10 Ways to improve response to HIV Pandemics

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National HIV/AIDS Strategy

POLICYNovember 12, 2010

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Top 10 Ways the National HIV/AIDS Strategy Improves the National Response to HIV/AIDS


The National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) contains many different elements and goals for creating a nation "where new HIV infections are rare and when they do occur, every person, regardless of age, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or socioeconomic circumstance will have unfettered access to high-quality, life-extending care, free from stigma and discrimination."

To shed some light on those elements, AIDS.gov will begin monthly blog posts with a Top Ten list that explores the key goals and objectives of the Strategy, including:

Reducing the number of people who become infected with HIV
Increasing access to care and optimizing health outcomes for people living with HIV
Reducing HIV-related health disparities
Achieving a more coordinated national response to the HIV epidemic
The series on the NHAS Top 10 will reinforce key parts of the Strategy, and we’ll be working to make the NHAS come alive for you and those you serve. Stay tuned for November's Top 10 list...and in the meantime, share with us your Top 10 list(s)!!!

Posted at 04:32 PM in National HIV/AIDS Strategy, Policy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) |Share This Post
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POLICYNovember 11, 2010

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Today is Veterans Day

By Miguel Gomez, AIDS.gov Director



Today we thank our veterans for their service to the nation—and we recognize that the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) is the single largest provider of HIV care in the United States. The VA is a major partner in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.

You can learn more about the VA’s HIV programs at HIV/AIDS: For Patients and the Public.

Posted at 12:22 PM in National HIV/AIDS Strategy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) |Share This Post
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POLICYNovember 03, 2010

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Assistant Secretary Dr. Howard Koh Highlights Drug Prevention Month

By Miguel Gomez, AIDS.gov Director


Watch the video
Last month, Dr. Howard Koh, Assistant Secretary for Health, spoke with R. Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), about drug prevention during the observance of Prevention Month. You can watch their discussion at the ONDCP Web site.

I want to highlight that to help reduce the number of new HIV infections, the National HIV/AIDS Strategy calls for giving much more attention and resources to the populations at highest risk of HIV, including substance abusers. Among the many benefits of preventing drug use, before it starts or stepping in early before substance use becomes chronic, is reducing the individual’s risk of exposure to HIV and other dangerous infections like Hepatitis C. This highlights the complementary nature of both the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and the National Drug Control Strategy, and the government-wide efforts underway to implement both. Dr. Koh recently wrote an ONDCP guest blog post about this topic as well.

Posted at 05:46 PM in Injection Drug Use, National HIV/AIDS Strategy, Policy | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) |Share This Post
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Centers for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Discuss Their Roles in Implementing National HIV/AIDS Strategy

By Ron Valdiserri, M.D., M.P.H., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Infectious Diseases, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services


Participants in 10/28/10 cross-Departmental meeting of representatives of Centers for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships discuss ways to engage their networks in supporting implementation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.

Responding to the President’s call for the engagement of all sectors of society in working toward the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) representatives of the Centers for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (CFBNP) at the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services (HHS), Housing and Urban Development, Labor, and Veterans Affairs and the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (CFBNP) gathered on October 28 at a meeting hosted by Ms. Alexia Kelley, Director of the HHS CFBNP, and myself. We convened these important partners to discuss ways that we can work together to strengthen and maintain the engagement of faith communities in the efforts detailed in the strategy.

The President noted in his letter accompanying the release of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy in July, “The Federal government can’t do this alone, nor should it.

Success will require the commitment of governments at all levels, businesses, faith communities, philanthropy, the scientific and medical communities, educational institutions, people living with HIV, and others.” Given the collective effort required to achieve the goals of the NHAS, the CFBNPs are important allies in sustaining and enhancing the commitment of the many faith communities across the United States already engaged in some dimension of HIV/AIDS prevention and/or care and treatment while also bringing still more faith communities and community-based organizations into this important work.

The Centers will work within their respective Departments and also with one another on two specific actions identified in the NHAS. First, to reduce HIV-related health disparities, the strategy calls upon both the public and private sectors to develop and support efforts to reduce stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and populations at high risk for HIV.

Unfortunately, even three decades into this epidemic, stigma associated with HIV infection persists and fear of discrimination causes many Americans to avoid learning their HIV status, disclosing their status, or accessing medical care in a timely fashion. Thus, working to end the stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV is a critical component of curtailing the epidemic. The Federal Implementation Plan accompanying the NHAS specifically calls upon the Centers for Faith-Based and Community Partnerships to develop a plan for engaging more faith leaders to promote nonjudgmental support for people living with HIV.

Second, as part of larger efforts to reduce the number of new infections by increasing the number of Americans who know their HIV status, the strategy supports routine screening for HIV in health care settings and also encourages the expansion of HIV testing to nontraditional sites like community-based organizations, social organizations and faith institutions.

The CDC estimates that 21% of people living with HIV in the U.S. are unaware of their infection, placing them at greater risk of spreading the virus to others and preventing them from accessing treatment that could prolong their lives. Leaders of faith-based organizations can play an important role in educating their congregants about the importance of early diagnosis for HIV infection and making them aware of resources within their communities where they can be tested and, if found to be positive, receive life-saving treatment.

During the meeting the CFBNP representatives shared information about HIV-related activities underway within each of their departments and highlighted several examples of HIV testing and other AIDS-related activities by specific faith communities.

