Blanket city in latex?

Public condom giveaway urged

BY KATE MEYER and LISA L. COLANGELO
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Coming soon to a cinema, Laundromat or nail salon near you: free condoms, if city officials get their way.
"We can stop the HIV epidemic with the tools that we have today," Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said yesterday. "We know that condoms prevent HIV - let's get them out everywhere."

Making free condoms available at such public places was one of the recommendations in a 44-page draft report issued yesterday by the New York City Commission on HIV/AIDS, which includes city health officials, researchers, AIDS service organizations and persons living with the disease.

But not everyone likes the idea.

"I think it's right to promote safe sex, but I don't think this is the right venue," said Toni Ryan, 40, who was getting her hair braided at the Fanta Hair Braiding Salon in Harlem.

Still, 38-year-old John Payne said he thinks people will "pick up anything that's free."

"There's nothing worse than when you're in the bar at 2 a.m. looking for the elusive two quarters for a condom," said Payne, who was having a drink at Nice Guy Eddie's Bar in the East Village.

The report also called for a better HIV/AIDS curriculum in city schools, saying the current one "does not fully comply with statewide and citywide education mandates."

Education Department officials said they are in the process of updating the HIV/AIDS curriculum.

According to Frieden, New York City is the epicenter of the country's AIDS epidemic. About 4,000 people every year are diagnosed with AIDS in the city and about 1,700 people die because of it. More than 100,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS in the five boroughs.

Mayor Bloomberg, who has said he supports a progressive plan to fight AIDS, will review the plan after a public comment period. But it's not clear whether there will be any protest against the politically thorny issues of condom distribution and needle exchange - even though there have been protests in the past.

Conservative Republican Thomas Ognibene, who wants to repeal Bloomberg's smoking ban, said the mayor is out of touch with the Republican Party.

"Is there anything he can do that's more left wing that can put him in more disrespect with the right wing?" said Ognibene, who is challenging Bloomberg in the primary.

Originally published on May 24, 2005

NYC AIDS Commission Calls For More Condoms, More Testing

(New York City - The Associated Press) Posted: May 23, 2005 8:00 pm ET
A commission studying HIV/AIDS issued a list of recommendations Monday for containing the disease in New York City, including making condoms more widely available and pushing for more HIV testing.

In a draft report, the 21-member commission also called for expanded drug treatment programs and efforts to reduce the stigma associated with being HIV-positive.
"The commission's draft recommendations will significantly strengthen our response to the epidemic," said Dr. Scott Kellerman, the city's assistant commissioner for HIV/AIDS prevention and control.

New York City is home to 100,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, or about one in six people living with the disease in the United States, the city says. About 4,000 people are newly diagnosed with AIDS each year in the city, and about 1,700 die from it each year.

City health officials invited the public to study the report and comment on it. The comment period closes June 13.

©Associated Press 2005

Condoms-in-school debate hits Catholic Mexico

23 May 2005 20:20:01 GMT Source: Reuters

MEXICO CITY, May 23 (Reuters) - A Mexican government ministry is pushing for the installation of condom machines in secondary schools in less affluent areas to stem a surge in teenage pregnancies, a scheme unlikely to find favor with the Roman Catholic church.

A new study commissioned by the Social Development Ministry found that 15 percent of adolescent girls in deprived areas were pregnant, local media reported. Mexico does not produce national teenage pregnancy figures.

"Statistics show that secondary school is when most people start having sex," ministry spokesman Andreas Solis said on Monday. "Promoting the use of condoms is an urgent necessity."

The study found half of adolescents in areas with high poverty rates use no protection when they start having sex and that 20 percent had sexually transmitted infections.

The study, which was confined to economically deprived areas, was carried out by the U.S. University of California, Berkeley, and Mexico's national health institute. It had not been made public but was leaked to the daily newspaper Reforma.

The condom machine proposal would have to be approved by the Education Ministry and was expected to face firm opposition from parents' groups and church officials. Mexicans are overwhelmingly Roman Catholic.

"It would implant sexual promiscuity because young people, believing they were protected, would be sexually irresponsible," Guillermo Bustamante, head of the national parents' group, told Reforma.

Solis said the problem was urgent.

"The problem starts at home because parents are reluctant to talk about the subject. As a mainly Catholic society, the theme of sin comes before the theme of health," Solis said.

"Many teachers avoid the subject because sadly they don't have the ability or knowledge necessary to educate on this."

The idea of distributing condoms in schools has triggered fierce debate in countries like the United States, Canada, Britain and Australia. In France, many state schools already have condom machines.

Erasure's Andy Bell - Living Well With HIV

? by Jennifer Vineyard Source: MTV

Erasure's Andy Bell was one of the first pop stars to come out as being gay. And now the singer, perhaps best known as the voice behind the band's 1988 hit "Chains of Love," has become one of the first pop stars to come out as being HIV positive. Bell has known his status since June 1998, when he came down with a case of pneumonia, and was quite happy keeping the news to himself. But when speculation started last winter about his health ? especially surrounding his recent double hip replacement (which wasn't related to the virus, but had required a lot of medical care) ? Bell thought he'd set the record straight and try to erase some of the stigma at the same time.

MTV: You made a big announcement in December, but it wasn't an announcement you were ready to make.

Andy Bell: I told my family already, about two years before. And on the last tour, we had some shows that were canceled or postponed because I had bronchitis. But then this Web site called Popbitch started spreading rumors, asking all kinds of things. It was like a little cloud hanging over your head, so I just wanted to get it out of the way and just be open about it and come back with a vengeance. I'm not good at keeping personal secrets. I can keep other people's secrets, but not my own.

MTV: How did people react?

Bell: It's all been pretty good. If fans meet me one on one, they'll tell me about their status and how it affects them and [ask] whether they should tell their family. I didn't have trouble telling my family at all, but it's almost like a second coming out, [like] saying you're gay in the first place. So depending on how your family dealt with that, it's almost a similar circumstance. And it can be quite tricky if you have been disowned, or didn't have anything more to do with your family. If that's the case, you'd be with your friends anyway; that would be your new family.

MTV: Sometimes people don't get tested because they're scared to know.

Bell: I was only tested by default, really. I had one when I had my appendix out, and that was fine. And [I was tested] the second time when I had pneumonia, so it was a bit obvious then. I kind of knew. You just know.

MTV: You just get sick very easily.

Bell: Over and over. And I don't know if I would get tested if I hadn't, because it's your responsibility to be safe anyway, whether you're positive or negative. I don't know if knowing you are positive gives you any kind of assurance.

MTV: But if you can get the course of treatment ...

Bell: For those reasons, then yes, get tested. If you haven't got the drugs, it's a disaster.

MTV: When you first found out, was it daunting to learn about all the antiretroviral drugs you're going to have to take?

Bell: No, it was just there. It was just medicine. First was a triple combination therapy, three pills. Never AZT. One was Stavudine, which they took me off because it causes lipodystrophy, which is like fat displacement in your cheeks or anywhere in your body. Then they moved me on to Abacavir. And now I'm on a two-pill combination. (Click here for more information on antiretroviral medication.)

It just depends on your own makeup, really. Some people have to go through a variety of combinations before they can find the right solution for them, and that can be panicky as your options go down. I was lucky. I had tingling fingers for a while, but that's nothing. It's gone almost overnight. Once you've been taking them for a month, you feel completely normal.

MTV: So it wasn't hard for you: You weren't having trouble adjusting; you weren't having major side effects ? was there anything negative about it?

Bell: Nothing negative whatsoever, but I wouldn't be here if I wasn't taking [antiretroviral drugs].

