World AIDS Day Event Today at State House

A Rhode Island State House event honoring World AIDS Day is being held today, Friday, November 30, 2012 from 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm in the State Room.

The event is being sponsored by The Rhode Island HIV Prevention Coalition. Featured speakers are Governor Lincoln Chafee, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, and Rhode Island House Speaker Gordon Fox.

The Coalition was formed in the spring of 2012 with the goal of reducing the incidence of new HIV infections in Rhode Island through collaboration, education, and advocacy. It is composed of twenty-two community-based organizations and other partners who meet regularly to support efforts to reduce HIV among high-risk groups through primary prevention efforts.

According to Thomas Bertrand, MPH, executive director of AIDS Project Rhode Island, “The State House event represents an opportunity for the Coalition and elected officials to renew attention to a public health problem that has been neglected for too long in Rhode Island."

The Rhode Island Department of Health HIV/AIDS Epidemiological Profile indicates that HIV continues to be a persistent public health problem in Rhode Island, with 106 new HIV infections reported in 2010.

“While we have seen some preliminary signs that indicate a small overall drop in HIV in recent years, some groups remain disproportionately impacted by HIV. People aged 20-29, as well as gay/bisexual men, represent groups that are making up an increasing percentage of new HIV infections. In addition Latinos and African Americans continue to have disproportionately higher rates of HIV infection compared to whites,” according to Wendy Hadley, PhD, assistant professor, Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

Bertrand warns, “Unfortunately, an increase in HIV infection for at-risk groups could occur in coming years, as government funding for primary HIV prevention to community groups evaporates in Rhode Island on December 31, 2012.” Funding to conduct HIV prevention/education for five community-based initiatives will be discontinued at the end of 2012, leaving community-based funding solely for HIV testing and retaining people living with HIV in medical care.

 “I think community-based HIV primary prevention should be the foundation of Rhode Island’s public health strategy to eliminate HIV. Individuals in at-risk communities must understand what puts them at risk for HIV and learn ways to protect themselves. It costs about $400,000 in lifetime medical costs for people who are infected with HIV. It only makes sense for Rhode Island to invest in efforts that help people lead healthy lives and save in HIV-related health care costs,” says Aida Manduley, sexual health advocate, Sojourner House.

Bertrand points to Massachusetts as an example of how an investment in community-based HIV prevention/education can pay off. “In recent years Massachusetts has invested about five times more per capita than Rhode Island in HIV prevention at the community level, and their overall rate of new HIV infections has dropped about 46% since 2000. During that same time, Rhode Island has only seen a 16% decline. I think we can do better in Rhode Island, but it will require leadership by community groups, government agencies, and elected officials,” says Bertrand.

Rhode Island HIV Prevention Member Agencies:

 • Abbot Virology
• AIDS Care Ocean State
• AIDS Project Rhode Island, a division of Family Service of RI
• Bristol Myers Squib
 • Brown University LGBTQ Center
• Brown University Health Education
• Brown University AIDS Program
• The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health
• Center for AIDS Research
• Gilead
• JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc.
• Housing Action of Rhode Island
• Jannsen
• Lifespan’s Hasbro Children’s Hospital PediII Clinic
• Miriam Hospital, Lifespan/Tufts/Brown Center for AIDS Research
• Pawtucket Prevention Coalition
• Planned Parenthood for Southern New England
• Project Renew
• Sojourner House
• ViiV Healthcare • Youth Pride, Inc.
• YWCA of Northern Rhode Island.