Category Archives: News

 

 

WALGREENS AND GREATER THAN AIDS TEAM UP WITH HEALTH DEPARTMENTS AND LOCAL AIDS SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS TO PROVIDE FREE HIV TESTING IN SUPPORT OF NATIONAL HIV TESTING DAY HIV Testing Events at Select Walgreens Locations in 20 Cities Between June 27-29, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Daily

 

CONTACT Rakesh Singh Kaiser Family Foundation rsingh@kff.org (650) 854-9400 Vivika Panagiotakakos Walgreens vivika.panagiotakakos@walgreens.com (847) 315-2923

Walgreens, the nation’s largest pharmacy chain, and Greater Than AIDS, a coalition of public and private sector partners united in response to the domestic epidemic, are teaming with health departments and local AIDS organizations to provide FREE HIV testing at 47 Walgreens stores in 20 cities across the nation in June in support of National HIV Testing Day (June 27).  An additional 138 Walgreens stores in the participating communities will help publicize the free testing through in-store messaging, including posters, post cards and in-store audio.  Walgreens will help promote National HIV Testing Day with special messages on June 27 on its Times Square digital display, the largest billboard of its kind in the country.

More than 50 state and local health departments and AIDS service organizations are coordinating the testing and providing results on site at participating Walgreens locations, as well as supporting outreach.  Free HIV tests will be available June 27-29 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at select Walgreens locations in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York City, Oakland, Philadelphia, San Francisco, St. Louis, Washington, D.C. and West Palm Beach.

This marks the second year in a row Walgreens has teamed with Greater Than AIDS and local organizations to bring free HIV testing to communities with more than twice the number of stores and markets participating in 2012 than last year.  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Act Against AIDS initiative and the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS, the official sponsor of National HIV Testing Day, also are supporting the effort.

“These testing events provide valuable and vital opportunities to help the communities we serve,” said Glen Pietrandoni, Walgreens senior manager of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis.  “Walgreens has supported people living with HIV/AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic through its ability to offer accessible pharmacy, health and wellness guidance to patients, wherever they live.  Our pharmacists are developing relationships, listening to concerns and providing education and support.”

“Greater Than AIDS is about communities working together to achieve a greater goal.  This is a powerful example of what can be achieved when the public and private sector come together in response to HIV/AIDS,” said Tina Hoff, Senior Vice President and Director, Health Communication and Media Partnerships, Kaiser Family Foundation, a founding partner of Greater Than AIDS.

Of the more than 1.2 million people living with HIV in the U.S. today, an estimated one in five, or nearly a quarter of a million people, do not know it.  One third of those who are positive are diagnosed so late in the course of their infection they develop AIDS within one year.   Early diagnosis and treatment saves lives and is known to reduce the spread of HIV.  The CDC encourages everyone to know their status.

“CDC supports testing as one of the most powerful HIV prevention tools we have. It is the pivotal first step in linking people to treatment, care and prevention services,” said Jonathan Mermin, M.D., director of CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.  “CDC recommends all adults and adolescents be tested for HIV at least once as a routine part of health care and that those at increased risk—including gay and bisexual men, injection drug users, or persons with multiple sexual partners—be tested at least annually. Testing makes a difference.”

Throughout the year, Walgreens and Greater Than AIDS distribute HIV informational resources and services at more than 550 Walgreens pharmacies in heavily affected communities.  Designated by Walgreens as “Centers of Excellence,” these stores have pharmacists on hand to offer one-on-one medication counseling and other support services that provide customers living with HIV/AIDS – and their families – with compassionate, confidential care.

For more information, including participating Walgreens stores in each city, visit: www.greaterthan.org/walgreens.  

Walgreens
As the nation’s largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2011 sales of $72 billion, Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) vision is to become America’s first choice for health and daily living. Each day, Walgreens provides nearly 6 million customers the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice in communities across America. Walgreens scope of pharmacy services includes retail, specialty, infusion, medical facility and mail service, along with respiratory services. These services improve health outcomes and lower costs for payers including employers, managed care organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers and the public sector. The company operates 7,889 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Take Care Health Systems is a Walgreens subsidiary that is the largest and most comprehensive manager of worksite health and wellness centers and in-store convenient care clinics, with more than 700 locations throughout the country.

Greater Than AIDS
Greater Than AIDS is an unprecedented coalition of public and private sector partners united in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in the United States, in particular disproportionately affected groups.  Through  media campaigns and targeted community outreach, Greater Than AIDS works to increase knowledge and understanding about HIV/AIDS and confront the stigma surrounding the disease, while promoting actions to prevent its spread.  

