Are You Part of the 3

As I grabbed my OJ and settled into my couch yesterday to clip coupons and read the Post... my eyes were quickly grabbed by the headline announcing that at least 3% of D.C.'s residents have HIV or AIDS. While I always knew the HIV rate in DC was high... I thought after the last expose a few years ago the rate had to start trending downward.

What is most shocking is that the health department constitutes 1% as an epedimic and right here in the President's back yard, the Nation's capital has rates higher than some parts of West Africa. In real numbers this means over 15,000 of the city's more than 500,000 residents are positive. The report also found that almost half of those who had connections to the parts of the city with the highest AIDS prevalence and poverty rates said they had overlapping sexual partners within the past 12 months, three in five said they were aware of their own HIV status, and three in 10 said they had used a condom the last time they had sex.

After reading the article... I picked up the phone to call a friend that has been Part of the 3% for over ten years now. Before I could even say good morning... he was already discussing the article. We had both came to the conclusion that while there are a number of causes for this increase the main cause is that people just do not care. He reminded me of a time when his uncle, who is now in his 50s, and his friends would loose friends frequently because of AIDS and now that you do not see it happening as often and people are able to live with HIV... people just do not care or take it as serious.

Men having sex with men has remained the disease's leading mode of transmission. However, according to the report heterosexual transmission and injection drug use closely follow. Three percent of black women carry the virus, partly a result of the increase in heterosexual transmissions.



Everyone knows about HIV now... hell even my 10yo nephew knows what it is. So education can not continuely be the blame for this but the nonchalant attitude towards sex, thinking its a 'gay' disease, and lack of loving one's self is. So now that this has hit the front and national pages once again it will be interesting to see what happens this time around.

Living in the Midst of an Epidemic

To coincide with World AIDS Day today, Saturday, December 1, the Fenty Administration released new statistics that show striking findings on the severity of the District’s HIV epidemic.

The major findings of the new statistics are:

• Between 1997 and 2006, almost 70 percent of all AIDS cases progressed from HIV to AIDS in less than 12 months after the initial HIV diagnosis, primarily due to late testing, compared to 39 percent nationally.




• Although African-American residents account for 57 percent of the District’s population, they account for 81 percent of new reports of HIV cases. African-American women constitute 58 percent of the District’s female population, but account for 90 percent of all new female HIV cases.


• Heterosexual contact in the District is the leading mode of HIV transmission at 37 percent of newly reported infections, while nationally men who have sex with men lead new transmissions.


• The District’s rate for newly reported AIDS cases is higher than rates in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, Detroit and Chicago.


• The majority of newly reported cases were among residents ages 30 to 49.

It simply amazes me that 25 years later this disease is still ravaging us the way it is. I know seeing Magic Johnson walking around looking great and even more wealthy, may have people thinking it isn't a big deal. But why would you want to live with this if you do not have to?

In the past two years I have learned about more friends and aquantences that are HIV positive, than I have ever known before. It baffles me to meet people in their late 20s that do not get tested regularly. It disturbs me that people engage in unsafe sex with randoms. And disgusts me that people who know they have it and don't demand safe sex with others.

In the end we must all take precautions for our own health, but we must also have a sense of community to help reverse these disturbing statistics. So go get tested and take a friend or two.

Don't Ask... Don't Tell

I haven't donated blood since I was a senior in college (which was just a couple of years ago... honest). So it came as quite a surprise this morning as I was doing my daily reading of the Post, Times, and CNN News, to find out that homosexuals have been banned from giving blood since 1983.

Regardless of your HIV and other STD status, the FDA does not allow men who have ever had a sexual encounter with another man to donate blood, saying they are at increased risk of infection by HIV that can be transmitted to others by blood transfusion. Although the Red Cross and two other blood groups criticized the policy as "medically and scientifically unwarranted" and offered the solution of waiting at least one year since their last homosexual encounter, the Food and Drug Administration continues to uphold their decision. In March 2006, the three groups told the FDA that new and improved tests, which can detect HIV-positive donors within just 10 to 21 days of infection, make the lifetime ban unnecessary.

This was all a shock to me because I have been asked to donate several times and have never been asked if I was homosexual. The last time I did donate blood... that was never asked nor did I see it on any form I filled out.

While critics of the policy said it bars potential healthy donors and is discriminatory, the FDA admits the policy defers many healthy donors but rejects the suggestion that it discriminates against gays.

According to CDC estimates, heterosexual contact led to about one third of new AIDS diagnoses and one third of new HIV diagnoses in 2005. I totally agree that there should be some safety precautions taken... but isn't and shouldn't all blood regardless of who it comes from tested before it is given out?

American Red Cross Blood Donation Eligibility Guidelines

A Day in the Life

http://www.adayinthelifeplay.com/

I had the opportunity to see Craig's play last night. It was not only thought provoking but it was very funny and entertaining. If you are in the Atlanta area you should definitely check this out!

A Day in the Life

http://www.adayinthelifeplay.com/

If you are in the Atlanta area you should definitely check this out!

Oprah on HIV|AIDS in America

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

Finally Oprah does a show where the spread of HIV and AIDS is placed on unsafe sexual behavior. After talking with Magic and Cookie Johnson (yes he still has it, no they don't have any special drugs, and yes they are still having sex), she spoke with 6 women who contracted the disease through heterosexual sex. Most of her questions focused on their life with HIV and why they didn't use protection. There was only a brief clip of Peter Jennings interviewing 'DL' men but the definite message of the show was get tested, be safe, and you can live with this disease.

I ain't having sex with you...

Well like I needed yet another reason not to have sex... I got one last week. A friend forwarded me a press release from the DC Appleseed Center, a public policy and research center here in Washington. When I read the title, DC Appleseed Calls for Major Changes to District of Columbia's Response to HIV/AIDS Crisis, I was immediately like ok this is old news. Everyone who knows anything about DC and HIV knows there has been a crisis going on for awhile. But yet like voting rights... it always goes overlooked. So of course I didn't read the press release because this was old news to me.

So this morning as I am standing in line at the post office... I hear NPR in the background discussing this new report by DC Appleseed. Hearing the discussion made me want to read the report as soon as I got back home. Some of the most disturbing lowlights of the report were:

• The District's annual rate of new AIDS cases is over 10 times the national average and is
  believed now to be the highest of any major U.S. city.
• Unfortunately, even these numbers fail to capture the extent of the epidemic because
  they do not include HIV-positive people in the District who have not developed AIDS.
• District public health officials estimate that 1 out of every 20 District residents is infected.

While those facts are surprising the most interesting part of the report discusses the District of Columbia's efforts in addressing this epidemic. The report details how the District is not systematically collecting and analyzing data about the epidemic in a way that would allow it to plan prevention and care effectively. It also states that the current HIV/AIDS services are not sufficient for the population including efforts in schools, jails, and among drug users.

With all this said... get tested, ask your partner, and use protection... just like you wear a seat belt, look both ways before crossing a street.... take the initiative to protect your own life.