June, 2017 – Dr. Milburn is a Professor-in-Residence in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the UCLA Semel Institute Center for Community Health and Director of Research and Evaluation at the Nathanson Family Resilience Center. Her research interests include homelessness, substance abuse, mental health and family-based behavioral interventions. She has examined paths into and out of homelessness, as well as the risk for HIV among homeless youth in the U.S. and Australia. She has designed and implemented a behavioral intervention for homeless adolescents at risk for HIV and their families.
CHIPTS hosts a monthly HIV Research and Community Colloquia Series in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Commission on HIV to highlight current issues and conversations surrounding HIV. Click here for past lectures and check out the events page for more information on future Colloquia presentations!
“Cancer is quickly becoming the leading cause of death in HIV-infected patients, so we urgently need to understand why these patients are less likely to be treated,” lead study author Dr. Gita Suneja of the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City said.
Tiffany Cvrkel, PhD
Bioethicist
Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology
University of California, Los Angeles
With evidence mounting that some combinations of antiretroviral agents may be used effectively as “pre-exposure prophylaxis” (PrEP) to prevent the spread of HIV, clinicians, researchers, and policy-makers must now decide when and how to best use this intervention. While the science has been extremely promising, the use of PrEP presents social and ethical challenges. This talk will explore the ethical controversies around the use of PrEP. We will address concerns that members of the public have raised and then discuss ethical issues that have not yet received adequate consideration. By the end of this talk, we will have sorted ethical challenges that can be sufficiently overcome from ethical challenges that still demand further attention.
The CHIPTS’ Methods Core hosts a monthly seminar series, which are one-hour workshops on research and statistical methods. The seminars are open to HIV researchers, faculty, students, and community. To see previous seminars, check out the Methods Seminar tag or you can find seminar videos on our Youtube Channel! This series is hosted by the Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services (CHIPTS) and made possible by funds from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH058107).
May 12, 2016 – AltaMed’s English and Spanish telenovela webseries Sin Vergüenza (Without Shame) was developed to address the impact HIV has on the Latino community. Now in its second season, Sin Vergüenza highlights the importance of obtaining HIV medical treatment and support for coping with a diagnosis. While stigma and shame continue to be one of the greatest obstacles for persons living with HIV, AltaMed presented engagement metrics on the series to demonstrate the role telenovelas have in igniting conversation around high impact HIV prevention topics.
CHIPTS hosts a monthly HIV Research and Community Colloquia Series in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Commission on HIV to highlight current issues and conversations surrounding HIV. Click here for past lectures and check out the events page for more information on future Colloquia presentations!
NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Global progress fighting AIDS could be lost because prevention programs are suffering from a lack of leadership, accountability and funding, the head of the United Nations warned on Friday.
“The Protectors” Encourages Residents to Get Protected with PrEP.
LOS ANGELES – LOS ANGELES – Today, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) unveiled its first-ever comprehensive public education campaign to raise awareness about Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), a once daily medication (Truvada ®) to prevent the transmission of HIV among uninfected persons. The campaign features three animated superheroes collectively called “The Protectors” who encourage LA County residents to learn more about PrEP.
“Despite significant progress in reducing HIV infections in LA County, HIV transmission stubbornly persists,” said Mario J. Pérez, MPH, Director for Public Health’s Division of HIV and STD Programs. “There continues to be a disproportionate impact among African-American and Latino gay men and transgender women, and PrEP is one of the best HIV prevention tools to address the impact on those populations.”
Developed with input from a PrEP community advisory board, the animated superheroes reflect the specific target populations that the campaign intends to reach: transgender women and Latino and African-American men who have sex with men.
The LA County Board of Supervisors passed a motion that supported ensuring increased access to PrEP services for residents. Supervisor Sheila Kuehl introduced the motion in June 2015.
“Although we’ve made great progress over the years in reducing new HIV infections, HIV continues to exact a toll on many of our families and friends,” said Supervisor Kuehl. “I’m looking forward to this launch of a comprehensive education and awareness campaign aimed at those at highest risk for HIV who could benefit from PrEP.”
