Beth Hastie, the women s outreach coordinator at the Boston Living Center recalls that being diagnosed with HIV 11 years ago -- when the disease was still thought of as primarily affecting gay men -- was not easy. I felt very isolated as a woman living with HIV when I first got diagnosed, says Hastie, who contracted th
After nearly a week of fruitless legal wrangling and intense media attention, Dorchester AIDS activist Belynda Dunn now has the money for a life-saving liver transplant, thanks to a surprise outpouring of financial support from public and private donors -- most notably the very HMO that refused to cover the cost of her
Under pressure from Islamic countries, Western nations backed away from naming specific populations vulnerable to HIV and AIDS at the United Nations last week to avoid using offensive terms such as men who have sex with men, opting instead for those at risk due to sexual practice. As a result, the 189-member General As
After more than four years of meticulous planning by medical personnel, state agencies, and HIV/AIDS advocates, the state s Division of Medical Assistance (DMA) announced April 5 that it will now extend MassHealth (Medicaid) health insurance benefits to eligible applicants with an HIV diagnosis. Massachusetts is the fi
Two recent court decisions regarding people with HIV/AIDS have given prevention and civil liberties advocates a win on the state level and a loss on the federal level. In what activists described as an important ruling, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued an opinion Feb. 15 upholding the state s stringent c
On Feb. 7, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card told USA Today that the Office of National AIDS Policy and the office on race relations at the White House would be eliminated and their functions spread among other federal agencies. Later in the day, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said during a press briefi
In a recent study conducted by the New York City Health Department, more than 33 percent of African American gay and bisexual men between 23 and 29 years old in the city were found to be HIV positive. Staggering numbers, HIV and AIDS advocates say, and Larry Kessler, executive director AIDS Action Committee worries it
When Jane Fowler asked her primary care physician in 1989 whether or not she should have an HIV test, she says her doctor responded, Oh, no, Jane not you, you don t need that test. Why, if you were to have that AIDS, why half of Hollywood would be dead by now. Fowler, who was in her 50s at the time, just assumed her do
Activists are welcoming the appointment of the first gay person to head the White House AIDS Policy Office, but have expressed concern over a decline in funding levels for domestic programs. While the Bush administration plans to restructure the function in an attempt to address the epidemic internationally, some obser
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.