The Kaiser Family Foundation — a leader in health policy and communications — provides strategic direction and day-to-day management, as well as oversees the production of the media campaign.  The Black AIDS Institute — a think tank exclusively focused on AIDS in Black America — provides leadership and expert guidance and directs community engagement.  Greater Than AIDS is developed in support of Act Against AIDS, an effort by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to refocus attention on the domestic epidemic.  Additional, financial and substantive support is provided by the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Ford Foundation and MAC AIDS Fund, among others.  www.greaterthan.org

District will allow high schools to offer alternatives as a way of meeting the requirement to teach about AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases.

 

By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times

June 9, 2012

CLICK HERE to read this article at LATimes.com

Los Angeles school officials quietly stepped back this week from a public commitment to health classes with a memo explaining that schools can avoid the previously required course.

Wednesday’s memo to the Board of Education lays out possible exceptions to the one-semester class that could eventually apply to every high school.

Some school systems have stopped requiring the health class to save money. But L.A. Unified officials recently agreed to maintain the class even though it is not required for admission into the state college system.

That decision came after an earlier proposal to remove health from the list of courses required for graduation. Teachers, parents and students descended on board meetings, calling for the class to remain a requirement. After deliberation, Supt. John Deasy said he supported it as well.

However, at least for next year, “the district will continue to allow schools that are electing to choose an alternate option for meeting the health requirement to continue,” according to Deasy’s note to the board.

With or without a health course, California high schools are required by law to teach students about AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases; they face penalties if they don’t. These units could, for example, be included as part of biology or physical education classes or reviewed online.

Four high school campuses managed by a nonprofit group under the control of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa do not require the course for graduation.

Seven other large high schools plan to drop the health class next year, according to the office of board member Bennett Kayser, including Garfield, Lincoln, Manual Arts and Washington Prep.
Although health teachers expressed anger, some were reluctant to be quoted because they feared for their jobs. But the concern also extended higher up.

“I was shocked by this,” Kayser said. “We asked to make sure there was a comprehensive health class taught in high school and we get a memo saying how you can get waivers to avoid it.”

Kayser said he was prepared to ask the board to take up the issue.

Board member Steve Zimmer said he recognized that “flexibility and schools determining their focus is important.”

But, he said, “youth health is a tipping-point issue that affects whether students are successful in school.”

Deasy and other senior officials had no comment on the memo. On Friday, Deasy was locked in negotiations with the teachers union, trying to reach an agreement over possible pay cuts that would preserve jobs.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has extended its review of Gilead Sciences’ approval application for Truvada (tenofovir plus emtricitabine) as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), according to a June 6 announcement by the company. Whereas an approval decision was originally expected by this Friday, June 15, the agency now has until September 14 to make its final determination.

“The FDA has indicated that this extension relates to the agency’s standard administrative procedures for reviewing Gilead’s proposed Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for Truvada as PrEP,” Gilead’s Gregg Alton specified in the announcement sent to HIV treatment and prevention advocates. “As was discussed at the FDA Advisory Committee Meeting last month, there are many components of a REMS, including a Medication Guide, educational training and an implementation system, all of which may require additional time for adequate FDA review.”

 

CLICK HERE to read the full article on POZ.com

Contact:  Rudolph Carn – 404-660-0527

Call for Abstracts

at the 2013 National African American MSM Leadership Conference on HIV/AIDS and other Health Disparities in Los Angeles, California 

 

 

Atlanta, Georgia – The conference planning committee for the 10^th annual National African American MSM Leadership Conference on HIV/AIDS and other Health Disparities have officially launch the call for the submission of abstracts, posters, institutes and workshops to be presented at the 2013 Conference.  The conference packet contains all the pertinent information for submittal of abstracts for workshops, institutes and poster presentations that can be access online at www.naesm.org. Also, you may click on the following link to access the abstract submission form.

 

Online Abstract Submission Application

Completed abstracts must be submitted online via link for online submission.  Submissions must be submitted via online by 9:00 PM EST on October 31, 2012.

This year’s conference will explore and cause conversation on a plethora of HIV/AIDS and other Health Disparities subject matters important to us and for us in the struggle to understand, share and to provide a foot path to sustain focus for our brothers on what’s important now as we move forward engaging the theme “10 Years and the Dialogue Continues” – HIV Prevention as Social Justice for Black Gay Men/MSM 2013 and Beyond.

 

Six track topics will be offered in 2013:

 

Track 1: Executive Directors/Board Development 

This track will help Executive Directors and Board members to develop skills, identify resources, network, and identify best practices that support community-based, health service organizations or social justice agencies.

 

Track 2: Prevention Programs, Community Planning and the 12 City Projects 

Participants will learn about the effective program planning and how to strengthen African American parity, inclusion, and representation in the Community Planning process and the 12 City Projects.

