Tell HHS to End the HIV Travel and Immigration Ban

The Government is extremely close to getting rid of the HIV Travel and Immigration Ban, which prohibits individuals who are living with HIV or AIDS from immigrating to the United States, and refuses entry for travelers who are living with HIV, unless they secure a waiver. The CDC has decided to remove HIV from the list of travel restrictions. The rule is open for public comment until Monday, August 17th.

Make your voice heard today! Get in contact with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and tell them to end the ban. You can do this by following three easy steps:

1. Draft a set of comments such as those below.

2. Send an e-mail with your comments to Part34HIVcomments@cdc.gov. Please include the Docket ID, Docket Title, and RIN number, with any text that you choose.

3. For more information, please visit CDC's website at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dq/laws_regs/fed_reg/remove-hiv/index_hiv.htm

Sample Message:

Docket ID: CDC-2008-0001
Docket Title: Medical Examination of Aliens - Removal of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infection from Definition of Communicable Disease of Public Health Significance

RIN: 0920-AA26

I am writing to communicate my support for the proposed rule that would that would lift the immigration ban on visitors and immigrants living with HIV/AIDS, stop unfair mandatory HIV testing of immigrants, and remove references to HIV from the scope of examinations in its regulations.

This change will restore the U.S. as a leader in the areas of human rights, equal treatment under law, and public health. The change is needed because:

- There is no scientific or public health justification for HIV-related restrictions on entry, stay, and residence.
- Restrictions on entry, stay, and residence based on HIV status are discriminatory.
- The enforcement of HIV-related restrictions on entry, stay, and residence can, and does, violate other human rights.
- HIV-related restrictions on entry, stay, and residence can impede effective responses to HIV.

For these reasons, I support lifting the HIV Travel and Immigration Ban.

Sincerely,

APLA To Challenge California Govenor Over Unconstitutional Line-Item Vetoes

AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) today announced that it intends file suit against California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, on the ground that his line-item vetoes of the state Legislature’s July budget revision bill are unconstitutional. The governor "blue penciled" state funding for a range of safety-net programs, including more than $80 million from California’s HIV/AIDS portfolio. Leading international law firm Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP will represent APLA on a pro bono basis.

"The governor has placed at risk the lives of many thousands of Californians who depend on these vital HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs," said APLA Executive Director Craig E. Thompson. "In doing so, he has overstepped his constitutional authority and left no other option."

APLA’s programs – including those that provide in-home care to seriously ill, HIV-positive L.A. County residents and those that offer HIV prevention education to Angelenos at highest risk of HIV infection – stand to lose a total of more than $1.8 million as a result of Schwarzenegger’s cuts. The agency is the hardest hit statewide.

In late July, Schwarzenegger "blue lined" state general fund support for all HIV/AIDS programs except HIV epidemiology and the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), leaving the state’s Office of AIDS with only 20 percent of its funding for programs like HIV education and prevention, HIV counseling and testing, home health and early intervention. These were among more than $485 million in cuts made to the state’s health and human services portfolio.

"In exceeding his power, the governor has singlehandedly dismantled a critical array of programs that protect the health of all Californians -- programs that ultimately save the state from far more catastrophic spending," Thompson said. "The effects will be nothing short of devastating."

In a written opinion commissioned by state legislative leaders, the California Legislative Counsel Bureau agreed with advocates, finding that the cuts "did not constitute a valid exercise of [Schwarzenegger’s] line-item veto authority granted by… the California Constitution."

Advocates and the Counsel argue that the governor only has "blue pencil" authority over original budget appropriations. Schwarzenegger, however, made the latest cuts to Assembly Bill 1, which only "reduced the amount of an existing appropriation previously authorized" by the Legislature in February, the Counsel contends. The governor is "not granted new expenditure authority, nor is a state officer’s expenditure authority extended in any way by an item or section of a bill that solely makes a reduction of an existing appropriation," the Counsel’s memo notes. Assembly Bill 1 was passed by a simple majority in the Legislature – not a two-thirds vote mandated for original appropriations that are subject to the blue pencil.

"The California Constitution provides important safeguards to prevent a single elected official from circumventing the entire legislative process," Thompson added. "We’re confident that the courts will agree."

Community leaders will gather at a Tuesday evening rally and march in downtown Los Angeles to protest the illegal cuts and to discuss the suit. AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), one of the largest non-profit AIDS service organizations in the United States, provides bilingual direct services, prevention education and leadership on HIV/AIDS-related policy and legislation. Marking 25 years of service in 2008, APLA is a community-based, volunteer-supported organization with local, national and global reach. For more information, visit http://www.apla.org/.

Media Contact: Gabriel McGowan 213.201.1521 (o) 714.595.7530 (c) gmcgowan@apla.org

Researchers Decode HIV Genome for the First Time

Researchers the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have completed and published the first complete genome of HIV using techniques to sequence RNA. This complete genome allows new areas of research and more possibilities for experiments on the virus. This can improve our knowledge of how HIV infects and spreads through out immune system.

The HIV genome is composed of RNA, rather than DNA. DNA works by forming into a simple double helix, while RNA twists and has a complex series of knots. This complicates trying to find an exact sequence, but also shows that the genes are influenced and expressed by the RNA. The Chapel Hill researchers completely reconstructed the genome structure into its finest resolution form.

The researchers have discovered how RNA affects the life cycle for those with HIV and also find HIV through one gene at a time. Experiments that a single gene and are then deactivated are still important to find how HIV works with the immune system.

This is just the beginning to finding a cure for HIV. It will still take time and effort, but having a complete genome for the virus will be one step closer to finding a cure.

