Washington Blade - November 29, 2002

CONCORD, N.H. -- Angry at the Bush administration's response to the worldwide AIDS epidemic, the founder of the AIDS Quilt plans to bring it back to Washington in 2004 to call new attention to the disease, according to the Associated Press. The quilt, currently stored in Atlanta, was last in the nation's capital in 1996. But activist Cleve Jones is hoping to bring it back on Columbus Day weekend in 2004. "I'm frightened and I'm angry, and I'm going to do everything in my power to get the president and Congress to focus on this issue and take action," said Jones, a gay man who developed symptoms of AIDS in 1992. "2004 is going to be a crucial year. We want AIDS and health care to be on the agenda that year." The quilt first was displayed in Washington with 1,920 panels, each commemorating the life of someone who had died of the disease. By 1989, there were 16,000, and now there are more than 80,000 panels, Jones said.

Fla. blood bank studies new methods to remove HIV from donations

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A regional blood bank is planning to test a system that would remove HIV, bacteria and other viruses from donated blood as soon as April, according to the Associated Press. "What everybody expects is zero risk. Nobody wants to accept anything but zero risk," said Dr. German Leparc, medical director of Florida Blood Services. "I don't think there's anything in life that's zero-risk but (we're) trying to get there." The announcement comes four months after two people contracted HIV during transfusions of tainted blood provided by Florida Blood Services. Scientists are experimenting with two different methods of cleansing blood -- using ultraviolet light to kill viruses and bacteria, or by killing them with chemicals. Leparc said two studies he wants to launch in local hospitals would attempt to determine if the treated blood works in the same manner as untreated blood. The Food & Drug Administration bans blood donations from any man who has had sex, even once, with another man since 1977.

AIDS programs helping poor deplete funds in Wyo.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- State programs that help people with HIV and AIDS pay for medication and other health care will run out of funds in less than six weeks and cannot accept any more participants, according to the Associated Press. Kurt Galbraith, the state Department of Health's care coordinator, said the state has nearly depleted this year's $340,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services that funds the AIDS Drug Assistance Program and the HIV/AIDS Care Program. No new money will be available until April, when the funding renews. A major factor in the lack of funds is the increasing cost of medication, which last year took up about 73 percent of the funds, Galbraith said. Some 77 people in the state currently receive funding for their medicine and health care under the federal Ryan White CARE Act. Mary Speraw, an AIDS activist in the state, said she is not surprised the state ran out of money, since the federal government has not increased funding to match rising drug costs. "We need money for bombs and warheads, not for AIDS," she said.

Conservative Singapore to give out HIV-prevention packs to men

SINGAPORE -- Singapore plans to distribute HIV-prevention packs containing condoms to male travelers heading to what it deems high-risk destinations, the Straits Times reported, according to the Associated Press. The packs, which will also contain information on the dangers of casual sex, will be given out by the Health Promotion Board through local travel agents. The plan was announced at the third annual Singapore AIDS Conference, which this year aims to improve AIDS awareness in this conservative city-state where many people still believe the disease is limited to gay men. Homosexual acts are illegal in Singapore, a country of four million people, and AIDS is seldom openly discussed.

Distribution of sex kits to gay men curtailed in Ariz. park

CENTRAL PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Men seeking sex at Papago Park will no longer get free condoms and lubricants from Maricopa County health workers, according to the Arizona Republic. A county administrator ordered a halt to the distribution of "survival kits" at the public park in the wake of media reports about the program. Public officials said the effort facilitates public sex. The employees frequented the park as part of MenPower, a federally funded program aimed at reducing HIV/AIDS. "Their primary purpose is to go out there and try to convince [men] not to have sex in public and get them into a counseling program," health department spokesperson Douglas Hauth said. The kits contain condoms, lubricants and cards that include public sex laws. They are handed out at parks, bathhouses, bars and other places gay men may meet for sex, Hauth said.

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