“The Protectors” campaign will appear on a 40-ft mobile RV unit at the Long Beach Pride parade on May 22 and throughout LA County at community events. Also, the campaign will be featured at LA Pride, Long Beach Pride and RuPaul’s DragCon.
“PrEP has the potential to slash the rate of HIV infections amongst our most vulnerable populations,” said Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, a long-time HIV prevention advocate. “It’s a resource worth knowing about. PrEP promises to play a critical role in finally ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic.”
For more information about PrEP, visit Public Health’s website at www.getprepla.com.
The Department of Public Health is committed to protecting and improving the health of the nearly 10 million residents of Los Angeles County. Through a variety of programs, community partnerships and services, Public Health oversees environmental health, disease control, and community and family health. Public Health comprises nearly 4,000 employees and has an annual budget exceeding $900 million. To learn more about the LA County Department of Public Health and the work they do, visit PublicHealth.LACounty.gov, and follow Public Health on social media at twitter.com/LAPublicHealth, facebook.com/LAPublicHealth, and youtube.com/LAPublicHealth.
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Los Angeles County Department of Public Health works to protect health, prevent disease, and promote health and well-being.
New biomedical approaches to HIV, such as routine use of ART to treat and prevent HIV, and the use of PrEP and PEP, require changes and greater precision in how we communicate about HIV prevention. In December 2015, at the National HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta, CDC launched a pilot version of a new tool that provides updated information about the many prevention methods now available. It’s called the HIV Risk Reduction Tool (HRRT). I would like to tell you how we arrived at the new messages contained in the tool and to invite you to help us continue to improve it.
In 2013, CDC stopped using the terms “protected” or “unprotected” sex in relation to HIV risk. “Protected” once only meant wearing a condom, but now, “protected” can include other HIV prevention strategies, such as biomedical options (e.g. PrEP) in addition to condoms. CDC now uses more specific language and integrated prevention messages in all of its communication channels: on the web, in research, and in campaigns.
One example of this change is the integrated message in “Start Talking. Stop HIV,” an HIV prevention campaign for gay and bisexual men. The campaign’s call to action is: “Protect yourself and your partner. Talk about testing, your status, condoms, and new options like medicines that prevent or treat HIV.” This campaign is inclusive of the many options available to reduce HIV risk, and it presents them in a clear, simple, and engaging way.
The HIV Risk Reduction Tool, developed through a systematic scientific process, provides a comprehensive update of CDC’s HIV prevention messages. This tool brings together all of our prevention messages for different populations. It also enables users to compare the risks created by different sexual activities and to see how one or a combination of prevention methods – such as condoms, PrEP, or ART – could reduce the risk of HIV. With the interactive tool, users can:
Customize the information to see risks for discordant couples;
Personalize the content they get by gender, HIV status, and gender of sex partner;
Go into greater depth and seek additional resources;
Compare HIV risk associated with sex acts and how risk changes according to the act (oral versus anal sex), risk factors (STDs and acute HIV infection), and choice of prevention options (ART, PrEP, condoms, etc.) and
Get estimated risks in numeric form by using tables that contain per-act transmission by behavior, the effectiveness of prevention options to reduce risk, and factors that increase risk.
The tool is especially timely given CDC’s recent data release that noted 1 in 6 gay and bisexual men, 1 in 2 black gay and bisexual men, and 1 in 4 Latino gay and bisexual men will be diagnosed with HIV during their lifetime if current trends continue. By enabling people to understand and reduce their risk of acquiring HIV, the tool has great promise, made more so by the plan to systematically update it. Issued as a beta release, CDC will refine the tool as we get feedback and update the information as advancements are made in prevention science. I encourage you to take time to review the tool, available at https://wwwn.cdc.gov/hivrisk/, and provide your feedback through the button located on each page . Every page of the tool includes a user feedback button. Your input along with usability testing, formal evaluation of users, and engaging external and internal stakeholders, will inform improvements to this beta version. We look forward to hearing from you!
