective us,” he observed.
“As the motto of the Black AIDS Institute states ‘Our People,
Our Problem, Our Solution’… when we have the courage to act we
make progress; when we don’t we lose ground.”
Black people must confront HIV in the community
by calling for the following:
- Leaders to lead;
- The lifting of the federal ban on needle
exchange;
- The expansion of comprehensive, age-appropriate,
culturally competent HIV prevention efforts;
- A massive effort to address the disproportionate
impact this epidemic is having on Black men who have sex with
men; and
- All Black Americans “to raise our HIV literacy
and find out our HIV status.”
In the next presentation, Mr. Damon Dozier stated
that NMAC, his organization, “has long been a strong advocate
of the CARE Act and the Minority AIDS Initiative–two lead programs
offering life-sustaining treatment, information, and other essential
services to people of color living with HIV and AIDS.”
“Access to health care nationwide is color-coded,”
he said. “There are wide disparities in access to primary care
and supportive care structures for minority populations, especially
those who are infected with HIV.” According to Mr. Dozier, this
is one of many problems that contribute to the increasing number
of HIV positive individuals in the African American community.
Mr. Dozier then provided information on the
funding levels that President Bush requested for HIV programs
in his budget for fiscal year (FY) 2007, which he released earlier
this month. In doing so, he noted that HIV advocates have proposed
figures that are higher than the President’s requests for all
the programs contained in HIV portfolio for FY 2007.
As the third and final speaker of the panel,
Ms. Linda Scruggs identified herself as an HIV positive woman.
The reason she wished to disclose her HIV status, she then explained,
was because she had realized that the general community did not
think African American women were a part of the U.S. epidemic.
In far too many situations, African American women are not discussed,
conferred with, or studied, she said. As a result, they are not
generally considered to be part of this country’s HIV positive
population. Ms. Scruggs wants the discourse to change, because
she knows a lot African American women living with HIV who need
culturally competent HIV prevention messages, as well as appropriate
care and treatment for their HIV infection.
In addition, Ms. Scruggs said that she has worked
with numerous HIV positive women around the country in order to
“spread the word” among African Americans about the risk factors
for HIV. She now is working on a new initiative of the AIDS Alliance
for Children, Youth and Families, called The Black Women’s Initiative,
which is part of the organization’s HOPE Campaign for Women. According
to an AIDS Alliance press release, the HOPE Campaign will “conduct
research, develop policy recommendations for Congress and the
Administration, fight for new programs that more effectively serve
Black women, and refocus AIDS Alliance education and training
programs for women and providers.” Ms. Scruggs concluded, “We
must break the silence and talk about HIV everywhere in the Black
community; whispers kill!”
The briefing concluded after a question and
answer session moderated by Dr. Graham. Many of the students in
attendance went to lobby their Members of Congress after the briefing.
*The objective of the HBCU conference is “to
train students on organizing student-run GLBT groups on campus,
find empowerment in their lives as GBLT people of color, and conduct
activities on campus to raise the level of dialogue on issues
that directly affect their lives.”
In the News
1. California Nearing Switch to Name-Based Reporting
On Tuesday, February 21, the California State Assembly voted in
favor of a measure that places the state on the threshold of change
for its HIV reporting system. The measure, which must win the
approval of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger before it can be enacted,
would require HIV cases in California to be reported to local
and state health departments by individuals’ names. Currently,
HIV cases in the state are reported to health authorities as codes
comprised of numbers and letters—a system begun by the state in
2002. California however has been using a name-based system to
track AIDS diagnoses since the beginning of the U.S. epidemic.
According to a press release by AIDS Project
Los Angeles, an AIDS Action member, California developed its current
reporting system in response to a directive by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—the federal agency that collects
and stores HIV surveillance data for the entire country. In 1999,
the agency called for states to implement name-based systems of
HIV reporting, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on
Monday, February 20.
