A cross-section of articles we've read this week about HIV/AIDS, STIs and a wide cross-section of structural and systemic factors impacting HIV/AIDS in Black communities.

MSM

Crafting an Advocacy Agenda for Black Gay Men in the U.S. South 

If black gay men in the U.S. South had an agenda for achieving a life free from stigma and discrimination, what would be on it? What are the issues that must be confronted to make progress toward equality? The webinar We Are Here: Toward an Advocacy Agenda for Black Gay Men in the South, presented by HIV Prevention Justice Alliance, brought together select voices to try to answer these questions and more. Presenters on the webinar pointed out that black gay men in the South -- and around the country -- are burdened with mass incarceration, poverty, unemployment, stigma and discrimination. In order to level the playing ground and make strides toward ending certain policies that contribute to these burdens, the webinar presenters stressed the need to organize and take action on several key issues.

High Rates of Recreational Drug Use Among HIV-Positive Gay and Bisexual Men Strongly Linked with Condomless Sex 

New research published in The Lancet HIV shows that polydrug use is common among HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) and is strongly linked to sex without a condom (condomless sex).

Science

Unusual Immune Cell Needed to Prevent Oral Thrush, Researchers Find 

An unusual kind of immune cell in the tongue appears to play a pivotal role in the prevention of thrush, according to the researchers who discovered them. The findings might shed light on why people infected with HIV or who have other immune system impairments are more susceptible to the oral yeast infection.

Treatment

HIV Clinicians Excluded From Prescribing Hepatitis C Treatment 

Two of the largest professional associations of HIV clinicians in the United States have sent letters to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) challenging cost control policies, according to a statement from the National AIDS Treatment Advocacy Project (NATAP). They claim the policies are effectively barring many HIV docs from prescribing treatments for patients coinfected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV).

New Medicines in Development Give Hope to Patients with HIV/AIDS 

WASHINGTON, Sep 10, 2014 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- America's biopharmaceutical research companies are currently developing 44 medicines and vaccines for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, according to the latest Medicines in Development report by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). A second report, a PhRMA-sponsored white paper by Boston Healthcare Associates, Inc. (BHA), "The Value of Innovation in HIV/AIDS Therapy," highlights the progress in HIV/AIDS treatment and its impact on patients afflicted with the disease.

Miscellaneous

Affordable Care Act: Insurance Coverage Has Improved for Young Adults 

Researchers analyzing the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act have found that it has led to increased health insurance coverage among young adults aged 19-25. This increase has not been linked, however, with any significant changes in health care affordability or health status.

Alabama's Black Belt Churches Join the Fight Against HIV/AIDS 

Churches in Alabama's Black Belt are trying to crack down on the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, WBHM reports.

Better Physical Function Improves Quality of Life in Older HIV+ Adults 

Better performance on three physical function tests translated into better quality of life in 45- to 65-year-old antiretroviral-treated people with HIV, independently of predicted mortality, according to results of a 359-person US study.

Pennsylvania is Expanding Medicaid. Here's How. 

Pennsylvania - a state with a Republican governor and GOP-controlled legislature - became the 27th state (alongside the District of Columbia) to join Obamacare's growing Medicaid expansion.

That Predicted Double-Digit Rise in Obamacare Premiums? Not Happening 

Another stake in the heart of a popular anti-Obamacare claim has arrived from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which compiled the projected premium changes for 2015 in 15 states and the District of Columbia.

Transgender Women Living With HIV: New Study on Relationships Reflects Widespread Challenges, Reinforces Why Policies Must Change

High rates of stigma, discrimination and financial hardship don't only affect the many transgender women who face these challenges. According to a study in the Journal of Family Psychology, they can affect their cisgender (non-transgender) male partners as well. The findings were not surprising to several advocates who are transgender women living with HIV, and reinforces why policy change is needed to support transgender women, their partners and their families.

US Slammed for Failure to Fulfill Legal Obligation to Eliminate All Forms of Race Discrimination 

Three weeks after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) published a report detailing how the United States has failed to fulfill its legal obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Convention). The CERD report was scathing in its criticism of the U.S. for not complying with the Convention's mandates. Since the U.S. ratified this treaty, thereby becoming a State Party, it is part of U.S. law under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.

A Witness to AIDS in South Africa 

At the turn of the millennium, when the AIDS epidemic raged unchecked through South Africa with devastating consequences, the rural areas were worst hit. In the men's ward of the impoverished Hlabisa Hospital in rural KwaZulu-Natal, patients shared mattresses on the floor, the terminally ill were sent home to die because of nonexistent facilities and unclaimed corpses were buried in unadorned mass graves on the outskirts of town.