Dear Friends,

As the holidays approach, the weather has grown colder and harsher, and those who are forced to live on the streets need our help.

During the last week, we opened the Emergency Winter Shelter Program, which will provide more than 200 beds for the homeless on the Westside thru mid-March.  But the program – and those it serves – sorely needs your help.

Can you help by donating personal items and supplies for the shelters?   The items, listed below, can be left at any of my offices between now and December 16.

• Toiletries:  razors, soap, toothpaste, feminine hygiene products; foot spray; deodorant; combs; hairbrushes; nail clippers; shower shoes.
• Clothing:  men’s underwear; women’s underwear; socks; t-shirts; coats; jackets; hats; scarves; gloves; men’s pants; women’s pants; shoes; adult diapers.
• Personal items:  backpacks; reading glasses.
• Items for shelter:  coffee; creamer; sugar; books; magazines; board games.

These items can be dropped off at either of my field offices or downtown:

City Hall
Room 415, 200 N Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-473-7011

Westchester
7166 W Manchester Ave
Los Angeles CA 90045
310-569-8772
Hours: 9a-5p

West LA
1645 Corinth Ave, #201
Los Angeles, CA 90025
310-575-8461
Hours: 9a-5p

Thanking you in advance for demonstrating the 11th District is a community that cares.  Together we can make this special season a little warmer for those in need.

Happy Holidays,

—Bill

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Councilmember Bill Rosendahl proudly serves the coastal communities of the 11th District

The latest news and information affecting the district can be found on the following social networks

Thanking you in advance for demonstrating the 11th District is a community that cares.  Together we can make this special season a little warmer for those in need.

Happy Holidays,

Bill

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Congresswoman Barbara Lee on the House Floor 11-30-11

chers—

this article appeared in the nov 30 issue of The Hill.

—rk

World AIDS Day 2011 marks tremendous progress in the global response since the first discovery of AIDS cases 30 years ago. The good news is that new HIV infections worldwide are at their lowest levels since 1997. Promising research shows that eliminating new HIV infections in children is possible — and our goal of doing so by 2015 is within reach. AIDS-related deaths are at their lowest level since the 2005 peak. We know that U.S.-funded research yields revolutionary breakthroughs in the global and domestic AIDS response.

Despite U.S. efforts, however, the world is truly at a tipping point and we must not be complacent. AIDS is still the greatest humanitarian crisis of our lifetime. Thirty-four million people are living with HIV globally. Of the 15 million people medically recommended for anti-retroviral medication, only half have access to the drug treatment. This means some 8 million people still await treatment, including more than 5,000 people in our country.

African-Americans — especially women and young men who have sex with men — face the most severe burden of HIV in the United States. And with domestic poverty rates on the rise, there is real concern that income inequality, homelessness and long-term unemployment will hinder outreach and prevention efforts in the most critical communities as well as create barriers to effective treatment for those with the virus.

In order to make progress in our communities and throughout the world, scientific discoveries must be combined with scaling-up combination HIV prevention approaches. This includes increasing access to male and female condoms, organizing wide-scale efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission, focusing on vulnerable populations and being real about comprehensive sex education.

We must also work hard to reduce stigma and eliminate discrimination in our communities to better identify and provide care for people living with HIV. Today, 34 states and two U.S. territories have statutes that specifically criminalize people living with HIV. In fact, there are cases where people living with HIV have been given sentences of 10 to 30 years in jail — even in the absence of HIV transmission or in the aftermath of consensual behavior.

It is critical that we reform laws that are based on outdated science and end the prosecution of individuals for actions that pose no measurable risk of transmission. First, the laws reflect long-outdated beliefs and were adopted before scientific research was available regarding how the virus could be transmitted and not transmitted. More importantly, discriminatory laws are counterproductive to efforts that encourage everyone to know their status. In the United States alone, 1 in 5 do not know they are HIV positive — and they miss out on the promise of treatment at the same time they put current and future partners are risk.

