8 GAY PEOPLE's ChronICLE DECEMBER 4, 1998
Tolling church bells, candles mark World AIDS Day
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numbers of children orphaned as a result of the spread of the disease.
The grants, administered by USAID, will be used to provide training for foster families, schooling for orphans, vocational training and other assistance. Also, USAID will work on improving medical care given children infected with HIV, and preventing the transfer of the virus from mother to child.
During a December I ceremony held at the White House, the president also highlighted a 30 percent increase in funding to the National Institutes of Health for research on HIV prevention and treatment around the world. The White House said the NIH funding, included in the fiscal 1999 budget, represents the largest single investment of public monies into AIDS research. It includes $200 million for AIDS vaccine research, an increase of $47 million over the previous year, and $164 million for new research such as prevention trials and prevention/treatment of other opportunistic infections like tuberculosis.
The efforts Clinton announced are expected to have their largest impact in Africa, where the United Nations AIDS program estimates that nearly 8 million children have been orphaned by AIDS and at least 1 million children are infected with the virus. AIDS continues to run rampant on the continent of Africa, causing untold damage to an already unstable economy.
Namibia and Swaziland have been added to the list of countries where from 20 to 26 percent of people 15 to 39 are infected. They join Botswana and Zimbabwe as the countries with the highest infection rates.
Clinton administration AIDS policy advisor Sandy Thurman will be sent to southern Africa on a fact-finding mission about AIDS orphans. Upon her return, Thurman will give the president a report on how the United States can respond to the problem.
As for AIDS in the United States, Vice President Al Gore was to announce $200 million for housing assistance for AIDS pa-
tients and their families. And Clinton was highlighting an earlier announcement of $156 million toward fighting AIDS among U.S. minorities.
Besides those efforts, Congress has approved funding increases for a range of AIDS programs, including an extra $262 million for the Ryan White CARE Act, an additional $32 million for HIV prevention programs through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an extra $21 million for Housing Opportunities for People With AIDS.
Sobering statistics emerge
The theme for World AIDS Day 1998 was "Be a Force for Change," but recent news indicates that not much has changed in the efforts to slow the spread of AIDS.
In the days leading up to December 1, information began to emerge from the international medical community about the status of the worldwide AIDS epidemic-and the news was sobering.
Since AIDS was first recognized in 1981, 47 million people have become infected with HIV, and 14 million have died; 2.5 million of those deaths in 1998. More people worldwide now die of AIDS than any other disease.
Of special concern was a report issued by the United Nations AIDS Program in Geneva, Switzerland that said AIDS is spreading most quickly among young people and women. The American Association for World Health said that a quarter of the new AIDS infections occur in people between the ages of 15 and 24, but only ten percent of the people in that age group feel they are at risk for contracting HIV. Only one in ten of those new infections occurred in utero, at birth, through breast-feeding, the New York Times reported.
or
"Every hour of every day, two teenagers become infected with HIV," said Nickie Antonio of the North Coast HIV/AIDS Coalition, a group in Cleveland that organized World AIDS Day activities.
The American Foundation for AIDS Re-
search, or AmFAR, released results of a Harris poll which showed that most Americans think they are more likely to be shot by a stranger or go completely deaf rather than become HIV-positive. "The data is a wake-up call reminding us it is no time to be complacent," said AmFAR chairperson Mathilde Krim.
A United Nations report, however, said that young people are more likely than adults to practice abstinence or safer sex if they are given the educational information to help them do so. A national Youth Only AIDS Line has been established in Boston to get information to young people at risk, Antonio said. It can be reached at 800-788-1234 or TTY 617-437-1672.
DOREEN CUDNIK
Cuyahoga County Commissioners Tim Hagan and Jane Campbell present a copy of the Commission's Resolution on AIDS to Nickie Antonio of the North Coast HIV/AIDS Coalition during a December 1 meeting.
Overall, the number of people infected with HIV rose by 5.8 million, to 33.4 million from 27.6 million. All but 5 percent of the infections occurred in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. Women now account for 43 percent of all HIV-infected people over age 15, a rise of 2 percent over the preceding year.
Some good news
Among the few "good" news items unveiled in the weeks leading up to World AIDS Day, was the report that the rate of infection among gay men in four major cities New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco-has fallen 60-70 percent over the last decade.
The HIV-positive rate for gay men in the United States now appears to be around 17%, Reuters reported. The data was presented at a November meeting of the Ameri-
can Public Health Association. The decline is attributed to safer sex practices and to the death of people who were infected early in the epidemic.
"Combination therapy" continues to work for a substantial portion of people who have access to the often-expensive drugs. But success is not universal and the number of deaths seems to be creeping back up.
Pharmaceutical giant Glaxo Wellcome announced the wholesale price of Ziagen (abacavir) at $3,540 per year. Middlemen in the distribution chain are likely to boost that by a third, while ADAP programs will get a 15 percent rebate. That should allow most states to add the nucleoside analog to their formulary early next year, soon after the FDA gives final approval to the new drug.
AIDS activists are continuing their efforts to get DuPont to reduce the price of its drug Sustiva.
Washington, D.C. reporter Bob Roehr contributed to this story.
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Church is given its own building
Continued from page 1
open and said this is your home," said Liberation moderator Kenn McLaughlin. "They almost adopted us as their children."
"I've rarely been this stunned at an event in my life,” McLaughlin added. “This is an incredible blessing that was just handed to us."
The building will belong to the Western Reserve Association, the regional body of the United Church of Christ which covers a five-county area. It was Western Reserve Association Minister Bob Strommen who originally began the inquiry in 1993 that resulted in Liberation's formation, and the association provided money to get the congregation started.
"I'm excited," Strommen said. “I think it's a wonderful use for that building." The association will hold the deed to the building for at least a year, and Liberation will pay a nominal $1 annual rent while the congregation adjusts to the changes the new building brings, such as the cost of insurance, utilities and maintenance, and logistical concerns like parking.
"Assuming all of that goes smoothly, then we will transfer the property to them," Strommen said.
The building will then become the property of Liberation for as long as it remains a
GAN PEOPLES CHRONICLE
United Church of Christ congregation.
Geslin said that not only is Liberation getting a building, but a furnished one. There is a kitchen complete with pots and pans. There are classrooms and a lounge with furniture already in place.
"Everything you can imagine that a church needs, they're passing that on to us," Geslin said.
McLaughlin said that Liberation has been satisfied with its current arrangement, but there has always been some concern about how to increase membership when the congregation didn't have its own building.
To prospective members, "you look like a gypsy when you're renting,” he explained. Now, Liberation can be a stable base for a congregation, and can serve the community throughout the week as a space other groups can use for meetings.
"This is a much better situation for us in all sorts of ways," Geslin said. "It's going to greatly expand our ability to do ministry in the community."
Burlingham said he is pleased with the way plans are working out and that he feels it will be good for the lesbian and gay community as well as for Lakewood. Lakewood Mayor Madeline Cain said she thinks it's wonderful.
"It's a miracle," Geslin said. "The feeling of gratitude is brimming over in all of us.”
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