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.

Prevention

Women Who Took Part in VOICE Speak Up About Why They Didn't Use HIV Prevention Products 

Many of the women at first acted surprised. Some insisted the blood tests were wrong. But most conveyed to researchers why they had not used the study products assigned to them as participants in VOICE, a large HIV prevention trial that, as a likely consequence, did not find any of the three products that were tested to be effective

Study Explores Prevention of Heart Disease in HIV-Infected People 

The National Institutes of Health has launched a clinical trial to assess the effects of aspirin and cholesterol-lowering drugs, or statins, on preventing cardiovascular disease in people with long-term HIV infections. This group, which includes people on antiretroviral therapy (ART) as well as "elite controllers" who can limit the virus without ART, have a higher risk of developing heart disease and stroke compared to the general population. The study is funded by NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

Miscellaneous

The Affordable Care Act: Who Was Helped Most 

A new data set provides a clearer picture of which people gained health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

Houston Man Charged With Raping Teen and Toddler, Both of Whom Now Have HIV 

David Richard Wilson, an already convicted sex offender, was charged with sexual assault of a child and super-aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Is the Affordable Care Act Working? 

After a year fully in place, the Affordable Care Act has largely succeeded in delivering on President Obama's main promises, an analysis by a team of reporters and data researchers shows. But it has also fallen short in some ways and given rise to a powerful conservative backlash.

The New Face of Transgender Youth 

What defines gender? Is it biology, the heart and mind, or some combination of both? As the debate surrounding transgender children swirls, one girl is sharing her personal story in the hope that she can help others.

Op-ed: We Must End PrEP Segregation 

Gay and bi men of color must be given every option to help end an epidemic that affects us all.

Oral Contraception May Become Renewed Option for HIV-Positive Women 

Contrary to guidelines issued by the World Health Organization, new research has found that HIV-positive women receiving one of the most common forms of drug therapy should be able to use at least some forms of oral contraceptives for birth control.

Resources for People With HIV Considering Employment 

Mark Misrok is proof of the promise of vocational rehabilitation for people living with HIV in the U.S. He started out as a client and volunteer at the Positive Resource Center in San Francisco in 1992 -- and three years later became its program director.

Why Did AIDS Activists Go to Geneva to Cite U.S. HIV/AIDS Policies as a Form of Racial Discrimination? 

This past summer, a national coalition of HIV/AIDS activists in the United States borrowed a page from the civil rights playbook by asking the United Nations to pressure the U.S. to address high and rising rates of HIV in communities of color. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that although African Americans represent just 12 percent of the U.S. population, they accounted for approximately 44 percent of new HIV infections in 2010. The new infection rate was also significantly higher among Latinos/Latinas than it was in white people. The CDC also reported increasing infection among black gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM), and transgender women.