Saturday, December 1, 2007 is World AIDS Day. Join the greater Glens Falls Community and local volunteers from the AIDS Council of Northeastern New York with support from the HIV/AIDS Coalition of the Saratoga Region for a World AIDS Day Memorial.

The memorial program will begin at 3:00 pm at the Bandstand in Glens Falls City Park. Mayor Le Roy B. Akins, Jr. will read the World AIDS Day Proclamation, followed by a candlelight walk to The Hyde Collection. Those who do not wish to walk can meet in the Hyde Collection’s Helen Froehlich Auditorium at 4:00 pm, where a musical performance and program in memory of those in our community who have died from AIDS and those who are living with the disease will begin.

The Hyde Collection will display a local panel from the AIDS Memorial Quilt. The AIDS Quilt began in 1987 as a memorial to those who died of AIDS. The AIDS Quilt has grown to a 54-ton tapestry that includes more than 45,000 panels dedicated to more than 88,000 individuals. It is the largest piece of community art in the world.

The guest speaker is photographer and activist, Dona Ann McAdams. McAdams will present a slide show and discuss her experiences at the onset of the AIDS epidemic in New York City, as well as her link to the nonprofit group Visual AIDS, that came up with the idea to create a Red Ribbon as what is now the global symbol in the fight against AIDS. Maria Zemantauski, one of the world’s few heralded female flamenco guitarists, and one of even fewer female flamenco composers will perform. Mezzo-Soprano Gisella Montanez-Case, will provide vocal entertainment. NYSMA Soloist Kelsey Finley, a 16 year old Fort Ann High School Junior will also perform. The evening will close with a selection played on bagpipes by Allan Clugston, a member of the Galloway Gaelic Pipes and Drums.

Donations of personal toiletry items will be accepted at The Hyde Collection for distribution by the AIDS Council to those affected by HIV and AIDS in our community. Light refreshments will be served during the meet and greet reception after the program.

The AIDS Council of Northeastern New York’s mission is to reduce the risk, fear, and incidence of HIV infection, encourage the independence of people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS and promote understanding of their Established in 1988, World AIDS Day raises awareness and focuses attention on the global AIDS epidemic. The red ribbon is an international symbol of AIDS awareness that is worn on World AIDS Day and all year round to demonstrate care and concern about HIV/AIDS, and to remind others of the need for their support and commitment. The ultimate goals are to prevent the spread of HIV and improve the lives of people living with the disease. Nearly 40 million people throughout the world are living with HIV, including 2.3 million children. 4.3 million people were infected with HIV in 2006 – the highest ever in one year.

November 16, 2007 - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention is mulling over when to release alarming new statistics showing that as many as 50 percent more people are being infected with HIV each year in the United States than originally reported by the government.

According to AIDS advocacy groups familiar with the CDC, middle level officials at the disease prevention agency have quietly confided in colleagues in professional and scientific circles that the number of new HIV infections now appears to be as high as 58,000 to 63,000 cases in the most recent 12-month period.

On its web site this week, the CDC left unchanged its longstanding estimate that about 40,000 Americans per year become infected with HIV, a figure it says has remained “relatively stable” for most of the past decade.

CDC officials have told leaders of AIDS advocacy groups that the new figures are being withheld while they are subjected to a rigorous peer review process by an unidentified scientific journal, which is expected to publish the findings within the next few months. Others familiar with the CDC have said CDC would likely publish the new data in its own journal, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

“It seems to be a poorly kept secret,” said Michael Weinstein, president of the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “Everybody who has dealings with the CDC is talking about it.”

CDC spokesperson Jennifer Ruth said CDC “is currently working to develop new estimates of HIV incidence, based on a new system that distinguishes recent infections from longstanding infections.”

There is no timeline for release of that data, she said, adding that it would not be available before World AIDS Day.

The other set of data in the works is next year’s HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, which includes data on HIV and AIDS diagnoses, she said. The 2006 HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report also will not be available before World AIDS Day but will likely be released in the coming months.

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, of which the CDC is a part, announced earlier this week that top HHS officials would discuss the current “state of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States” on a live webcast on Friday, Nov. 16. Among those scheduled to participate in the webcast were Dr. Anthony Fauci, top AIDS researcher for the National Institutes of Health; and Kevin Fenton, director of HHS’s National Center for HIV/AIDS. The event was set to take place between 2 and 3 p.m. EST.

Christopher Bates, the gay acting director of the HHS Office of HIV/AIDS Policy, was to be the moderator of the webcast, and potential viewers were invited to send in questions in advance by e-mail. Bates could not be reached for comment for this story.

It could not be determined by Wednesday whether any of the officials participating in the webcast would disclose information about reports of the higher CDC numbers for new HIV cases.

Reasons for the Increase

Two sources familiar with the CDC, who spoke on condition that they not be identified, said CDC officials have said privately that the higher numbers of HIV cases appear to be driven by more rigorous and accurate HIV reporting by the states of existing cases rather than by an actual increase in the number of new cases.

New federal rules requiring states to keep track of the names of everyone who tests positive for HIV took effect in most states in January. The new rules came at the same time the CDC announced an initiative calling for widespread HIV testing of most adults in the United States during routine doctor visits as well as hospital emergency room visits.