Dr. Robert Janssen, the CDC's division director for HIV/AIDS Prevention,
explained to the newspaper that in the CDC’s view, it is virtually
impossible to avoid errors, such as double reporting of the same
case, unless the names of HIV positive people are used for reporting
purposes.
At that time, however, most of the states that
had the largest number of AIDS cases, including California, did
not have such a system in place the reporting of HIV infections,
the Chronicle continued. What’s more, “they faced strong
political opposition to doing so” which arose from fear over breaches
of confidentiality. As a result, some states like California opted
to develop code-based systems. Over the years, though, the number
of states requiring HIV reporting by name has grown to over 40,
leaving California among only a few states that still use codes.
In October, at the start of fiscal year (FY)
2007, another federal agency—the Health Resources and Services
Administration (HRSA), which administers the Ryan White CARE Act—will
begin to base its funding allocations on reported cases of both
AIDS and HIV. HRSA now bases its funding exclusively on reported
AIDS cases. Unless California shifts to name-based HIV reporting,
this change could result in severe losses in CARE Act funding
for the state—a fact that has contributed to weakening support
for code-based reporting.
“If this situation is not corrected, the state
may lose between $50 to $100 million in Ryan White CARE Act funding
each year, warned Craig Thompson, executive director of AIDS Project
Los Angeles (APLA) and chair of the AIDS Action Council Board,
in the APLA press release.
In addition to costing California tens of millions
of dollars, code-based reporting has “overtaxed the county health
departments, and led to a backlog in the reporting of cases,"
according to Michael Montgomery, chief of the Office of AIDS at
the California Department of Health Services, who was quoted in
the Chronicle. California spends $1.4 million annual
to maintain the code-based system. Moreover, fears of privacy
violation have been mitigated by the state’s success in keeping
secure the names collected for AIDS reporting, the newspaper noted.
As proposed, the California measure requires
testing sites to report the names of individuals who have tested
positive for HIV to local and state health authorities. This information
will be stored in a secure computer within the state, the Chronicle
explained. In a press release, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation
called attention to other important safeguards in the proposed
measure. “…only public health officials have access to these lists;
employers and insurance companies do not. Additionally…the names
of HIV-positive Californians will be reported only to the county
in which they live and to the state; the federal government will
only receive a unique code for each HIV-positive individual, not
their actual name.” Lastly, as APLA points out in its press release,
“Anonymous testing will still remain available as an option.”
If Governor Schwarzenegger approves the measure,
it won’t necessarily mean an immediate end to California’s worries.
"We have to clean out from the registry all existing HIV
data, and start all over again. The counties will have to redo
it. It will be a big undertaking,'' Mr. Montgomery told the Chronicle.
He further stated that the data won't be ready by the FY 2007
deadline.* “In theory, Ryan White money that cities and counties
have relied upon for AIDS programs could still be lost,” the Chronicle
revealed.
"I do think there is a danger,'' added
Mr. Montgomery. “We are talking to the California congressional
delegation, asking them to protect states that are in the process
of converting.''
To read the article and press releases on which
this news brief is based, link to the San Francisco Chronicle
at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/20/BAGB3HBLAD1.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea;
AIDS Project Los Angeles at http://www.apla.org/news/press_releases/2006/011906_SB699.html;
and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation at http://www.sfaf.org/aboutsfaf/newsroom/assem_reporting.html
*The Ryan White Legislative Group (RWLG) has
recommended to Congress that the CARE Act reset the deadline to
switch to formula allocations based on HIV to FY 2009. This new
deadline is intended by the RWLG to allow sufficient time for
California and other states to switch to name-based HIV reporting
and to give the CDC sufficient time to certify the results. The
RWLG is a coalition of organizations which advocate for the reauthorization
of the CARE Act; AIDS Action is a member.
