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written by Bob Skinner, President/CEO of VAIN
As all of you well know, we have been dealing with one of the most challenging financial times this country has seen in decades. People have lost their jobs, their cars and even their homes, most importantly their health insurance. A large percentage of people are barely surviving and are not even getting the basic necessities it takes to live.
People living with HIV/AIDS are not immune to this crisis. There are currently over 6,000 HIV positive individuals in 10 states that have been placed on wait lists, they are unable to access their medications because of these lists. Many state managed ADAP’s (AIDS Drug Assistance Programs) have already run out of money. Oregon’s ADAP, is called Care Assist, which does not have a wait list. This is just the tip of the iceberg!
I personally have attended two ADAP crisis summits, the first held in Washington DC in July of 2010 and the most recent held in Fort Lauderdale Florida, my old home town.
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HIV Infection Tends To Be Concentrated Where Sex Education Is Lacking |
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Researchers from the CDC are, for the first time, able to map the incidence of HIV around the country, and have discovered a disturbing trend. Among the states with the highest rates of new HIV diagnoses were nearly all of the states in the deep south, many of which don’t require school districts to teach “medically accurate” sex education, and some of which don’t require any sex education at all.
The highest rates weren’t limited to the south, though the concentration there is significant. Illinois, for instance, also ranks high, but is an island among other Midwestern states. The City of Chicago’s board of education just recently voted to expand the city’s sex education program in response to the alarming STD infection rate seen there. According to DNAinfo.com Chicago, the amount of sex ed that children currently receive is “limited to a few minutes over a few grade levels.” The new program will seek to start discussing family life as early as kindergarten, and continue that through the fourth grade. Comprehensive sexual health education will begin in fifth grade and continue through the end of high school.
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Current Trends and Statistics - State of Oregon |
Source: OHA Prevention Briefs Newsletter: September Issue
The OHA (The Oregon Health Authority) website is updated quarterly with the latest data on HIV and STD cases by age, race, sex, transmission group and county. HIV data are available at http://1.usa.gov/O3dmlY, and data regarding other STDs are available at http://1.usa. gov/RaHALe. Recent trends are described below.
HIV diagnoses are likely to continue to decline Between Jan. 1 and July 2, 2012, 95 new cases of HIV have been reported statewide during 2012; 243 reported cases were diagnosed during all of 2011. Some additional cases diagnosed during the first six months of 2012 will undoubtedly be reported throughout the next few months. However, if the trend holds, it appears that the total number of HIV cases diagnosed in Oregon will decline again in 2012 for the third time in four years. In particular, Lane County cases appear to have declined this year; only two cases have been diagnosed among Lane County residents during the first six months of the year compared with 22 cases during all of 2011 and an average of 13 per year from 2007–2011. Cases among whites appear to be declining more than cases among blacks and Hispanics, though absolute counts among the latter two groups are small.
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