Recent Press Releases, Reports and Media Clips | Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project

Reports and Releases

Chaotic & Underfunded: CDC's HIV "Heightened National Response" For African Americans
March 25, 2008
As CDC quietly releases figures revealing 80% boost in HIV in Black gay youth, advocates call for national AIDS strategy, adequate funding, and political leadership

Launched with much fanfare in March 2007, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention's (CDC) A Heightened National Response to the HIV/AIDS Crisis Among African-Americans called for "expanding the reach of prevention services; increasing opportunities for diagnosing and treating HIV; developing new, effective prevention interventions, and; mobilizing broader community action."

One year later, the Heightened National Response (HNR) effort has been marked by shifting leadership, lack of communication to local leaders and community organizations, and no new funding for any initiatives that are not restricted to HIV testing. It is now widely believed that Madeline Sutton, MD, MPH, CDC Acting Director of Partnerships in the Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention, the latest in a series of individuals responsible for HNR, will once again restructure the initiative in an attempt to address its significant shortfalls.
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More than 100 Organizations Call for a National AIDS Strategy to end the epidemic in the United States
September 17, 2007
Strategies to address the nation’s largest public health challenges, including AIDS, should be part of Presidential candidates’ national health plans

WASHINGTON, Sep. 17, 2007 -- More than 100 organizations from across the country are calling for the next President to commit to ending the AIDS epidemic in America. They have requested that every Presidential candidate commit to developing a results-oriented national AIDS strategy designed to significantly reduce HIV infection rates, ensure access to care and treatment for those who are infected and eliminate racial disparities. The groups issued a “Call to Action” that has been presented to all Presidential candidates. The Call to Action and a list of supporters is available at www.nationalaidsstrategy.org
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AIDS Research Chief Announces Focus on Domestic HIV Prevention
June 29th, 2007
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of NIAID, calls for for “mid-course correction” on the “rather skimpy domestic prevention agenda”. NIAID and the NIH Office of AIDS Research to commit up to $4 million for initial planning. CHAMP commends change, while demanding adequate resources and true collaboration across NIH and with diverse communities

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CDC BACKTRACKS ON COMMITMENTS TO REDUCE HIV TRANSMISSION IN US
May 9th, 2007
Two Months After Launch of African American HIV Prevention Strategy, CDC Proposes to Severely Narrow Vision of Reducing HIV Transmission Rates in US
Overdue strategic plan slashes goal of halving 40,000 annual new infections, settling for a mere 10% reduction; activists call on administration to invest in evidence-based programs and a robust research agenda to restore hope of significant improvement

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RESPONSE TO CDC REPORT ON GONORRHEA DRUG RESISTANCE
April 12th, 2007
CDC Announces Alarming Rates of Drug-Resistance for a Common STD
Activists Call for Investment in STD Budget, a Revitalized Drug Development Process, and an End to Harmful Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs

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PREVENTION PLAN FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS CRITIQUED:
Embargoed until 12NOON EST, MARCH 8, 2007
Bush Administration’s Long-Awaited African-American HIV Prevention Plan Includes No New Money and No New Strategies
Critiqued By Community, Researchers And Policy Leaders As Drops Into An Ocean Swelling With Rising Infections, Funding Cuts

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70 AIDS ORGS URGE SOLUTION TO FUNDING FREEZE OF MINORITY AIDS INITIATIVE
Sent to members of Congress, February 20, 2007
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) plans to significantly delay the availability of Ryan White MAI funds until possibly August or later, which would result in a six or seven month delay in funds
Click here for final sign on letter

STATE OF THE RHETORIC:
For Immediate Release: Jan 27th, 2007
YEARLY AIDS PROMISES RING HOLLOW AS EPIDEMIC ESCALATES
Despite frequent mention of HIV/AIDS in recent State Of The Union speeches, epidemic worsens over six years under Bush Administration.
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Community Response to New Testing Guidelines
On September 22nd, 2006, CDC published "Revised Recommendations for HIV Testing of Adults, Adolescents, and Pregnant Women in Health-Care Settings". Below is a community response letter to the new recommendations.

March 31st Community
Sign-on Letter to CDC

PEMS Update: CDC Puts the Brakes on New HIV Prevention Tracking System, Still Refuses to Meet With Community About Solutions.
March 9, 2006

CDC has responded to community pressure by halting implementation of PEMS, but the fiscal and ethical threats of the program still loom large for front-line prevention organizations.

Press Release
Community Recommendations for PEMS
More information is available on our PEMS campaign page

A Statement of Support for HIV Prevention Research on Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis
February 7, 2006

Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, is one of several experimental prevention interventions (includingmicrobicides and vaccines) which could potentially provide additional modes of minimizing the risk of HIV infection. Several PrEP trials have been shut down in other countries, over issues of access to treatment for people who may become infected, the provision of prevention equipment like needles in places where they are not currently legally available, and the involvement of community embers in trial design and implementation. Joining with AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC), Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) and Treatment Action Group (TAG), this statement calls out for the need for ethical and well-run trials that can evaluate if this approach could work in different groups at risk of HIV.