We must overcome legal barriers to expanding and improving our response to HIV/AIDS. That is why I introduced H.R. 3053, the Repeal Existing Policies that Encourage and Allow Legal (REPEAL) HIV Discrimination Act. The bill requires the attorney general, secretary of Health and Human Services and secretary of Defense to work with stakeholders to review federal and state laws, policies, regulations and judicial proceedings that involve criminal cases against people living with HIV/AIDS, and to provide support for education and reform initiatives. As the United States representative to the United Nations Global Commission on HIV and the Law, I can tell you that this is a top priority here in the United States.

From 1987, travelers and immigrants with HIV were barred from entering the United States — a ban that was rooted in fear rather than fact. The ban was an unjust policy that kept people from disclosing their status and prevented talented educators and researchers from working in the U.S. I am proud to have played an important role in overturning this discriminatory travel ban in 2008 — and now for the first time in 20 years, the International AIDS Conference returns to U.S. soil in July 2012.

If we are going get a handle on this epidemic, laws that fuel stigma, fear, discrimination, distrust and hatred have no place in the United States or anywhere. Science and medical research have vastly changed our understanding of the virus and its transmission. And now is the time to modernize our laws to reflect this reality. Our global leadership will never be more important than at this promising moment as we work to eradicate HIV and end the AIDS crisis in the United States and around the world.

Lee serves on the House Appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health, Human Services and Education. She co-authored legislation creating the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

For our World AIDS Day 2011 section, we wanted to capture the diversity of the AIDS community. So, we reached out to people across the world — regular contributors and those who have never written for us before — and asked them to guest blog. These columns are written by people who are living with HIV, have been affected by HIV, or work in the field.

World AIDS Day has become one of the most recognized international health days, and a key opportunity to raise awareness, commemorate those who have passed on, and celebrate victories such as increased access to treatment and prevention services.

Started on Dec. 1, 1988, World AIDS Day is about raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice, fighting stigma and improving education. World AIDS Day is important for reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done. PEOPLE ARE STILL DYING OF AIDS!

Thirty years into the illness I still find many people making the disease a moral issue. It is not a moral disease; it is a human condition.

There is still not a cure! We want a cure. I know that the lab companies are making better medication … but we want a cure or a vaccine! Some places, like here in some states in the U.S., thousands of citizens are on waiting lists for lifesaving medications. This is horrible; it breaks my heart seeing people in such need of these medications, and they can’t get them! What is going to happen to the newly diagnosed?

It is said that one out of every five people who have HIV don’t know it. I urge everyone to really think about this.

Let’s not only create awareness on Dec. 1. We have to educate people on this disease every day! I still don’t understand why so many people are getting infected. Just here in the United States, every 9 1/2 minutes a person contracts HIV/AIDS. This is scary.

As I always tell young people and even old: This is a loooooooong illness that is not easy to deal with. You don’t only have to deal with something trying to kill you every day, but also with ignorance, stigma, discrimination, and the worst: SELF STIGMA. People are in hiding; they don’t want to talk about it. They are living in shame and scared that someone will find out they’re HIV positive. They feel isolated and alone. They feel that no one is ever going to accept them or love them!

I have gone through many cycles over these 20 years and it is not as simple as “I will take one pill and will look good and live my life”! Even though we are trying to be as productive as we can, the fatigueand side effects that our lifesaving medications give us are very debilitating sometimes. But we must be strong and continue fighting till the end, or until a cure comes (maybe I am a dreamer).

I have a serious concern with people that are not respecting HIV/AIDS. As I always say, and try to drill it over and over every chance I have: It is NOT a death sentence anymore, but it is a life sentence.

You can prevent this virus just by protecting yourself and not taking any chances. I got infected at the age of 16 by my first boyfriend. It only takes one time of unprotected sex!

For those that are newly diagnosed, you can say you are lucky that things are better than 30 years ago or even 20 years ago when I found out. So please do not feel dirty, less than; don’t stigmatize yourself. Keep your head up high and fight fight fight!

