Contemporary Sexuality - December 2008 - (Page 6)

HIV continued from page 5 “We’re worried. The trend data has confirmed our worst fears.” — David Ernesto Munar Stall and several co-authors reported on results of interviews with 2,881 American men in four cities (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and New York). They found a high correlation between psychosocial health problems and HIV infection. “If it is indeed true that it is the additive effect of interrelated psychosocial health conditions that increases vulnerability to HIV infection, it may be possible to enhance the efficacy of HIV prevention efforts by working to support a broader health movement within vulnerable communities,” Stall writes. The case for a national AIDS strategy Smarter prevention strategies may be necessary. But so are additional dollars. A coalition of 250 HIV/AIDS organizations is urging the federal government to adopt a comprehensive National AIDS Strategy and dramatically increase funding for prevention. “Only with increased resources and a cogent and well implemented National AIDS Strategy can we bring down HIV incidence, increase access to care and reduce persistent racial and ethnic disparities,” says Marjorie Hill, chief executive of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis. Top CDC officials essentially made the same argument to Congress in September. Julie Gerberding, director of CDC, and Kevin Fenton, the agency’s head of the National Center of HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, told a House Committee the federal government should double its HIV prevention budget. If the CDC were to receive an additional $877 million annually (on top of the $892 million it is requesting for 2009) for HIV prevention, it could cut the number of new infections by half in 12 years, Fenton said. The CDC’s Professional Budget Judgment promises it could accomplish the following by 2020 (with the additional funds): • “Reduce the HIV transmission rate by 50 percent, from approximately 5 percent to 2.5 percent • Reduce the proportion of persons who do not know their HIV status by 50 percent, from approximately 25 percent to 12.5 percent • Reduce disparities in the black to white rate ratio of HIV/AIDS diagnoses by 50 percent from 8.9:1 to 4.5:1 • Reduce disparities in the Hispanic to white rate ratio of HIV/AIDS diagnoses by 50 percent from 3:5 to 1.8:1.” Munar of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago says the numbers submitted by the CDC show that current HIV prevention efforts are “woefully underfunded.” “That’s why we’re not seeing the progress we want to see,” he says. In recent years, the U.S. government and wealthy nonprofits have increased funding on HIV prevention in Africa and Asia. Those efforts may be overshadowing the critical need for funding and innovation at home. “There’s been more attention devoted to problems in other countries,” says Wolitski of the CDC. “We’ve become complacent about the effect of the epidemic here at home. We have to be doing more.” — Todd Melby From the Executive Director continued from page 2 • Donations: Many AASECT members make tax deducatible donations to honor colleagues or relatives on special occassions such as weddings, graduations, birth of a grandchild, attainment of certifcation and so forth. We send a card acknowledging the gift to your association in honor of the celebrating member and both parties benefit. Consider AASECT in this way the next time you want to honor someone in a special way. • Awards Nominations. We were pleased to learn this month that the incomparable Joan Sughrue has agreed to chair this year’s awards committee. The 2009 nominations form can be found through a link once you log into our Members Only area of the AASECT website. Or you can contact the national office at aasect@aasect.org to receive the PDF file. 6 Contemporary Sexuality www.aasect.org | December 2008 Vol. 42, No. 12 http://www.aasect.org

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Contemporary Sexuality - December 2008 Contents Member Profile Book Reviews News of Members Quck Hits: Sex in the News Educational Opportunities

Contemporary Sexuality - December 2008

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