But I wouldn't have come out about it 10 years ago, because then, there was this AIDS educational film on the TV all the time [that was] very scary ? gravestones crashing down ? and it kind of scared people into having safe sex. It made it look like a death sentence, in a way. I suppose once that was taken away, I don't feel like that anymore.

MTV: Do those scare tactics really work?

Bell: Going out to clubs now, you have free condoms given away to people, but does that create a sexual free-for-all as well, where you think you can do anything and one time without condoms will be all right? You never know. It's really hard to get the balance, and it's important, definitely for young people. I don't think young people are paying enough attention to it. There's 19-year-olds coming down as HIV-positive, and that's really awful.

MTV: If you were in a position to change that, what would you say needs to be done?

Bell: I'm not a sex-education minister; I'm just me. But you'd have to have very open sex education in school. Start at the age people start experimenting with sex, which is about 13, and explore all the realms of sexual possibility. You can't just say abstinence is the only way to go. Children don't listen to that. If you tell them "No," children are going to do the exact opposite. What's unfortunate is that when you're a teenager, you want to experiment, you want to try everything. If you tell them, "No, you have to use a condom," it's really hard for them to learn. It really has to be drummed in.

MTV: You've been doing benefits for AIDS education and research. Do you consider yourself more of a spokesperson or an activist now?

Bell: I just did one in Hamburg, [Germany], but I don't think it was directed towards young people but more towards gay men. I don't always ask what the specific area is; I just do them. We shouldn't think, "It's not affecting me; I can't be bothered." I know that's human nature, but it's really heartbreaking when you read the figures of, say, people infected in Africa, and that 98 percent of them don't have access to the drugs because of poverty and politics. It feels like pushing a pea up a hill. You're talking about changing government policy completely; it's a bit deep for me.

MTV: People have this preconception, this stigma, that if you're HIV-positive, you're sick, you're weak, you're having trouble doing things. But Erasure recorded a new album, Nightbird, and launched a 20th anniversary tour. What does it take to prepare for that? Does your HIV-positive status affect any of that, besides having higher insurance costs?


Bell: I just went and got my legs fixed, went into rehab for physiotherapy, went to the gym for six weeks, and that was it! Not that much at all.


MTV: Has it made you more reflective? Changed your music in any way? Make you feel more grounded?

Bell: I think that has more to do with turning 40 than anything else! I'm happy to be alive, happy for the day and happy for the moment ? and that's it.

A lesson in STDs: Sex, Teens, Disease

May 20, 2005

As infection rates rise, abstinence-only course has advocates, detractors.

Local and national figures
Chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis cases among 15- to 19-year-olds in Indiana
? 1999: 6,932
? 2000: 7,027
? 2001: 7,490
? 2002: 8,046
? 2003: 7,727

Indiana pregnancy rates for 15- to 19-year-olds, per 1,000 females
? 1999: 62.1
? 2000: 59.1
? 2001: 54.6
? 2002: 52.9
? 2003: 51.5 (estimated)


Chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis cases among 15-to-19-year-olds nationally:
? 1999: 364,690
? 2000: 369,083
? 2001: 389,785
? 2002: 401,279
? 2003: 401,167

Source: Indiana State Department of Health

Think no-underwear zone, Sarah Beth Basinger urges the Hamilton Southeastern High School freshmen, as some shift uncomfortably in their seats.

"It's not because I want to be mean. It's not because I want to be awful. It's not because I want to destroy your life," says Basinger, a teacher with Creating Positive Relationships, an abstinence-only sex-education curriculum used there, and by some other schools in Indiana and around the world.

Basinger, a peppy twentysomething, wants the teens to avoid the potential negative consequences of sex -- pregnancy and a host of sexually transmitted diseases.

It's a message that's getting through to teens, but only in part. While teen pregnancy rates in recent years have plummeted in Indiana and across the country, the rate of sexually transmitted diseases in this age group has ticked upward.

The experts aren't quite sure how to explain this seeming discrepancy. But they agree the statistics signal a need for more research into what teens know and do when it comes to sex and how best to guide them to make wise choices.

"Like all teen behavior, sexual development and how teenagers make decisions is a complex issue," says Dr. Judith Ganser, medical director for maternal and child health services for the Indiana State Department of Health. "There does need to be more research into exactly what works. That's difficult research."

A recent Indiana Youth Institute alert on STDs speculated that the increase in infections may be linked to the fact that many teens have substituted oral sex for intercourse, considering it to be a safer option.

Some, including abstinence advocates, say that the best way to halt the spread of disease, therefore, is to promote avoidance of all sexual activities. Others, however, argue that teens need to know the importance of protection and regular screening for detectable and preventable STDs.

On a recent morning, Basinger focused on the risks associated with skin-to-skin contact of any sort, and told her young audience that condoms should not provide them peace of mind.

"Condoms are not as safe as you think they are. Do they offer some protection? Yes. Total? No," Basinger cautioned the Fishers students. "What you've got to be aware of is that by using a condom you're not erasing all chances of getting an STD."

Adolescents say they appreciate the candor of the CPR curriculum and take to heart the lessons it aims to impart.

"It brings up some important issues. They're uncomfortable issues, but they're important," says participant Patrick Meadows, 15. "It shows every side of it, good and bad, what can happen if you screw up and have sex in high school."

Amanda Miller said the class has taught things her parents would never tell her and things her friends just didn't know. "You learn the down and dirty truth about what STDs are, about what can happen," says the 15-year-old.

While the CPR curriculum emphasizes abstinence, others say educators also need to send a strong message about the importance of condom use. Although condoms will not completely eliminate the risk of an STD, they will lower it considerably.

"Our point is that there are some people who choose not to be sexually abstinent, and in that environment they need to know what the risks are, what the options are for protecting themselves," says Dr. James Allen, president of the American Social Health Association, a nonprofit organization that focuses on providing information about STDs.

Some studies have shown that teens who take virginity pledges are less likely to use condoms when they do begin having sex, and also less likely to be tested for STDs.

And a 2003 survey of youth behavior in Indiana suggests there's more work to be done in this state. The study found that only about 55 percent of youth surveyed who had had sex had used a condom in their last encounter.

Helps prevent diseases

Promoting condom use for teens who are having sex could make a difference in the rates of certain STDs, including chlamydia, one of the most common among teens, says Dr. J. Dennis Fortenberry, professor of pediatrics in the division of adolescent medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine.

"There's unequivocal evidence that consistent use and correct use of condoms substantially reduces the risk," he says.

More vigorous health screenings also might make a difference in teen STD rates, experts believe. A recent ASHA report on STDs in adolescents called for health professionals to screen more aggressively for diseases like chlamydia in young people. Chlamydia is a treatable bacterial infection that is often without symptoms, which increases the chance a person will pass it on unknowingly.

Untreated, chlamydia can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility.

In 2000, chlamydia accounted for 1.5 million of the more than 9 million cases of STDs among American youth, according to the Youth Institute report.

Health screenings needed

Current recommendations call for annual chlamydia screenings. Some experts, however, suggest that girls who are sexually active should be checked even more frequently.

Those who have been infected once should receive regular checks, as they are likely to contract chlamydia again, perhaps from the same partner who gave it to them the first time, Fortenberry says.

Teens also need to know that a lack of symptoms of chlamydia, which can include vaginal discharge and burning, does not mean an absence of disease. Adolescents who have not been screened, "could come into a relationship, use condoms for a few weeks, and decide that everything was OK and discontinue condom use," Fortenberry says.

