Tag Archives: HIV/AIDS

The Hill reports: Demonstrators gathered Thursday on the steps of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for a “die-in” over proposed funding cuts at the agency that could devastate programs addressing LGBTQ health disparities. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has sought to radically reshape HHS and its approach to health care, including through funding cuts to programs …

Politico reports: The federal teams that count public health problems are disappearing — putting efforts to solve those problems in jeopardy. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s purge of tens of thousands of federal workers has halted efforts to collect data on everything from cancer rates in firefighters to mother-to-baby transmission of HIV and syphilis to outbreaks of drug-resistant gonorrhea …

CBS News reports: The entire staff of the federal government’s Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy is expected to be laid off, multiple federal health officials told CBS News Friday. The moves are part of a broader restructuring plan ordered by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that involves cutting 20,000 HHS positions. Much of the …

NBC News reports: The Trump administration is considering a plan to eliminate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s division focused on HIV prevention and potentially move its responsibilities over to another department within the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a source familiar with the plan. HIV prevention advocates — who began hearing rumors of the possible …

The New York Times reports: Starting Wednesday afternoon, a wave of emails went out from the State Department in Washington around the world, landing in inboxes for refugee camps, tuberculosis clinics, polio vaccination projects and thousands of other organizations that received crucial funding for lifesaving work. “This award is being terminated for convenience and the interest of the U.S. government,” …

Reuters reports: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has dismissed concerns that Washington is ending foreign aid, saying waivers had been provided to life-saving aid. Only weeks later, the administration decided to terminate more than 90% of the programs globally, according to a February 25 court document, including many that were initially covered by waivers such as work tackling HIV …

The New York Times reports: Two weeks into President Trump’s sweeping freeze on foreign aid, H.I.V. groups abroad have not received any funding, jeopardizing the health of more than 20 million people, including 500,000 children. With the near closure of the American aid agency known as U.S.A.I.D. and its recall of officers posted abroad, there is little hope that the …

NBC News reports: The CDC on Friday is scrubbing a swath of HIV-related content from the agency’s website as a part of President Donald Trump’s broader effort to wipe out diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the federal government. CDC employees were told in a Jan 29. email from Charles Ezell, the acting director of the U.S. office of personnel …

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration has instructed organizations in other countries to stop disbursing H.I.V. medications purchased with U.S. aid, even if the drugs have already been obtained and are sitting in local clinics. The directive is part of a broader freeze on foreign aid initiated last week. It includes the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, …

Science.org reports: Despite decades of progress, HIV still infects more than 1 million people a year, and a vaccine remains stubbornly out of reach. But this year the world got a glimpse of what might be the next best thing: an injectable drug that protects people for 6 months with each shot. A large efficacy trial in African adolescent girls …

ABOVE: At the 1985 Xmas party described below: Me, Michael, and Barney. Originally posted May 2004. Reposted for World AIDS Day. Membership Michael didn’t look good. We were at his annual Christmas luau party. Tons and tons of people in the house and the backyard. Standing in his kitchen, wearing a grass skirt and a ridiculous Santa hat covered in …

ABC News reports: President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will mark World AIDS Day on Sunday by debuting the AIDS Memorial Quilt at the White House. It will be displayed on the South Lawn as the Bidens commemorate the day with survivors, their families and advocates. The White House said in statement that the Biden administration has made …

Gentle readers, today is Madonna’s 66th birthday. Below is a short story that first appeared on JMG on this day in 2006, a date which, as you’ll see, plays a role in the story. Ricky Loved Madonna Twenty years ago today, August 16th 1986, I was a few months into a new job with AMC Theatres, a position that I …

CNN reports: Two shots a year of a drug currently used to treat HIV infections were dramatically effective at preventing infections in a study among young women and adolescent girls in Africa. The twice-yearly injection of the drug lenacapavir can provide total protection against HIV infections, demonstrating 100% efficacy in Phase 3 trial data released by drugmaker Gilead and published …

The BBC reports: The boss of Iceland [supermarket chain] has been forced to apologise and retract a claim that three staff contracted HIV as a result of needle attacks. Richard Walker said he made comments in “error” in a “draft article” about threats of violence against store workers by shoplifters for Mail Online. Politicians and charities had called for him …

The San Francisco Chronicle reports: When San Francisco’s AIDS Legal Referral Panel was founded 40 years ago by a loose collective of gay attorneys desperate to help ill friends and loved ones, the vast majority of their work was crafting wills for young men, in some cases days before they died. Bill Hirsh, executive director of the nonprofit agency for …

The Daily Beast reports: A group of seven activists were arrested for unlawful entry on Monday morning after storming House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s office to demand the passage of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, Capitol Police confirmed to The Daily Beast. The activists—which Health Global Access Project and Housing Works confirmed on Twitter belonged to their groups—chanted “pass …

Gentle readers, today is Madonna’s 65th birthday. Below is a short story that first appeared on JMG on this day in 2006, a date which, as you’ll see, plays a role in the story. Ricky Loved Madonna Twenty years ago today, August 16th 1986, I was a few months into a new job with AMC Theatres, a position that I …

Axios reports: More gay and bisexual men will be able to donate blood beginning Monday as the Red Cross starts implementing a historic rule change approved by federal authorities earlier this year. It helps close the chapter on the Food and Drug Administration’s blood donor restrictions for men who have sex with men, which had been denounced as discriminatory by …

Courthouse News reports: Pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences triumphed over consumers Friday in a closely watched, yearslong class action that claimed the company deliberately manipulated the market in order to profit off of its highly-priced HIV treatment drugs. Closing arguments in a six-week trial wrapped Wednesday, leaving a federal jury to consider weeks of evidence regarding the pharmaceutical giant’s conduct and …