HIV Prevention Policy: Strategies for Action
CHAMP's Strategy Lab on HIV Prevention Policy links over 200 activists, researchers and policy analysts in a decentralized think tank, and publishes a watchdog newsletter called HHSWatch.
Strategy Lab supports policies that will ensure comprehensive and effective HIV prevention research and programs.
Materials for the June 18, 2008 Strategy Lab Call: Managing Expectations of PrEP, Prelude to Future Release of Revised CDC HIV Incidence Estimate, Proposed Vaccine Trial
Click on the link for presentations accompanying the speakers:
Materials for the March 19, 2008 Strategy Lab Call: The President's FY 2009 Federal HIV/AIDS Budget: Continued Neglect of the Epidemic
President Bush's Fiscal Year 2009 (FY09) budget flat funds or drastically cuts appropriations for domestic HIV prevention, treatment and care. For HIV prevention, a $1 million cut in domestic programs is nothing less than shameful, as it presages the release of new CDC HIV surveillance data that are expected to show a substantial increase in annual new HIV infections. Bush also includes a $28 million increase in harmful and ineffective abstinence-only programs.
Presenters Anna Ford and Laura Hanen will take us through the President's FY09 request, highlighting its impact on HIV prevention programming in various areas of the federal prevention funding portfolio.
Sue Perez will present on a campaign spearheaded by ABAC - the AIDS Budget & Advocacy Coalition, a working group of FAPP (the Federal AIDS Policy Partnership) - that seeks to respond to flat-funding of NIH since 2003 by demanding a 15% increase in AIDS research spending.
Handouts for Call:
ABAC NIH Funding Request for FY2009
Materials for the November 14, 2007 Strategy Lab Call: Fact Check II: The Real Deal with Recently Closed Microbicide Trials
In 2007, two sets of microbicide effectiveness trials (for Savvy and Cellulose Sulfate) were stopped before completion because of data suggesting that the products might possibly increase HIV risk. Sixteen clinical trials of candidate microbicides are still underway – four of them large scale effectiveness trials.
Researchers currently do not have a clear biological explanation for what happened in the Savvy and CS trials but they are actively evaluating the data and looking for explanations. A wide range of physical biomarkers and other factors have been identified that may be early signals that a product is causing harm or irritation. Unfortunately, scientists do not yet know for sure which of these markers actually signals increased HIV risk and which show up for totally unrelated reasons.
In this call, we will review what happened and what it may mean for the future of the field.
Background:
Global Campaign for Microbicide's briefing paper on the fundamentals of evaluating microbicide safety
Handouts for Call:
Answering Hard Questions on the Savvy Trial Results
CS Final Results
Materials for the September Strategy Lab Call: Going Upstream: How can Community-Based and AIDS Organizations take on structural interventions?
The field of structural interventions is broad, and can include everything from designing single-use syringes to undoing racism and homophobia.
This discussion will identify how to strategically think about which interventions to select to complement our behavioral interventions. We’ll review a national “concept-mapping” process through which national experts selected interventions for feasibility and impact. We’ll also discuss sexual networks as the pathways through which many of the “-isms” we confront affect transmission of HIV and other STDs. This can help us identify key venues and institutions for targeting, prioritize advocacy efforts, and suggest key operating principles for how to intervene on -- not just in -- these networks.
Presentation 1: Dan Wohlfeiler, Chief, Office of Policy and Communications, STD Control Branch, California
Presentation 2: Jen Hecht, Education Manager, STOP AIDS Project, San Francisco
An educational briefing paper for US AIDS communities: How did circumcision prevent HIV in clinical trials in Africa… and what does it mean for the United States?
Recent research shows that circumcision could be an effective new HIV prevention tool, especially in areas of the world with high HIV prevalence and low rates of circumcision. This promising news is clearly significant for sub-Saharan Africa. It is still unclear what this data could mean for HIV prevention strategies in the United States, where the epidemic is severe within specific communities, but is different from the epidemic in hard-hit regions of Africa where AIDS is common among the general population.
How could — or should — these findings impact HIV prevention strategies in the United States?
Full Briefing Paper as a Word Document
Full Briefing Paper as a PDF Document
¿Cómo es que la circuncisión previene el VIH en las pruebas clínicas en Africa… y qué implicaciones tiene esto para Estados Unidos?
Un documento de información educativa para las comunidades contra el SIDA en Estados Unidos.
EN ESPANOL Word
EN ESPANOL PDF
Can HIV Drugs Prevention HIV? Research on Pre-Exposure Prohylaxis (PrEP)
Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, is an experimental strategy in which HIV-uninfected people take antiretroviral medication (singly or in combination) once-daily to protect themselves against HIV infection. PrEP has not yet been proven to have any efficacy or to be completely safe. It is, however, one of several experimental prevention interventions (including microbicides and vaccines) which could potentially provide additional modes of minimizing the risk of HIV infection.
In February 2005, AIDS advocacy groups issued a sign-on statement in support of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) research. The sign-on statement prompted a comprehensive and welcome response from the investigators of ongoing trials studying PrEP in men who have sex with men. In April 2006, CHAMP hosted a public forum on PrEP research.
The dialogue between advocates and scientists is an important step. But there is a need for continued, informed community advocacy around PrEP research in the United States and around the world. For complete information, including forum presentations, check out our PrEP page.
Fix It or Nix It Campaign on CDC's PEMS (Program Evaluation and Monitoring System)
"PEMS won’t give us the answers we need”
CHAMP 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. For complete information, see our resource page.
CDC's New HIV Testing Guidelines
Read about the CDC guidelines for testing in clinical settings, and how the AIDS community has responded.
HHSWatch
Click here
HHSWatch is CHAMP's watchdog newsletter that monitors and reports on activities related to HIV prevention at Health and Human Services agencies, including CDC, NIH, HRSA and SAMHSA.
HHSWatch is a resource for community members, policy advocates, researchers and anyone interested in more fully understanding and tracking the committees, panels and administrators whose recommendations and decisions affect our work.
HHSWatch is committed to providing an outlet for those concerned about infringements upon science-based HIV prevention and treatment, and will respect your wishes for confidentiality. If you are interested in contributing information or suggesting a story, please contact champ@champnetwork.org
Historical documents:
The War on Condoms
The Right and the Bush Adminstration are waging a war on condoms. Find out more about the efforts to spread public distrust about condoms, and take action here
What is the real story about the case of fast-progressing HIV in New York City?
CHAMP provides information and analysis for community activists, prevention providers and the media more info here
PRESS CENTER
