CA Office of AIDS Advisory Network

Today is National HIV Testing Day (NHTD).  First established
by the National Association of People with AIDS (http://www.napwa.org), NHTD encourages taking an HIV test as one strategy to take control of your personal health and the health of the communities that you are part of.  Do your part to help stop the spread of HIV, an epidemic that is still growing thirty years after the first case of AIDS was reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  Use the Service Referral Network  to find a local testing site (http://www.HIVServicesCA.com), attend or promote an awareness raising event in your area (http://www.hivtest.org/press_files/nhtd/state.aspx?state=ca) and encourage others to take advantage of the educational resources available at AIDS.gov (www.AIDS.gov) and National Association of People with AIDS (http://www.napwa.org/) websites.

HIV is preventable. Be part of the solution – Take the test.

The seventh annual National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NA&PIHAAD) is this May 19, 2011.   This national campaign aims to raise awareness about the unique and important impacts of HIV on A&PI communities and to end the silence and shame that surround this issue, particularly in light of national data that show an increase in new HIV infections in some A&PI communities.  Today, the California Department of Public Health, Office of AIDS (OA) would like to recognize the efforts of providers who work to break the silence and diminish the stigma of HIV/AIDS in some A&PI communities and to give thanks to A&PI community members who have the courage to live openly with HIV/AIDS and who support others to do likewise.

Currently, there are over 4,000 A&PI individuals living with HIV in California.  Due to social and cultural barriers, such as a lack of recognition of the impact of HIV/AIDS within some A&PI communities, and the notion of saving face among some individuals from A&PI communities, the number may be even higher. 

 In recognition of NA&PIHAAD and the toll that HIV/AIDS has taken – and will continue to take –  on Asian and Pacific Islander communities, OA urges A&PI community members to become more aware about the risks of HIV and to get tested and, if positive, to  seek medical and support services.  Click here www.HIVServicesCA.com to find a HIV test site and medical care facility near you.  Click here www.thebanyantreeproject.org  to find an NA&PIHAAD event near you.  

Please share this announcement and information about the Advisory Network with all of your California colleagues and interested friends.

National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NNHAAD) is March 20, 2011. NNHAAD seeks to raise awareness about the impact of HIV infection among American Indians and Alaska Natives. The California Department of Public Health, Office of AIDS (OA) would like to recognize the efforts of providers dedicated to serving Native people living with HIV/AIDS and to thank all Native people – urban, rural and reservation-based – who have supported HIV prevention activities in their communities.  These collective efforts protect and strengthen the health and well-being of Native communities.

According to the 2000 census, California has the largest population of Native people in the United States. There are 492 Native American and Alaska Natives reported to be living with HIV/AIDS in California, among the approximately 110,000 California residents living with HIV/AIDS. For every 100,000 Native persons, about 200 are known to be infected with HIV/AIDS (compared with 873 for blacks, 302 for whites and 230 for Hispanics). Mirroring the overall epidemic, 85% of those infected are male and the primary mode of transmission is men having sex with men.  Even though Native persons constitute a small proportion of all HIV/AIDS cases in California, the relative impact on Native communities is significant due to competing issues that Native communities face. These issues can include poverty, lack of access to culturally competent, high quality health care, stigma, and multiple health concerns, among others.  Also, of the 28 Native Americans diagnosed with HIV in California in 2009, over one-third progressed to AIDS within one year of their diagnosis, which indicates a late HIV diagnosis due to delayed testing at numbers similar to other California populations.  In recognition of NNHAAD, OA urges Native people to become educated about HIV, get tested and seek appropriate care. Follow these links to find a HIV test site and NNHAAD event near you: www.HIVServicesCA.com and www.happ.colostate.edu/nad.html.

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NWGHAAD) is held annually on March 10^th to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS among women and girls and to encourage HIV testing.  Women and girls constitute almost 10% of all HIV/AIDS cases reported in California since statewide surveillance began in 1983. Today, the California Department of Public Health, Office of AIDS (OA) acknowledges the toll that HIV/AIDS has taken on California’s women and girls, applauds the efforts of providers to address this issue, and encourages HIV testing in women and girls.

Together, women and girls account for 12% of the almost 110,000 individuals reported to be currently living with HIV/AIDS in California. In 2009, 643 women were diagnosed with HIV in California. Of those, 32% progressed to AIDS within one year of their HIV-positive diagnosis.  Of the more than 13,000 women living with HIV/AIDS in California, over two-thirds are women of color.  African American women, who represent only 6% of California’s female population, constitute 35% of the prevalent female HIV/AIDS cases. In contrast, white women, who make up 42% of the female population, constitute just 27% of the female HIV/AIDS cases.  That means for every 100,000 African American females in California, 386 of those women are known to be infected with HIV. For Hispanic and white females, those numbers are 60 and 43, respectively.

Data on new diagnoses continue to highlight these disparities, which may reflect larger social and sexual power imbalances, lack of access to quality health care, and deficiencies in health literary, among others.  Based on recent surveillance data, 20 more new cases are expected to be diagnosed for every 100,000 African American women each year. That is more than 10 times the yearly diagnosis rate of white women and 6 times that of Hispanic females.  For women, heterosexual contact is the primary means of HIV acquisition. Fifty-two percent of women with HIV/AIDS reported heterosexual contact as their only risk and another 20% are reported with no identified risk, a majority of which are presumed to be heterosexual contact. Injection drug use accounts for 24% of the cumulative infections among women.  However, only about 15% of new HIV cases diagnosed in recent years are attributable to injection drug use, indicating some success in preventing HIV in injection drug users.

In recognition of NWGHAAD and the toll that HIV/AIDS have taken on women and girls, OA urges women and girls, along with persons in their social and sexual networks, to get an HIV test.

Follow this link to find a test site near you: www.HIVServicesCA.com.

Hello!

You’ve found the Office of AIDS (OA) Blog! We’re always looking for new ways to let you know what we are working on, and we hope that this will be a great venue for us to interact on a less formal level.

Here you can expect to find quick notes from me and/or OA staff about what’s going on in HIV research, prevention, care and treatment and what we at OA are doing about it. We’ll also try to post articles and event announcements that we think you might like know about.

So stay tuned for a variety of topics and be sure to let us know what you’re thinking and talking about in the comments section for each blog post!

-       Michelle Roland

Chief, Office of AIDS

What kinds of things would you like OA to blog about?