|
|
January 2006 NORA Holds
January Meeting, Discusses HIV in Washington, DC Dr. Martin began by noting that it is “interesting to be on this side of federal policy.” As a former executive director for a national HIV advocacy organization, she has experience working to strengthen federal HIV policy, but she has never approached this work from the perspective of a health official at the state or local level. The District of Columbia, she said, is a fascinating place to be engaging in such an effort because of its contrasts. On the one hand, “Washington is the home of the national federal government,” Dr. Martin explained. “It is a city that has the distinction of being talked about, and the greatest minds are here doing analysis and strategic work on some of our greatest problems.” On the other hand, “We don’t have data on what the city is doing in HIV,” she revealed, and “the city is floundering on articulating a response to the epidemic.” Dr. Martin asked how many NORA members in the room worked in DC and how many lived in DC. All worked in DC and roughly half were also residents of the city. Dr. Martin therefore stated: “DC is your town”—especially, she added, for those who reside in the District. She urged the meeting’s attendees to recognize that they live and/or work in a town with a very high HIV prevalence. She asked: “How do we make DC a place where we can test our ideas about responding to the HIV epidemic, where we can implement real-life community interventions?” She urged NORA members to think about working with the DC Health Department or to share with the department relevant information about HIV related projects that their organizations are working on or any models they are developing. Having extended this invitation to the organizations represented in the room, Dr. Martin shared some information about the initiatives on which the HIV/AIDS Administration is currently working. According to Dr. Martin, DC wants to expand HIV testing, eventually moving toward universal, but not mandatory, HIV testing for DC residents. Dr. Martin said that she would like all DC residents to know their HIV status. One of the ways in which she would like to accomplish this goal is by working with the District as an employer as well as other top employers within the city—many of which are health care organizations—to ensure that all of their employees are tested for HIV. This announcement prompted several NORA members to raise concerns about the implementation of such an initiative. Concerns centered on issues of workplace discrimination, stigma, breaches of confidentiality, a lack of proper linkages to care and appropriate education and counseling. Dr. Martin responded by inviting the concerned parties to work with HAA to ensure that workplace testing adequately circumvents such problems. Further, Dr. Martin and her team at HAA are working on combining the Ryan White Title I planning council and the HIV prevention planning group for Washington, DC.*, ** Dr. Martin is also leading an effort to re-build the HIV surveillance capacity of HAA. The Department of Health is entering what Dr. Martin called an “academic-public health partnership” with the George Washington University School of Public Health. This partnership is with biostatistics and epidemiology professionals in the School and, she added, it will result in a better surveillance division of HAA. In all of her efforts, Dr. Martin emphasized that she and her team have the support of the Mayor, Anthony A. Williams. She said that he is interested in “turning around the statistics” in DC, where it is estimated that 1 in 20 residents are living with HIV. In closing, Dr. Martin invited NORA members to share with her any thoughts and ideas they have about programming, including projects on which their organizations are currently working. She further suggested that member organizations review any programs that their organizations had implemented in the past, when they were more directly involved with the response to HIV. * A Ryan White Title I planning council is
a body appointed or established by the Chief Elected Official
of an Eligible Metropolitan Area (EMA) – as defined in Title I
of the Ryan White CARE Act – whose basic function is to assess
needs, establish a plan for the delivery of HIV care in the EMA,
and establish priorities for the use of Title I CARE Act funds
(http://www.hrsa.gov).
|