At least for me there are some positive things that happened with my HIV diagnosis — like loving myself more, taking care of myself, being more spiritual and more compassionate towards others, and living each day to the fullest. These are the cards I was dealt with and I have been playing them right for a long, long time. I want to live! I have a purpose and mission to educate and tell my story so I can save lives and hopefully impact someone — or many — not to get infected with this virus.

I also think about all of the people that I have lost over this disease and it breaks my heart. I don’t want anyone else to get HIV/AIDS. I don’t want anyone to die of AIDS. And no matter how many new medicines are out there, people are still dying.

The theme for World AIDS Day 2011 is “Getting to Zero.” After 30 years of the global fight against HIV/AIDS, this year the global community has committed to focusing on achieving three targets:

“Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS-related deaths.”

It sounds very nice, but the reality is that there are still HIV infections every day around the globe, so much discrimination and stigma, and as I said, people are still dying.

I believe the best and most effective way to prevent and educate and stomp on stigma is through our stories and coming out of the HIV closet. This way, people can actually see our faces and know what happened to us. As a Latina, in my community, so many of us are getting infected! Women of color in general are at such high risk.

It is time for us to fight like in the ACT UP days with Larry Kramer, and not just sit back and take our medications. We must be passionate and have that fire to stop the spread of this disease and the ignorance around it.

If we want to change things, we must start with ourselves. As activists, we must not tear each other down or smash other activists’ work. We have to be united! Everyone has their own way of educating! We are all that we have.

When AIDS first started, no one could have predicted how the epidemic would spread across the world and how many millions of lives it would change. There was no real idea what caused it and no idea in how to prevent it or treat it.

Now we know that HIV is the cause of AIDS and that it can devastate families, communities and whole countries. We are living in an “international” society, and HIV has become the first truly “international” epidemic. It affects all of us (human beings).

Already, more than 30 million people around the world have died of AIDS-related diseases. In 2009, 2.6 million people were newly infected with HIV, and 1.8 million men, women and children lost their lives. 33.3 million people around the world are now living with HIV.

I want to wish everyone much love and light!

and please …

LOVE YOURSELF,TEST YOURSELF AND PROTECT YOURSELF!

Maria T. Mejia is a Colombian female and a tireless HIV advocate and speaker. She lives in Miami, Fla., with her partner, Lisa.

Send Maria an e-mail.

Read more of Time to Show My Face and Take the Stigma Away, Maria’s blog, at TheBody.com.

Get e-mail notifications every time Maria’s blog is updated.

For our World AIDS Day 2011 section, we wanted to capture the diversity of the AIDS community. So, we reached out to people across the world — regular contributors and those who have never written for us before — and asked them to guest blog. These columns are written by people who are living with HIV, have been affected by HIV, or work in the field.

World AIDS Day, for most of the country, is just another day. However, for a person living with AIDS like myself, it is a day of victory. Unfortunately this particular World AIDS Day is marred with insults and ignorance. A few weeks ago, Secretary Clinton announced the United States set a new direction for its global AIDS campaign, with an emphasis on HIV-fighting drugs that can prevent new infections. The key word in that statement is “global.” Secretary Clinton waxes poetically about creating an AIDS-free generation, declaring that it “has never been a policy priority for the United States government — until today.”

Secretary Clinton, I must ask you this. What happened to the nearly 7,000 Americans who are living without the very lifesaving medications you speak of? What about waiting lists in our own country? What about money for us? I am one of those people who depend on the AIDS Drug Assistance Program to receive my HIV medications. Without the help of the program, I am not sure how I would afford to, well, stay alive.

With all of the budget shortfalls, ADAP is a program that is living on the edge. Many states cannot afford to make their mandatory contributions, causing their own citizens to wait for these very drugs that can stop the infection in its tracks. With just over 2 percent increase a year, the Ryan White CARE Act program remains inadequately funded as compared to the need. While the infection rate remains static at approximately 50,000 a year, the need only increases as more and more individuals are living longer lives on these medications. People are now truly living with AIDS.

