AIDS Update

dr1 reports:
The national branch of the Family Health Society (SFH) says that since the condom distribution program carried out by Population Services International (PSI) was launched, the prevalence of HIV in the Dominican population stands at 0.8%, and the rate of new cases has dropped by 35% since 2003.

A press release stated that the program has prevented 807 deaths, 66,063 pregnancies and helped protect nearly 1.5 million couples a year. http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/...cion-IJ4803794

World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day is held on 1 December each year and is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died. World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day and the first one was held in 1988.

World AIDS Day

Do it TOGETHER

AP- Newly dating and slightly anxious, an innovative program called Testing Together would allow them to hear their test results minutes later, while sitting side by side.

Testing Together, now under way in Chicago and Atlanta, takes and unusual approach. It encourages gay male couples to get tested together and hear their results together. After delivering the results, a counselor talks with the couple aboutt what to do next, including agreements they may want to make with each other about sex and health.

The idea is to bring honesty to sexual relationships. Relationships offer only "mythical protection" from HIV. Some couples may have avoided talking about each other's HIV status.

The Testing Together program challenges conventional practices in the U.S., where HIV testing is usually for individuals only. At most clinics partners are denied getting results because of confidentiality concerns. But the number of gay Americans telling the U.S. Census they're living with same-sex partners nearly doubled in the past decade and a new line of research suggests that up to 68 percent of new HIV infections in gay men come from a main sex partner, in part because main sex partners are more likely to forgo condoms.

Can We Talk?

It is said that honest, open conversation helps keep relationships strong. I suppose then that the same is true regarding all relationships, whether with friends, family or lovers.

On today, World Aids Day, let's have a discussion with those we love about the ravages of HIV/AIDS in poverty stricken countries and how some governments choose to turn a deaf ear to those who cry for help because the powers that be cast moral judgment rather than show biblical compassion.

Be sure to mention how even in the U.S. there is an alarming number of cases of new infections, particulary in minority communities and among younger age groups. Unfortunately this is the demographic that is often overlooked and underserved.

This generation may not have been witness to the ugliness that was AIDS in the late 80's. Be not deceived, that same horror still dwells among us. We just don't see it plastered all over the media anymore. Young urban teens who don't reveal their positive status because of fear of being stigmatized are dying a hard and lonely death, not taking meds and not getting treatment.

Simply because the perception is that a positive status isn't as bad as it once was, many people risk engaging in unprotected sex. "If I get it I'll just take the meds." Sure AIDS is not the immediate death sentence it was in the early years we knew about it. But I'm sure those living with it will tell you it ain't no picnic either! And as mentioned before, most people in certain communities are not having dialogue about HIV/AIDS.

So, on today when you encounter a loved one or even someone you've seen around the way just pull them aside and say "Can we talk?"

21st World AIDS Day

Let us all take a moment to celebrate and remember the lives of those we have lost to AIDS. Let us also vow to rally our support to find a cure and assist those affected by HIV/AIDS.





The Secretary General of the caribbean community makes his speech. The message is posted at South Florida Caribbean News.

The Atlantic has an article entitled How AIDS Became A Caribbean Crisis. It tells of how homophobia has intensified the epidemic in Jamaica.

PANCAP, which is the Pancaribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS tracks progress in educational services and the reduction of new cases.

Every year in the DR 1,200 children are born to mothers with HIV, 11% of those children are born with the virus. Listen Diario reports that 1,300 children are currently living with HIV in the DR. There is progress in the DR with 9 counseling centers and 12 integrated care centers being recently inaugurated.