Connect with us

Health

14 percent of D.C. gay, bi men are HIV positive: report

Health officials find riskier behaviors among white, older men

Published

on

Dr. Shannon Hader, head of the D.C. Department of Healthā€™s HIV/AIDS Administration, said a study of men who have sex with men found that 40 percent did not know they were HIV positive until they were tested. (DC Agenda photo by Michael Key)

A first-of-its-kind study of men who have sex with men in the District of Columbia found that 14 percent were HIV positive, a figure five times higher than the 3 percent HIV infection rate among all adults in the city.

The study also found that black men who have sex with men had an HIV infection rate of 25 percent, compared to an 8 percent infection rate among white MSM who participated in the study.

ā€œThe numbers in this study are staggering, but they are changeable,ā€ says a report accompanying the study, which was conducted for the city by George Washington Universityā€™s School of Public Health Services.

ā€œWe are convinced that there are no foregone conclusions to getting HIV for men who have sex with men,ā€ says the report.

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and officials with the Department of Health and its HIV/AIDS Administration released the study at a news conference Thursday outside the Wanda Alston House for LGBT youth in Northeast D.C.

D.C. Council member David Catania (I-At Large), who chairs the D.C. City Councilā€™s Committee on Health, also participated in the news conference.

Fenty joined Department of Health Director Dr. Pierre Vigilance and HIV/AIDS Administration head Dr. Shannon Hader in noting that the studyā€™s troubling findings of high HIV infection rates among MSM were offset by what they said were highly useful new data generated by the study.

ā€œKnowing the facts about our HIV/AIDS epidemic improves how we fight this disease,ā€ Fenty said.

Pointing to a separate study released last week, he noted that ā€œweā€™ve already shown that we can make progress against HIV by reducing AIDS cases and deaths and increasing people getting into medical care.ā€

ā€œThis study shows that we have more work to do to fight HIV/AIDS among men who have sex with men,ā€ he said.

In a finding that surprised city health officials who commissioned the study, MSM over age 30 years reported using condoms less frequently than MSM under 30, and black MSM of all ages used condoms more frequently than whites.

Yet the infection rate for black MSM remains extraordinarily high, the report says, most likely because the number of infected black MSM is significantly higher than white MSM, increasing the chance of infection even if safer sex is practiced most of the time.

ā€œThough white men were more likely to engage in higher risk sexual behavior, more men of color were impacted with HIV,ā€ says the report.

ā€œContrary to some perceptions, younger men generally had safer sex behaviors, while older men got tested less and used condoms less and had more sex partners,ā€ it says.

The study found that 65.7 percent of black MSM reported using a condom during their most recent instance of anal sex, compared to 46.6 percent of white MSM who reported using a condom during their last occasion of anal sex.

Hader said the study was conducted using protocols established by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention for similar studies of MSM in other cities.

The D.C. MSM study consisted of 500 participants who were recruited ā€œat open air venues, gyms, bars, restaurants, and clubs where men who have sex with men tend to frequent,ā€ says the study report. ā€œParticipants were interviewed at these venues, which were located in Wards 1, 2, 5, 6 and 8.ā€

The study, which was conducted in 2008, doesnā€™t identify the specific venues, and representatives of the GWU team that conducted the survey declined at the news conference to disclose the names of the venues.

The report acknowledges that the study did not reach all MSM and most likely under-represents some groups, including MSM who donā€™t identify as gay or bisexual, and younger white MSM.

It notes that of the nearly 100 white men under age 30 who participated in the study, none were found to be HIV positive.

Vigilance and Hader said that while most of the MSM participants in the study reported having been tested for HIV, 40 percent did not know they were HIV positive until they were tested at the time of the study. Among those who tested positive during the study, nearly three-quarters had seen a doctor or other health care provider at least once in the previous 12 months, but were not tested.

Vigilance and Hader noted that a D.C. public health policy established four years ago calls for all adults in the city to be tested routinely for HIV during regular doctor visits, just as they are tested for high blood pressure and diabetes.

As a result of the studyā€™s findings, Vigilance said the health department is calling on MSM to be tested for HIV twice a year instead of the once-a-year recommendation made four years ago.

