New York State is the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic in the United States.
Continued from yesterday’s blog by Executive Director, Michele McClave:
New York State is still the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic in the United States.
11. New York State still has the highest number of its population living with the disease of all states in the United States… and if you remove New York City from the number, Upstate New York would still rank 5th in the number of cases.
There are steps we can take to stop the spread of HIV:
12. Rapid HIV testing takes 20 minutes to get an accurate result, and can be performed with a simple oral swab.
13. The cost of two HIV tests is $25… this is the same cost for 200 condoms.
14. With early medical treatment of pregnant women living with HIV using the drug AZT, the rate of mother-to-child transmission is 2%.
Most importantly:
15. HIV is 100% preventable.
In tomorrow’s blog, I’ll discuss the cost of HIV/AIDS – both in dollars and in loss of life – in the United States.
Michele McClave, Executive Director of the AIDS Council of Northeastern New York, has more than twenty-five years of progressively responsible experience in human services delivery and management, organizational leadership, program development, grant writing, advocacy and direct service with diverse client populations. She has 20 years experience in the field of HIV/AIDS. She created the Ryan White HIV Care Network for Northeastern New York, a consortium of HIV service providers and was the first Director of Client Services at the AIDS Council of Northeastern New York. She was the AIDS Council’s Deputy Executive Director from 1994 to 1999 and appointed Executive Director in June 2000. Under her leadership at the AIDS Council, the agency has more than doubled in size and scope of services. The agency is a leader in the field of HIV/AIDS, particularly in providing cutting edge HIV prevention to high-risk individuals, including HIV and STD testing in community based settings. Ms. McClave is responsible for a $4.5 million annual budget and a staff of 82 in five offices throughout a 15 county area. She is committed to excellence in management and service delivery, holistic provision of services to clients and positive community relations. Ms. McClave is Vice-chair of the Tech Valley Non-Profit Business Council of the Albany-Colonie and Schenectady Chambers of Commerce. Ms. McClave has a Bachelor’s Degree from the Pennsylvania State University and a Masters of Social Work from SUNY Albany’s School of Social Welfare.