National Minority AIDS Council Building Healthier Communities

NMAC honors its 20th anniversary with a number of events, including an Open House at the agency's headquarters, in Washington, DC, in March. The agency experiences several notable successes on Capitol Hill, including codification of the Minority AIDS Initiative in the reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act.

The agency is actively involved in assisting in raising awareness of the current HIV/AIDS crisis in Puerto Rico and releases a probing analysis of the situation entitled, Monograph on the HIV/AIDS Crisis in Puerto Rico.

 

The 2007 HPLS is held May 20-23 in New Orleans, LA.

 

A new report on the changes in the Ryan White CARE Act entitled, The Minority AIDS Initiative: Meeting the Challenges in Communities of Color Nationwide, is released.

 

USCA convenes in Palm Springs, CA with the larges attendance yet. Pictures from the conference, plenaries and special events can be seen here. The theme is One Family, One Voice, One Spirit, and jazz singer Nancy Wilson headlines a special kickoff event honoring NMAC's 20 years of service. View clips of this special performance here.

 

Several companies seem close to successfully producing the first HIV/AIDS vaccine, over two decades after former HHS Secretary, Margaret Heckler, announced that an AIDS vaccine would be available in two years. Particularly exciting is the vaccine prototype created by GeoVax, which provides long-term protection against the development of AIDS in non-human primates.

 

Congress passes Congresswoman Waters' Stop AIDS in Prisons Act, which calls for the testing of all federal prison inmates for HIV upon entering prison and again prior to release. Prisoners are giving the option to refuse testing.

 

Dr. Edward Brandt, Jr. who headed the U.S. federal government's first response to the AIDS epidemic in 1981, dies.

 

Research reveals a link between HIV disease progress and alcoholic intake.

 

Sheryl Lee Ralph, NMAC's spokesperson, continues to capture headlines with her one-woman show, Sometimes I Cry: The Loves, Lives and Losses of Women Infected and Affected by HIV/AIDS.

 

New Research reveals that the hepatitis B drug, entecavirm spurs resistance to HIV drugs in patients co-infected with hepatitis B and HIV.

 

A National Family Health Survey (FHS) reveals that 43% of women in India - one of the countries hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic - have never heard of AIDS.

 

Medically supervised circumcision is found to reduce the spread of HIV among men, which offers hope in heavily impacted African countries.

 

The (RED) campaign, founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver, is launched to support The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

 

Since the start of the AIDS epidemic in 1981, nearly 500,000 people have died of AIDS in the United States. Over 25 million people have died of AIDS worldwide. Today, an estimated 39.5 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. In 2006 alone, 4.3 million new HIV infections occurred. In the U.S, nearly 1.2 million people are thought to be living with HIV, many of whom are unaware of their status.

 

There are approximately 40,000 new HIV cases reported to the CDC each year. Though many of these cases are found among white gay men, over 70% occur in communities of color. African Americans and Latinos together represent only a quarter of the U.S., population, they bear over 50% and 20% of the HIV burden in this country, respectively. Sharp rises in incidence rates also have been observed among Asians and Pacific Islanders and Native Americans/Alaskan Natives.

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