Black Voices AIDS Blog

Last week, the New York Times reported on a National Institutes of Health recommendation stating that circumcising men in high-risk countries can cut their rate of HIV transmission in half, in the case of heterosexual sex.

The NIH last year conducted two clinical trials in Kenya and Uganda but abruptly ended them because to continue the trials -- which did not offer circumcision to half the group -- was unethical. The rate of HIV in the uncircumcised men was double that of the men who were circumcised. Both groups were given safe sex advice.

Uncircumcised men are thought to be more susceptible to viruses because the underside of the penile foreskin is rich in Langerhans cells, which attach easily to viruses such as HIV and HPV, which is linked to cervical cancer in women.

Researchers had long suspected there was some link between circumcision and lower HIV rates but until these two trials (as well as one in South Africa before them), there was no conclusive connection.

In the Muslim countries of West Africa, where circumcision is common, there have always been lower rates of the virus, but other factors including polygamy, rape and genocide were also part of the equation.

"Circumcision is not a magic bullet, but a potentially important intervention," said Dr. Kevin De Cock (no comment!), director of HIV/AIDS for World Health Organization.

Of course, circumcision is much more expensive than abstinence or condom usage, but it definitelylessens the chance of transmission; if not done in a clinical setting (i.e. a villager using a dirty razor blade can actually increase the rates of HIV transmission.)

Two main AIDS organizations, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and President Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, said that they would be willing to pay for circumcisions in countries in Africa where they are not culturally common.

But Dr. Mark Dybul, executive director of the White House organization, said circumcision is surely not a cure, just one of many things one must do to prevent AIDS: "Prevention efforts must enforce the A.B.C. approach -- abstain, be faithful and correct and consistent use of condoms."

The struggle continues...

Tags: HIV, AIDS, NIH, circumcision, Global Fund, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, clinical trials on AIDS, Africa, HPV

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Many of you in your emails have asked me how you can help young women specifically come to be educated around HIV and AIDS, especially given that it's women who are the new face of AIDS and that young people are increasingly being infected at greater rates.

Teenage pregnancy is basically akin to unprotected teenage sex -- which we all know dramatically increases your chance of acquiring the HIV virus (hence the photo, anywhooooo)....

I ran across a really good article in Women's Enews recently; and though it is not on HIV and AIDS specifically, it does talk about young women and how peer-to-peer sex education makes a helluva difference in young women's lives.

Hearing the medically-based TRUTH from your friends (and not some foolishness) is what sometimes can make the difference between life and death.

Below is contact information to some of these peer-to-peer sex ed organizations and their missions:

Advocates for Youth
www.advocatesforyouth.org
Runs the Young Women of Color Leadership Council, an HIV prevention program
Also runs MySistahs, a Web-based peer educator program

TORCH (Teen Outreach Reprodcutive Challenge)
www.prochoiceny.org/s04torch/

STARS (Seriously Talking About Responsible Sex)
Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/programs-just-for-teens.htm

GYCA (Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS)
www.youthaidscoalition.org

Many of these are New York City based in part. Holla back if you know of any others national or international.

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In this season of Kwanzaa and the principle of self-determination, we know we must act and SPEAK for ourselves around the HIV and AIDS epidemic.

In this vein, entertainment journalist and author Gil Robertson IV has released "Not In My Family: AIDS in the African-American Community," a collection of essays from the noted (Al Sharpton, Mo'Nique, Hill Harper, Omar Tyree, Jesse Jackson) and the not so known around HIV and AIDS.

Some essays are personal, some are more general, all are powerful. In addition, there's an accompanying gospel CD to go along with the book, "Not In My Family: Songs of Healing and Inspiration," available in stores Dec. 5.

'25 Years and Counting' presents its first Q&A with Robertson:

There's a need. This has been killing us. My primary motivation, at least at the very start was because my brother's been living with the disease probably for about 25 years. Originally it was my desire to share my story with other families as a way to help them get through a crisis. When we took a look at other families, unfortunately, it became real obvious that our family story was atypical of the experience of far too many go through. So I decided to expand the concept to include other voices and it just gradually evolved into an anthology effort.

What's important to me are those voices we don’t hear -- the grandmother in St. Louis, the sister who lost a brother, a best friend whose only other sibling is infected. In other words, those unknown voices. Those people -- that's what I'm most proud of is being able to give them a platform to speak and be heard.

Well, it's interesting how this project took flight. As you may know, I've had a very successful career as an arts and entertainment journalist. And I was looking for an opportunity to create opportunities for myself, still as a writer, still as someone who scratches beneath the surface within journalism, but I knew that it was time for me to move forward, move away from what I had been doing. I mean how many times can we talk about what Queen Latifah's wearing? It's all about evolution and growth. And I was looking for a vehicle that would allow me the opportunity to transcend what I had been doing and to create a new opportunity for myself.

When I sold the book, I can vividly recall, it was a Friday evening, I was driving down the 75 in Atlanta, on my way home, getting ready to go to New York the next day, and I was thinking about, OK, we've got the book. But being honest and having one of those man-in-the-mirror moments with myself, [I was like] black people don’t read. How are we going to effectively present this message to our target audience? The answer is music. We're a musical people and we respond to that art form very well.

