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

As we contemplate the way forward for black gay men in this country and most critically how we build a movement, it is crucial that we take a step back to consider our approach. Our approach must be rooted in a commitment to building power, which means that our work has to be community-driven, culturally relevant, and value the impact of meaningful and transformative experiences in our lives.

We must have the courage to rival the breathtaking level of scientific advancement in the clinical realm with moral clarity and political will in the community realm. Policy solutions are important, as are medical strategies, but these cannot come at the expense of movement building, these things are all inseparable. Scientific advancement cannot mean our black gay men's communities are weakened, our organizations fail and our movement leaders are replaced by programmatic managers. This cannot happen.

Initial investment to help research, identify and apply innovative solutions in Baltimore, Maryland and Jackson, Mississippi - two of the cities hardest hit by HIV/AIDS

The surprising failure of a large clinical trial of

H.I.V.-prevention methods in Africa - and the elaborate deceptions employed by the women in it - have opened an ethical debate about how to run such studies in poor countries and have already changed the design of some that are now underway.

CytoDyn Inc. today announced it concluded the second phase of its study into a new therapy for combating HIV.

The idea that AIDS was created as part of a government-led conspiracy to decimate the African American population remains salient to a significant minority of black people, according to qualitative research published in the January edition of the American Journal of Public Health. The researcher argues that such rumours and narratives are the product of a deep-seated feeling of distrust towards the government, born out of African American people's history, and are therefore particularly difficult to change. People holding these beliefs are unlikely to be reassured by factual information from sources they consider to be untrustworthy.

Craigslist's entry into a market results in a 15.9 percent increase in reported HIV cases, according to research from the University of Minnesota published in the December issue of MIS Quarterly. When mapped at the national level, more than 6,000 HIV cases annually and treatment costs estimated between $62 million and $65.3 million can be linked to the popular website.

The House voted 239-186 today to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the latest effort by the Republican-controlled chamber to scrap the law.

Marvell Terry came to prominence as the founder and executive director of the Memphis-based Red Door Foundation. Now, after working to bring culturally competent care to other HIV-positive young gay men of color in the South, the Tennessee native is setting his sights on a national platform as the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation's new HIV/AIDS Project Fellow.

The idea that "[t]he plain text of the ACA reflects a specific choice by Congress" to limit Obamacare subsidies to states that set up their own exchanges has conveniently evolved into an article of faith on the right.

AUSTIN, Tex. - Alma Ramos, a soft-spoken prep cook at a Tex-Mex restaurant, was eager to sign up for health insurance through the new HealthCare.gov marketplace last year. But Ms. Ramos, a single mother of three, quickly hit a baffling hurdle.

Recently, while William, 21, was manning the chicken-wing fryer at a fast-food restaurant in suburban Seattle, he pulled aside his sort-of girlfriend, 18, a pizza deliverer there. He had bad news.

WASHINGTON - Obama administration officials and other supporters of the Affordable Care Act say they worry that the tax-filing season will generate new anger as uninsured consumers learn that they must pay tax penalties and as many people struggle with complex forms needed to justify tax credits they received in 2014 to pay for health insurance.