Mississippi is just one of several mostly rural states across the South with a dearth of resources for HIV and AIDS patients.

“Here, there’s no support group, no case management. There’s no daily reinforcement,” said Webb, 52, who has been HIV-positive for two decades.

Activists and the health care providers cite a need for more federal and state funding for outreach and drug assistance programs, as well as transportation for patients who have to travel from small towns to get care. That’s the message they’ll deliver when a top White House aide holds a rare community discussion Monday in Jackson.

Jeffrey S. Crowley, director of the White House’s Office of National AIDS Policy, said the meeting will highlight two realities of the national epidemic – the significant number of cases in the South, and how the disease disproportionately affects minorities.

The spread of the disease in the South has been attributed to numerous factors, including poverty and a social stigma that discourages many from getting tested or seeking treatment.

Patrick Packer, executive director of the Southern AIDS Coalition and a moderator for the discussion, wants to pose this question: “Why is it that the South is not getting its fair share of federal money based on the epidemic?”

The South leads the nation in the percentage of AIDS-related deaths. Yet, the region ranks last when it comes to overall federal dollars spent on an HIV-infected person at $6,565 a year, according to the coalition.

Forty-six percent of new AIDS cases in 2007 were in the South, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Twenty-five percent of the new cases were in the Northeast, and 17 percent in the West, two regions with the nation’s largest metropolitan areas that have for many years received most of the federal money.

However, the South stands to get more funding.

President Barack Obama signed the $2.2 billion Ryan White HIV/AIDS extension act last month, which continued funding for rural areas, putting the South second in federal money behind the northern region. Activists said it’s still not enough to keep pace with the new cases.

Debbie Konkle-Parker, a nurse practitioner in Jackson, said the act also added federal money to the South in 2006, but didn’t put rural areas on the same level as big cities.

“The inequities were pretty huge,” she said. “People were spending (Ryan White) money in New York City to do journal writing conferences, and in Mississippi, we couldn’t even get people to the clinics.”

Konkle-Parker said Mississippi has about eight public clinics to treat the majority of the 9,000 HIV patients in the state.

The current economic crunch has exacerbated the situation. Some states, like Kentucky, have cut funding for HIV/AIDS programs. The state had been contributing $250,000 a year prior to 2007, but now almost no state money is set aside for the AIDS Drug Assistance program, said Sigga Jagne, a program manager for the Kentucky Department of Health.

There are 1,277 enrolled in Kentucky’s program with 100 more on a waiting list, she said. Arkansas and Tennessee also now have waiting lists for the program, which is mostly federally funded but receives some state money. Packer said funding cuts have led to the waiting lists.

“We’re already disproportionately impacted by poverty and high rates of umemployment. It’s important for people who are HIV positive to be provided with life-sustaining drugs,” Jagne said.

He was born in 1945 in Massachusetts. He came out publicly as gay in his late twenties.

Monette received his B.A. from Yale in 1967 and dedicated himself to the writing of poetry for eight years.

He turned to fiction writing in the late 1970s and early 1980s, publishing four successful novels between 1978 and 1982.

Monette suffered a personal setback when his long-time partner, Roger Horowitz, was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in the early 1980s.

Horowitz died of AIDS in 1986. Monette published two memoirs in 1988 that dealt with the battle he and his partner went through after the latter was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.

Monette returned to fiction in the early 1990s with the publication of two novels about AIDS.

He died in 1995 of AIDS-related complications. He was 49.

Today, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced her intent to appoint Helene Gayle, MD, MPH to serve as the Chair of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.  Secretary Sebelius made the announcement in Atlanta at the 2009 National HIV Prevention Conference.

“HIV remains a major threat to the health of our nation, and when one of our fellow citizens becomes infected with HIV every nine-and-a-half minutes, the epidemic affects all Americans,” said President Obama.  “As we organize numerous ways to engage the American people in confronting the HIV epidemic in our country, the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS will play a critical role in developing and implementing a National HIV/AIDS Strategy.  Dr. Gayle brings an intense commitment to fighting HIV/AIDS and unique experience in advancing public health.  I look forward to her leadership and counsel.”