Statement

Bush Administration Imposes Sweeping Data Collection on U.S. HIV Prevention Programs

Activists warn that PEMS, the impending CDC reporting program, risks program effectiveness and participant privacy, and demand community-led program redesign, adequate resources for comprehensive monitoring and research, and assurances of privacy safeguards

Press release and Backgrounder

City Records Show Majority of High Schools Stock No Condoms, Despite City and State Laws Requiring Schools to Provide as HIV Prevention

As mayoral candidates joust on school issues, procurement documents validate student claims of widespread shortfalls, with only 1.4 condoms per year ordered for every sexually active student. Documents acquired by CHAMP confirm the experiences of students who are part of the HIV Prevention Organizing Project (H-POP), who report a drastic and dangerous shortage of condoms in New York City public high schools.

Press release

THREE GENERATIONS OF PEOPLE WITH HIV, STUDENTS, YOUTH AND PARENTS ENLIST TO FIGHT AGAINST “WAR ON CONDOMS”

Community HIV/AIDS activists spanning three generations have joined together to fight what they have identified as a war oncondoms, referring to systematic efforts of the Bush Administration and conservative allies to restrict accurate information and access to this key HIV prevention tool. They have launched a website with recently-released data on condom effectiveness and have pledgedto take direct action to ensure access to HIV prevention tools.

Press release

May 5, 2005: Thursday, May 5: AIDS Protesters Bring 8,500 Pairs of Shoes to White House to Kick Off Nationwide Campaign To End AIDS

Washington, DC – This Thursday, thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS and their defenders from across the nation will mass in Washington to launch the Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA), a vast new coalition of HIV-positive Americans, activists and organizations demanding that world leaders take proven steps to stop the epidemic in the U.S. and abroad.

Press release

March 2, 2005: U.S. efforts to force the United Nations to withdraw support for needle exchange programs endanger global efforts to prevent the spread of HIV, a group of AIDS organizations, human rights groups, scientific researchers and policy analysts from 56 countries said today. The groups urged the United Nations to stand firm at a crucial international policy meeting on narcotic drugs to be held next week in Vienna.

Press release
Full Open Letter

February 14, 2005: In response to Friday’s announcement of one case of rapidly-progressing multi-drug resistant HIV, the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP) released the following statement:

We urge all public and community health providers and the media to clarify the facts of this case, and to direct resources towards a comprehensive HIV prevention effort that confronts, rather than encourages, stigmatization of people at risk of, or living with, HIV.

The history of the AIDS epidemic has taught us that misinformation spreads more quickly than the virus itself.

Full press release

February 13, 2005: NATIONAL CONDOM WEEK PROMOTES ESSENTIAL EFFECTIVE TOOL IN FIGHT AGAINST UNINTENDED PREGNANCY, STIS AND HIV/AIDS
Public Health Groups Call On Bush Administration To Stop Global War on Condoms

Washington, DC – A coalition of reproductive rights and HIV/AIDS organizations, including Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), Global AIDS Alliance, AIDS Foundation of Chicago, Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project, Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), American Social Health Association (ASHA), and Population Institute today called on the Bush Administration to halt its scientifically unsound and politically motivated attacks on the efficacy of condoms and instead support their use in the fight against unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDS.

Full press release

December 9, 2004: HEALTH ORGANIZATIONS AND AIDS ORGANIZATIONS DENOUNCE SEN. FRIST'S INACCURATE AND HARMFUL COMMENTS ABOUT HIV TRANSMISSION, CONDOM EFFECTIVENESS

AIDS organizations and people living with HIV/AIDS today demanded Sen. Frist (R-TN), the Senate Majority Leader and a medical doctor, apologize for and retract inaccurate statements regarding HIV transmission made on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" December 5, 2004. After telling Stephanopoulos he "didn't know" if HIV could be transmitted through tears or sweat, Dr. Frist went on to say that transmission of HIV through tears or sweat "would be very hard .... I mean, you can get virus in tears and sweat but in terms of the degree of infecting somebody, it would be very hard."

Full press release

October 26, 2004: AIDS ORGANIZATIONS WARN STATE OF OHIO THAT
VOTER CHALLENGES WILL RESULT IN VOTER INACCESSIBILITY

CLEVELAND, OHIO -- Today the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland, with support from a national coalition of AIDS organizations, demanded that elections officials provide full and equal access to people living with disabilities. The large number of voter registration challenges promises a situation where voters will experience lengthy delays standing on line to be able to cast their ballots. For a person living with a disability, such a wait will make voting difficult or impossible.

A coalition of national AIDS organizations signed on to the letter, including the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA-US), Housing Works, POZ Magazine, Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP) and The AIDS Institute.
Full press release

Media Clips

AP, March 2004: Health Advocates Rally for Sex Education (Straziuso)
"People like Rep. Souder are taking this small piece of the puzzle and running with it, saying condoms don't work ... instead of saying condoms are really good at preventing HIV and other diseases," said Julie Davids, the executive director of CHAMP, a New York-based HIV/AIDS organization."
Full clip

UPI, October 2003: AIDS: U.S. Infections on the Rise Again

"Davids, an AIDS activist for more than a decade, said recent efforts to prevent the spread of the disease, though worthwhile, are displacing programs intended to keep people from becoming infected in the first place. The situation is being aggravated, she said, due to cutbacks in AIDS funding programs at local, state and national levels."
Full clip

AP, July 03: Activists Blast CDC HIV Prevention Effort (Lee)
"ATLANTA - AIDS groups gathered Tuesday to criticize a new federal HIV prevention policy, which they say focuses too much on people who already have the virus that causes AIDS and not enough on people at risk."
Full clip