Road to AIDS 2012: A Series of Town Hall Meetings--Baltimore

The 15th in a series of articles about the Road to AIDS 2012, a 17-city tour that seeks to define the state of the U.S. epidemic and that leads up to the International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., in July 2012. The 14th installment reported on the Dallas meeting.

States Could Cut Medicaid Rolls In 2014 As A Result Of Court Ruling

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Starting in 2014, things could get worse for people in Medicaid.

Not only could some states opt out of increasing the number of adults in the government health insurance program for the poor as a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling, but they also could cut people now enrolled.

FDA approves first over-the-counter home use HIV test kit

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the OraQuick In-Home HIV Test, the first over-the-counter, self-administered HIV test kit to detect the presence of antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and type 2 (HIV-2). HIV is the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Secretary’s Minority AIDS Initiative Awards FY12 Funds to Address HIV/AIDS in Minority Communities

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In late spring, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) and the Office of HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Policy (OHAIDP) announced the Fiscal Year 2012 (FY12) awards by the Secretary’s Minority AIDS Initiative Fund (SMAIF). The fund made 29 competitive awards (PDF 2MB) ranging in size from $200,000 to $6,800,000 to ten HHS agencies and offices for a variety of activities that complement existing efforts to address HIV/AIDS in racial and ethnic minority communities.

Ask the Doctor: What Do Black Men Need to Know about HIV?

Every month, HIV specialist Theresa Mack, M.D., M.P.H.--an associate medical director at St. Luke's Medical Group in Harlem, N.Y.--will answer your most pressing HIV/AIDS questions.

HIV remains an epidemic in our community, and Black males account for the greatest number of new infections in the United States. Men who have sex with men (MSM) are particularly affected, with young Black MSM between the ages of 13 and 29 experiencing a 48 percent increase (pdf) in new HIV infections between 2006 and 2009.