Still, no device can protect against all harm.

At the close of her class on STDs, Basinger posed this hypothetical to the teens: Let's say someone invented a condom that's 110 percent effective. You have sex. Then your boyfriend or girlfriend breaks up with you.

"Did that condom protect your heart from getting broken? Did it protect your reputation? You really have got to start to think about it; it's not just STDs," she said.

By Shari Rudavsky
shari.rudavsky@indystar.com

Teenagers 'still avoid condoms'

BBC News - United Kingdom

Teenagers are confused over sexually transmitted infections
Teenagers are putting themselves at risk by inconsistent and incorrect use of condoms, a study says.

Only about a third of those aged 16 to 18 used condoms regularly, the sexual health charity Brook found.

The study also showed some were not using condoms properly and were using them only as a form of contraception, rather than to prevent infections.

Researchers called for sex and relationships education to become a compulsory part of the curriculum.

Two thirds of the 1,300 teenagers surveyed said school was among their top three most important sources of information on sexually transmitted infections.

"This is extremely worrying, and helps explain the huge rises in STIs across the UK " - Terrence Higgins Trust spokesman

All secondary schools are required to include sex education as part of their teaching programme, but there are no rules over the content, leading to complaints that the lessons are too biological.

Brook chief executive Jan Barlow said Britain's sexual health problems - in the last eight years gonorrhoea and chlamydia have rocketed among teenagers - would not go away until the problem was tackled "head-on".

"This report should focus the minds of everyone who cares about the sexual health of young people today.

"Condoms are the only way for sexually active young people to protect themselves from STIs," she said.

Condoms

"Although most young people do now use condoms at least some of the time, the majority are still putting themselves at risk by using them inconsistently and sometimes incorrectly."

The survey found huge gaps in teenagers' knowledge about STIs.

More than half thought chlamydia affected only women, while a similar number did not know that emergency contraception could be taken up to 72 hours after having sex.

A third thought STIs could be caught from a lavatory seat.

A spokesperson for Terrence Higgins Trust said: "This is extremely worrying, and helps explain the huge rises in STIs across the UK.

"It is clear that we need to do much more to support young people in avoiding sexual ill-health, and that has to start with better quality sex education.

"We need to discuss relationships as well as the mechanics of sex if we are to help young people protect themselves."

Campaign on way

A Department of Health spokeswoman said sexual health was a priority.

"We are working to prevent people getting sexual transmitted infections in the first place and will shortly be launching a major public information campaign.

"We are also keen to improve access to sexual health care services, offering people more convenient options for getting screening and testing, including further education colleges and private pharmacies on the high street."

But the Department for Education and Skills said there were no plans to alter government guidance to schools on sex education, saying it was up to head teachers to decide on the content.

More Seniors Living With HIV

(WebMD) A growing number of older Americans are living with HIV and AIDS, but few may be receiving advice on how to avoid spreading the disease, experts told lawmakers last week.

Infection rates aren't increasing in either younger or older people, health officials say. But the widespread use of antiretroviral drugs in patients in the U.S. has greatly extended the lives of AIDS patients and caused many more to live into later years. Today in the U.S., 28 percent of those living with HIV/AIDS are over the age of 50, and by 2015 that will increase to 50 percent, said Sen. Gordon H. Smith (R-Ore.)

Figures from 32 states show that the number of persons over 50 with HIV or AIDS went from 40,000 in 2000 to more than 67,000 in 2003, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Older blacks are 10-15 times more likely than their white counterparts to be infected.

Unique Challenges
The agency remains worried that this growing segment of the population of HIV/AIDS older adults could provide a new reservoir for the spread of HIV.

"One of the challenges in people 50 and older is the mistaken belief that they're not at risk," Robert S. Jannsen, MD, director of CDC's division of HIV/AIDS prevention, told members of the Senate Committee on Aging.

Jannsen warned that older patients, raised before the AIDS emergence of the 1980s that made "safe sex" a buzzword among youth, are less likely to see the importance of using condoms. The fact that pregnancy is not a concern for most women over 50 may also make them less likely to think of condom use, he said.

Stereotypes and lack of awareness about the disease is another challenge in preventing the spread of the disease, added Smith.

Many doctors may also be reluctant to think of their older patients as sexually active. Studies suggest that only 30 percent-40 percent of younger patients are asked by their doctors about sexual history or practices, a rate that is almost surely lower for patients over 50, Jannsen said.

As the numbers of seniors living with HIV continues to grow, so too will the demand for services, they noted.

Jeanine Reilly, executive director for Broadway House for Continuing Care in Newark, N.J., said the average age of patients at the long-term care facility for AIDS sufferers has increased from 31 to 44 in the last four years.

"This is a much bigger danger than most people are aware of," she told WebMD. Reilly also complained that Viagra and related drugs have encouraged older people to have more sex without a corresponding increase in safe sex education.

"Baby boomers are not relinquishing their sexuality simply because they are getting older," she said. "The message about the threat of HIV/AIDS is not there."

Smith, who leads the aging committee, said he was likely to add provisions for improved AIDS education for older persons when Congress considers the reauthorization of the Ryan White AIDS Care Act later this year.

Sources: Robert S. Jannsen, MD, director, division of HIV/AIDS, CDC. Jeanine Reilly, executive director, Broadway House for Continuing Care, Newark, N.J. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.).

By Todd Zwillich
Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD
© 2005, WebMD Inc. All rights reserved.

Area schools weigh whether to give condoms to students

By Julie Poppen, Rocky Mountain News
May 16, 2005

East High School junior Cary Shapiro keeps a condom in his wallet even though he says he's never had sex. He picked it up at a concert.

Shapiro is among students who say it's time for Denver Public Schools to make prophylactics available to all high school students who want them.

"I think it's a great idea," Shapiro said. "I think the argument that this will encourage sex is really dumb. I didn't say, 'I really want to have sex now that I have a condom.' "

Denver Public Schools is about to engage in a debate over whether educators should pass out condoms, a prospect that is sure to bring up issues such as safe sex, abstinence and morality. Students are making their views known as the district begins reviewing its 35-year-old policy on family life and sex education. The goal is to have recommendations for a new policy by the fall. Condom distribution will be among the issues on the table.

A similar discussion sparked by students is unfolding in the Boulder Valley School District.

A DPS school board directive from the late 1980s bans any contraceptive from being made available to students at school health clinics.

In fact, most metro-area school districts don't allow condom distribution. Commerce City schools provide condoms to pre-screened students as part of a policy focusing on AIDS prevention, said Adams County School District 14 spokeswoman Joan Hill.

A 2003 study by George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services found that teens at high schools where condoms were available were no more likely to have sex than other teens.

It also found that students in high schools with condom programs were more likely to use condoms, while students in high schools without condom programs were more likely to use other forms of birth control.

The study found no difference in pregnancy rates in schools with or without condoms.

Opposition to such a proposal would undoubtedly be vocal.

"We support abstinence-until- marriage education because it it is the highest possible standard," said Linda Klepacki, analyst for sexual health for the Colorado Springs- based Focus on the Family. "Condom distribution would not be within our concept of good health education in public schools."

Klepacki said that school districts should frown upon promiscuity the same way they frown upon guns, knives and poor nutrition.

"We believe we should have zero tolerance for sexual behavior being taught in schools," Klepacki said.

East High parent Nancy Kennedy agrees that condoms at school are a bad idea, even though she supports their use among sexually active teens.

"To me that implies permission to have sex at school, and I think handing out condoms is not a substitute for education," Kennedy said.

