50 meet here to discuss role of church with AIDS

[The*Empress]

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

By Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Fifty doctors, social workers, theologians and pastors from two continents will gather later this month at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary to talk about how faith and the church affect the local and global crisis of HIV/AIDS

"We are looking for a way to address it, new ways to minister in the midst of a pandemic crisis that has such a stigma attached to it that people don't want to talk about it," said the Rev. Jermaine McKinley, assistant director of the seminary's Metro-Urban Institute.

According to conference statistics, HIV/AIDS has killed more than 22 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. In the United States, African Americans account for 41 percent of reported AIDS cases, though they are just 12 percent of the population.

The conference will have an emphasis on predominantly black churches and their role in outreach.

Some speakers at the March 30-April 1 conference include Dr. Fastone Goma, dean of the University of Zambia Medical School, Karen Reddick, project director of the Center for Minority Health at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and Kezia Ellison, a Pittsburgh teenager who founded an AIDS prevention outreach to teens.

A "pastors in conversation" segment will feature the Rev. Jason Barr, pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church in the Hill District, exchanging ideas with the Rev. Saindi Chiphangwi of Malawi, representing the Network of African Congregational Theology.

Dr. McKinley compares the role of the church to that of some men in the Gospels who made a hole in the roof of a house where Jesus was speaking in order to lower a handicapped friend down to him for healing.

"This conference is an opportunity for the faith community to come together and take the roof off and deal with sickness and a disease that is impacting the global community," she said.

"My hope is that once we have the facts and know what we are dealing with, then we can come back and minister out of our own particular tenets of faith."

The registration deadline is Monday. To register, call 412-441-3304, Ext. 2163, or visit www.mui-pts.org.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06066/666233.stm

 

[The*Empress]

HIV rising among U.S. gay, bisexual men
Disease could be making a comeback, researchers warn

Reuters • AIDS worldwide
From farmers in China to sex workers in India, AIDS is affecting nations in different ways.


Updated: 4:11 p.m. ET Dec. 1, 2004
ATLANTA - The number of newly diagnosed HIV infections in gay and bisexual men has risen in many U.S. states, according to a federal study Wednesday which stoked concerns AIDS may be poised for a resurgence in the country.

In a study of HIV/AIDS data from 32 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 11 percent more infections were diagnosed from 2000 through 2003 among men who have sex with men. The study was released to commemorate World AIDS Day.

Gay and bisexual males accounted for 44 percent of the 125,800 diagnoses reported by these states during the period, the Atlanta-based agency said.

“This is not a trend we want to ignore,” said Dr. Ronald Valdiserri, deputy director of the CDC’s HIV/AIDS prevention program. “We need to make sure the leadership in the gay community understands the importance of tracking this very carefully.

The HIV/AIDS diagnosis rate for the overall population remained relatively stable at 19.7 cases per 100,000 people in 2003, compared to 19.5 per 100,000 people in 2000, the CDC said. Blacks, who represent about 13 percent of the U.S. population, made up 51 percent of all diagnoses from 2000 to 2003.

Valdiserri said the findings appeared to back up other studies that suggested rising HIV infections among gay and bisexual males, but he added that the limited geographical reach of the study made it difficult to determine the exact scope of the epidemic.

New York, California and 16 other states which had not met reporting standards were excluded from the study.

AIDS, which destroys the immune system and leaves victims vulnerable to an array of opportunistic infections and cancers, has killed about half a million Americans and 22 million people worldwide since 1981.

Experts warn of possible resurgence
U.S. public-health experts have been warning of a possible resurgence of the epidemic, which eased in the early 1990s following the development of antiretroviral drugs targeting the disease.

Since the late 1990s, when U.S. deaths from AIDS stabilized at 16,000 per year and new HIV infections stabilized at 40,000 per year, the disease has shown signs of a comeback, particularly among gay and bisexual men.

This group is believed to account for a majority of the estimated 850,000 to 950,000 Americans living with HIV, the virus that causes the disease.

Rates of other STDs also rising
A recent surge in syphilis infections among gay and bisexual men has prompted concern among infectious disease experts and public health officials. Syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases increase the risk of contracting HIV.

To combat the changing scope of the AIDS epidemic in America, the U.S. government decided last year to emphasize programs that focus on testing and counseling people who are already infected.

Some AIDS activists have attacked the new approach, saying it will lead to reduced funding for many programs that emphasize condom use and other safe-sex practices for uninfected people.

The CDC also has recommended routine HIV testing be expanded to include pregnant women, intravenous-drug users and anyone who engages in unsafe sex.