Announcements
1. The Balm In Gilead Holds 17th Annual Black Church Week of Prayer
for the Healing of AIDS
Black faith communities worldwide are invited to participate in
The Balm in Gilead’s Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing
of AIDS, which will take place from Sunday, March 5 to Saturday,
March 11. Now in its seventeenth year, this annual week of action
and prayer is the largest HIV awareness campaign targeting the
Black faith community.
Under the theme “United We Stand Against HIV/AIDS,”
The Balm In Gilead, an AIDS Action member, invites churches to
join together to support, encourage, and empower African Americans,
Africans, and all people of the Diaspora to take action to stop
the transmission of HIV in Black communities and to support accessible
services and resources for people who are living with and affected
by HIV infection.
For more information on the Black Church
Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS, link to The Balm in Gilead
at http://www.balmingilead.org/programs/weekofprayer2006/default.asp
2. Condoms4Life Offers “People
of Faith Use Condoms” Materials
Launched in 2001 on World AIDS Day, Condoms4Life
is a worldwide public education campaign by Catholics for a Free
Choice. Its mission is two-fold: to raise awareness about the
devastating effect of the Vatican’s ban on condoms; and to raise
the voice of Catholics and all people of faith who believe that
the correct and consistent use of condoms is a crucial component
of HIV prevention.
Condoms4Life materials, which include posters,
postcards, stickers, and a campaign brochure, are available for
viewing at http://www.condoms4life.org/resources/newmaterials.htm
and can be ordered by sending a request to info@condoms4life.org.
Requests should indicate the name of each item, the desired quantity,
and how the material will be useful.
3. Grants for the Provision
of Community-based, HIV Related Mental Health Services for Minority
Populations.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) has announced
the availability of up to $8,400,000 in fiscal year 2006 for approximately
16 cooperative agreement grants. Annual awards are expected to
be approximately $525,000 per year in total costs (direct and
indirect) for up to five years.
Funded programs must enhance and expand the
provision of effective, culturally competent, HIV related mental
health services for minority populations. According to its Web
site, SAMHSA intends these grants to result in the delivery of
services as soon as possible and no later than four months after
the funding award. Domestic public and private nonprofit entities
are eligible to apply.
The projects to be supported in this program
are to have experience providing culturally competent mental health
services in their respective communities, and will develop and
implement HIV related mental health treatment services that meet
the needs of people living with HIV in that community. All applicants
must target one or more of the following populations: African
Americans, Latinos(as), Native Americans (non-reservation), Asian
Americans, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and/or other racial/ethnic
minority communities.
Applications are due by May 1, 2006. For more
information, link to the SAMHSA Web site at http://www.samhsa.gov/grants06/RFA/sm06_001_hiv.aspx
4. National Conference
on Social Work and HIV/AIDS to Convene in Miami, FL
The 2006 National Conference on Social Work and HIV/AIDS will
be held from May 25 to May 28 at the InterContinental on Chopin
Plaza in Miami, FL. First convened in1988 by the Boston College
Graduate School of Social Work, the meeting is the only national
conference organized by, and for, social workers working in HIV
care at hospitals, clinics, universities, AIDS service organizations,
community-based organizations, and social agencies. The conference
draws over 500 attendees from the United States and abroad and
features more than 120 presentations. In addition, the conference
hosts social events and provides opportunities for networking.
Participants can earn 24 hours of social work continuing education
credits. For more information on the conference, link to http://socialwork.bc.edu/outreach/hiv-aids/
or contact Vincent J. Lynch, PhD, director of Continuing Education
and conference director at 617-552-4038 or lynchv@bc.edu
The AIDS Action Weekly Update
The Weekly Update is written with
a mind toward the interests of our members. If you are interested
in membership with AIDS Action, we invite you to contact members@aidsaction.org.
AIDS Action works
to end the HIV epidemic by advancing public policies that
prevent new infections, provide care for people living with
HIV, and support the search for a cure. AIDS Action serves
as the national voice for people living with HIV and represents
AIDS service organizations, health departments, and a diverse
network of community-based organizations across the country. |
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