East High parent Kathleen Butler said she's OK with condoms at school, but wonders whether students would take the program seriously.

"They might take condoms, fill them full of water and throw them at each other," Butler said.

The timing of the conversation in DPS is tied to a partnership with the city to improve programs for pregnant and parenting teens, work being done by a district commission on physical education and nutrition, and a federal mandate for all districts to adopt wellness policies by 2006.

"Our parents ultimately will have a great deal of input in whatever recommended changes come out of this," said Donna Shocks, DPS manager of nursing services.

Currently, 6 percent of visits to the Denver district's 12 middle and high school health clinics are for reproductive health services, including pregnancy tests, help finding contraception, and screenings for sexually transmitted diseases, said Paul Melinkovich, director of the school-based health centers run in partnership with Denver Health Medical Center.

Sex education in DPS is primarily addressed through the science curriculum. State law requires that parents sign off on all discussions regarding human sexuality and reproduction.

At a recent sex-ed class, the presentation by East High nurse Lee Thomas included a large, plastic bag filled with condoms for men and women, a Power Point presentation detailing the reproductive organs and two models of male genitalia.

Thomas said the majority of parents allow their students to attend her sessions.

"There are a few parents who don't want their kids to know," Thomas said. "I don't know why."

John Stanesco, 17, a senior at Denver School of the Arts, said schools should help teens "carry out their hormones" in the safest way possible.

"Sexuality within teenagers is something that is going to happen, no matter what kind of bureaucracy is in place," he said.

Teenagers and sex, by the numbers

? A 2003 survey of 757 Colorado high school students found that 39.1 percent of students in ninth through 12th grades reported having had intercourse.

? Nearly 5 percent of the students surveyed reported that they had been pregnant or gotten someone else pregnant, according to the 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

? Some 12,000 teens become pregnant each year in Colorado and nearly a quarter of those end in abortion, according to Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.

? And, young people ages 15 to 23 are at the greatest risk for many sexually transmitted diseases, including chlamydia and gonorrhea, which are on the rise nationally, according to Planned Parenthood. Half of all new HIV infections in the U.S. are in people 25 and under.

HIV/AIDS will Boom with Baby Boomers

by Makebra M. Anderson
NNPA Washington Correspondent
Originally posted 5/16/2005

WASHINGTON (NNPA) ? While much of the public?s attention is focused on young people contracting almost half of all new HIV and AIDS cases, there a growing HIV/AIDS problem developing among the elderly, a problem that will only grow worse as baby boomers reach retirement.

?I don?t think older people think of HIV at all except as something affecting young people and few places are trying to build up an information base and let them know that this affects everybody. We have to understand that everybody is liable to become infected,? said Bill Rydwels, a 73-year-old man that has been living with HIV for 20 years.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were 1,039,987 reported AIDS cases in 2003 of which, 315,509 (30 percent) were in people over 45.

In 1999, the CDC reports that there were 11,056 reported AIDS cases in people 45 and older. In 2001, an estimated 12,176 people over 45 were living with AIDS and in 2003, approximately 13,825.

People of color are still disproportionately affected.

Fifty-two percent of older Americans living with HIV/AIDS are either African-American or Hispanic, reports the CDC. Among men over 50 living with HIV and AIDS, 49 percent are of color. Among women, 70 percent are of color.

The continued increase in HIV among those over 50 can also be attributed to their living longer, thanks to advanced HIV therapy. According to Rydwels, who works with the Chicago Forum on HIV and Aging, the perception that people over 50 aren?t sexually active is one of the leading causes of high rates of HIV and AIDS among this group.

?People over 50 come from a generation where the discussion of sex was an under the table thing. You may have discussed it with your mate or you may have discussed it very lightly with a close friend. It?s something that professionals didn?t discuss and still aren?t comfortable discussing with older people,? he said. ?Nobody wants to discuss the sexual habits of older people. It?s the concept that older people stop having sex and it?s just not a reality. We all need that approval that sex gives us?that we?re wanted and loved.?

According to a study by the University of Chicago, 60 percent of men and 37 percent of women 50 years old and above report engaging in sexual intercourse a few times per month.

Rita Strombeck, a physician with Healthcare Education Associates, a group that has recently developed a continuing medical education program for doctors and nurses to recognize HIV/AIDS as a problem among older people, agrees.

?It has to do with the fact that they [older people] don?t consider themselves at risk and they are. One of the problems with doctors and primary care providers is they don?t recognize it?s a problem with older adults, either,? she says.

According to Patricia Hawkins, associate executive director of the D.C.-based Whitman-Walker Clinic, the popularity of medications such as Viagra has also contributed to the surge of HIV and AIDS among this group.

?Viagra has contributed a lot to this because there is so much more sexual activity among seniors and yet they are not often using contraception because they aren?t worried about pregnancy,? she said. ?I don?t think that our medical community has caught up to the impact of Viagra. Sometimes medical professionals think that older people aren?t that sexually active, but what?s really happening is people are much more sexually active now than they were 10 years ago ? much more.?

Because of a general lack of awareness in older adults, they have been omitted from research, trials, prevention and intervention efforts. Nonetheless, because of their age, they may be more at risk than young people. For older women, the use of condoms becomes unimportant after menopause.

Not only are older people at risk, the symptoms of HIV are hard to detect because of aging. Sometimes it?s difficult for physicians to determine if a person has the flu or is infected with the virus. Many of the early symptoms such as night sweats, chronic fatigue, weight loss, dementia and swollen lymph nodes mimic the natural aging process.

The National Association on HIV Over Fifty (NAHOF) says that there are specific ways to target older people.

?Specific programs must be implemented for older adults who need to be informed about the transmission and prevention of HIV, more research is needed to study seniors? sexual and drug-using behaviors to determine HIV disease progression and treatments and programs aimed at reaching health care and service providers should cover misdiagnoses,?treatments, ?.support groups and more.?

There is also an education program in Kansas City called HIV Wisdom for Older Women that is dedicated to the prevention of HIV in older women and to life enrichment for those who are infected.

Hawkins, who runs the Whitman-Walker clinic, says a few programs here and there is not enough.

?HIV/AIDS hasn?t been part of their life experiences. Younger people have been learning about HIV ever since they?ve become sexually active. Gay men are different, but for the heterosexual population they are really stunned and often don?t have the same sort of peer support groups that the other communities have.?
Rydwels agrees, but doesn?t want older people to get discouraged.

?Twenty years ago everyone was dying all around us, but because of government intervention and drugs I was able to so far beat it. I want people to realize there is a life after becoming infected. It doesn?t mean it is the end. It?s just you have to adjust your way of living,? he said. ?If you take care of yourself, eat properly, take your medication and try to live as good a life as possible you can have longevity.?

Texas teens' film about condoms to be shown in schools, on cable

BY LYNN BREZOSKY

MISSION, Texas -- With at least six classmates pregnant, including the valedictorian with her second child, it was clear to a few girls at Mission High School that more information was needed on safe sex.

So the four students at this school along the Mexican border -- where the teen pregnancy rate is among the highest in the nation -- decided they could help send the message by making their own movie.

Two years later, their 16-minute educational film promoting condom use, named ''Toothpaste'' after a teen code word for condoms, has been ordered by schools nationwide. It also will be shown at film festivals and on the Showtime cable channel, the group that produced the film says.

''Hopefully, people will get something out of it,'' said Amanda Ramirez, one of the teens.

The script by Kristal Villarreal, Laura Coria, Gladys Sanchez and Ramirez won an annual contest by Scenarios USA, a group that educates teens about pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Professional directors, producers and camera operators helped polish the film.

