On "The Hill"
September 18
2008
5:00pm ET
by Kevin
On Tuesday, CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding and I participated in a Congressional hearing titled, “The Domestic Epidemic is Worse than We Thought: A Wake-Up Call for HIV Prevention,” held by Congressman Henry A. Waxman. Dr. Tony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, took part in the hearing.
A second panel of experts including Dr. David Holtgrave from the Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Dr. Adaora Adimora from the UNC Center of Infectious Diseases; Dr. George Ayala of RTI International and AIDS Project Los Angeles; Heather Hauck from the Maryland AIDS Administration and Chair-Elect, National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors; and Frank J. Oldham, Jr. of the National Association of People with AIDS also provided testimony.
This hearing was important for a number of reasons. The hearing provided an opportunity for Congressional leaders to engage further in CDC's newly released HIV incidence data. Also, it drew further attention to the key steps that federal agencies need to take to accelerate our progress on HIV prevention. It also focused on CDC's professional judgment of what it would take to dramatically reduce new HIV infections in the United States.
So what does CDC feel needs to be done to accelerate HIV prevention efforts and accomplishments domestically? Well, in our professional judgment, increased efforts are needed in three domains: (1) identifying HIV-infected individuals and improving the reach of effective prevention services; (2) improving research to develop and disseminate new and effective prevention tools; (3) improving the tracking, monitoring and evaluation of HIV and our prevention efforts.
Key themes within each domain include supporting a coordinated and integrated approach to tackling HIV and health disparities; understanding and responding to the social determinants of HIV transmission; improving local-and community-level understanding and responses to HIV; and improving measurement of our programs and accountability to those affected by HIV.
As I returned home to Atlanta following this exciting day, I am hopeful that we
have begun a new chapter in our national dialogue on HIV. I hope that these
conversations will reverberate in the halls of Congress, and also inspire
further conversation and action in homes, schools, health-care settings,
businesses, community and faith-based organizations and neighborhoods across the country in the weeks and months ahead.
Submit a comment -
Comment Policy
Dr. Fenton,
I'd suggest that you consider using partnerships with social health networks to improve both the reach of prevention service information AND prevention tools. Online health communities can broadcast information quickly to thousands of people. If your center can create handy widgets that people LIKE to use or can package information in a remarkable way, ideas can catch on like wildfire. Social networks like ours, www.ehealthforum.com, have the power to spread health news quickly... to targeted audiences. Start thinking about disseminating information virally, and you can help prevent the real viruses.
Lee Weber
Community Director
http://ehealthforum.com
Received from Lee Weber, on Thursday, September 25, 2008 at 1:56 pm ET
Comment
Dr. Fenton,
I am so glad that you were able to bring the word to Congress about the domestic HIV situation. I am concerned, however, that when you speak of prevention issues you may not also highlight the further need for treatment resources to address the new infections each year. I realize that this is not the purview of your agency, but you also need to be an advocate for sufficient funding of treatment for those diagnosed with HIV. We who are funding through Ryan White funding have struggled through flat-funding for many years, too many years. Our resources are now very thin and our staff are burning the candle at both ends trying to meet the needs of the clients who come through our doors. Please be an advocate not only for prevention but for treatment as well -- the two are irretrievably interlinked.
Janice R. Hand
Program Director
Wisconsin HIV Primary Care Support Network
Medical College of Wisconsin
Received from Janice R. Hand, on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 9:56 am ET
Comment
Dr. Fenton,
A key predicate for the new incidence data was improved reporting and testing. I did a presentation to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS in 2005 on the history of the special rules for HIV reporting and suggestions about how to move to standard public health reporting and testing. As part of that presentation I collected resources on public health law reporting and testing which may be useful for your readers. These are available at: http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/cphl/slides/aids-com.htm
Edward P. Richards
Director, Program in Law, Science, and Public Health
Harvey A. Peltier Professor of Law
LSU Law Center
Received from Edward Richards, on Saturday, September 20, 2008 at 8:27 am ET
Comment
Dr. Fenton,
Yes we must address “a coordinated and integrated approach to tackling HIV and health disparities; understanding and responding to the social determinants of HIV transmission; improving local-and community-level understanding and responses to HIV; and improving measurement of our programs and accountability to those affected by HIV.” In order to be successful we should include all of our “village” including our Elders and our Youth.
Seh, Native Images, Tucson, AZ
Received from Seh Welch, on Friday, September 19, 2008 at 5:41 pm ET
Comment
Dr. Fenton,
I have been in this arena since August of 1974 and I am tied of people, studies and research that go no where near the main subject that we must approach to stem STD/HIV transmission. The problem has an habitual base and we continue to try to use pills and drugs to correct/compensate for a simple lack of discipline. We said just say no to drugs and abstinence is the answer to eliminating STD/HIV transmission.
We allow fear, by parents, of sexual activity by our youth to kept proper education about sex and sexuality from being a regular part of their education. Those of us that are charged with this part of public health can only go to schools when invited and most often are restricted in what we are allowed to say. What I would like to see CDC produce is a curriculum for K to 12 education about diseases and sexuality. One that would allow for the students gain a common understanding of their sexual/social responsibilities and give them an information base for decision making. Then I would like CDC to advocate for it's inclusion in the national educational curriculum as a part of our disease suppression strategy. I worked for CDC during the time we supplied staff to do the basic jobs in public health and based upon the inability of the states to staff properly for prevention efforts now we need to return to those days to supply the educators for a universal approach to this problem.
When talking to young people I am often struck by the lack of dept of knowledge about their bodies. I had an 11th grader ask me in front of a mixed , male/female, group how could he determine if he was circumcised or not. Since I could not just ask him to present his penis for inspection the Teacher pulled-up a picture on the internet so that he could make the determination for himself. I remember talking to a Teacher during my daughter's senior year in high school and she explained that the reason she listed my daughter on her class roster was because she always wanted to teach a student like my daughter. One who had the potential of learning anything. I wanted to tell her that she should believe they all have that same potential, but I could see that she was already defeated and knew that her students were doomed as well. Let's give our youth the chance to learn some simple truths that could save if not their lives at minimum the quality of their lives.
Received from John Hopkins, on Friday, September 19, 2008 at 9:43 am ET
Comment
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