Click here

Lawsuits Against the California Budget Plan

Many lawyers have been working with cases involving the new spending plans passed by the California Legislature and the Governor. The litigators are trying to get back the money that their clients lost in the budget process. Everyone is having success and winning their lawsuits, which is costing the state even more billions of dollars and causing a bigger uproar with the budget process.

In the past few months, more than a billion dollars have been added on to the state's deficit by courts with they're declatations of illegal reducation in health care services, redevelopment agency funds, and transportation spending.

Lawyers have had little time to prepare for their lawsuits that have been related to the buged that was only signed last month. On Friday, Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg (D- Sacramento), announced plans to sue the governor for illegally making over $500 million in cuts.

Lawyers are getting a hold of state laws that were put in place, some by citizen initiative, during better economic times. Due to California's budget crisis, the lawmakers and governor are making attempts to take money from programs that were previously rejected by the courts. The lawsuits alone are costing the state millions of dollars in attorney salaries and other legal fees.

There has been talk that the governor will need to call an emergency session in the fall so lawmakers can continue to work on the state's debt.

Even before the official budget plan came out, many groups began to announced their plans to sue. More than a dozen suits against the state would take away funding from redevelopment and put it into school districts. If it litigation is successful, it would throw the budget off balance by almost $2 billion.

Medi-Cal doctors have a $1.1-billion cut in their reimbursements. Federal Appeals Courts have saida 10% cut in what physicians are paid by Medi-Calis illegal. The court concluded that this cut would make Medi-Cal doctors leave the program, and put their patients in danger by violating the program's standards.

Jean Ross, executive director of the California Budget Project said that the lawsuits are, "a product of the desperation of the people trying to forge budget agreements," and "All of the easy solutions are gone. The choices are hard, the gap is wide. People look to riskier and riskier options to come up with savings."

Sometimes, lawmakers approve budget measures despite the legality if the situation to buy them time. By the time the appeals prricess is worn out, even though it make take a few years, the economy has a chance to rebound.


Click here

Protest Against AIDS Cuts on August 11th

Tomorrow, August 11^th, there will be a protest in downtown Los Angeles against Governor Schwarzenegger’s drastic cuts to HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs in California.

Governor Schwarzenegger cut more than $80 million from HIV/AIDS funding. These are the biggest cuts that HIV/AIDS programs have ever taken. Many important services and resources that provide care, treatment and prevention are being destroyed. The CDC’s new estimation of HIV infections in the U.S has risen to 56,000, or one infection every 9 minutes.

Please join us for this important demonstration tomorrow evening in downtown Los Angeles to protest the cuts. The event begins at Pershing Square, where participants will gather at 7:00 p.m. Following is a march to the Ronald Reagan State Office Building for a brief program and candlelight vigil. Be sure to wear a red shirt and bring candles or flashlights.

Remember to encourage friends, family and colleagues to join us too-- it's important that we gather the largest possible crowd to publicly condemn these cuts!

When:

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

7:00 p.m. (Rally)
7:30 p.m. (March)
8:00 p.m. (Press Conference)

Where:

Rally: Pershing Square (532 South Olive Street)
March: To Reagan State Office Building (300 South Spring Street)

Self-pay parking is available under Pershing Square or, you can take the Metro Red Line to the Pershing Square station.

We hope to see you there tomorrow evening.

Life Expectancy Increase

An individual who tests positive for HIV and begins antiretoviral (ARV) therapy can be expected to live, on average, to be 69 years old. This increase in age and life expectancy has increased 37 percent for those who start ARV in the early years of their treatment process. Many HIV positive people have asked their health care providers about their life expectancy, and this study will attempt to successfully answer the question for patients.

Studies have been taken from 43,000 patients in the United States, Canada, and other European countries to determine the life expectancy for HIV positive individuals. They were then divided into groups by when they began their ARV treatment. There were over 18,000 who began between 1996 and 1999, almost 14,000 who began between 2000 and 2002, and over 10,000 who stated treatment between 2003 and 2005.

The researchers used the example of a 20 year old with HIV. If they began ARV treatment between 1996 and 1999, they could be expected to live to the age of 56. This was also during the beginning of ARV therapy. This age has increased dramatically. For a 20 year old who began ARV treatment between 2003 and 2005, they are expected to live until the age of 69, which is a 13 year increase. The life expectancy of a 20 year old who is HIV negative is to live to be 80 years old.

For HIV positive people who only began ARV treatment because they CD4 cells were below 100 were expected to live 10 years less than those who began therapy when their CD4 cells were above 200. The researchers also found that HIV positive individuals who had a history of injection drugs were also expected to live 10 years less than those who never used injection drugs.

Click here

College Students and HIV

Many vaccines to prevent and protect individuals from sexually transmitted diseases and infections are being created and over time will become available to college students. According to research at the University of Missouri, students who feel untouchable or invincible to physical harm are unlikely to get the vaccinations. Students who feel invulnerable to psychological harm though are more likely to receive the vaccinations.

Russell Ravert, an Assistant Professor at MU College in the department of Human Environmental Sciences researched and studied two factors associated with invulnerability; danger and psychological. The students who viewed themselves as physically strong were more likely to decline the vaccine. One possible reason for this is that those with feelings of immunity can be associated with a decreased sense of danger, which can reduce defensive behaviors. For the students who felt psychologically invulnerably and did not care about the opinions of others were more prone to accept the vaccine.

Ravert expressed the importance of determining the factors that are associated with the vaccine and whether or not students will accept it. The study showed the students responses to accepting the vaccine. Some of the influences were concern of contracting a STD, the number of sexual partners the student has had, and the vaccine’s cost.

Click here