Sending a message

''Toothpaste'' features two teen girls' decisions on whether to have sex with their boyfriends. Jennifer and her boyfriend, who have been dating a year, decide to wait. Cristina decides to have unprotected sex with her boyfriend of three weeks after he says he loves her.

''I guess it had a good message to it,'' said Robert Cerda, who plays one of the boys in the movie and has a real-life friend who got his girlfriend pregnant. ''Be careful about the decisions you make, all the time, mentally, sexually.''

With its soundtrack of Spanish hip-hop and rolling background of the South Texas region known as the Valley, the film is a frank discussion about sexuality from a region where 37 of 1,000 girls get pregnant by age 17, according to state statistics.

That's the highest teen pregnancy rate in Texas and among the highest in the nation. Experts attribute the high rate to lack of knowledge about contraception and a cultural acceptance of young parents in a region that's 90 percent Hispanic.

The film is unusual because sex-education curriculum in Texas focuses on abstinence. Districts can discuss contraception in class, but the state advises against it. Most South Texas school districts do not discuss contraception. The girls, all of whom are now attending college, said they would like to see Texas add information on contraceptives to its sex education policy.

''Hopefully the state will also realize the law they have -- it's not working,'' said Ramirez, 19, a student at South Texas College.

AP

Rally pushes waiting, not mating

Posted on Sun, May. 15, 2005

Event teaches that abstinence is best way to avoid STDs, pregnancy

By James L. Rosica DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

Roger Yeomas, a football player and honor-roll student at Godby High School, is a study in self-confidence.

Despite a culture steeped in sex, he's comfortable with his choice: It's OK to be a virgin.

"There's peer pressure out there, but there's nothing wrong with what I believe," said Yeomas, 18. "I don't want to be one of these young men running around with children or a sexually transmitted disease."

And Florida health officials, with the Bush administration's backing, hope that attitude catches on among thousands of teenagers.

That's why they've organized "It's Great to Wait" rallies across the state, with motivational speakers, rappers and musicians praising abstinence. Yeomas was one of nearly 800 children and teens who attended a rally Saturday at the Civic Center.

Speakers included Lakita Garth, a former Miss Black California, and Chris Graebe, star of MTV's "Road Rules."

Organizers also held an "Abstinence Idol" talent contest, a takeoff of the hit television show "American Idol."

Fourteen-year-old Alexis Young took first place.

"I'm glad I came," said Young, a Nims Middle School student who won $250 in Governor's Square mall gift cards. "I've learned there's no such thing as safe sex."

Abstinence-only education, supported by President Bush, teaches youngsters that not having sex is the only way to stave off STDs and unwanted pregnancy. The federal government will spend $170 million for such programs this year.

Some critics of abstinence-only programs say teens also need information on birth control and access to condoms. But federally funded programs cannot advocate contraceptives or condoms.

Abstinence "is the only 100-percent guaranteed way to prevent teen pregnancy and STDs," said Lindsay Hodges, Health Department spokeswoman.

To push abstinence, the state this year is spending $281,000 in federal grants on "Great to Wait" rallies, public-service announcements, mailings and similar efforts, according to Hodges. Florida has had an abstinence-education program since 1998, reaching 350,000 youths since then.

The "Great to Wait" events, aimed at ages 9 to 18, have grown from one statewide rally in 2000 to six regional rallies this year, in Orlando, St. Petersburg, Fort Lauderdale, Gainesville, Pensacola and Tallahassee.

Most young participants at the Tallahassee rally were black, but organizers said they didn't know why. Other rallies have been more mixed, they said. About 30,000 announcements are mailed in every rally area to families with children aged 11 to 15, records show, but gender or race isn't targeted.

Rhonetria Tucker, 14, a Griffin Middle School student, came with her Tallahassee church group Saturday.

"Kids need to know about the diseases going around and what they can do to you," she said. "Kids our age aren't old enough (for sex) and the emotional consequences of it."

Although it's not clear what effect abstinence education is having in Florida, the teen birth rate has been going down. It dropped from a high of nearly 28 per 1,000 in 1991 to about 16 per 1,000 in 2003, the last year for which data is available, according to Health Department statistics.

The incidence of gonorrhea among teens 15 to 19 is falling, from about 900 reported cases per 100,000 in 1999 to 600 per 100,000 in 2003. But chlamydia is up, from 2,000 cases per 100,000 in 1998 to 2,400 per 100,000 in 2003.

Luis Galdamez, a pro-abstinence motivational speaker from Southern California, said he was a late convert, getting three women pregnant by the time he was 29.

"Hopefully, these kids don't have to go through what I went through," he said. "The message of abstinence must go on: Abstinence is hope, and there's a difference between sex and love."



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Contact reporter James L. Rosica at (850) 599-2304 or jlrosica@tallahassee.com.

Milwaukee making progress on stray condoms

Posted on Fri, May. 13, 2005 Associated Press

MILWAUKEE - After spending more than $1.8 million for a temporary system to catch stray condoms slipping through a sewage treatment plant, a Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District spokesman says officials are fairly confident a majority of condoms are now being caught before they can reach Lake Michigan.

Bill Graffin commented Thursday, more than two years after a fisherman reported seeing what he called a slick of thousands of condoms floating in the lake following a heavy rainstorm in April of 2003.

Initially, a single laborer armed with a swimming pool skimmer was posted at the chlorine tanks at the Jones Island treatment plant to capture condoms that survived earlier phases of screening at the plant.

The manual scooping was supplemented during the summers of 2003 and 2004, when MMSD also had the crew of the district's 43-foot research boat fishing for condoms that made it through the plant and into the harbor.

A system of 24 large nets to catch condoms was installed early last year, but officials say they clog with algae and other debris, requiring them to be changed every two or three weeks. But district officials say the net system is meant to be only a short-term fix.

They say "bar screens" with three-quarter-inch spacing which act as a sieve at the front of the plant, where raw sewage enters, will be replaced with screens with quarter-inch spacing, but that $23 million effort is not expected to be completed until 2009.

"If we need to take more steps, we don't know what they would be," Graffin said.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com

Condoms mailed for prom protection

May 9, 2005 - Associated Press

JEFFERSON, Ind. ? Someone has sent condoms to high school seniors accompanied with a letter encouraging them to be safe on prom night, causing some parents to chuckle, while others are upset, officials said.

In the past week, nearly all the students in Clinton Prairie High School?s senior class have received letters containing the surprise, said David Larsh, the school?s principal.

Accompanying the prophylactic was a letter, which read as a warning for the Class of 2005 to be safe on prom night, which was held Saturday.

It was signed anonymously, ?Clinton Prairie Alumni.?

District officials in Jefferson, 20 miles southeast of Lafayette, denied any involvement.

?This was not done with school sanction or approval,? said Superintendent Charlie Fink. ?We don?t even have an alumni association.?

The letters were addressed with official looking labels made out to the parents of each student and postmarked from Frankfort, Lafayette and Mulberry.

?Most parents are laughing about it, though we?ve had a few who were upset,? Larsh said.

More upset, he said, are the Clinton Prairie seniors.

?The seniors are perturbed,? he said. ?They think they?re getting looked at unfairly about this.?

Both the Clinton County sheriff and Frankfort post office have been told about the letters.

?I told (one parent) there probably wasn?t a whole lot we can do,? Sheriff Mark Mitchell said. ?I said, ?I can take the letter, but it?s not like we can fingerprint it. The postman?s handled it, and you?ve handled it.??

