|
 |
|
|
|
Issue #131: June 29, 1997
FASTFAX is available by fax in the 215 and 610 area codes at no cost, or by mail anywhere for $20.00 per year, by calling 215-545-6868, and by E-mail by contacting and type the message SUBSCRIBE in the message section. Sources for some information in this issue include Associated Press, Journal of the American Medical Association, New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, United Press International.
Clinton promises protection for AIDS funding
U.S. mayors call for needle exchange
NY passes rights bill for PWAs
Ridge cancels syphilis test for marriage
Court action threatens blood deal
Clinton promises protection for AIDS funding
Clinton administration officials briefed AIDS advocates Wednesday, June 11, on President Clinton's commitment to maintaining the federal government's investment in HIV/AIDS programs, according to AIDS Action, the national lobbying group.The briefing was spurred by AIDS Action pressure on administration officials to explain why President Clinton agreed in budget negotiations with the GOP congressional leadership to drop AIDS-specific programs from a list of "protected domestic discretionary priorities." Among the 40 programs dropped from the list were AIDS research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), HIV prevention through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Ryan White CARE Act, the Housing Opportunities for People With AIDS (HOPWA) program, and drug treatment through the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). AIDS Action also questioned the administration's failure to request supplemental funding for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), which faces a $132 million budget shortfall in fiscal year 1997. Mississippi's ADAP, for example, was forced earlier this month to cut 640 people living with HIV/AIDS - 80 percent of its clients - from the program because of a budget shortfall.
National AIDS Policy Director Sandy Thurman, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) official Nancy-Ann Min, and Clinton advisor Richard Socarides, assured AIDS Action and other national AIDS organizations that the administration intends to push for funding increases for some AIDS programs during its negotiations with Congress on a final budget agreement. Regarding ADAP funding, however, administration officials reiterated their position that there is currently no concrete data on an emergency in the ADAP program and no formal request from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for supplemental funding. AIDS Action continues to work with Clinton administration officials and members of Congress to ensure that the federal investment in AIDS is not jeopardized in the budget process determining funding for FY98 and beyond, the group said.
U.S. mayors call for needle exchange
The U.S. Conference of Mayors has called on government officials to lift restrictions imposed on the use of federal funds for needle-exchange programs.The bipartisan resolution, co-sponsored by San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, urges U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, to allow federal monies to be used towards the programs. Brent Coles, mayor of Boise, ID, opposed the measure.
A needle-exchange program, observes the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, "is one of the most cost-effective means of serving difficult-to-reach individuals at highest risk for HIV." The foundation reports that almost half of the 40,000 to 80,000 new cases of HIV infection each year are due to intravenous drug use.
AIDS Action, the national AIDS advocacy organization, followed up on the mayors' action by calling on Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Donna Shalala to heed the resolution urging her to allow scientific evidence to guide policy-making around the needle exchange issue.
At the mayor's conference, President Clinton told the nation's mayors that the federal government must "continue to identify sound public health strategies that enable local communities to address the twin epidemics of AIDS and substance abuse." The bipartisan resolution passed by the mayors echoes President Clinton's remarks and urges Shalala to certify that the congressionally imposed conditions to allow federal funds for needle exchange programs have been met. To date six independent, federally funded reports have indicated that needle exchange programs are an effective means of curbing HIV infection among intravenous drug users and their families.
The most recent report, released in February, 1997, was an HHS report that reviewed the compelling body of research demonstrating that needle exchange programs reduce HIV transmission among intravenous drug users, their sexual partners, and their children. Additionally, the report indicated there is no compelling evidence that needle exchange programs encourage drug use. The HHS report came on the heels of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) consensus panel conclusion in February that needle exchange programs can and should play an important role in HIV prevention.
Over a third of reported adult AIDS cases and over half of all AIDS cases among children are related to injection drug use.
AIDS Action Executive Director Daniel Zingale said a ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs and statements made by elected officials in Washington, D.C., questioning the efficacy of these programs have sent a chilling message to communities which might consider funding needle exchange programs.
