Today the New York Times published a batch of letters responding to their editorial on rising HIV rates in young gay men. Since they didn't publish CHAMP's letter, I thought i'd do it here (This is why we love the Internet!)

The January 14th editorial, “HIV Rises in Young Gay Men,” spent a lot of energy blaming 19-year olds, and ignored core issues that hamper effective prevention efforts.

A recent Journal of Adolescent Health study counted youth homelessness as a major factor in HIV risk. The New York City Council commissioned a 2007 report showing that one-third of all homeless youth in NYC were gay.

Congress continues to bankroll abstinence-only education programs in spite of the proven increase risk behavior they cause. Though the HIV epidemic grows worse in black and Latino communities, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) budget has remained stagnant for a decade.

We still have no national HIV prevention plan, 27 years into the epidemic.

Young gay men are not to blame for the profound failure of government to provide comprehensive HIV prevention—nor for the media’s continued ignorance of the root causes of HIV.
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How many times will the messages of Prevention Justice be confirmed by science?

A new study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health shows that youth who are unstably housed are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior within the first six months of being homeless. Science Daily reported that "this is the first time that researchers have followed newly homeless youth -- those who have been away from home for a period between one day and six months -- for any length of time to track how their behavior changes. The researchers examined how individual factors, such as sociodemographics, depression and substance abuse, and structural factors, such as living situations, can influence sexual behavior."

What's also interesting is what the study's author, Dr. M. Rosa Solorio, assistant professor of family medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA says about the study:"The reason these findings are so important is that interventions in the past have focused on addressing individual risk behavior and not on addressing structural factors, such as living situations, that might have an impact on their behavior...When we look at homeless youth, we want to consider these structural factors if we want them to reduce their risky behavior and thereby prevent sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV."

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Showing the “missing pieces” of HIV prevention puzzle in the United States, more than three hundred people poured into the downtown Atlanta streets for the PJM Unity Rally and March in Atlanta, GA, on Tuesday, December 4th, where the National HIV Prevention Conference (NHPC) ended on Wednesday. People from across different communities marched to demonstrate unity for a comprehensive HIV prevention in the US, not to be divided by community or issue.

In order to draw conference attendees from the hotel to the opening rally two blocks away at Hardy Ivy Park, a group of carolers sang an HIV prevention song to the tune of “The 12 Days of Christmas.” Other PJM folks were in the lobby, decorating marchers with the PJM sash—a white satin cloth with the red PJM Unity logo. Helping to sash people in the hotel was Miss Rhode Island 2007 Ashley Bickford, who was attending the conference as someone interested in HIV/AIDS issues.

The spirited marchers burst from the Hyatt onto Peachtree Street, blowing whistles and chanting, and made their way to Hardy Ivy Park to meet the crowd already assembled. The March MC Waheedah Shabbazz-el took the bullhorn and hyped the crowd to a frenzy, reminding the crowd, “HIV is more than a disease, It’s positive proof of injustice!” The marchers grabbed signs and flashlights from organizers and marshals, and the rally was in full swing.  read more »

For those of you who can not join us here in Atlanta today for the Unity Rally, I wanted to share our custom Christmas Carol that you can hum to the tune of "the 12 Days of Christmas" right around 5 pm EST and it will be like you are there!  read more »

In a Monday afternoon session called, “Hurricane Katrina – Surveillance Under Emergency Conditions,” Beth Scalco and others from the Louisiana Office of Public Health HIV/AIDS Program in New Orleans told the story of how everything collapsed after the storm, including their capacity to get people their medication, gather information about the local epidemic, and do prevention outreach. Several hundred thousand homes were destroyed, leaving countless people homeless. Since August 2005, the city’s population has dropped from 462,000 to 200,000.

“Some neighborhoods aren’t there anymore,” Scalco said. “Before, we could say, ‘This is the neighborhood where people are at high risk for HIV.’ Now, that neighborhood is gone.”
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The latest issue of Solidarity Project, CHAMP'S monthly newsletter, focuses on "prevention justice," by profiling some of the nation's most compelling prevention justice work in action. Featured in this is are interviews with folks from:

• Georgia Prevention Justice Alliance
• New York State Black Gay Network
• The AFIYA Center
• Transforming Justice

There's also a good deal of resources, policy documents, and it's in English and Spanish! Dowload the English or Spanish.

You can also read the Solidarity Project at The Body.com.