 

Track 3: HIV, STD and other Health Disparities 

This track will focus on health disparities and their impact on African American MSM’s health, as well as effective care strategies.

 

Track 4: Advocacy, Community Mobilization and Awareness 

This track will address the development, sustainability, and accessibility of effective health promotion services, interventions, and programs, including those that target social justice issues.

 

Track 5: Youth and Young Adults 

This track will address issues and matters that focus on youth and young adults (29 years or younger).

 

Track 6: Special Interests 

This track will focus on topics that address other health disparity issues, either directly or indirectly, that can help remove health burdens from the community, increase self efficacy, or have a general interest in the African American MSM community.

 

The 2013 National African American MSM Leadership Conference on HIV/AIDS and other Health Disparities is slated for January 17 – 20, 2013 at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport Hotel.

L.A.’S NEXT SEX SYMBOL CONDOM DESIGN CONTEST

As seen on: http://news.yahoo.com/vnsny-choice-acquires-york-presbyterian-selecthealth-health-plan-122815433.html

~ A Sustainable Care-Driven Solution for New Yorkers with HIV/AIDS and their Families ~

NEW YORK, June 1, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — VNSNY CHOICE, an affiliate of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, the nation’s largest not-for-profit provider of home- and community-based health services, has received approval from the State of New York to acquire the New York-Presbyterian System SelectHealth (NYPS) health care plan for people living with HIV/AIDS and their families. Effective June 1, 2012, the health plan will become VNSNY CHOICE SelectHealth, and members will be automatically transitioned into the new plan unless they choose to disenroll and receive their health insurance elsewhere.

The Visiting Nurse Service of New York is the largest provider of HIV/AIDS services in NYC, and has been on the frontlines addressing the needs of New Yorkers coping with the disease since before it was officially reported by the CDC in 1981. VNSNY CHOICE SelectHealth is a Special Needs Plan for Medicaid-eligible New Yorkers living in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan or Queens. The plan provides an expanded array of special HIV/AIDS care and services to adults who have the disease and their children.

All VNSNY CHOICE SelectHealth members will have their own team of expert caregivers led by a Nurse Care Manager who will supervise and coordinate comprehensive care customized for each member. NYPS staff will transition to VNSNY CHOICE as well, further ensuring continuity of care throughout the process and into the future. Members’ benefits will be consistent with the existing plan and nearly all doctors and hospitals currently associated with the NYPS plan are in the VNSNY CHOICE SelectHealth provider network.

“We see VNSNY CHOICE SelectHealth as a safety net for a vulnerable population of New Yorkers who have special medical, psychological and social needs,” says Christopher Palmieri, president of VNSNY CHOICE Health Plans. “Our aim in acquiring this plan is to build on and expand the excellent work that New York Presbyterian began with SelectHealth, and to ensure sustainability that will support New Yorkers with HIV/AIDS and their families in the years to come.”

The plan provides easy access to a variety of specialists in HIV and other fields of medicine such as cardiology, dermatology, pulmonary medicine or endocrinology. The specialty provider network is available to all VNSNY CHOICE SelectHealth members, and can be coordinated at many of New York’s leading medical centers as well as other New York State Department of Health-designated AIDS Centers. Members do have an option to select a different Medicaid managed care plan. For more information about VNSNY CHOICE SelectHealth services and eligibility visit:

www.VNSNYCHOICE.org/SelectHealth.

“As the largest provider of HIV/AIDS services in NYC,” Palmieri says, “we know firsthand how important it is to provide personalized, customized care by trusted experts who understand the special needs of families coping with HIV or AIDS. We’ve worked very closely with New York Presbyterian to ensure that every SelectHealth member has a seamless transition to our plan.”

For almost fifteen years, VNSNY CHOICE Health Plans have supported Medicaid and/or Medicare eligible New Yorkers with customized health coverage that addresses the individual needs of each member. Using an innovative nurse-led, team approach to coordinated care, all members have a dedicated Nurse Care Manager who serves as a personal liaison with the member’s physician and other health specialists. Based on the VNSNY community-based, visiting nurse model that has been keeping New Yorkers safe at home for over a century, the VNSNY CHOICE approach encourages preventive health and lifestyle choices that foster well-being and independence.

About VNSNY CHOICE Health Plans

VNSNY CHOICE is an affiliate of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York and shares its mission to care for the most vulnerable New Yorkers: the poor, the chronically ill and the elderly, many suffering with multiple chronic conditions. With more than 20,000 members, CHOICE offers an array of health plans for New Yorkers eligible for Medicare, Medicaid or both, all designed to help those with complex health needs live safely and independently at home for as long as possible. Our Medicaid Managed Long Term Care plan (MLTC) is the largest program of its kind in New York State, serving more than 10,500 members. VNSNY CHOICE also offers Medicare Advantage plans, including a Special Needs Plan for Dual Eligibles. Additionally, CHOICE has a Medicaid Advantage Plus option, an integrated plan that combines a Medicaid plan with the benefits of a Medicare Advantage plan. Visit www.VNSNYCHOICE.org or call 1-855-AT-CHOICE (1-855-282-4642) for more information.