“Dr. Gayle is an internationally acclaimed leader with a long history of working to end the epidemic both around the world and here at home in the United States.  It is only fitting that we are announcing Dr. Gayle’s appointment today at the 2009 National HIV Prevention Conference since she sponsored the first HIV Prevention Conference when she was at the CDC,” said Secretary Sebelius. “We are hopeful that the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, under her leadership, will serve a platform to share our plans and insights with the public health community and the public and serve as a vehicle to carry their ideas and input back to the Administration.”

The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) provides advice, information, and recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Service and the President regarding programs and policies intended to promote effective prevention of HIV disease, to advance research on HIV and AIDS, and to promote quality services to persons living with HIV and AIDS.

The role of the Council is solely advisory.

Helene D. Gayle is president and CEO of CARE USA, and is an internationally recognized expert on health, global development and humanitarian issues.  Dr. Gayle spent 20 years with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), focused primarily on combating HIV/AIDS, in a variety of roles involving research, programs and policy.

She was appointed as the first director of the National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention and achieved the rank of Rear Admiral and Assistant Surgeon General in the U.S. Public Health Service.

On assignment from the CDC, Dr. Gayle also served as the AIDS coordinator and chief of the HIV/AIDS division for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).  Dr. Gayle then directed the HIV, TB and Reproductive Health Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she was responsible for programs related to HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, reproductive health issues and tuberculosis.

In April 2006, she joined CARE, an international humanitarian organization with programs in nearly 70 countries to end poverty.  Dr. Gayle earned a B.A. in psychology at Barnard College, an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University. She is board certified in pediatrics, completing a residency in pediatric medicine at the Children’s Hospital National Medical Center in Washington, DC.

She has been honored with awards from Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, Cable Positive, the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill, the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health and the U.S. Public Health Service, among others. She holds faculty appointments at the University of Washington School of Public Health and Emory University School of Medicine.

Anna-Lise Williamson, an AIDS researcher at the University of Cape Town, told The Associated Press that the clinical vaccine trial that began Monday would continue with U.S. money. But she said South Africa’s Department of Science and Technology had stopped funding her research this year and the utility Eskom’s contract for funding ended last year and was not renewed.

Even though South Africa’s science minister appeared at a ceremony launching the vaccine trial with Williamson and lauded her research, neither he nor Eskom immediately returned calls seeking comment about funding.

At the ceremony, one of 36 healthy volunteers was injected Monday before officials and journalists in Cape Town’s Crossroads shantytown. The event was also attended by American health officials who gave technical help and manufactured the vaccine at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

“For vaccine development presently, the South African AIDS Vaccine initiative has no money,” Williamson said. “If we do not continue working on this, we will never have a vaccine… it’s incredibly important that we keep working.”

The South African vaccine, developed at the University of Cape Town, targets the specific HIV strain that has ravaged South Africa.

During nearly 10 years of government denial and neglect, South Africa developed a staggering AIDS crisis. Around 5.2 million South Africans were living with HIV last year – the highest number of any country in the world. Young women are hardest hit, with one-third of those aged 20-to-34 infected with the virus.

AIDS vaccine researchers have met so many disappointments some activists are questioning the wisdom of continuing such expensive investments, saying the money might be better spent on prevention and education.

A new report says HIV vaccine research funding worldwide decreased for the first time since 2000, with investments of almost $1.2 billion in 2008, down 10 percent from 2007.

South Africa was also the site of the biggest setback to AIDS vaccine research, when the most promising vaccine ever, produced by Merck & Co. and tested here in 2007, found that people who got the vaccine were more likely to contract HIV than those who did not.

South African scientists working on the latest vaccine had to overcome deep skepticism from their political leaders, who had shocked the world with their unscientific pronouncements about the disease. Williamson said South Africa, at the heart of the epidemic, must press ahead with trials to test the safety of the vaccine.

