We know her for her courageous decision to go public about her positive HIV status and to become a role model for young adults. But Marvelyn Brown wasn't always a leader. In this issue she shares about her journey from low self-esteem to become one of the most visible leaders of the Black AIDS movement.

People like Marvelyn play a very important role in helping to end the stigma associated with HIV by sharing our positive status with our friends and our families as well as by becoming leaders in our communities. AIDS.gov has released a series of videos in which people who have benefited from Ryan White funding talk about their experiences in hopes that they can empower other PLWHA talk about their lives.

Stigma will also play a major role in determining the success of San Francisco's groundbreaking initiative to treat MSM with antiretroviral meds immediately after they are diagnosed. We run a story from our friends at NAPWA examining whether the nation should follow San Francisco's example and "test and treat" people who already have HIV while using PrEP to help others at risk avoid becoming infected.  In a separate article NAPWA's Stephen Bailous explores the potential that therapeutic vaccines and other immune-based therapies may soon offer those of us living with the virus.

Also read about the Obama administration's latest step toward reducing racial inequities in health care and how hundreds of thousands of young adults have already signed on to their parent's insurance policies, a possibility that now exists because of the Affordable Care Act.

Yours in the struggle,

Phill

I stood in the huddle during a time-out of a vicious basketball battle against a rival high school as the coach told us that the game-winning shot should go to our team captain. Once the time-out was over, I in-bounded the ball to her. Our captain was heavily guarded yet ran the play. When she realized that I was wide open and had the better shot, she passed the ball back to me. As the clock wound down, I looked at the basket, then I passed the ball right back to her. Before she caught my pass, the clock ran out. They won. I'd blown the game. More>>  

Dear Colleague:

We urge you to join us in sending the attached letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations requesting $610 million for the Minority AIDS Initiative in fiscal year 2012. More>> 

The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program is the largest Federal program devoted to a single disease. Every year more than half a million people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States receive treatment. That is the foundation from which our Program is built. The involvement of the HIV/AIDS community continues to be central to our success over the last twenty-plus years of our Program's history.  More>>  

April 29, 2011- To mark International Workers' Day 2011, the International AIDS Society (IAS) is calling on the global AIDS community to recognize the potential of the organization's 16, 000 plus members, over a third of whom work as health care and social services providers on the frontlines of the HIV epidemic, to be included and consulted in the current efforts to improve aid effectiveness and efficiency in the HIV sector. More>> 

During the month of April -- Minority Health Month -- the Obama administration took significant steps to build momentum for efforts to eliminate racial and ethnic health inequities. But with this momentum the stakes have become higher than ever, just as fiscal and political pressures mount that could undermine progress. More>>   

Immediate treatment for all of us PLWHA?

Another National HIV Testing Day, June 27, is just around the corner! Another is a bittersweet word. We're still here, but so is the HIV epidemic, after thirty years. But at least advances in treatment are changing the terms of HIV policy debate. More>> 

Hundreds of thousands of young adults are taking advantage of the health care law

provision that allows people under 26 to remain on their parents' health plans, some of the nation's largest insurers are reporting. That pace appears to be faster than the government expected. 

More>> 

A cross-section of articles we've read this week about HIV/AIDS  

and other sexual and reproductive health issues affecting the  

Black community.

30th Anniversary of AIDS

AIDS @ 30: Rae Lewis-Thornton: Talking with an AIDS diva

Rae Lewis-Thornton calls herself a "diva living with AIDS."  

However, she is not the typical self-absorbed individual making  

constant demands-unless a person counts the ones she makes on  

herself. More>> 

Smithsonian Commemorates 30 Years of AIDS 

Beginning June 3,  The Smithsonian National Museum of American  

History in  Washington, DC, will commemorate 30 years of AIDS  

with a three-part display and accompanying website, according to a  

Smithsonian Institution statement.More>> 

Prevention

Emergency Departments Should Be Aware of Sexually Transmitted Infection Risk in Patients: One-Quarter of Symptomatic Adolescent  Females  

Tested Positive for an STI  

ScienceDaily (Apr. 30, 2011) - All adolescent females who show up in

the emergency department (ED) complaining primarily of lower  

abdominal pain and/or urinary or genital symptoms should be tested  for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), according to the authors of  a study presented on April 30 at the Pediatric Academic Societies  

(PAS) annual meeting in Denver. More>> 

Only Five States Still Have Laws Impeding Routine  

HIV Testing

Most states have eliminated barriers to routine HIV testing and now

have laws in accordance with the recommendations made by the  

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2006, MedPage

Today reports. According to a research letter in the May 4 issue of the  

Journal of the American Medical Association, only Maine, New York,

Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island have laws that pose barriers to routine HIV testing, such as requiring consent and counseling. More>> 

Removing barriers to HIV testing

Last week, the Pennsylvania Senate brought the state a step closer to a much-needed modernization of HIV testing.

The Senate passed a bill to amend Act 148, which requires individuals  

to give written informed consent before they can be tested for HIV.  

Adopted more than 20 years ago, the law was designed to protect  

patients' rights and privacy in an era when HIV-related discrimination was more common and effective treatment was not available. Today, however, this outdated  

law is hampering efforts to address AIDS in Philadelphia and  

elsewhere. More>>

Treatment

Online 'cures' targeted by US

The United States government has declared war on a host of products, mostly promoted online, that promise to cure HIV, herpes, chlamydia and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). More>>

Porn star health clinic closes

A health clinic that catered to porn stars in the San Fernando Valley  

has closed following a series of recent controversies, including  

complaints from an HIV-infected actor that he received inadequate

care. More>> 

Vaccines

Insight Into HIV Immunity May Lead to Vaccine

ScienceDaily (May 6, 2011) - Latest insights into immunity to HIV could help to develop a vaccine to build antibodies' defences against the disease, a University of Melbourne study has found.  By investigating the action of the human antibodies called ADCC, in people with HIV, researchers were able to identify that the virus evolves to evade or 'escape' the antibodies. More>> 

Miscellaneous

Nearly 1 in 10 People in NYC Jails Are HIV Positive 

Up to 9 percent of New York City jail entrants are HIV positive and almost 30 percent of them go undiagnosed, according a study published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS). More>> 

Under the Influence: How the Group Changes What We Think

These are examples of how individuals' behavior is shaped by what people around them consider appropriate, correct or desirable. Researchers are investigating how human behavioral norms are established in groups and how they evolve over time, in hopes of learning how to exert more influence when it comes to promoting health, marketing products or reducing prejudice. More>> 

Young Black MSM Equate Masculinity With Lower HIV Risk 

The high rates of HIV among young black men who have sex with men (MSM) might be linked to how they select partners and judge their HIV status, according to a Johns Hopkins Children's Center statement. More>>