Health
D.C. to start ‘social network’ HIV testing program
National Association of People with AIDS to participate in DC Government pilot programed
Mayor Vince Gray, Gregory Pappas and Mohammed Akhter at the announcement. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
The National Association of People with AIDS will participate in a D.C. government sponsored pilot program aimed at enlisting people who are HIV positive to persuade their friends and acquaintances through social networks to get tested for HIV.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Mayor Vincent Gray, city health officials, and NAPWA President Frank Oldham said the new program would be another in a series of HIV prevention and testing initiatives employed by the city to curtail the number of new HIV infections.
The news conference was held in at the Metropolitan Community Church of Washington in conjunction with National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, which is sponsored by NAPWA.
“While the District of Columbia has made great strides in fighting the epidemic, we’re still having 700 to 800 new HIV diagnoses every year, and the greatest proportion among those new diagnoses is still gay men,” said Dr. Gregory Pappas, senior deputy director of the D.C. Department of Health’s HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD, and TB Administration (HAHSTA).
“We estimate that there are about 10,000 people in the District of Columbia who are HIV positive and don’t know their status,” said Pappas, who is among Gray’s high-level gay appointees.
Pappas said the pilot program is modeled after successful programs in New York City and San Francisco. He said those cities retain community based AIDS advocacy and service groups to help recruit teams of HIV positive gay men to reach out to people they know and to persuade them to “come in” for testing.
“In the city we have networks of positive people through organizations like NAPWA,” Pappas said. “We’re working with those groups to go out and bring their friends in, bring their contacts in to testing.”
According to Pappas, in the New York program, about 25 percent of those recruited to come in for HIV testing were found to be HIV positive.
Gray and Dr. Mohammed Akhter, director of the D.C. Department of Health, stressed at the news conference that D.C. has a policy of “treatment on demand” for all those who test HIV positive. For those who don’t have private insurance, Akhter said, the city provides full treatment and care for people with HIV or AIDS.
NAPWA President Frank Oldham (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Oldham said his organization is calling on all gay men to get tested for HIV as a means of ensuring that those who test positive will remain healthy through treatment. Oldham also points to scientific studies showing that people with HIV who receive the now standard of care treatment are far less likely to infect others because treatment often results in lowering the viral load to a point where the infectivity rate is greatly diminished.
“Treatment is prevention,” he said.
NAPWA was scheduled to conclude its National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day activities at 5 p.m. Tuesday in Dupont Circle, where the group was to release into the air more than 300 bright red helium balloons to commemorate people with HIV/AIDS.
Health
MISTR announces it’s now prescribing DoxyPE
MISTR, the telemedicine provider that offers free online PrEP and long-term HIV care in all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico, announced it is now prescribing Doxycycline Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (DoxyPEP), an antibiotic that reduces bacterial STIs, including gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis. Patients can now use MISTR’s telehealth platform to receive DoxyPEP online for free, according to a release from the company.
With this launch, MISTR plans to offer patients access to post-exposure care, in addition to its existing preventive and long-term HIV treatment options, which include PrEP and antiretroviral therapy (ART). This comes at a time when the rate of STIs continue to rise. In 2022, more than 2.5 million cases of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia were reported in the U.S; of that population, gay and bisexual men are disproportionately affected, the company reported.
“Despite an ongoing STI epidemic affecting the LGBTQ+ community, there are few resources available for this underserved, vulnerable community to get the preventative medication they need,” said Tristan Schukraft, CEO and founder of MISTR. “I’m proud that MISTR is democratizing access to PrEP, HIV care, and now DoxyPEP.”
An NIH-funded study published by the New England Journal of Medicine in April 2023 found that doxycycline as post-exposure prophylaxis, now known as DoxyPEP, reduced syphilis by 87%, chlamydia by 88%, and gonorrhea by 55% in individuals taking HIV PrEP, and reduced syphilis by 77%, chlamydia by 74% and gonorrhea by 57% in people living with HIV.
MISTR is a telemedicine platform offering free online access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and long-term HIV care Visit mistr.com for more information.
Health
UNAIDS to commemorate Zero Discrimination Day’s 10th anniversary
UN agency urges global action to protect human rights
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,” she said in a press release. “Stigma and discrimination obstruct HIV prevention, testing, treatment and care and hold back progress towards ending AIDS by 2030. It is only by protecting everyone’s rights that we can protect everyone’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 women’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 everyone’s health is synonymous with protecting everyone’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 — for everyone,” said Byanyima.
Health
New CDC report finds transgender women at higher risk for HIV
More than 1,600 people in seven cities surveyed
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, the 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. 25 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 study’s researchers noted: “Employment discrimination occurs at the overlapping nexus of poverty, homelessness, incarceration, health insurance, disability, food insecurity and survival sex work. These issues are interconnected.”
The study stated that trans women’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 “survival sex work” and violence, which increases the risk of contracting HIV.
The study’s author’s pointed out: “When economically marginalized transgender women are refused employment, this refusal cyclically contributes to economic hardships. This analysis …demonstrates the importance of transgender women working and living with dignity and without fear of unfair treatment.”
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