Doing just that — staying alive — requires nothing short of a team of support. Without the federal government leading the way, why would anyone provide support? These waiting lists created by budget deficits tell people living with HIV/AIDS one thing: that we do not matter — that people living with HIV/AIDs in other countries qualify to get the precious funding that we so desperately need in our very own.

From 2006 to this year we have seen approximately 250,000 individuals infected with HIV. Nearly 20 percent of those individuals are unaware of their status. With a population that has less and less access to health care, and with an unemployment rate that is remaining static for what seems to be a long time, now, more than ever, individuals are depending on others for their very survival in ways they never thought they would before.

This year, I made a personal achievement. I became the first long-term survivor to enter law school. I am a student at Southwestern School of Law in Los Angeles, with plans to study health policy law. I know firsthand how this system works, and more important, does not work, and I want to be a part of the solution. I know that I could not make this move if it were not for the assistance of others, some of whom are unaware that they are making this very step possible for me. I am asking you to be there for these Americans when they need it most.

Secretary Clinton, I beseech you: With your power and your passion, you can help achieve an AIDS-free generation in our own country. Why can’t we transfer some of the PEPFAR funds to ADAP and eliminate the waiting lists for our very own? It would take mere pennies of your budget to achieve that goal. Nearly 7,000 Americans are depending upon it.

On this World AIDS Day, let’s make creating an AIDS-free generation in America a priority. Let’s put the White House’s National HIV/AIDS Strategy to work. Let’s provide Americans the drugs they need to live longer, healthier lives. Let’s reduce transmission through reducing infection and prevention education.

If the rest of the world can have it, why can’t it begin at home, on this very World AIDS Day?

Thomas DeLorenzo is an HIV advocate and a first-year law student. He lives in Los Angeles, Calif.

Read more of Who Knew So Few T Cells Could Accomplish So Much?, Thomas’ blog, on TheBody.com.

photo above: The star-studded panel included renowned musicians Alicia Keys and Bono, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, D-Calif., Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., as well as other distinguished HIV/AIDS activists. Michelle Rattinger | Senior Photo Editor

President Barack Obama speaks to the importance of HIV/AIDS prevention at The Beginning of the End of Aids event in the Jack Morton Auditorium Wednesday morning. Michelle Rattinger | Senior Photo Editor

Lead singer of Irish rock band U2, Bono, greets audience members before the start of the panel discussion. Michelle Rattinger | Senior Photo Editor

Florence Ngobeni-Allen is applauded for her powerful commentary on HIV/AIDS education and prevention. Ngobeni-Allen is HIV positive and lost two children to the disease. Michelle Rattinger | Senior Photo Editor

President Barack Obama receives a standing ovation in Jack Morton Auditorium. Michelle Rattinger | Senior Photo Editor

Bono, sitting alongside Dr. Patricia Nkansah-Asamoah, far left, and musician Alicia Keys, middle, speaks with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla, about growing HIV/AIDS cases in the U.S. Michelle Rattinger | Senior Photo Editor

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta serves as the panel discusison moderator at the HIV/AIDS awareness event. Michelle Rattinger | Senior Photo Editor

Former President Bill Clinton addressed the crowd via satellite. Other guests to grace the big screen included former President George W. Bush, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, and musical artist Elton John. Michelle Rattinger | Senior Photo Editor

President Barack Obama is surrounded by media and enthusiastic audience members as he exits Jack Morton Auditorium after his address Wednesday morning. Michelle Rattinger | Senior Photo Editor 

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this is the kind of report we will see more often as HIV meds are used as prophylaxis. new virus infecting new persons will already be resistant to meds in this “rich-served-first-to-the-exclusion-of-the-poor-who-were-only-going-to-die-without-paying-anyway” embedded distribution model. it exacerbates the difference between rich and poor globally. the article also raises the problems of pediatric dosage and (non-)access to medicines for the poor, medicines from which big pharma hasn’t finished extracting sufficient profit,

and a vaccine? duh. the most recent advances in the vaccine field were 75 years ago. since then, big pharma has been closing down and not investing in vaccine research facilities (call it infrastructure, if you will), because “virtual” cures pay so much better. a vaccine you get once and you’re done with it. a virtual cure you take multiple versions marked up a hundred- to hundred fifty-fold, forever.

it makes conrad murray look tame by comparison.