"We applaud President Clinton for his comments and the U.S. Conference of Mayors for calling on Secretary Shalala to allow science to inform her decision around needle exchange. We must save the lives of all men, women and children who are vulnerable to HIV infection by removing the ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs and adequately funding substance abuse prevention and treatment programs," said Zingale.
"As a nation, we must prioritize science and the public health above timid politics. Too many lives are at stake to waste a minute more on this issue."
Health educators and AIDS activists expressed disappointment that President Clinton did not indicate his administrations' intention to lift the Federal ban on syringe exchange funding in his comments to the mayor's conference.
"We applaud the Mayors' stand," said Dennis de Leon, Director of the Latino Commission on AIDS, "but the President missed an important opportunity to show leadership. He has the authority to save, literally, tens of thousands of lives in the next several years, if he acts decisively."
De Leon, a member of the National Coalition to Save Lives, representing hundreds of AIDS service and advocacy groups around the nation, said that the evidence is in that needle-related HIV infection is the primary method through which low-income people of color contract the disease.
Based on the low injection-related AIDS rates in foreign countries with extensive needle and syringe exchange, over the counter needle and syringe access, and expanded prevention services for injecting drug users, the Coalition estimates that 33 American men, women and children are infected with HIV every day simply because the Federal government refuses to lift the ban on funding syringe exchange programs. AIDS is now the single largest cause of death among black and Latino men and women between the ages of 25 and 44. Over half these deaths are injection-related.
By the end of 1996, almost 100,000 African Americans had injection-related AIDS or had died from it. By the end of 1995, 33,000 Latinos had injection-related AIDS, or had died from it; among persons who inject drugs, African Americans are four times as likely as whites to be infected with HIV; among persons who inject drugs, Latinos are one and a half times as likely as whites to be diagnosed with AIDS; for African Americans, the risk of contracting injection-related AIDS is four times greater than the risk of dying from an overdose; and for Latinos, the risk of contracting AIDS is more than three times greater than the risk of dying from an overdose.
NY passes rights bill for PWAs
The New York City city council has passed a bill that would establish a "Bill of Rights" for HIV-positive residents of the city. Mayor Rudolph Guliani said he plans to sign the bill, which would establish a Division of AIDS Services within the city's administrative code.The bill would ensure an explanation of the services available to people living with HIV or AIDS and establishes the right to a home or hospital visit in order to receive said services. The city would also be required to produce quarterly reports on such issues as how many patients receive health care and how efficiently it is being provided. Other services that the measure would require for those eligible include Medicaid, medically appropriate housing, home care, food stamps, transportation, nutrition, intensive case management, and welfare benefits.
Ridge cancels syphilis test for marriage
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge has signed into law a bill that ends mandatory syphilis testing for couples planning to get married in the state.The legislation was endorsed by Physician General Wanda Filer, who noted that syphilis is no longer the same health threat it was when the law went into effect 42 years ago. Statistics from 1994 show that of the 158,000 Pennsylvania couples tested for the sexually transmitted disease, only one tested positive. Pennsylvania is the 34th state since 1979 to eliminate the test; five states never required it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported a 40-year low for new syphilis infections.
Various bills, mostly from rural legislators, remain pending in Harrisburg which would require HIV testing for those contemplating marriage. Such bills have been proposed at every state legislative session for the past decade, but none have so far been released from committee.
New heroin treatment unveiled
New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that heroin addicts can reduce their use of the drug by as much has 90 percent by using levomethadyl acetate hydrochloride (LAMM).Researchers found that both women and men responded to the drug and that high doses were safe for both sexes. LAMM, approved by the FDA in 1993 as an opiate treatment, need be taken only three times per week, making it easier for heroin users to take than methadone, which requires daily usage.
Meanwhile, a new report on national trends in illicit drug use shows that use of heroin, especially through injection, is on the rise.
Pulse Check, the twice-yearly report, found that overall heroin use has increased somewhat, while cocaine use is generally stable or on the decline, marijuana use is popular among adolescents, and synthetics like ecstasy and LSD are also increasing in popularity. Although the Pulse Check report does not offer specific numbers of drug users, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy estimates that approximately 12.8 million Americans use illegal drugs each month, down from 25 million in 1979. The reported increase in frequency of injecting heroin is particularly alarming because it puts users at a greater risk of contracting HIV through dirty needles. Many heroin addicts have taken to injecting the drug instead of snorting it because injection provides a more efficient high -- while increasing their risk of HIV infection when they share needles.
