Couldn’t make it to the CHIPTS Satellite Session at AIDS 2012?
CLICK HERE to the presentation videos and slides!
BIENESTAR IS BEING DISCRIMINATED AGAINST
It is hard to believe that after 30 years, ignorance, homophobia, transphobia, AIDSphobia and discrimination continue in our community. Yesterday afternoon, after only two days at BIENESTAR’s new location in Van Nuys, we were kicked out and locked out because of the “activities” we conduct and for “bringing disease” to the building.
We would appreciate any information regarding legal services referrals that you could recommend to us. In addition, we welcome any financial contributions to help us move to a new location to continue to offer our services to the community.
https://www.bienestar.org/eng/page/69/General-Donation.html
BIENESTAR is committed to enhancing the health and well-being of the Latino community and other underserved communities. BIENESTAR accomplishes this through community education, prevention, mobilization, advocacy, and the provision of direct social support services.
Please continue to support our fight against LGBT and HIV/AIDS discrimination. Please contact Victor Martinez, Director of Programs if you have any questions or if you have any advice or recommendations at (323) 727-7896 Ext 114 or vmartinez@bienestar.org
amfAR Briefing Highlights Advances and Challenges in Cure Research
“Eradicating AIDS and finding a cure is the moonshot of our generation,” said Dr. Susan Blumenthal, Senior Policy and Medical Advisor at amfAR and Former U.S. Assistant Surgeon General, who organized and moderated an amfAR-sponsored Capitol Hill briefing on HIV cure research in Washington, D.C., this summer.
With these words, Dr. Blumenthal brought to a close an engrossing program that had begun with renowned broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff interviewing Timothy Brown, the “Berlin Patient,” the first and only person known to be cured of HIV. While on treatment for HIV, Brown was diagnosed with leukemia in 2006. For the stem-cell transplant he needed, his physician, Dr. Gero Hütter, was able to locate a donor among the one percent of people born with a genetic mutation making them resistant to HIV. People in this group lack the CCR5 receptor, which is the primary means by which most strains of HIV infect cells.
Dr. Paula Cannon, Dr. Keith R. Jerome, Dr. Peter Hunt, and Dr. Robert Siliciano at the U.S. Senate.
Following the transplant, Mr. Brown was able to stop HIV treatment without experiencing a return of his HIV virus and he no longer tests positive for the virus. His case provides the first proof of concept for a cure for HIV and has been the impetus for scientists and donors to begin working together toward a research goal once thought impossible.
amfAR has been funding cure research for more than a decade, and in 2010 launched the amfAR Research Consortium on HIV Eradication (ARCHE). As Dr. Rowena Johnston, the Foundation’s Vice President and Director of Research, said during the briefing, “We will leave no stone unturned. The strength of the amfAR model is to bring researchers together to exchange ideas.” amfAR announced another set of ARCHE grants in June.
During the briefing a panel of four scientists discussed their research…
CLICK HERE to continue reading this amfar.org article
Two brothers are recipients of the inaugural Elizabeth Taylor Award in Recognition of Efforts to Advocate for Human Rights in the Field of HIV
Hailed worldwide for the successful HIV/AIDS harm reduction program they pioneered in their home country of Iran, Drs. Kamiar and Arash Alaei suffered an abrupt reversal of fortune when they were arrested on dubious charges and imprisoned in 2008. Reunited as free men a year ago, the brothers were honored at the XIX International AIDS Conference with the inaugural Elizabeth Taylor Award in Recognition of Efforts to Advocate for Human Rights in the Field of HIV.
In the late 1990s, statistics were beginning to show that a serious HIV/AIDS problem was developing in Iran, and that it was concentrated in prisons and among drug users. Deciding to put their training to use, the Alaei brothers opened a “triangular clinic” in their hometown of Kermanshah to treat the triad of drug abuse, HIV/AIDS, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). They ran the clinic with what Kamiar has described as a restaurant approach, where they gave customers—patients, in this case—what they wanted. If patients wanted clean needles, they offered clean needles.
The key to the success of the triangular clinics lie in grouping drug abuse, HIV/AIDS, and STIs together. This strategy not only allowed doctors to utilize successful integrated prevention and treatment strategies, but also minimized stigma associated with HIV/AIDS by making it a part of the larger group rather than singling it out.
It was a highly effective approach. After a few years of hard work the Alaeis won the support of local clerics and the government and began to expand nationwide. Concerned about the sustainability of the program, the brothers applied for a grant from The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Global Fund awarded them $15.8 million to replicate their clinic’s success across Iran.