—rk

(Reuters) – Teenagers in Asia receiving treatment for HIV are showing early signs of osteoporosis and children as young as five are becoming resistant to AIDS drugs, an anti-AIDS group said on Thursday, urging more attention be given to young HIV patients.

The finding, made available on World AIDS Day, is a reminder that while more people in Asia now have access to basic AIDS drugs, improved medicines remain out of reach and patients — both adults and children — still suffer from inadequate care.

In Asia, some 160,000 children are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS. Of these, 57,000 require treatment but only 30,000 were receiving them as of the end of 2008, according to UNICEF.

Researchers at TREAT Asia found children as young as five were developing resistance to AIDS drugs and may soon require improved, more expensive medicines, which are not available for them yet.

“In our cohort, about 14 percent of the children have failed first-line drugs … Some of the children who are already on second-line are under the age of five,” Annette Sohn, director of TREAT Asia, told Reuters in a phone interview.

Poor adherence to the timing or frequency of taking AIDS drugs results in resistance. But in Asia, resistance is also due to the lack of drug formulations for children.

“We all made some mistakes on how we managed patients with HIV in the beginning of the epidemic,” Sohn said. “We used adult tablets, we had no paediatric formulations in our countries.”

Sohn said health experts and drug providers need to find ways to make third-line, more powerful drugs available for children in poor countries. Such medications are available or subsidized in rich nations but very expensive and sometimes unavailable in developing countries.

“Unless we develop access to third-line drugs, we are going to find ourselves in a clinic room with a patient that there is nothing left and we have no other drug to give them.”

A long-term study of 4,000 HIV patients under the age of 23 in Asia by TREAT Asia also showed that a high percentage of teenagers had low bone mineral density, a precursor of osteoporosis.

“We did a special X-ray on these teenagers who are about 16 years old and found that 15 percent of them had low bone mass,” Sohn said.

“That is not normal. Kids are not supposed to have low bone mass when they’re 16 years old and that’s because of the effect of HIV on their bodies … brain, bone, immune system.”

Sohn, a paediatric specialist for children with HIV/AIDS, said this may also be due to toxic effects that some AIDS drugs, such as tenofovir, have on bone.

“It is not so much about avoiding one drug or another but being aware of these side effects, studying what drug doses will suppress the virus while not being toxic, having the resources to monitor the side effects, and having access to alternate drugs if they do arise.”

The study covers Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia and India. TREAT Asia is a network of clinics, hospitals and research institutions working together to improve access to treatment for AIDS.

(Editing by Yoko Nishikawa)

World AIDS Day 2011 marks 30 years of AIDS. This student slideshow highlights the most recent statistics, challenges and goals in the continuing fight against HIV and AIDS.

Eleven more names of people who have died from AIDS were added to The Wall Las Memorias AIDS monument in Lincoln Park today. An artist sandblasted the names from those who died this year, in preparation for World AIDS Day ceremonies planned to take place next week. Hundreds of victims of the HIV virus are already on the monument ad there is space for 7,500 more.

The eight-panel project was inspired by a Quetzalcoatl serpent, an Aztec symbol for rebirth, and snakes down a walkway in the park. Six of its walls are painted with murals, while two are reserved for names.

Program Manager Enrique Topete said the wall in East Los Angeles helps destroy barriers that keep the Latino community from talking about HIV.

“The stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS makes it very difficult for people to actually talk about it, since of course its surrounded by sex, and within the Latino community sex itself is taboo and it’s a very difficult subject to touch upon,” Topete said. “I think this event itself assists people and it normalizes, like, it brings it down to home and it helps people talk about the disease itself.”

The two walls in the middle of the park will someday hold 7,500 names. New names will be added annually, and unveiled at a special ceremony on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1st.