The latest report from UNAIDS , as well as other #HIV #AIDS news
I almost got dizzy trying to follow along with this story. The problems with doing nothing more than regurgitating what someone else has reported – and not actually reading the source material – is that it often times gets put out there without perspective or necessary detail.
Yes, according to the latest report from UNAIDS, there is some hope of promise in the latest infection rate and mortality statistics, BUT that’s got to be weighed with the fact that HIV/AIDS is every bit the problem now that it was of the past:
In eastern Europe and central Asia, there has been a 250 percent jump in the number of people infected with HIV in the past decade, due largely to the spread among injecting drug users. In North America and western Europe, the outbreak “remains stubbornly steady,” according to the report.
“It’s looking promising, but the numbers are still at a scary level,” said Sophie Harman, a global health expert at City University in London. She was not connected to the UNAIDS report.
In its strategy for the next few years, UNAIDS says it is working toward zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. Harman said that was an admirable goal but wasn’t sure it was achievable. “They need to get real,” she said. “Maybe they need to aim high but if their main goal is eradication, it’s highly unlikely that will ever happen.”
Dr. Paul De Lay, deputy executive director of UNAIDS, acknowledged the idea of eliminating AIDS infections and deaths is “more of a vision for the future,” and would likely not be accomplished without new tools like a vaccine, which could take several decades. Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for an AIDS-free generation and promised more money for programs in Africa.
You just can’t make me happy, can you? At first, I endlessly complain about the total lack of HIV/AIDS reporting, and then I whine that what’s being done is flat-out lousy. I do, however, still stand behind every word I’ve written in the past: Gay media, the professional organizations as well as the “citizen journalists” (gag) who deem themselves the arbiter of every bit of gay news had better get a clue. The public perception of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, as well as any response to it is being shaped by how they put information out there.
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The VA increases HIV testing rates
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The largest ever international study of the sexual health of men who have sex with men (MSM), which recruited men from across the European continent, has found clear links between the social environment men live in and their own internal acceptance of their sexuality. Furthermore, men with ‘internalised homonegativity’ were much less likely to test for HIV.
These European results are to some extent confirmed by a study from the United States, which found that men living in states that are hostile to gay issues were more likely to have internalised homonegativity than men living in more tolerant states. However the American researchers found that the relationship between men’s feelings about their sexuality and unprotected sex was quite weak.
(thumb via UNAIDS)
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