In 2004, the World Health Organization described the clinics as a “best-practice” model for the Middle East and North Africa regions, and triangular clinics went global. Today, the model has been implemented in 12 different countries, including Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and the brothers have participated in an array of international health advocacy and global information exchanges.
Ironically, it was this international success that provoked Iranian officials to arrest the brothers. However, even in prison their drive to help others was undeterred. The brothers weren’t allowed to practice medicine, so they taught good hygiene habits, encouraged prisoners to get exercise by setting up football and volleyball championships, and helped prisoners stop smoking.
The rationale behind their arrests in June 2008 is still a relative mystery. In a one-day trial the brothers were convicted of drawing domestic and foreign attention by holding conferences on AIDS, as well as the more sinister crime of holding trainings abroad that were “of the nature of a velvet revolution.”
CLICK HERE to read the full article on amFAR.org
MTV CASTING NOW FOR DOCUMENTARY SPECIAL
As part of a long-standing, broader commitment to sexual health issues, MTV is currently casting for a documentary special about HIV/AIDS in America today as seen through the eyes of young people living with the disease. We are looking for HIV positive peoplewho appear to be between the ages of 16-24 to share personal stories of how HIV has affected their lives, including both the challenges they face as well as how they have triumphed. We are looking to explore the everyday life experiences of those who are positive in their friendships and intimate relationships, work, family and hopes for the future. If you are HIV positive and want to reach and inspire other young people, MTV wants to hear from you.
If you appear to be between the ages of 16 and 24 and want to be a part of this television special please email us as soon as possible at: mtvspecials@gmail.com.
Include the city and state you live in, your contact details, a picture and why you want to share your story on MTV. Also, let us know if you are currently pursuing any specific goals relating to school, career, or relationship.
From June 18, 2012 to June 22, 2012, PracticeWise trained our Mentor Mothers and Family Mentors in using evidence-based practice elements to be used in their work with children and families at the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Koreatown and the surrounding neighborhoods.
Each year the Institute provides funds to support specific projects, the work of particular labs, and to cover part or all of the salaries of newly recruited faculty members. Funds are allocated from several sources, including the UCLA CFAR, (through our Developmental Core), the AIDS Institute, UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, NIH and private donors.
CLICK HERE to review the latest seed grantees.
Information Session- How to write a successful CFAR/AIDS Institute Seed Grant Application
CLICK HERE to view presentation.
HIV/AIDS Inequality: Structural Barriers to Prevention, Treatment, and Care in Communities of Color
Why We Need A Holistic Approach to Eliminate Racial Disparities in HIV/AIDS
By Russell Robinson and Aisha C. Moodie-Mills | July 27, 2012
For the first time in more than two decades the International AIDS Conference returns to the United States and this week more than 20,000 delegates from nearly 200 countries are in Washington D.C. discussing a wide array of HIV/AIDS related issues, including the troubling racial disparities of our domestic HIV epidemic, specifically:
- African Americans, who make up only 14 percent of the U.S. population, make up 44 percent of the HIV-positive population.
- Latinos face three times the HIV infection rates as whites.
- Men who have sex with men represent 2 percent of the U.S. population but account for 61 percent of all new HIV infections.
While the Obama administration has taken steps toward the elimination of these dis- parities through the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and Implementation Plan, there is still much work to be done. This brief highlights underexplored explanations for these disparities and outlines possible solutions to begin addressing them.
DOWNLOAD THE BRIEF HERE: [Download not found]
On July 27 2012, Through Positive Eyes was featured on the New York Times Lens Blog!
Through Positive Eyestells the story of HIV/AIDS at the end of the third decade of the epidemic, when potent antiretroviral medication has been devised, but when treatment access is far from universal. 
Through Positive Eyes is an attempt to address key themes of the AIDS epidemic: widespread stigma, extreme social inequality, and limited access to lifesaving medication. The project is based on the belief that challenging stigma against people living with HIV/AIDS is the most effective method for combating the epidemic—and that art is a powerful way to do this. Over the next two years HIV-positive people in six countries and on five continents will take part in this unique initiative, creating powerful personal photo essays. From these images, we will create local and international advocacy materials including exhibitions, short films, a book, and this website.
Through Positive Eyes has been produced in Mexico City (August 2008), Rio de Janeiro (June 2009), and Johannesburg (March 2010). Next, the project will travel to Chennai, Kiev, and New York City.
The project is co-directed by London-based South African photographer and AIDS activist Gideon Mendel, who has been chronicling HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa since 1993. Since then his groundbreaking work on the issue has been widely recognized. Through magazine publications, multimedia web and video presentations, and his book, A Broken Landscape, Mendel has been commended for empowering his subjects rather than representing them as objects of pity.
CLICK HERE to see the project website.
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