The Pope and AIDS

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: May 8, 2005
SÃO PAULO, Brazil

Let's hope that Pope Benedict XVI quickly realizes that the worst sex scandal in the Catholic Church doesn't involve predatory priests. Rather, it involves the Vatican's hostility to condoms, which is creating more AIDS orphans every day.

Nobody does nobler work throughout the developing world than the Catholic Church. You find priests and nuns in the most remote spots of Latin America and Africa, curing the sick and feeding the hungry, and Catholic Relief Services is a model of compassion.

But at the same time, the Vatican's ban on condoms has cost many hundreds of thousands of lives from AIDS. So when historians look back at the Catholic Church in this era, they'll give it credit for having fought Communism and helped millions of the poor around the world. But they'll also count its anti-condom campaign as among its most tragic mistakes in the first two millennia of its history.

"The Catholic Church helps increase AIDS in the world," said Roseli Tardelli, a Catholic who is editor of the AIDS News Agency in Brazil. She added: "That's wrong. God doesn't like it."

Now that more than 20 million people worldwide have died of AIDS - a toll greater than three Holocausts - there is growing pressure within the church to reconsider its position on condoms.

"If I were pope, I would start a condom factory right in the Vatican," one Brazilian priest told me. "What's the point of sending food and medicine when we let people get infected with AIDS and die?"

In his office, that priest keeps a small framed condom behind glass, with a sign: "In case of emergency, break the glass."

Rosana Soares Ribeiro, the coordinator of a Catholic-run AIDS orphanage in São Paulo, says she feels that it's more important to save lives than to obey church rules. So she tells the H.I.V.-positive teenagers in her care to use condoms when they have sexual relationships.

"My life belongs to God, and God would not want me to allow somebody to be infected with the virus," she said. "So God will forgive my violation of church rules."

The countries that have been most successful in controlling AIDS, such as Thailand, Brazil, Uganda and Cambodia, have all relied in part on condoms to reduce transmission.

The Vatican has horribly undercut the war against AIDS in two ways. First, it has tried to prevent Catholic clinics, charities and churches from giving out condoms or encouraging their use. Second, it argues loudly that condoms don't protect against H.I.V., thus discouraging their use.

In El Salvador, the church helped push through a law requiring condom packages to carry a warning label that they do not protect against AIDS. Since fewer than 4 percent of Salvadoran couples use condoms the first time they have sex, the result will be more funerals.

Fortunately, the Vatican's policies are routinely breached by those charged with carrying them out. In rural Guatemala, I've met Maryknoll sisters who counsel prostitutes to use condoms. In El Salvador, I talked to doctors in a Catholic clinic who explain to patients how condoms can protect against AIDS. In Zimbabwe, I visited a Catholic charity that gave out condoms - until the bishop found out.

"What would Jesus do?" said Didier Francisco Pelaez, a seminarian in São Paulo. "He would save lives. If condoms will save lives, then he would encourage their use."

Even some senior Vatican officials are catching up with reality. One step came when Cardinal Javier Lozano Barrágan, the Vatican's top health official, said last year that condoms might be permissible if a husband had H.I.V. and his wife did not.

I wish the cardinals could meet a 17-year-old Catholic girl in São Paulo named Thais Bispo dos Santos. She is H.I.V.-positive, goes to Mass each Sunday, wants to have an intimate relationship and marry, and feels betrayed by the leaders of the church she loves.

"Because of their age, they should be wiser," she said of the cardinals, adding: "I resent that they don't think of people like me, teenagers with AIDS or H.I.V."

So if Pope Benedict wants to ease human suffering, then there's one simple step he could take that would save vast numbers of lives. He could encourage the use of condoms, if not for contraception, then at least to fight AIDS. That choice between obeying tradition and saving lives is stark, and let's all pray he'll make the courageous choice.

An HIV pill that offers hope?

By THOMAS J. COATES
LOS ANGELES, May 6 (UPI) -- Last month, researchers in Atlanta launched a clinical trial to determine if the drug tenofovir, already in wide use to treat HIV/AIDS, also can be taken by uninfected people to protect them from HIV.

This is the strategy we use with malaria and other diseases: We take preventative medications before we encounter pathogens, so our body can repel infection. If we can use the same approach with tenofovir, millions of at-risk people might remain HIV-free.

As we have seen with tenofovir trials in Cambodia, Nigeria and Cameroon, however, ethical concerns and the complexities inherent in these types of studies could delay or even derail this urgently needed research.

As someone who has been working to stop AIDS since 1982 -- before the human immunodeficiency virus, the organism that causes AIDS, was even identified -- I know the disease's devastation all too well. I also am only too aware of the limits of our current prevention strategies, and the dire need for better ones.

My vaccine research colleagues tell me not to hope for much in that realm for another 15 years, and that is when they are feeling optimistic.

Tenofovir, on the other hand, could work to reduce new infections in as few as two years, when study results start to roll in. I, for one, would never recommend a prevention strategy -- tenofovir or anything else -- without knowing for sure that it protects a person from HIV without harming them.

Plenty of data show tenofovir, a once-a-day pill, is safe and effective in treating HIV-infected individuals, and it can delay or block infection in monkeys, but we do not know if the same is true for HIV-negative people.

The only way to find out is through a placebo-controlled trial. To this end, such studies are looking at tenofovir's prevention potential in some of the world's highest-risk populations: sexually active young adults in Botswana, injection drug users in Thailand, female sex workers in Ghana, heterosexual men in Malawi and gay men in San Francisco and Atlanta.

Men and women who volunteer for these trials need to understand that participation does not equal protection. They must be allowed to enroll only if they fully comprehend they could receive a pill with the study drug or an inactive "dummy" pill.

Most important, participants must be given every chance to stay uninfected by receiving proven interventions: intensive risk-reduction counseling, condoms, STD screening and treatment and sterile syringes or bleach kits for cleaning drug equipment. Current trials offer all these things.

Some activists have criticized the placebo design of tenofovir studies. This is understandable, stemming from the early days of the epidemic when AIDS advocates unanimously considered it unethical to deny people access to experimental therapies that might prolong their lives.

In tenofovir studies today, however, using a placebo for comparison is the only way we can ascertain whether this potential prevention strategy will be safe and effective.

I have conducted my fair share of HIV prevention trials, both in the United States and in resource-poor nations. The hardest part of this work is not identifying an approach to study or the people willing to take part in it. It is learning that a participant has become infected. At that point, my job -- and the job of all who conduct this type of research -- is to ensure the individual is linked immediately to the best available medical care. The reward for altruism must be nothing less.

Through the collaboration of researchers, participants, affected communities and study sponsors, I believe we are well on the way to ensuring tenofovir trials adhere to the highest ethical standards. I fear, however, the biggest challenge will come later.

What happens if tenofovir reduces, but does not eliminate, HIV risk? Most experts think tenofovir will prove only partially effective in preventing HIV and will need to be used together with existing behavioral interventions. Just as HIV treatment involves a combination of anti-retroviral drugs, avoiding infection through "combination prevention" is likely to the become state of the art in stopping the spread of the virus.

Looking back to 1985, when the HIV test was first introduced and I took it, people predicted that a vaccine and an end to AIDS were at hand. Now, 20 years and 60 million infections later, I know there remains a long road ahead. The HIV epidemic's severity demands we move forward with studies of tenofovir -- but always proceed with caution. Our challenge is to ensure fear does not paralyze our efforts, but instead spurs us on to ultimate success.

Millions of lives depend on it.

Dr. Coates is Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and member of the Executive Committee of the UCLA AIDS Institute, at the University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine.

