Earlier this month, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced two grants totaling more than $3.5 million to reach beyond the Ryan White Program – the federally funded program that provides care and treatment to about half a million Americans living with HIV/AIDS – and provide expanded care and treatment for minority patients that have been impacted by the disease. The first three-year grant, funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), will provide $2.975 million to … [Read more...]

  Changing How We Think about HIV Awareness   By Deb LeBel, AIDS.gov Partnerships Specialist AIDS.gov funded 17 organizations serving communities of color, other communities at highest risk of HIV, and people living with HIV. The funding was intended to stimulate and support the organizations' efforts to use new media to plan for and support HIV prevention, testing, treatment and care activities and to share best practices within communities at highest risk of HIV. These projects received … [Read more...]

    HIV in the City         Today, CDC released a new study of HIV prevalence and unrecognized infection among men who have sex with men (MSM) in 21 major U.S. cities, based on an analysis of data from the 2008 National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System (NHBS). Overall, researchers found that approximately one in five (19 percent) MSM was infected with HIV and nearly half (44 percent) of those men were unaware of their infection. The study, published in the September 24 issue of CDC’s … [Read more...]

U.S. Conference on AIDS 2010 Wrap Up Mon, 20 Sep 2010   By Miguel Gomez, AIDS.gov Director We’re back from the United States Conference on AIDS (USCA) that was held last week in Orlando, Florida. Sponsored by the National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC), USCA is the largest HIV/AIDS conference in the country...     … [Read more...]

    National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day    September 18, 2010   Tomorrow, September 18, 2010, marks the 3rd annual National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day. This special day provides us all with the opportunity to focus on the many challenges related to HIV prevention, testing, and treatment facing our aging population. “Aging is a part of life; HIV doesn’t have to be,” the theme for this years National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day, reminds us that there is more we can do to make … [Read more...]

   Remarks from HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at the U.S. Conference on AIDS 2010  Today is the second day of the U.S. Conference on AIDS and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius spoke at the lunch-time plenary session.   In her speech, Secretary Sebelius talked about the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and HHS’ plans to concentrate funding in the communities most at-risk for HIV. She said, “If you’re a white, heterosexual woman like me, your chances of being infected by HIV/AIDS are very low – just … [Read more...]

    Later this week, we'll be attending the U.S. Conference on AIDS (USCA) the largest AIDS-related gathering in the U.S. As you may remember, in November we posted some highlights from USCA 2009. In this post, we'll give you a sneak-preview of what's coming up at USCA 2010 and an update on last year's USCA activities. If you're attending this year's conference, we invite you to join us in the following activities: Learn more about the National HIV/AIDS Strategy at Booth #308 --Talk with … [Read more...]

  Gel for Women – UN       September 2010 – Two further clinical trials are planned for a vaginal gel that has shown potential in reducing the risk of HIV and which, if confirmed, would be a major breakthrough in protecting women, who make up about half of the people living with the virus worldwide, the United Nations said today. The results of the first trial of the tenofovir-based gel, which were announced in July at the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna, must be confirmed … [Read more...]