“We have got the biggest ARV (anti-retroviral) rollout in the world and still hundreds of people are dying every day and getting infected everyday,” she said.

Williamson’s vaccine also is being tested at a trial of 12 volunteers in Boston that began earlier this year, said Anthony Mbewu, president of South Africa’s government-supported Medical Research Council that shepherded the project.

“It is being very well tolerated, no adverse events, so it is going very well,” Williamson said Monday.

The trial started in the U.S., partly to allay any criticism that the United States was collaborating in an AIDS vaccine that would use Africans as guinea pigs.

The government decided it was important to develop a vaccine specifically for the HIV subtype C strain that is prevalent in southern Africa “and to ensure that once developed, it would be available at an affordable price,” Mbewu said.

Some 250 scientists and technicians worked on the latest vaccine project.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and a leading AIDS researcher, said the South African scientists received more money from his institute’s research fund than any others in the world except the U.S. The U.S. had paid to produce the vaccine.

He called it “the most important AIDS research partnership in the world.”

But he warned “There are extraordinary challenges ahead,” referring to the years of testing needed now that South Africa has reached the clinical trial stage.

At an international AIDS conference in Cape Town, Vice President Kgalema Motlanthe emphasized Sunday night that the clinical trials were being held “under strict ethical rules.”

Mbewu said the crisis in South Africa more than justifies the expenditure on AIDS research. AIDS strikes men and women alike in Africa, where the epidemic is fueled by the many people who have sex with several people at the same time.

In the 1990s, South Africa’s then-President Thabo Mbeki denied the link between HIV and AIDS, and his health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, mistrusted conventional anti-AIDS drugs and made the country a laughing stock trying to promote beets and lemon as AIDS remedies.

Williamson, a virologist, said the scientists had to fight constant controversy, including international organizations that tried to stop the state utility Eskom from funding the project. Eskom gave “huge amounts” regardless, she said.

“International organizations told Eskom that this was a terrible waste of money, that putting money into South African scientists was like backing the cart horse when they need to be backing the race horse,” she said.

Even her research director told her she was wasting her time.

“Most of them just made us more determined to prove them wrong,” Williamson said.

Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said 11 men and 15 women each face a charge of unlawful assembly, disorderly conduct and loud and boisterous behavior. Their names and ages were not immediately released.

Schneider said the group entered the rotunda, located beneath the Capitol dome, and linked themselves together with a white chain at about 10 a.m. The area is usually crowded with tourists, but police restricted the traffic while they made arrests.

The activists carried signs in support of funding for needle exchange, HIV/AIDS housing and programs aimed at fighting AIDS. They chanted, “Fight global AIDS now,” and, “Clean needles save lives.” They marched in a circle before lying down on the floor.

Police bound the activists hands together and dragged some of the demonstrators to their feet as they arrested them.

The arrests came one day before President Barack Obama is to arrive in Ghana, where 320,000 people are HIV positive, according to the United Nations’ AIDS fighting agency, UNAIDS.

The activists were part of a coalition of five AIDS groups from Washington, Philadelphia and New York. They included ACT UP Philadelphia, DC Fights Back, Health GAP, New York City AIDS Network and Housing Works.

Omolola Adele-Oso of DC Fights Back questioned why lawmakers were bailing out financial institutions instead of devoting more dollars to AIDS programs.

“HIV is not in a recession,” Adele-Oso said in a written statement from the coalition about the demonstration.

I’ve been all fire and brimstone on the Obama administration lately– and, I think, my anger has been justifiable.

But my overarching disappoitnment with how the administration is handling most issues important to the LGBT community doesn’t mean I’m incapable of recognizing the small, positive steps they’re taking in the right direction. Last week’s ceremony offering official apology to Dr. Frank Kameny for his 1957 firing from the civil service was a nice symbolic step, for example. The administration’s decision to insist of counting same-sex marriages in the 2010 census was also a sign of progress.

And then at the end of last week, we got an action that was more than just symbolic.

