CHAMP News
November 2008
 
In this issue:
Many people consider that actions and policy proposals a president makes in his first 100 days in office set the tone and policy agenda for the remainder of his term in office. Coincidentally, this measurement of a president began when Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president during the Great Depression, a time when the country faced economic troubles not unlike today. Within the first 100 days of his presidency, Roosevelt sent Congress a record number of bills that aggressively attacked the economic crisis and redefined the federal government's role in America.

Fast forward to present day - 27 years into the HIV/AIDS epidemic - and we need the U.S. government to redefine itself once again. We must redefine how our government is addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic at home, and reform its efforts abroad.
From the Prevention Justice Blog:
Butt First
by Mark Hubbard
Last week, as I sat through a day and a half of CDC-sponsored expert consultation on anti-HIV therapy and transmission risk, listening to data on things like the biology of sexual transmission, pharmacology in the genital tract, viral loads and semen, and viral loads and vaginal secretions, the butt-cheeks of bias were spread before me and the gaping hole of neglect revealed.
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Following the revised HIV incidence numbers released this summer that showed a higher number of Americans becoming newly infected with HIV each year than previously estimated, the Congressional House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform convened an emergency hearing on September 16th to address our national HIV prevention efforts, which have been crippled by underfunding and regressive politics.
AIDS activists turned up the heat on U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama to respond to the escalating domestic epidemic with a silent protest at the closing plenary of the United States Conference on AIDS (USCA) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in September.
We're excited to announce the launch of the first draft of our Project UNSHACKLE Organizing Toolkit. Project UNSHACKLE was founded to kick start an ongoing national movement, building on and expanding existing networks for HIV prevention justice in and about the criminal justice system. This toolkit is designed to support organizations in mounting grassroots campaigns at the intersection of HIV and imprisonment in their local communities.
Project UNSHACKLE Hits the Road!
by Laura McTighe & James Learned
This fall, Project UNSHACKLE hit the road, hosting two workshops and a day-long institute for our cross-movement effort to develop advocacy campaigns at the intersection of HIV and mass imprisonment. We engaged over 120 service providers, researchers, community advocates and people who were formerly imprisoned, each of whom lent their expertise to the emerging Project UNSHACKLE vision. Here's where we've been...
In September, the CHAMP Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Committee called on PrEP research sponsors to provide resources and strategic planning to ensure concrete outcomes and further study for a PrEP research agenda. Dr. Carl Dieffenbach, Director of the Division of AIDS (DAIDS), responded that the agency "share(s) your concerns and agree(s) with many if not all of your points about the importance of continuing and expanding PrEP research and clinical trials."
If a person has HIV but the level of virus in their blood is so low that it is undetectable, is it all but impossible that they will transmit HIV to their sex partners?

Early this year, the Swiss Federal AIDS Commission published a strong statement giving a thumbs-up to this notion, entitled " HIV-positive individuals without additional sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and on effective anti-retroviral therapy are sexually non-infectious." The statement, intended in part to fend off criminal charges against people with HIV for sexual conduct, sparked much discussion and debate worldwide.
This summer, people living with HIV faced a wave of criminal charges for activities with extremely limited or no risk of HIV transmission. Most notably, in May, a 42-year-old HIV positive man in Texas who spat at a police officer during an arrest received a cumulative sentence of 35 years by a Dallas court after a jury was convinced that the man had used his saliva as a "deadly weapon."
 
  Photo of the Month  
   
 

Photo of the Month: Waheedah on the front cover of POZ Magaine

Waheedah Shabazz-El, featured on the cover of the November issue of Poz.

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  Latest Videos  
   
 

Video of Black Women and the Fight for HIV/AIDS Prevention Justice

Black Women and the Fight for HIV/AIDS Prevention Justice

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  Upcoming Events  
   
 

The Election and the Epidemic: Aiming Higher for HIV Policies in the Next Administration and Congress?

4:00pm-5:30pm EST
November 12

We know what's at stake. The question remains, what will we do - together - to achieve a justice-based HIV prevention strategy to end AIDS?

  Click here to register

We Will Not Rest In Peace

12:30pm EST - November 20

Join us in Washington, D.C., as we demand the next president prioritize HIV in his first 100 days in office. He must make preventing and treating AIDS a priority in the US and around the world.

  Click here for more info 		 
  Must Read  
   
 

Waheedah on the front cover of POZ Magaine

Free At Last?

POZ Magazine, November 2008

Our very own Waheedah Shabazz-El--featured on the cover above--and Laura McTighe were interviewed for an article in POZ Magazine on HIV and incarceration in the United States.

  Read the article 		 
  What Do You Think?  
   
 

The Community Education Group (CEG) is holding a Community Consultation on the content of Good Participatory Practice Guidelines for Biomedical HIV Prevention Trials. CEG is looking for 500 Black Women in the United States to share their thoughts on the draft publication.

  Click here to learn more 		 
  Meet the Staff  
   
 

We'd like to take a moment to introduce two of our staff members to everyone:

Ashley J. Moore, one of our amazing interns in New York, is a junior at Pace University, studying Communications and Political Science.

Josh Thomas is our Administrative and Research Assistant and cooks a mean chicken fried steak!

  
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CHAMP would like to say a big THANKS to all of our 2007-2008 donors!

 
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