Warning … the following is a frank and honest discussion which some readers may find offensive.
The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services addressed a convention of health experts who have convened in Atlanta for this year’s National HIV Prevention Conference. Secretary Sebelius made her speech on Aug. 24, after being introduced by the new head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Thomas Frieden.
Secretary Sebelius told the crowd, “Six years ago, the United State announced the most ambitious plan to fight global HIV/AIDS in the history of the world. This plan combined a new level of focus, new funding, and a new commitment to using proven approaches.”
Noting that the program, called PEPFAR, has been a “great success,” Sebelius’ speech went on to acknowledge that the fight here at home has “stalled.”
“In 2006, more than 56,000 Americans were newly infected with HIV, a rate that has been stable over the past 10 years.”
“Because HIV infection is fatal if not treated–and its transmission can be prevented with proven interventions–this isn’t just a statistic. It’s a tragedy,” Sebelius continued. – source – EDGE
And therein lies the problem, because AIDS is no longer the definitive death sentence it once was, today’s youth in many cases ignore the AIDS awareness campaigns about wearing condoms when having sex, and instead go “bareback”, anal sex without the protection of a condom.
Part of the problem are the display and poster ads themselves which give the appearance that AIDS is not the threat it once was.
As it was “fashionable” for a time for young teenage girls to get pregnant, so now as unbelievable as it may sound, for some young gay and bi men, it has become “fashionable” to get HIV from older men who are either HIV positive or in fact have full blown AIDS.
Throw into the mix the idea of secretive bareback parties held around the United States in which participants willingly risk getting infected with HIV, this writer as well as many others who lived through the AIDS epidemic of the 80’s, can not understand why anyone, even if AIDS no longer carries with it the once dreaded diagnosis of death, would purposely take the gamble and in fact wish to become infected.
In an article at RH Reality Check, CDC official Dr. Amy Lansky announced today at a plenary session of the National HIV Prevention Conference the CDC’s finding that, in the United States, gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) have AIDS at a rate more than 50 times (that’s right, FIFTY TIMES) greater than women and non-gay/bi men. This confirms in emphatic terms that of all the disparities and disproportionate impacts in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States, the greatest one is the extraordinarily disproportionate impact on gay and bisexual men — of all races and ethnicities– though the most disproportionate impact is on African American gay, bi and other MSM.
As incidence estimates released by CDC last year revealed, MSM constitute more than half of all new cases of HIV and are the group in which the number of new cases each continues to slowly increase. What’s new today is that the CDC has calculated *rates* of HIV/AIDS prevalence among MSM, not just raw numbers. Lansky says the CDC estimates that there were 692.2 new HIV cases in 2007 per 100,000 MSM. Having a rate as well as the raw numbers allows comparisons for the first time to other population groups at risk, such as women and heterosexual men.
By doing searches and looking into dialog and postings on any number of websites which promote and encourage “bug chasing”, bareback circuit parties and personal ads, there is no doubt this culture is anything but fantasy and in fact is causing more young gay men to become infected with HIV and other STD’s.
For all the thousands who died from AIDS, has nothing been learned ?
The sad and pathetic answer is ….. apparently not.
