July 27, 2012
Read this message online

Ken Mayer

Rodney VanDerwarker

LOOKING TOWARDS A WORLD FREE OF HOMOPHOBIA AND HIV/AIDS

It has been a productive and enriching week here at the XIX International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC.  We’ve had the opportunity to connect with colleagues from around the world and renew our commitment to ending HIV with new hope in sight thanks to biomedical prevention technologies now available. While we embrace this newfound optimism, we can’t ignore the challenges that remain, especially right here in our own country where we are seeing disproportionate numbers of new infections in specific communities, especially Black gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women.

We also need to be mindful of the fact that many countries around the world have created structural barriers to addressing the health of MSM and LGBT people generally and work to address these issues. Successfully addressing the global HIV/AIDS pandemic will require the expansion of civil rights; strategies to decrease stigma; training health care work forces to provide culturally competent care; and integration of biomedical prevention with effective behavioral interventions that promote testing, engagement in care, medication adherence, and increases in safer sex practices. As Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said last December, LGBT rights are human rights and we must continue to work towards civil rights and equality globally if we are to rid our communities of HIV.

Sincerely,

Kenneth H. Mayer, MD
Director of Medical Research and Co-Chair of The Fenway Institute

Rodney VanDerwarker, MPH
Administrative Director of The Fenway Institute and Vice President, Fenway Health

FENWAY FOCUS INTERNATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCE COVERAGE

There has been a lot happening this week here in Washington, and we've been busy updating the AIDS 2012 section of our Fenway Focus blog.  You can read about the starting rates of HIV infection in Black men who have sex with men (MSM) found by the HPTN 061 study, and see recaps of our live tweets from The Turning the Tide Together Plenary session, The Lancet symposia series on MSM and HIV, and more. You'll also find links to important content online, as well as media coverage from the conference.  

• AIDS 2012 Recap: Health Sector Partnerships: Creating Local Clinical Service Networks for MSM in Diverse Global Settings (July 27, 2012)
• Addressing High-Risk Behavior In HIV-Positive MSM (July 26, 2012)
• Cause for Caution and Optimism at AIDS 2012 (July 26, 2012)
• AIDS 2012 Recap: Advances In HIV Research And Funding (July 25, 2012)
• AIDS 2012 Recap: The Lancet Symposia Series On MSM And HIV (July 25, 2012)
• Fenway Abstracts At The International AIDS Conference (July 24, 2012)
• AIDS 2012 Recap: Health Disparities And The U.S. MSM Epidemic (July 23, 2012)
• AIDS 2012 Recap: Turning The Tide Together Plenary Session (July 23, 2012)
• New Study Finds Greatly Elevated HIV Infection Rates Among Young Black Gay and Bisexual Men in the U.S. (July 23, 2012)
• AIDS 2012 Satellite Recap: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention (July 23, 2012)
• Homophobia Hinders AIDS Fight (July 20, 2012)
• The Fenway Institute at the International AIDS Conference (July 20, 2012)
• HIV/AIDS News and Commentary from The Fenway Institute (July 19, 2012)
• Huffington Post: A New Turning Point in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS (July 17, 2012)
• Advocate.com: HIV Is Personal But It’s a Global Challenge (July 16, 2012)
• From Our President: International AIDS Conference XIX (July 13, 2012)

HIV/AIDS NEWS AND COMMENTARY FROM THE FENWAY INSTITUTE

We have archived some recent HIV/AIDS news and commentary, including coverage of the FDA's recent PrEP decision and the XIX International AIDS Conference, on our Fenway Focus blog.

• MetroWeekly "Caution and Optimism: AIDS 2012 highlights challenges, but also successes to guide us forward" Sean Cahill, Director of Health Policy Research at The Fenway Institute, July 26, 2012
• The Washington Post "Study says young gay black men at high risk of HIV" July 23, 2012. Kenneth H. Mayer, MD, of The Fenway Institute comments
• Time "Study: HIV Rates in Gay Black Men Are Alarmingly High" July 23, 2012. Kenneth H. Mayer, MD, of The Fenway Institute comments
• The Boston Globe "HIV infection rates remain high among black gay men in Boston" July 24, 2012. Kenneth H. Mayer, MD, of The Fenway Institute comments
• Advocate.com "Op-ed: The End of the Epidemic for Whom?" Benjamin Perkins, M.Div., Associate Director for Community Engagement at The Fenway Institute and Gary Daffin, Executive Director of the Multicultural AIDS Coalition, July 23, 2012
• USA Today "HIV increase among black gays called 'alarming'" July 23, 2012. Kenneth H. Mayer, MD, of The Fenway Institute comments
• Huffington Post "Reflections on a Pandemic: From Despair to Hope" Kenneth H. Mayer, M.D. Medical Research Director, Fenway Health; Co-Director, The Fenway Institute, July 23, 2012

Find links to more media coverage online.