global AIDS 2009

Significant progress has been made towards achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support for people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. Over the last few years, instead of praising these achievements and reflecting on how we can use the model of AIDS treatment for other diseases, we have seen a “backlash” against the enormous efforts and in particular, the funding devoted to global AIDS.

Last week I attended a World AIDS Day Event at the World Bank. Yet despite the fact that in many countries young people are at greatest risk of HIV and there are 3 billion people under 25 worldwide, not one expert mentioned youth.

Integrating reproductive and sexual health services with HIV prevention is essential to ending the AIDS epidemic. Yet US policies continue to hamper effective strategies.

The misuse of bio-terrorism laws to prosecute an HIV positive man is but one example of how efforts to criminalize HIV stigmatize individuals and simultaneously threaten public health.

At the present time, the United States now leads the world when it comes to sexually transmitted infections (STIs). And not in a Whoohoo, go USA!
kind of way.

December 1, 2009, marks President Obama’s first World AIDS Day in the White House and the first World AIDS Day for the newly elected Congress. The time is right for a frank assessment of his first year in the fight against global AIDS as President. This analysis focuses on the funding and policy decisions the Administration has made since taking office in January 2009, and assesses the human impact of those decisions.

Known by most Americans for its gorgeous beaches and outstanding golf courses, South Carolina is unfortunately known to most public health professionals for its staggering rates of HIV and AIDS.

The response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic has transformed

global health financing and programming, demonstrating the

potential to make substantial progress against diseases in low-

Michigan teenagers continue to become infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, at an alarming rate, Michigan health officials say.