United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited. E-mail: sciencemail@upi.com

Copyright 2005 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.

Veggie porn in school?

by Mona Charen May 6, 2005

The sex educators in Montgomery County, Md., have devised a film for 10th-graders that features a young lady putting a condom on a cucumber. You do wonder, when you read about these things, why they stop there.

After all, if the assumption is that kids are too stupid to know how to unroll a condom unless it is demonstrated for them, then why would they be smart enough to know that it goes on a penis and not on the contents of the vegetable bin in the refrigerator?

But guess what? They are indeed worried about that. Wendy Shalit, in a City Journal piece dating from 1998, described a New York teacher's guide that urged ninth-grade health teachers to unroll condoms and stretch them out onto "two fingers."

A "teacher's note" reads, "Make sure that learning disabled and all students understand that a condom goes on the erect penis, and not on the fingers as demonstrated." It's impossible to satirize these people. For this, we are taking valuable class time away from American history, literature and science?

Most states derive their sex-ed curricula, in whole or in part, from the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, a group with a decidedly liberal view of these matters. SIECUS promotes sex ed starting in kindergarten, when children should be taught the proper names for body parts and the difference between good touch and bad touch.

In New York, kindergarteners also learn the difference between transmissible and non-transmissible diseases, the terms HIV and AIDS, and that "AIDS is hard to get." But the 5- and 6-year-olds are not left in the dark. Teachers tell them how people get AIDS, along with the information that "it feels good to touch parts of the body."

I wonder: Do even New York parents want their kindergarteners instructed on the mechanics of HIV transmission and offered early initiation into the pleasures of sexual touching?

Montgomery County was sued by two parent groups. It wasn't just the erect cucumber to which the parents objected. The school board was modifying its sex-ed curriculum (already a document spanning 14 pages) in ways that even that Kerry-supporting, nuclear-free, recycling county found hard to take.

At one time, the new curriculum was going to feature information on flavored condoms. There's something that will help the trade deficit! The cheery young lady who protects the cucumber also advises her audience of 14- and 15 year-olds that abstinence is the surest way to prevent pregnancy, but, "Buying condoms isn't as scary as you might think."

Read that, and then try to take seriously the sex educators' claim that they are merely providing information for teens -- not encouraging early sexuality. It's impossible to know how much of an effect sex ed has on kids' decisions, but it is interesting that even SIECUS acknowledged back in the '90s that sex ed had not succeeded in reducing teen pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases at all.

Indeed, as Shalit observes, it's possible to make at least a prima facie case that sex ed may have done the reverse. A 1991 study in Family Planning Perspectives found that instruction on contraceptives was "significantly correlated with an earlier onset of sexual activity."

If sex ed were merely the birds and the bees, anatomy and a few cautionary notes about sexually transmitted diseases, even most traditionally minded parents would not object. But quite often the sex educators are much more ambitious. Montgomery County's school board also proposed (before backing down in the face of protest) to teach kids that homosexual experimentation was normal. Even the revised curriculum still contains tendentious statements like, "Most experts in the field have concluded that sexual orientation is not a choice," and, "American families are becoming more complex, and the greater variety of households encourages open mindedness in society."

Middle- and high-schoolers would further be invited to explore their own sexual identity. They'd be introduced to the idea of transgendered individuals and advised that "biology is not destiny."

It took a lawsuit to suspend the march of this brave new world in Montgomery County. A federal judge ruled on May 5 to grant a 10-day restraining order against the school board.

Do you know what's happening at your child's school?

©2005 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Brazil declines US anti-AIDS funding

ISN SECURITY WATCH (05/06/05) - The head of Brazil?s anti-AIDS program, Pedro Chequer, sent a letter to the US government last week declining an offer of US$40 million in AIDS assistance, because the aid was conditional on condemning prostitution.
Prostitution is legal in Brazil and the Brazilian Health Ministry said the clause condemning prostitution had not been part of the original agreement on AIDS assistance, but was added later by the administration of US President George Bush.

Under Bush?s ambitious US$15 billion assistance package to help countries fight AIDS, HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria, US$48 million was earmarked for Brazil between 2003 and 2008.

Brazil has already received about US$8 million, but the addition of the prostitution clause was seen as meddling in the country?s internal affairs.

?This would be entirely in contradiction with Brazilian guidelines for a program that has been working very well for years,? The Guardian quoted Sonia Correa, an AIDS activist in Brazil and co-chair of the International Working Group on Sexuality and Social Policy, as saying.

?We are providing condoms, and doing a lot of prevention work with sex workers, and the rate of infection has stabilized and dropped since the 1980s,? she said.

Some 600,000 people in Brazil - out of a population of 183 million - have been infected with HIV, and the Brazilian government has been making progress in curbing the spread of AIDS by distributing millions of free condoms every year at street festivals and providing anti-AIDS drugs free to anyone who needs them.

Campaigners congratulated the Brazilian government for its stance, and voiced concerns that the declaration on prostitution could damage efforts to tackle AIDS among sex workers in many countries.

The US global AIDS coordinator, Randall Tobias, who is responsible for spending the US$15 billion in HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria assistance, told the BBC: ?Any organization receiving US global AIDS funding will have to agree to the policy.?

The US has a history of withholding money and aid to countries and organizations that condone family planning and abortion. The US religious right, which backs such policies, has been growing in influence under the Bush administration and pushing its agenda into foreign and domestic policies.

Brazil is one of the first countries to reject aid because of the Bush administration?s policy of linking foreign aid to policies favored by the religious right.

(By Ustina Markus in Washington, DC)

Government tested anti-HIV drugs on foster kids

Government-funded researchers tested anti-HIV drugs on hundreds of foster children over the past two decades, often without providing them a basic protection afforded in federal law and required by some states, an Associated Press review has found. The research, funded by the National Institutes of Health, spanned the country. It was most widespread in the 1990s as foster care agencies sought treatments for their HIV-infected children that weren't yet available in the marketplace. The practice ensured that foster children--mostly poor or minority--received care from world-class researchers at government expense, slowing their rate of death and extending their lives. But it also exposed a vulnerable population to the risks of medical research and drugs that were known to have serious side effects in adults and for which the safety for children was unknown.

The research was conducted in at least seven states--Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Colorado, and Texas--and involved more than four dozen different studies. The foster children ranged from infants to late teens, according to interviews and government records. Several studies that enlisted foster children reported that patients suffered side effects such as rashes, vomiting, and sharp drops in infection-fighting blood cells as they tested antiretroviral drugs to suppress HIV or other medicines to treat secondary infections. In one study, researchers reported a "disturbing" higher death rate among children who took higher doses of a drug. That study was unable to determine a safe and effective dosage.

The government provided special protections for child wards in 1983. They required researchers and their oversight boards to appoint independent advocates for any foster child enrolled in a narrow class of studies that involved greater than minimal risk and lacked the promise of direct benefit. Some foster agencies required the protection regardless of risks and benefits. Advocates must be independent of the foster care and research agencies, have some understanding of medical issues, and "act in the best interests of the child" for the entirety of the research, the law states. However, researchers and foster agencies told the Associated Press that foster children in anti-HIV drug trials often weren't given such advocates even though research institutions many times promised to do so to gain access to the children.

Illinois officials believe none of their nearly 200 foster children in antiretroviral studies got independent monitors even though researchers signed a document guaranteeing "the appointment of an advocate for each individual ward participating in the respective medical research." New York City could find records showing 142--less than a third--of the 465 foster children in anti-HIV drug trials got such monitors even though city policy required them. The city has asked an outside firm to investigate. Likewise, research facilities including Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore said they concluded they didn't provide advocates for foster kids.