Although mandatory reporting rules have been in place for AIDS cases since the beginning of the epidemic in the early 1980s, mandatory reporting for HIV cases did not begin until recently. In past years, CDC officials have said they based their estimate on the number of new HIV infections on projections and extrapolations from the number of full blown AIDS cases as well as HIV cases obtained by a sampling of hospitals, clinics, and anonymous testing sites, among other places.

During the past two years, AIDS activists have criticized the Bush administration for expanding a large portion of its AIDS prevention budget on HIV testing while declining to provide more funds for HIV prevention and education programs targeting groups at high risk for HIV infection.

Gay and AIDS activists have complained that the administration appears to have acquiesced to demands by conservative religious groups for higher funding levels for abstinence-only until marriage prevention efforts. The activists say the administration has not been aggressive enough in funding prevention programs that specifically target men who have sex with men, the group that CDC data show accounts for the highest number of HIV cases in the U.S.

“My view is it’s both better data collection and increased testing as well as a higher rate of [HIV] conversion that is causing the spike in the CDC numbers,” said David Reznik, the head of an HIV dental clinic in Atlanta, Ga., and former member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.

“However, our prevention messages aren’t reaching those at most risk,” Reznik said. “And I believe it’s time to rethink our prevention strategy.”

Carl Schmid, federal affairs director for the Tampa, Fla. based AIDS Institute, which lobbies for expanded AIDS programs, said reports about the higher CDC numbers of new HIV infections have been circulating in Washington for the past six months.

“I’m hearing rumors of figures higher than 60,000 new cases,” Schmid said. “I hear they are talking about this with state health departments.”

Schmid and Weinstein said behind-the-scenes talk about the new CDC figures for HIV cases appeared to be a popular topic among many of the 4,000 participants in last week’s U.S. Conference on AIDS in Palm Springs, Calif. The National Minority AIDS Coalition organizes the conference each year.

Schmid said the AIDS Institute has joined other AIDS advocacy groups in calling on the CDC and the Bush administration to boost funding for HIV prevention programs.
“There has been a de-emphasis of anything gay by the administration,” he said. “They have focused mostly on testing, which is fine. But you still need education and prevention programs, and you have not seen an increase in funding for that.”

Jim Driscoll, a Washington adviser to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and another former member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, known as PACHA, said he has heard from people familiar with the CDC that officials were considering releasing the new figures on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1.

“But the word we’re hearing now is they’re leaning against releasing such bad news on World AIDS Day,” said Driscoll. “There’s some talk of them releasing the new figures during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, when the fewest possible people will be paying attention.”

Information about how to view the HHS webcast can be obtained through this site: http://www.aids.gov/webcast_information.html.

By Lou Chibbaro Jr.
2007 The Washington Blade | A Window Media Publication

November 2007 - On Thursday, November 15 over 700 guests gathered at the historic Franklin Plaza in Troy for the annual Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Celebration to benefit the AIDS Council of Northeastern New York. Recognized as one of the most popular charity events in the Capital Region, participants helped raise over $65,000 to support cutting-edge HIV prevention programs and those living with HIV/AIDS in the community.

Based on one of the world’s great wine tasting traditions, this annual November event celebrates the first tasting of this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau wine harvest and is a kick-off to the holiday season. Participants enjoyed live entertainment and dancing, gourmet cuisine from over 20 area restaurants, silent auction, martini bar and a selection of fine wines, including the featured Beaujolais Nouveau.

The AIDS Council is very grateful to the sponsors, restaurants, volunteers, valued donors and participants that made this event a wonderful success.

Sponsors of the event included Time Warner Cable, Barefoot Wines, FLY 92.3, Oberlander Group, River Street Club, CapitalCare Medical Group, Jaeger & Flynn Associates, KeyBank, Metroland, Prime Care Physicians, Romeo’s Gifts, Oh Bar, Town Total Health, The Desmond Hotel & Conference Center, Stewart’s Shops, Wojeski & Company, CPAs, The Mooradian Lofts and Trustco Bank.

Participating restaurants included American Hotel, BFS Restaurant and Catering, Cheesecake Machismo, Century House Restaurant, Daisy Baker’s, Dakota Restaurant, DiviniTea, El Loco Mexican Café, The Epicurian, Flavour Café and Lounge, George Weston Bakeries/Friehofer’s, Glen Sanders Mansion, Honest Weight Food Co-op, Magnolias on the Park, Michael’s Catering, Old Daley Inn Catering, Professor Java’s Coffee Sanctuary, Tosca, Queen of Tarts and Vermont Pure Springs/Crystal Rock Bottled Water.

The AIDS Council is also appreciative of the generous support from DJ Chrome, Jon LeRoy, Live Sound Inc., Photos by Joan Heffler, A&U Magazine, Chronogram, Seagroatt Riccardi, Surroundings Floral Studio, Sherman Furniture, Southern Wine & Spirits of Upstate NY, Wine & Sprits of Slingerlands, Tablecloths for Granted, Tremont Ace Hardware and Rentals, Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Council and the Troy Police Department.