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China AIDS Solidarity Network Calls for Release of 23-year-old Activist
Ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1, a group of activists at the China AIDS Solidarity Network are calling for the immediate release of Tian Xi, an AIDS activist detained in China since August for his ongoing efforts to petition officials to compensate him and tens of thousands of others infected with HIV through the contaminated national blood supply.
Untold numbers of Chinese were infected with HIV through blood transfusions in the 1990s. While many nations experienced similar outbreaks of HIV in the blood supply early in the epidemic, China is the only one that has refused to create a compensation program.
“Tian Xi … has shown a greater sense of responsibility for the Chinese blood …
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 1:30 pm
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Have a Problem with HASA? Send Us Your Concerns
Got a problem with the HIV/AIDS Services Administration?
Does your case manager never visit? Has the agency failed to pay your rent? Have your benefits been cut off without reason?
Tell us!
In October, Housing Works launched a campaign aimed at the HIV/AIDS Services Administration, demanding that the agency do a better job servings its clients. 45,000 New Yorkers depend on HASA for access to critical housing, nutrition and other benefits.
The great news is that HASA’s new Deputy Commissioner Jacqueline Dudley responded immediately by offering to meet with HASA clients to hear their grievances. That meeting will happen in December.
But before clients sit down for the face-to-face, we need to create a definitive …
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 1:05 pm
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Behind the STD Cell Phone Chip: Will It Detect HIV?
British scientists announced this week that they’re developing a cell phone chip that could test for sexually transmitted diseases, including herpes, chlamydia and gonorrhea.
If all goes according to plan, users will be able to drop urine or saliva on a microchip, insert the piece into their cell phones and receive a diagnosis in minutes. The new device could revolutionize testing for the above diseases, knocking down barriers to testing and helping to lower the UK’s startlingly high rates of STD infections among young people.
What the Guardian, the Daily News and the New York Observer haven’t reported, however, is that the device could also be used to diagnose HIV.
Testing for HIV via cell phone would raise …
Posted on November 10, 2010 at 11:53 pm
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Video: Police Arrest CEO Charles King, Sen. Tom Duane and Others in Protest Targeting Paterson
Calling on Gov. David Paterson to pass a critical AIDS housing bill before he leaves office, 18 New York AIDS activists sat down on Broadway today, blocking traffic at Barclay Avenue and refusing to move before police arrested them and hauled them away.
Among the 18 arrested were Housing Works CEO and President Charles King; New York State Senator Tom Duane; and two other Housing Works employees. The arrests took place after a rowdy 300-person rally at City Hall Park hosted by a coalition of AIDS organizations, including VOCAL/NYCAHN, Citiwide Harm Reduction, Bailey House, Harlem United, Housing Works and Praxis Housing Initiatives.
All are demanding that Paterson work with the legislature to enact the 30 percent rent cap bill …
Posted on November 9, 2010 at 6:33 pm
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With Republicans Charging In, What Will Happen to AIDS Funding?
A Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives could devastate AIDS funding both at home and abroad, says an analysis released yesterday by the research foundation amfAR.
If House Republicans follow through on their plan to return non-security-related government spending to 2008 levels—something outlined by House Minority leader John Boehner (R-OH) and announced in the Pledge for America —they would slash overall discretionary HIV/AIDS spending by 9.6 percent.
How would that play out?
At home, cuts would seriously undermine the country’s new and much-touted National HIV/AIDS Strategy, which aims to reduce new HIV infections by 25 percent by 2014. If all goes according to the Republican plan, funding for prevention would receive an 8 percent cut, as would money dedicated …
Posted on November 9, 2010 at 6:30 pm
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On Eve of Protest, 30 Percent Rent Cap Hangs in Balance
Gov. David Paterson announced yesterday that he plans to postpone a special legislative session planned for Nov. 15. That means AIDS advocates will have to wait several additional weeks to see if the 30 percent rent cap bill will pass before Paterson hands the reigns to Andrew Cuomo in 2011.
Tomorrow, a coalition of organizations are staging a protest at City Hall Park at 11 a.m., where we’ll be shaming Paterson into ensuring the bill’s passage before he leaves office.
Once the legislature does come together (and Paterson is adamant that they will meet before Dec. 31), there are two options for passing the 30 percent rent cap bill in 2010.
First, the legislature could override Paterson’s veto, something that would …
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 6:32 pm
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U.N. Report on Sex Workers Blasts U.S. Policies
At the United Nations in Geneva this morning, advocates for sex worker rights lambasted the U.S. for criminalizing sex work, which they say has led to human and civil rights abuses across the U.S.
According to a report presented by three sex worker rights groups, a host of U.S. laws infringe on the rights of individuals who engage in sex work. The report recommends—among many reforms—that the U.S. amend policies that prevent sex workers from receiving student loans and public housing; and that the U.S. end the practice of using possession of condoms as evidence of a crime (which happens in New York).
The report also recommends that the U.S. repeal laws requiring those arrested for sex work to register as sex offenders …
Posted on November 7, 2010 at 7:12 pm
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After Five-Day Silence, Haiti Reports 40 Percent Increase in Cholera Cases
The number of reported cholera deaths in Haiti has hit 442, the Haitian health ministry announced late Wednesday, and the number of cases has surged to 6,742, a more than 40 percent increase since Friday.
The news ends a five-day silence from Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health and Population, which had stopped issuing its daily reports on cholera cases and deaths.
The ministry attributed its silence to public holidays on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2. But several on the ground mentioned yesterday that the ministry’s reluctance to release information could be linked to the government’s unwillingness to expose the depth of the problem in the days leading up to the Nov. 28 presidential contest.
“There’s a tremendous correlation on how the …
Posted on November 3, 2010 at 8:05 pm
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