Some states declined to participate in medical experiments. Tennessee said its foster care rules generally prohibit enlisting children in such trials. California requires a judge's order. And Wisconsin "has absolutely never allowed, nor would we even consider, any clinical experiments with the children in our foster care system," spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis said.

Officials estimated that 5% to 10% of the 13,878 children enrolled in pediatric AIDS studies funded by NIH since the late 1980s were in foster care. More than two dozen Illinois foster children remain in studies today. Some foster children died during studies, but state or city agencies said they could find no records that any deaths were directly caused by experimental treatments.

Researchers typically secured permission to enroll foster children through city or state agencies. And they frequently exempted themselves from appointing advocates by concluding that the research carried minimal risk and the child would directly benefit because the drugs had already been tried in adults. "Our position is that advocates weren't needed," said Marilyn Castaldi, spokeswoman for Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York.

If they decline to appoint advocates under the federal law, researchers and their oversight boards must conclude that the experimental treatment affords the same or better risk-benefit possibilities than alternate treatments already in the marketplace. They also must abide by any additional protections required by state and local authorities.

Many of the studies that enrolled foster children occurred after 1990 when the government approved using the drug AZT--an effective anti-HIV treatment--for children. Many studies that enlisted foster children involved early Phase I and Phase II research--the riskiest--to determine side effects and safe dosages so children could begin taking adult "cocktails," the powerful drug combinations that suppress HIV but can cause bad reactions like rashes and organ damage. Some of those drugs were approved ultimately for children, such as AZT and Zerit. Other medicines were not.

Arthur Caplan, head of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania, said advocates should have been appointed for all foster children because researchers felt the pressure of a medical crisis and knew there was great uncertainty as to how children would react to AIDS medications that were often toxic for adults. "It is exactly that set of circumstances that made it absolutely mandatory to get those kids those advocates," Caplan said. "It is inexcusable that they wouldn't have an advocate for each one of those children. When you have the most vulnerable subjects imaginable--kids without parents--you really do have to come in with someone independent, who doesn't have a dog in this fight." (AP)

LifeStyles Condoms Protecting New York City

RED BANK, N.J., May 3 /PRNewswire/ -- When Scott Kellerman, recently appointed by New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg as Assistant Commissioner for the Bureau of HIV/AIDS Services (NYC Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene) said recently in the New York Post, "We need to cover this city in latex" ... it was no surprise that Ansell Healthcare was able and willing to meet the challenge.

Building off an almost 30 year history in the Public Health Sector to help promote safer sex, Ansell Healthcare was well positioned to assist Scott Kellerman and the city of New York in their renewed efforts to educate the citizens on the importance of protection against sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

Ansell Healthcare has today donated 100,000 LifeStyles® condoms and these will soon be made available to the public in participating shops, restaurants and bars in New York City as the corner stone of the "I Know" campaign to renew awareness of the HIV/AIDS battle amongst the city's youth. This is the largest donation of condoms to the city of New York for a HIV prevention campaign.

"If you have sex, using a condom is the most effective way to stop transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases," says DOHMH Assistant Commissioner Scott Kellerman, MD, MPH. "It's critically important to get back to the basics: Use a condom during sexual intercourse, and know your status - get tested for HIV. Taking these simple steps can help us win the war on HIV and AIDS."

Says Paula Etchison, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, Ansell Healthcare, "We want people to feel good but still be responsible. This initiative is a natural fit when you consider that we were the first condom company to establish a division to meet the needs of the public health sector."

LifeStyles® currently has 70% of the U.S. Public Sector healthcare market. In February 2005, Ansell Healthcare was also awarded a contract to provide LifeStyles® condoms to approved New York City agencies for the next 3 years.

"Our relationship with the Public Health Sector is invaluable as we learn from the feed back we receive from health care providers. We're proud of that partnership and our efforts were rewarded when Consumer Reports (February 2005) rated LifeStyles® condoms very highly," Ms. Etchison said.

In 2005, Ansell Healthcare celebrates its 100 year anniversary as a Global leader in healthcare barrier protection products with operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia. The LifeStyles branded condom is well recognized and sold in 31 countries. Information on LifeStyles® condoms can be found at http://www.condomdepot.com.

One in eight having sex by age of 14, report says

LORRAYNE ANTHONY, CP 2005-05-04 02:48:04


TORONTO -- While the average age for losing virginity was 16 1/2 for both sexes, 12 per cent of boys and 13 per cent of girls surveyed have had sexual relations by the age of 14 or 15, Statistics Canada said yesterday.

And despite a decades-old education push, many young people still shy away from using condoms. Just under four in 10 sexually-active 15- to 24-year-olds didn't use a condom the last time they had sex, a study suggests.

Those who reported having sex with only one person in the past year were less likely to report having used a condom.

"We're not getting through with the condom message," said Jane Wilde, nurse, educator and clinic supervisor at Options for Sexual Health in Prince Rupert, B.C.

She wasn't surprised by the government findings, as they reflect much of what she sees at the clinic.

"Our teen pregnancy rates are dropping but not our STD rates."

Tim Lawrence, an 18-year-old Sir Wilfrid Laurier University student, said the only reason teens think about using condoms is to prevent pregnancy.

"It's kind of assumed that everyone is inexperienced so if they haven't had sex before, or only had sex with one person, then chances are they haven't been connected to an STD," he said, adding that at university, free condoms are readily available but when you are in high school, they must be purchased.

"They're not exactly cheap and if you are active for a whole year, that's a lot of money," he said, noting that condoms are almost always thought of as the guy's responsibility.

Four per cent of the 15- to 24-year-olds reported having been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease and twice as many females as males reported being diagnosed with an STD.

Females were more likely than males to have intercourse without a condom, and the odds of females not using condoms were higher for females who started having sex earlier in their teens, the study found.

Almost 60 per cent of those who started having sex by the age of 13 reported not using a condom the last time they had sex.

This compares with 46 per cent of females who began having sex at ages 14-17 and 37 per cent of those who started having sex at ages 20-24.

Young adolescents -- those aged 14 and 15 -- in the eastern provinces (15 per cent) and Quebec (18 per cent) were more likely to have had sexual intercourse than those in Ontario and the western provinces (10 per cent), the study found.

The study on early sexual intercourse was based on data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, which looked at 3,212 youths aged 14 or 15 in 1998-2001.



Copyright © The London Free Press

Researchers Work on Anti-HIV Contraceptive

The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 3, 2005; 10:34 AM

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Eastern Virginia Medical School has received $24 million to finish testing a new contraceptive gel that also fights HIV infection.

The third phase of clinical trials _ the last stage before possible Food and Drug Administration approval _ will be conducted in India and the African countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Uganda and the Republic of South Africa.

Half of the funding came from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the other half from the U.S. Agency for International Development, which already is paying for final trials in Nigeria.

The vaginal microbiocide gel, Ushercell, is manufactured by Polydex Pharmaceuticals Limited, a publicly traded Canadian company.

If the gel works and is safe, it could protect millions of women from HIV infection and death from AIDS, said Henry Gabelnick, director of the EVMS contraceptive research program.

"Condoms are the best, but a lot of couples don't use them regularly," Gabelnick said Monday. "Sometimes, women can't negotiate with their men to use the condoms."

Women could easily use the gel with a condom or without one and without their partner knowing about it, Gabelnick said.

Researchers hope the gel will cut HIV infection rates in half among the women that use it in the trials.

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Information from: Daily Press