The concept was to identify tracks, whose messages spoke to the theme -- the conditions of people who are living with a chronic illness, in this case HIV & AIDS -- go through. So the songs deal with things like hope, the power of faith, the power of love, the power of healing. But in general terms, and in very specific ways, it's packaged around HIV and AIDS. We have several very relevant messages within the jacket which call for action and a research guide for those who buy the CD can go to to find out where they can go get testing, get counseling, things like that.

You know, I don’t know. I think the black community is in trouble on a number of levels and this is certainly one of them. I think we need to stop the finger pointing and accusations. We need to come together as a whole and to learn to respect, love and have compassion for one another. Because we all live very challenging lives as a community in this country; it's the one thing that we definitely have in common and I think that we've sort of gotten away from those traditional values that were unique to us as a community, as a people, and we've become very individualistic and very "me" centered instead of very "we" centered. In the '70s and '80s -- I'm 42 -- growing up in the shadows of the Civil Rights Movement, there was that feeling -- that feeling of empowerment that it gave me, that we had a unified voice. And we don’t have that.

We overcame Middle Passage, the way we overcame slavery, the way we overcame Jim Crow. We came through that as a collective, as a family.

Parents need to invest more time in talking to their children about sex, about intimacy, about honesty in relationships. Couples need to do the same thing. They need to get tested together. They need to be present together when the results are given. Ministers need to lead their congregations in being tolerant of other people's differences and to stop placing blame on people based on sexuality, based on sexual behavior. Politicians need to put forth real public policy that brings forth dollars as well as implements programming that creates awareness about this disease. The corporate community needs to do the same, they need to put forth the resources that it will take to combat a disease that's affecting Americans. And I'm saying Americans with capital letters -- folks who live here.

For more information on Not In My Family, go to www.notinmyfamily.com

(first photo: Al Sharpton, Hill Harper, Mo'Nique, Getty Images; second photo: Gil Robertson, author of 'Not In My Family')

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On Friday, Dec. 1, 2006, also known as World AIDS Day, Magic Johnson and pharmaceutical company Abbott announced the "I Stand with Magic: Campaign to End Black AIDS," whose goal is to cut new HIV infections in the African American community in HALF by the year 2011.

We all know that blacks are being decimated by HIV and AIDS; Magic Johnson, who is HIV-positive but because of treatment, currently has an undetectable viral load, is articulating a clear goal to try to reign in a pandemic that is clearly galloping away from us.

The stats are truly frightening: The FACT is that we as blacks in America are TEN TIMES more likely than any other ethnic group to test positive for HIV & AIDS. The rate is even higher for black women.

Says Johnson: "The 'I Stand with Magic' program encourages African Americans of all ages to stand with me and fight HIV/AIDS by getting tested, getting test results and encouraging at least four friends or family members to do the same."

The campaign will roll out educational and testing events in U.S. cities where HIV infection rates are especially high (New York, Los Angeles, Newark, Detroit, DC, Atlanta....) The program will also provide additional resources for HIV positive individuals.

Remember Giancarlo Espisito at the end of 'School Daze'?

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!

And STAND UP! Sign up at "I Stand with Magic" today. Will YOU join?

More on World AIDS Day 2006.

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Yeah, I'm down with the RED (but I take exception to those who take that red stuff too far -- ahem, Jim Jones, The Game, Suge Knight. Do I have to spell it out? You know, bloods! So not cute.)

I do, however, support the Global Fund's RED campaign which marries good ole American consumerism with the fight against AIDS in Africa. It's like African-American!

The official word is this:

(RED) was created by Bono and Bobby Shriver, Chairman of DATA, to raise awareness and money for The Global Fund by teaming up with the world's most iconic brands to produce (PRODUCT) RED-branded products. A percentage of each RED product sold is given to The Global Fund. The money helps women and children with HIV/AIDS in Africa.

In the Gap campaign, RED touches everything from tanktops and jackets to jeans, t-shirts and sweats, that play on the word "RED" -- Inspi(RED); Cente(RED); Admi(RED); Uncenso(RED); Assu(RED); Desi(RED); Endu(RED).

Stephen Spielberg, Mary J. Blige, Chris Rock, Dakota Fanning, Christy Turlington and Don Cheadle are all a part of this ground breaking Annie Liebovitz-shot ad campaign.  

In addition, last week Motorola rolled out the slick Red Razr Phone -- a candy apple red joint that goes perfectly with red cars, jeans, or new Jimmy Choos. It retails for $69.99 (with a two-year deal, of course) of which $17 goes to the Global Fund. This will be the first of many of the products I will be copping.

According to Motorola Spokesperson, Tracey Thiele, the retail industry "has the potential to generate more funding than any other group." Not only is much money being raised, but the average Jalil can get involved with philanthropy -- AND get something hot to rock (kind of like a sexy tax deduction.)

Sounds good to me. Levi's did it in South Africa -- again it's all about being CREATIVE, people. As creative as a virus is when it morphes and becomes resistant to medication every few years....

Some RED products which will be on my holiday list are the RED iPod, the Razr phone, the Mudcloth Converses (available at some Gap stores,) and something from Emperio Armani. To bad about the Red AmEx -- it's only available in the UK. Rats.

For more information on this campaign hit up www.joinred.com

Which of the products are the hottest in your humble opinion?

Turn that GREEN (RED)!

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