 

To support local National HIV Testing Day activities, NPIN recently updated the National HIV and STD Testing Resources web site! Check out the new National HIV Testing Day page to Register your Event or Find an Event Near You.

 
What’s New?

 

• Find an Event Near You
• Allows search by ZIP code
• Includes Google map features such as directions and zoom options
• When viewing all events, sort results by event name, organization name, date, city, state, or ZIP code
• Improved view on iOS devices such as iPhone, iPod, or iPad
• Provides geolocation (takes current location into consideration for mobile users)

 

HIVtest.org is designed to make it easier than ever to find the right tools and resources to help community members, program staff, and other stakeholders raise awareness about the importance of being tested for HIV. The site also has a fully-mirrored Spanish version at: HIVtest.org and NHTD.

 

Check your inbox for more updates from NPIN coming in the weeks ahead!  Comments on the new National HIV Testing Day event map re-design are welcome via info@cdcnpin.org.

 

National HIV Testing Day (NHTD) is an annual campaign coordinated by the National Association of People with AIDS to encourage people of all ages to “Take the Test, Take Control.”

 

 

 

The California HIV/AIDS Research Program at the University of California is pleased to announce the release of our 2012 Call for Applications in Basic Biomedical Sciences, which can be downloaded from our web site:

http://www.californiaaidsresearch.org/applicants/index.html

CHRP will be hosting an informational webinar (details are on the web site, follow the link above) on Tuesday, June 26, 2012 to familiarize prospective applicants with the Call for Applications and answer questions.

 

The 2013 National AAMSM Leadership Conference on HIV/AIDS and other Health Disparities will be held January 17 – January 20, 2013 in Los Angeles, CA.  Early-Bird Registration begins today, June 6, 2012  through Wednesday, August 31, 2012 at the low cost of $275.00 [checks only]; 3-4% fee for credit cards. The website has been updated with the 2013 Conference Packet with information on the submitting abstracts, becoming a sponsor and much more. For more information or other question you may have, please feel free to give our office a call at (404) 691-8880 or respond to this email. Please visit our Website at www.naesm.org for more info.

2013 National AAMSM Leadership Conference – Online Registration Form
Please note, there will be no Onsite Registration

For more information please contact Rudolph Carn at rcarn@naesm.org

 

 

As seen on POZ.com: CLICK HERE to read the article.

Scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health have identified yet another cellular protein to be explored for HIV drug development: CXCL4. The research, authored by Paolo Lusso, MD, PhD, of the institute’s Laboratory of Immunoregulation and his colleagues, is published online ahead of print by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).

CXCL4 is derived from platelets, as its other name—platelet factor 4 (PF-4)—implies. It belongs to a family of molecules called chemokines, which help regulate leukocyte trafficking—the movement of immune cells around the body—essential for immune system architecture, development and surveillance.

Chemokines have been eyed for their therapeutic potential against HIV for nearly 20 years. In fact, four chemokines—three of which were identified by Lusso and his colleagues—were found to have anti-HIV activity in the mid-1990s. These four proteins, scientists went on to prove, work by blocking one of two chemokine receptors on CD4 cells, CCR5 or CXCR4, that HIV requires to enter CD4 cells.

While CXCL4 otherwise behaves similarly to the other chemokines, its anti-HIV activity differs considerably. Whereas the other chemokines act directly on chemokine receptors studding CD4 cells, CXCL4 binds directly to the gp120 protein on HIV’s outer coat.

The potential advantage of this, Lusso and his colleagues suggest, is that CXCL4 works against HIV strains targeting CCR5 (CCR5-tropic virus) and CXCR4 (CXCR4-tropic virus), not one or the other. This could prove useful as drug developers attempt to mimic CXCL4, considering that available entry inhibitors—Selzentry (maraviroc), for example—are only effective against CCR5-tropic HIV, whereas many people in later stages of the disease have CXCR4-targeted virus.

Using various gp120 antibodies in their studies of CXCL4, Lusso and his colleagues found that the chemokine seems to be targeting an area on the HIV protein that hasn’t been previously been explored. According the a NIAID news announcement, his team is now working with scientists at the NIAID Vaccine Research Center to define the atomic-level crystal structure of this binding site, which potentially may play a role in the future development of HIV treatments or vaccines. Lusso’s group is also pursuing further research to better understand CXCL4’s role in HIV disease and to determine whether the chemokine has a protective effect not only in laboratory studies, but also in people.