Email - Fenway e-News: Fenway & AMA highlight LGBT health issues

From Our President

March 10 is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, a nationwide observance that encourages people to take action in the fight against HIV/AIDS and raise awareness of its impact on women and girls. It is coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women's Health (OWH).

According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 290,000 women in the United States are living with HIV. While men account for most HIV/AIDS cases, the impact on women and girls with HIV/AIDS is no less severe. Today, women account for more than 1 in 4 new HIV/AIDS cases in the United States. Of these newly infected women, about 2 in 3 are African-American. In addition, research shows that women face larger gaps in access to services and care than men face. Read more.

Policy Focus: PrEP could be a “game changer” in fight against HIV
The Fenway Institute has issued a Policy Focus document making the case for implementing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention. PrEP has demonstrated partial efficacy with men who have sex with men and heterosexuals in several recent studies. Recent modeling of PrEP implementation coupled with scaled up treatment predicts that PrEP could significantly reduce HIV incidence and prevalence.

The Policy Focus summarizes the state of PrEP and microbicides research as of January 2012, looks at willingness to use PrEP among various populations, addresses concerns about PrEP that could present obstacles to implementation, offers strategies for effective implementation, and examines policy issues related to cost and how to make PrEP accessible to those most vulnerable to HIV. Read more.

The Fenway Institute’s Dr. Harvey Makadon teams up with the AMA to highlight LGBT health care issues

Sponsored by the American Medical Association (AMA) and The Fenway Institute, Meeting the Health Care Needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) People is a comprehensive presentation on LGBT health care in America. This online resource is filled with information on caring for LGBT patients, the national LGBT health care landscape, and the future of LGBT health care. Harvey J. Makadon, MD, Director, of the National LGBT Health Education Center at The Fenway Institute, presents. The presentation is hosted online by the AMA and can be viewed here.

HRSA Care Action puts the focus on transgender health

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) publishes a monthly newsletter titled Care Action. The December 2011 Care Action focused exclusively on transgender health, a first. The publication discusses health issues like HIV/AIDS and depression, systemic barriers to care, and cultural and clinical competency. Since Care Action is so widely read by medical and public health professionals, this focus on transgender health brings much-needed visibility to issues that affect the health of transgender people and the care they receive. A PDF is available here.

HIV and MSM abroad: The Fenway Institute’s work in Malawi

In December of 2011, staff from The Fenway Institute collaborated with Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and the Centre for the Development for People to train Health Care Workers and Peer Educators in Malawi on working with men who have sex with men and preventing HIV in this vulnerable population. Fenway Health’s Medical Director of Behavioral Health, Kevin Kapila, wrote about his experience for our Fenway Focus blog. Read more.

Former Fenway Board member named Employment Lawyer of the Year
Lisa J. Damon , Chair of Seyfarth Shaw’s national Labor & Employment Department, has been selected by global legal directory publisher Chambers & Partners as Employment Lawyer of the Year at the inaugural Chambers USA Women in Law Awards. Damon is a longtime Fenway supporter and former member of our Board of Directors.

The awards, which honor outstanding female professionals in the U.S. legal community, were presented on February 2 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Congratulations, Lisa!

PHILANTHROPY CORNER

Get your Women’s Dinner Party tickets before they sell out

The Women’s Dinner Party is just a few short weeks away and tickets are selling like hotcakes. Get yours now before we sell out! You don’t want to miss out on all the fun. Kate Clinton is sure to entertain as emcee and this year, we’re honoring Urvashi Vaid with the Dr. Susan M. Love Award. Following the dinner program, DJ Mocha will get the room hopping as she spins everything from current dance hits to R&B classics to world rhythms. There will also be amazing items to bid on in our live and silent auctions – check out a preview here.

Long story short, this is not an event you want to miss, so get your tickets now!

THANK YOU to everyone who helped make The Men's Event a success!

Congressman Barney Frank accepts the Congressman Gerry E. Studds Award at Fenway's Health's Men's Event March 3 at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. From left to right: Dean Hara, Congressman Studds widower; Congresswoman Niki Tsongas; Congressman Barney Frank; Stewart B. Clifford, Jr., Chair of Fenway's Board of Directors; Dr. Stephen L. Boswell, President & CEO of Fenway Health; and our 2012 Men's Event Co-Chairs David Zimmerman, publisher of Boston Spirit Magazine; Jeff Dugan, partner in Shack Foods of America, the parent company of Summer Shack; and Scott Kearnan, editorial director at Stuff Magazine. (Photo: Marilyn Humphries)

THANK YOU to all of our Table Captains and Event Team, our corporate sponsors, Congressman Barney Frank, Kate Clinton, Booty Vortex, KISS 108’s Gay Jim, and the more than 1,300 gay and bisexual men, transgender people, friends, supporters and volunteers who attended the 2012 Men’s Event for helping to make the event such a huge success. And a special thanks goes out to Event Chairs Jeff Dugan, Scott Kearnan and David Zimmerman, whose hard work made the night possible. With your help, we exceeded the goal of our challenge and raised more than $225,000 at the event to support life-saving services and programs for LGBT people and all together, we raised over $600,000 in cash, pledges and in-kind support for Fenway Health.

You can view online news coverage of the event on Boston.com, The Boston Herald and The Rainbow Times. Men's Event photographer Marilyn Humphries has posted a Flickr photo show here and you can purchase her high resolution photos from the event here. You can also view a slideshow of photos submitted by Men's Event attendees here and a timeline of tweets about the event here. Local blogger Bosguy has posted a great video of the event on his blog.

A note from one of our sponsors

A center-of-choice in the LGBTQ community, the Reproductive Science Center of New England has been helping same-sex couples become parents since 1989, and now trans couples as well.

MARCH 2012
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