In April, the Kaiser Family Foundation, which has been tracking U.S. public opinion on the AIDS epidemic for more than a decade, released its 2009 Survey of Americans on HIV/AIDS.

Many of the findings are particularly troubling: The number of Americans who name HIV/AIDS as the most urgent health problem facing the nation has dropped dramatically from 17 percent to only six percent -- amid reports that new HIV infection rates are 40 percent higher nationwide than previously believed.

Also disconcerting is the fact that, among two of the groups at highest risk of HIV infection (youth and people of color), personal concern about contracting HIV has also declined rapidly -- while rates of infection among these groups rise.

And stigma persists -- one in two Americans still expresses some discomfort in working with someone who has HIV/AIDS, and a growing minority erroneously believes that it is unsafe to share a drinking glass with an HIV-positive person.

Conclusions like these only underscore the need for effective HIV prevention and education messages that transcend stigma and resonate in all of our communities.

Learn more about our prevention and education programs -- and the full range of our work here and abroad -- in our newly released APLA Annual Report, now available online.

Craig E. Thompson
Executive Director

On May 13, an expert panel of global and domestic public health leaders will gather to examine the role of anti-gay stigma on HIV infection rates here and abroad during APLA's "HIV Matters" town hall forum.

The event, held with community partner The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, will precede the May 17 International Day Against Homophobia observance, an annual effort to draw attention to the effects of anti-gay bias worldwide.

Men who have sex with men (MSM) are much more likely to be infected with HIV than the general population globally -- but HIV prevention workers are often challenged to reach at-risk gay men, who are often hidden or isolated by homophobic persecution.

Speakers at the Wednesday evening event will examine the effects of homophobia on HIV and will discuss strategies to reduce anti-gay bias locally and worldwide.

Presentations begin at 7:00 p.m. at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Renberg Theatre in The Village at Ed Gould Plaza. An open question-and-answer session will follow.

RSVP online. 

Meet LaVera Anom: A drug rehabilitation counselor by trade, the 35-year-old mother of two began volunteering in 2008 as an APLA case management intern, helping people living with HIV/AIDS to navigate often daunting medical and social service systems and connect to APLA resources to secure food, safe housing and dental care.

But LaVera’s colleagues and clients didn’t know that she was quietly fighting her own battle. HIV-positive herself for five years -- and recently laid off from her job -- LaVera struggled to pay her medical bills and grocery costs. She and her family verged on homelessness. And her husband, who knew little about the disease or its transmission, asked her to use a separate bath towel.

"It was time to start confronting my own struggle," LaVera says. "And I knew from experience that APLA was the best place to go."

She began to access the APLA services -- like housing help and dental care -- that she had recommended to so many others. And she reached a turning point with her husband. The day they attended APLA's HIV 101 class was the first time he ever spoke publicly about her disease.

Learn more about LaVera’s story -- and her family’s journey toward acceptance -- in APLA's newly released annual report.

"I've never done anything like this before, running 26.2 miles. But the work of APLA is so compelling, I feel I need to do my part."

-- National AIDS Marathon Training Program participant Lauren Tremblay, in a letter to the editor of the Asbury Park Press, on May 3. Tremblay began training April 25 for the Maui Marathon. Sponsor a runner -- or learn about the program -- at the National AIDS Marathon Training Program Web site.