Connections: Sexual Health, Society, and HIV

The XIX International AIDS conference was recently held in Washington, D.C. It had been 22 years since the International AIDS conference was held in the United States (mainly due to the unwillingness on the part of the United States to grant visas for HIV-infected individuals–only recently lifted).

Here 25,000 scientists, policy makers, health and education ministry officials, advocates, and activists from around the world were gathered with a renewed determination to stem the tide of this epidemic.  Medical advances, improved access to care, prevention initiatives, and revived determination were all good signs, but as a global culture we will need to shift our perspective to stop the spread of HIV.

Turning the Tide on HIV

Reports of dramatic decline in sexual risks among black youth is certainly news that brings cheer and deserves universal appreciation. The advances made by a community that has been disproportionately affected by the scourge of HIV/AIDS are certainly encouraging. The data covering 1991 to 2011 was presented by Dr Laura Kann, Ph.D., Chief, Surveillance and Evaluation Research Branch, Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at the XIX International AIDS Conference held on July 25, 2012, at Washington, D.C.

Read ASHA’s HIV Testing Day press release.

The American Social Health Association (ASHA) joins other public health organizations in recognizing June 27^th as National HIV Testing Day.

June 27th is National HIV Testing Day

Picture yourself reading newspaper articles and reports in the early 1980s about the discovery of AIDS - a term used for the first time to describe sudden cases of sarcoma or pneumonia infection in healthy people. AIDS was a tragedy of unknown proportions unfolding in all parts of the world, baffling the medical community and its innocent victims.