Hader also announced at the press conference that the Department of Health is launching a new MSM HIV screening project in partnership with the Whitman-Walker Clinic and the Crew Club, a gay male gym and social venue.

According to Hader, the yearlong project will screen about 500 men at the Crew Club considered to be at high risk for HIV. She said pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, Inc., is contributing $40,000 to the project and the Crew Club is contributing more than $5,000 along with special accommodations on its premises to conduct the screening.

She said that while the 14 percent HIV infection rate among MSM in D.C. is too high, previous MSM studies in Baltimore, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and San Francisco found a combined infection rate of 25 percent in 2005. She noted that in Baltimore, the MSM infection rate was found to be 40 percent.

The D.C. Center for the LGBT Community also announced that its HIV Prevention Working Group would hold a town hall meeting Monday, March 29, to discuss the MSM study findings. The event will take place 7-9 p.m. at 1810 14th St., N.W.

The MSM study revealed:

ā€¢ more than one-third of men participating in the study did not know the HIV status of their last sex partner;

ā€¢ ā€œyounger men who have receptive anal sex (bottoms) and older men who have insertive anal sex (tops) were less likely to use condoms;ā€

ā€¢ ā€œyounger men were twice as likely to have an older partner (54 percent versus 28 percent) and older men were more likely to have more sex partners;ā€

ā€¢ ā€œover half (52 percent) of men reported using non-injection drugs; among those using drugs, crystal meth use [was] 15 percent, lower than reported by MSM in other cities;ā€

ā€¢ about one-third of the men in the study reported having met a sex partner on the Internet during the previous three months;

ā€¢ there was little difference between younger and older men in the use of the Internet to find sex partners;

ā€¢ and 74 percent of the men who met a sex partner through the Internet reported using a condom in the sexual encounter while 56 percent of the overall participants in the study reported using a condom with a recent sex partner.

The study, titled ā€œMSM in D.C.: A Life Long Commitment to Stay HIV Free,ā€ is available through the Department of Healthā€™s website, www.doh.dc.gov.

Advertisement
FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM
SIGN UP FOR E-BLAST

Health

UNAIDS to commemorate Zero Discrimination Dayā€™s 10th anniversary

UN agency urges global action to protect human rights

Published

on

A UNAIDS anti-discrimination exhibit at Tocumen International Airport in Panama in 2018. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

As the world marks the 10th anniversary of Zero Discrimination Day; UNAIDS is sounding the alarm on the increasing threats to human rights, calling for renewed efforts to protect the rights of all individuals as a fundamental step towards ensuring health for everyone.

Established by UNAIDS a decade ago, Zero Discrimination Day aims to promote equality and fairness regardless of gender, age, sexuality, ethnicity or HIV status. The progress achieved over the past years is now in jeopardy, however, due to rising attacks on the rights of women, LGBTQ people and other marginalized communities.

UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima emphasized the critical link between protecting human rights and safeguarding public health. 

“The attacks on rights are a threat to freedom and democracy and are harmful to health,ā€ she said in a press release. ā€œStigma and discrimination obstruct HIV prevention, testing, treatment and care and hold back progress towards ending AIDS by 2030. It is only by protecting everyoneā€™s rights that we can protect everyoneā€™s health.”

Despite challenges, there has been notable progress. 

At the onset of the AIDS pandemic more than 40 years ago, two-thirds of countries criminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations. They are now decriminalized in two-thirds of countries. An additional 38 countries around the world have pledged to end HIV-related stigma and discrimination, contributing to positive changes that include 50 million more girls attending school compared to 2015.

To sustain and enhance these advancements; UNAIDS urges global support for womenā€™s rights movements, LGBTQ rights, racial justice, economic justice, climate justice and peace initiatives. By standing with communities advocating for their rights, the U.N. aims to reinforce the collective effort towards a more inclusive and equitable world.

Zero Discrimination Day is observed on March 1.

Events and activities that will take place around the world throughout the month will serve as reminders of the essential lesson and call to action: Protecting everyoneā€™s health is synonymous with protecting everyoneā€™s rights.

“Through upholding rights for all, we will be able to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and secure a safer, fairer, kinder and happier world ā€” for everyone,” said Byanyima.