Court action threatens blood deal
Two weeks before thousands of HIV-infected hemophiliacs were to begin getting $100,000 checks from makers of tainted blood-clotting products, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling has thrown their class action settlement into question.As some of the roughly 6,000 hemophiliacs panicked, their attorneys and those of the four manufacturers debated how the ruling affects their settlement and what steps to take next.
"We've lost our settlement! Oh, my God!" said Elaine DePrince, of Cherry Hill, who has buried two of her three hemophiliac sons because of AIDS, and who just published a book blaming the tragedy on negligence by the manufacturers and federal health officials.
The attorneys, however, said the ruling didn't necessarily nullify the $700 million settlement, which still faces a handful of recent appeals.
In a 6-2 decision, the Court refused to revive a $1.3 billion settlement that would have resolved hundreds of thousands of injury claims against asbestos manufacturers. The court said that a trial judge lacked the authority to allow a class action settlement in a lawsuit that would be denied class action status at trial.
"The ruling establishes a tough, legal punch list for court approval of class action settlements," said David Shrager, a Philadelphia lawyer heading the hemophiliacs' decade-long battle to be compensated for being infected with HIV by products meant to allow their blood to clot normally.
Shrager said because the hemophiliacs are a much less diverse group than the asbestos-injury victims, the hemophilia settlement is more likely to hold up.
Guy Esnouf, spokesman for the four manufacturers -- Bayer, Alpha Therapeutic Corp., Baxter International Inc. and Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Inc. -- said the companies remained committed to the settlement.
News of the ruling triggered a deluge of calls to lawyers and advocacy groups for hemophiliacs.
"This community has been bounced around like a yo-yo with hopes raised and hopes dashed," said Jan Hamilton, president of the Hemophilia Federation Inc. in Washington.
In January 1996, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals disbanded the original hemophilia class action suit. But the manufacturers decided to pursue the settlement, which would separately reimburse the hemophiliacs' lawyers and private and government insurance programs that had paid for costly medical treatment. The first checks are supposed to be mailed July 8, Esnouf said.
Because of statute-of-limitations laws in every state but New Jersey and California, a class action settlement is the only hope for compensation for most of the hemophiliacs. Many of the victims have become destitute after AIDS left them unable to work.
Bills to give HIV-infected hemophiliacs or their survivors $100,000 each are pending in both the House and Senate.
ASIAC seeks job applicants
AIDS Services In Asian Communities (ASIAC) is seeking applicants for two new positions at the agency for its Project ASSIST (Asian Specialized Services In Support & Treatment) program.Available are the positions of Program Coordinator, who will direct the new program, which provides community outreach, intake, case management, advocacy, and service/linkage
coordination for Asians & Pacific Islanders with HIV/AIDS. Project ASSIST also coordinates translation & interpretation services.
AIDS Services In Asian Communities is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing culturally and language appropriate HIV education, prevention, support & care, and advocacy services for Asians & Pacific Islanders at-risk for and living with HIV/AIDS; and their friends, partners, family members, and service providers in the Philadelphia area.
The group is also seeking a Volunteer and Administrative Coordinator, who will recruit, assess, train, place, recognize, coordinate, and provide support to ASIAC's volunteers who participate in the agency's activities, and who provides administrative coordination of day-to-day agency administrative affairs including: bookkeeping, database management, and general office
management duties.
Interested application should mail or deliver a resume and cover letter (with time availability) to: Richard C. Liu, Executive Director, AIDS Services In Asian Communities, 201 S. 12th Street, Suite 1R, Philadelphia, PA 19107. If you have brief questions, you can reach Mr. Liu at: voice (215) 629-1945, fax (215) 629-1973, or e-mail richliu@critpath.org. Liu asks that prospective applicants not call to schedule an interview or apply over the phone or Internet.
To obtain a weekly email version of fastfax, contact with the message: "subscribe".