CDC
Wants Increased AIDS
Testing
Experts urge HIV testing for almost everyone
CDC to reevaluate its guidelines. Since the early years of the
AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, the government has recommended screening
only in big cities, where AIDS rates are high, and among members
of high-risk groups, such as gay men and drug addicts. But two
large, federally funded studies found that the cost of routinely
testing and treating nearly all adults would be outweighed by
a reduction in new infections and the opportunity to start patients
on drug cocktails early, when they work best.
An
estimated 950,000 people are infected with the virus, but about
280,000 of them don't know it. CDC guidelines recommend routine
tests wherever the prevalence of HIV infection is more than
1 percent -- basically, cities and some densely populated suburbs.
"If you need proof of the fact that it's not working, look at
all the people who have slipped through the cracks -- 280,000,"
said A. David Paltiel of the Yale School of Medicine's division
of health policy, lead author of the second study.
Select
Options Below For More...
"It
is bad enough that people are dying of AIDS, but no one should
die of ignorance."-Elizabeth Taylor.
HIV
& Aids Internet Resources-
AIDS/HIV
Hotline:1-800-342-AIDS
- Adolescent
AIDS Program: Children's Hospital at Montifiore
http://www.adolescentaids.org/
Based in the Bronx, New York, the Adolescent AIDS Program
at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center
serves as a local and national resource for those living
with HIV/AIDS; adolescents who are at-risk for HIV infection;
healthcare providers who treat adolescents living with or
at-risk for HIV infection; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender
or questioning adolescents, their families and caregivers.
- AIDS
Education Global Information System http://www.aegis.com
HIV/AIDS Daily Briefing
- Critical
Path AIDS Project http://tensegrity.critpath.org/cpap/
Seeks to provide a key set of materials and links on HIV/AIDS
treatment, research issues and activists skills, as well
as connections to allied movements.
- American
Social Health Association (ASHA) http://www.ashastd.org/
ASHA is dedicated to improving the health of individuals,
families, and communities, with a focus on preventing sexually
transmitted diseases and their harmful consequences.
- American
Foundation for AIDS Research Far (AmfAR) http://www.amfar.org
Dedicated to the support of AIDS research, AIDS prevention,
treatment education, and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related
public policy.
- AVERT
Home Page http://www.avert.org/
The site emphasises HIV/AIDS prevention, and there is a
large and very popular section for young people. But there
is also help provided for HIV positive people, with new
pages on HIV treatment, extra pages of stories from people
living with HIV and AIDS, and a new section on HIV/AIDS
in Africa.
- The
Body: A Multimedia AIDS and HIV Information Resource
http://www.thebody.com/index.html
Mission: 1) Use web to lower barriers between patients and
clinicians; 2) demystify HIV/AIDS and its treatment; 3)
Improve patients quality of life and 4) foster community
through human connection.
- Center
for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) http://www.epibiostat.ucsf.edu/capsweb/
CAPS, at the University of San Francisco, conducts rigorous
theory-based research that will have maximum impact on the
theory, practice, and policy of AIDS prevention.
- Center
for Disease Control's National Prevention Information Network
(CDCNPIN) http://www.cdcnpin.org/
CDCNPIN is the U.S. reference, referral, and distribution
service for information on HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted
diseases (STDs), and tuberculosis (TB). NPIN produces, collects,
catalogs, processes, stocks, and disseminates materials
and information on HIV/AIDS, STDs, and TB to organizations
and people working in those disease fields.
- Henry
J. Kaiser Family Foundation's Daily Health Reports on HIV/AIDS
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_hiv.cfm
- HIV
InSite http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu
Comprehensive, up-to-date information on HIV/AIDS treatment,
education and policy from the University of California,
San Francisco
-
HIV
Vaccine Trials Network http://www.hvtn.org
The HIV Vaccine Trials Network is an international partnership
of research scientists, clinical trial sites, and community
representatives working in the global search for a preventive
HIV vaccine. Learn more about how you can get in involved
with a trial site in your area.
-
-
-
-
-
The
AIDS Memorial Quilt
http://www.aidsquilt.org
The AIDS Memorial Quilt is a poignant memorial, a powerful
tool for prevention education and the largest ongoing community
arts project in the world.
-
National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Division
of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome http://www.niaid.nih.gov/daids/
Formed to increase basic knowledge of the pathogenesis,
natural history, and transmission of HIV disease and to
support research that promotes progress in its detection,
treatment, and prevention.
-
UNAIDS
- Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS http://www.unaids.org
As the main advocate for global action on HIV/AIDS,
UNAIDS leads, strengthens and supports an expanded response
aimed at preventing the transmission of HIV, providing care
and support, reducing the vulnerability of individuals and
communities to HIV/AIDS, and alleviating the impact of the
epidemic.
| And
The Band Played On
One
of our readers wanted us to mention this movie as they
felt it was a great one and we agree.
This
superior, made-for-cable film in 1993, this Home Box Office
adaptation of Randy Shilts' chronicle detailing the emergence
of AIDS in America and the fight against bureaucracy and
society for a cure is a taut, outrageous, and affecting
true-life drama.
Matthew
Modine (Birdy, Married to the Mob) is featured as a doctor
with the Centers for Disease Control at the time when
the first reports of a disease plaguing the gay community
were heard. Modine and his colleagues embark on an investigation
that resembles a compelling detective story as they try
to track the source of the disease and discover a cure.
Their efforts are thwarted by an ambivalent government
and a turf war between French physicians and a celebrated
American researcher (Alan Alda) who seems to place his
own glory above the dead and the dying. Featuring heartfelt
performances from a stellar cast including Richard Gere,
Glenne Headly, Anjelica Huston, Steve Martin, Ian McKellen,
Saul Rubinek, and Lily Tomlin, this impassioned film stands
as an impressive and important document of one of the
darkest eras in modern human history, and a tribute to
the spirit of those who sought to save lives.
-Robert Lane
|
|
|
Our
Rating
Out Of Four Stars-
Category-
Drama
|
|
|
The
Holistic Wisdom Corporation