Continue Reading

Health

New CDC report finds transgender women at higher risk for HIV

More than 1,600 people in seven cities surveyed

Published

on

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta (Photo courtesy of the CDC)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a new study report this week that revealed that restricted by employment and housing discrimination and lack of access to needed gender-affirming healthcare for transgender women increasing the risk of contracting HIV. 

Researchers reviewed data from a 2019-2020 survey, theĀ National HIV Behavioral Surveillance Among Transgender Women, which found that the demographics of HIV/AIDS have been disproportionally high, especially among Black and Latina trans women, who had experienced employment and housing discrimination coupled with lack of access to gender-affirming healthcare.

The Jan. 25Ā Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report was based on data studies of more than 1,600 trans women in seven major urban locales. Participants from Atlanta, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle were chosen by referrals from people and community-based organizations who knew or were part of the local population of trans women.

The studyā€™s researchers noted: ā€œEmployment discrimination occurs at the overlapping nexus of poverty, homelessness, incarceration, health insurance, disability, food insecurity and survival sex work. These issues are interconnected.ā€

The study stated that trans womenā€™s inability to access quality healthcare, including gender-affirming treatment or access to PrEP, and can expose them to potential incarceration as many turn to ā€œsurvival sex workā€ and violence, which increases the risk of contracting HIV. 

The studyā€™s authorā€™s pointed out: ā€œWhen economically marginalized transgender women are refused employment, this refusal cyclically contributes to economic hardships. This analysis ā€¦demonstrates the importance of transgender women working and living with dignity and without fear of unfair treatment.ā€

Continue Reading

Health

A Whole New Perspective on Well-Being

The Matherā€™s team recognizes that everyoneā€™s wellness journey is completely unique to their life experiences and influences.

Published

on

The Mather is incorporating biophilic designā€”a design approach to facilitate access to nature or things that replicate natural patterns.

Itā€™s easy to spot the distinctive, elegant silhouette of The Mather, a Life Plan Community for those 62+ opening this spring in Tysons, Virginia. What is not apparent to the naked eye is The Matherā€™s unique wellness philosophy, which is literally built into the community.Ā 

The Matherā€™s team recognizes that everyoneā€™s wellness journey is completely unique to their life experiences and influences.

Nature is one of the important factors that contribute to well-being. So The Mather is incorporating biophilic designā€”a design approach to facilitate access to nature or things that replicate natural patterns. This can include interior spaces with sightlines to a garden, choosing natural wood and stone as interior materials, or incorporating fragrant flowers and plants indoors to spark memories and provide tactile opportunities such as gardening.Ā 

Residents of The Mather will be able to select from plentiful amenities, programs, and other offerings to target their personal wellness goals and preferences.

ā€œProviding biophilic design within interior settings connects residents to the natural world,ā€ says Mary Leary, CEO and President of Mather, the organization behind The Mather. ā€œResearch shows that a connection to nature provides positive benefits to mental states and overall well-being. At The Mather, biophilic design is the intersection of buildings and programs with nature in an urban setting.ā€

ā€œThe Mather is attracting a diverse group of older adults,ā€ says Mary. ā€œAs a result, we aim to incorporate wellness practices from around the world, including Wyda movement theory of the Celtic Druids, which helps people achieve harmony with nature and contentment through mindfulness.ā€ This holistic regenerative approach is similar to Qi Gong and yoga, while born in a different part of the world. Mather Institute has a special focus on mindfulness to support older adultsā€™ practice of present moment awareness, which can lead to increased overall well-being, compassion, and joy.

A very different example of a wellness offering at The Mather is the Gharieni Welnamis spa wave bed, which uses computer-controlled vibrational therapy and audio frequencies to train the brain to relax. ā€œThe bed increases mindfulness, concentration, and creativityā€”all of which support our mission of creating Ways to Age Well,SMā€ says Mary.

These and other personalized ways to wellness will ensure that residents of The Mather can choose from seemingly countless ways to focus on their well-being. In other words, the skyā€™s the limit!

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement

Sign Up for Weekly E-Blast

Follow Us @washblade

Advertisement

Popular