The Obama administration has taken the first step toward lifting the ban on HIV positive foreign citizens from entering the United States. The administration’s Office of Management and Budget posted a notice on Friday indicating that the department of Health and Human Services should begin the work to reverse its regulation which disallows HIV positive foreigners from entering the US.

Congress passed the policy change last year, and though the bill was signed by President Bush, it has not been implemented at this point.

The implementation likely has wide-ranging effects on both travel and immigration policy. Under the current law, foreign citizens who are HIV positive canont travel to the United States and immigrants can be subject to HIV testing, and deportation if they’re found to be HIV positive. The exact changes to be made in curent regulation will be determined by the Department of Health and Human Services, but the bill passed by Congress grants broad authority to overturn the ban completely.

An alto sax signed and donated by the former U.S. president was one of the star lots at the Cinema Against AIDS benefit on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival, selling for euro130,000 ($180,000). There was also keen bidding on two kisses from “Twilight” star Pattinson, which raised euro20,000 ($28,000) each.

Sharon Stone hosted the 16th annual event late Thursday at the exclusive Hotel du Cap on the French Riviera. Annie Lennox entertained about 800 guests who included Paris Hilton, model Claudia Schiffer, director Terry Gilliam, rapper 50 Cent and scientist James Watson, one of the discoverers of DNA.

Stone urged people to give generously despite the global economic slump.

“Looking down at the price of my own shoes, we in this room cannot pretend that we have nothing to give,” she said.

Proceeds from the event go to the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), a nonprofit organization that supports HIV/AIDS research.

Like the Cannes Film Festival itself, the event was more muted than in recent years, with just a smattering of A-list stars. Last year’s auction raised a record $10 million. There was no immediate total for Thursday’s event.

Guests had to pass through police checkpoints to get to the event, where they drank champagne in the hotel grounds overlooking the Mediterranean before dining on smoked salmon and roasted sea bass.

“Everybody knows there is a global economic slowdown of epic proportions,” said Clinton, who supports AIDS research and treatment through his William J. Clinton Foundation.

He noted that $30 trillion in wealth had disappeared around the world between September and March, “and a lot of it came out of some of your bank accounts.”

“I’m here with people who tell stories for a living,” Clinton said.

“You don’t need to read many novels or make many movies to realize that everybody has a story. … Every time a child dies of AIDS somewhere in the world, the light goes out of a story.”

Items on the auction blocks included a Fiat 500 car customized by Diesel, which sold for euro80,000 ($110,000); tennis lessons from pros Monica Seles and Jelena Jankovic, which raised euro30,000 ($42,000); and a handmade Karl Lagerfeld guitar case filled with Dom Perignon champagne, sold for euro50,000 ($70,000).

The offer of a special screening of Quentin Tarantino’s World War II revenge caper “Inglourious Basterds” raised euro60,000 ($84,000).

Amid the auctioneering, Lennox entertained guests with songs including “Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves.” The singer dedicated “There Must be an Angel” to amfAR supporter Natasha Richardson, who died after a skiing accident in March.

Stone said amfAR was setting up a fund in Richardson’s memory for research on a cure for AIDS and donated $50,000 to help it along.

“Natasha said that she would go on until a cure was found for AIDS,” Stone said. “I believe that she will.”

©365Gay.com 2009

1. Saw two blond women stopped by the police on Saturday. The officers, four of them, were all smiles. The women were laughing. Wish my encounters with the police were such jocular events.

2. There’s a guy in my office who doesn’t wash his hands after he uses the urinal. Nasty.

3. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a lot of ’splaining to do.

4. I so want to buy the “I Love Lucy” DVD set.

5. Any AIDS Walk stories?

6. To march while gay seems to be against the law in Moscow.

7. I prefer my local watering hole on Sunday night as opposed to Saturday.

8. Is it wrong to lust after the local coffee boy?

9. RNC chairman Michael Steele is giving Richard Pryor a run for his money.

10. No bad dogs. Just terrible owners.