They also discussed possible activities they could undertake collectively toward the action steps identified in the NHAS, with particular attention on those populations disproportionately impacted by HIV (men who have sex with men (MSM), African American men and women, Latino men and women, and substance users).

Committing to continuing the dialogue among themselves, with leaders of their Department’s HIV/AIDS activities, and their networks of faith leaders and neighborhood organizations, the meeting participants began planning to develop some common tools to be shared with faith communities and neighborhood organizations in the coming year.

Posted at 01:30 PM in National HIV/AIDS Strategy | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) |Share This Post
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NEW MEDIANovember 02, 2010

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Back to Basics: Using AIDS.gov Resources for Your World AIDS Day Event

By the AIDS.gov Team


Last week we shared some materials to help you plan a Facing AIDS photo event in your community for World AIDS Day, December 1. This week, we want to point you to some additional and more general World AIDS Day event planning resources. Our World AIDS Day page has lots of resources now, and we’ll be updating it soon with more resources, including graphics.

If you want to plan a World AIDS Day event, but you aren’t sure where to start, check out our event planning guide! Along with tips on getting started and ideas for local events, the guide has suggestions for promoting your event, things to do after the event, and ways to encourage people to take individual action. You know your community best, and you know what messages it most needs to hear. You can use the ideas in the guide to tailor your plans to meet your community’s needs.

Continue reading "Back to Basics: Using AIDS.gov Resources for Your World AIDS Day Event" »

Posted at 03:34 PM in HIV/AIDS Awareness Days, National HIV/AIDS Strategy, New Media, Strategy/Planning, Widgets | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) |Share This Post
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Happiness is a focused Mind! says 12 Nov 2010 Science Psychogical research

Happiness Is a Focused Mind
When people's minds wandered, they reported more dissatisfaction, study found

Thursday, November 11, 2010


Related MedlinePlus Page
Mental Health
THURSDAY, Nov. 12 (HealthDay News) -- If you want to be happy, try to stay focused.

New research shows that when people's minds drifted from the task or activity at hand, they reported being less happy than when they were fully engaged in whatever they were doing.

The human mind is uniquely capable of wandering -- that is, to ponder things that have happened, to anticipate things that will happen, and to plan for things that might happen, explained study author Matthew Killingsworth, a doctoral candidate in psychology at Harvard University. The ability is one of the traits that makes human beings human, he noted.

Yet, cognitive wandering comes at a cost, which is that when people are thinking about something other than what they're doing, they feel less happy, the researchers discovered.

"Human beings seem to have this unique capacity to focus on the non-present. They have the ability to reflect on the past, plan for the future and imagine things that might never occur," Killingsworth said. "But at the same time, human beings are clumsy users of this capacity and it tends to decrease, rather than increase, happiness."

In the study, 2,250 participants were prompted at random times throughout the day using an iPhone Web application. They were asked how they were feeling, what they were doing, if they were thinking about something other than what they were doing and whether whatever they were contemplating was pleasant (say, daydreaming about a vacation), unpleasant (perhaps worrying about a relationship or finances) or neutral in nature.

According to the study, participants spent nearly 47 percent of their waking hours with their mind in a wandering state. "This study shows that our mental lives are pervaded, to a remarkable degree, by the non-present," Killingsworth said.

That is, with one notable exception. When describing what they were doing, participants could choose from 22 activities, including walking, eating, shopping, watching TV, commuting and working.

The only activity during which people seemed to be quite good at staying on task mentally was while making love. During sex, only 10 percent of people reported wandering thoughts.

Generally, people also reported being the happiest when making love, exercising or conversing. They said they were least happy when resting or sleeping, working or using a home computer.

When it came to what they were thinking about, 42.5 percent thought of pleasant topics, 26.5 percent thought of unpleasant topics, while 31 percent were thinking neutral thoughts.

And while people who were thinking of pleasant things were happier than people thinking of unpleasant things, even those thinking happy thoughts were less happy than people who were fully engaged in whatever they were doing.

The study is published in the Nov. 12 issue of Science.

In some ways, the research provides scientific evidence of what many self-help books and some religious traditions espouse, which is that being in the "here and now" is critical for happiness, Killingsworth said.

Participants were from 83 counties, a wide range of occupations and ranged in age from 18 to 88.

Barbara Becker Holstein, a psychologist and "happiness coach" in Long Branch, N.J., said the findings speak to the importance of doing things that provide a sense of purpose and meaning. Such activities make it easier to stay focused, Holstein explained.

"This research is fabulous and fascinating," Holstein said. "But long before the research, psychologists and many educators recognized that in order to feel a sense of well-being, you need to feel you have purpose and meaning in life. That means you are containing the mind around certain projects and activities, and are forcing the mind not to be all over the place all day long."

If you feel your mind starting to head down a "dark tunnel" of worry and anxiety, try to snap yourself out of it by bringing your thoughts back to the present, she said.

"It's such a natural tendency to go over bad news or things that haven't worked out, to dramatize the drama we are already experiencing," she said. "But if we can distract ourselves by getting involved doing something, we get some distance from whatever we were ruminating on and it's better for us."

SOURCES: Matthew Killingsworth, doctoral candidate, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.; Barbara Becker Holstein, Ed.D., psychologist and happiness coach, Long Branch, N.J.; Nov. 12, 2010, Science

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