Observing World AIDS Day
Hello everyone. It is great to be back at the Queer Friendly Nonprofit. Now that Thanksgiving is finished, we are getting ready for Channukah, which starts tomorrow night. For all of my Jewish followers, I hope you have a wonderful Channukah!
I wanted to spend some time talking about HIV and AIDS today. World AIDS Day was 1 December. While AIDS is not the death sentence that it was when I first came out of the closet, it is still impacting the LGBTQIA+ community. 63% of all people living with HIV are gay and bisexual men, and 48% of new infections are of Black and Latino gay and bisexual men. Overall, there are over 1.2 million people in the United States living with HIV. In 2022, approximately 39 million people were living with HIV around the world. HIV is not something which has gone away, but it is something, with proper medication, that can be easily managed.
There are three aspects of HIV that I want to talk about this week: The difference between HIV and AIDS, PrEP, and the U=U campaign. The second two present positive changes in the way that HIV is managed and understood and, if you are working within the LGBTQIA+ community in any way, should be within your understanding.
Difference Between HIV and AIDS:
One thing that I have found confuses people is what is HIV and what is AIDS. HIV is the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. AIDS is the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. This is late stage HIV. AIDS is specifically when a person starts getting infections due to HIV or their CD4 cell levels go below a certain point. A person living with HIV may not have a diagnosis of AIDS, and with treatment, HIV is sometimes not even transmissible.
PrEP:
PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is a medication that can be used to prevent the spread of HIV. It is 99% effective when taken as prescribed. Importantly, it does not prevent the spread of other STIs. Most insurances should cover PrEP, but there are programs to help people who cannot afford it. MSTR has started providing PrEP online, as have some other websites, which makes it easier for those who may not feel comfortable going to their health care provider. Those most common reason for people to stop taking PrEP is cost and people feeling that they are lower risk for HIV. Education on PrEP is important, but many health care providers donβt do a good job educating men who have sex with men. This may be hindered by stigma that can surround PrEP in health care communities.
There are rccial disparities in PrEP usage as well as disparities in regional prescriptions of PrEP means all who may benefit from PrEP arenβt getting it. PrEP also seems to be used more by those 30+ as compared to those who are 19-29.
Importantly, one should not assume that just because people are in relationships, they are not at-risk. Heteronormative expectations of a relationship is that they are monogamous, but not all relationships in the queer community are. Open relationships are not uncommon in the queer community, meaning those who are in a relationship may still be at-risk for HIV.
Overall, PrEP is a great way to help prevent the spread of HIV. As nonprofits working with the queer community, it is important to stay informed about how your clients can access PrEP if that is what they would like.
Undetectable=Untransmittable (U=U):
U=U is a phrase being used to discuss the reality of transmission of HIV. When viral loads of HIV are low due to maintenance of the disease, HIV is not transmissible to others. Undetectable is similar to viral load suppression, which means that there is a very low risk of transferring HIV to oneβs sexual partners as long as the disease is treated. When working with LGBTQIA+ communities, the discussion of HIV transmission is important for people to understand risk level as well as to get rid of stigma surrounding the disease.
Conclusions
On World AIDS Day (1 December), we remember those we lost to this epidemic, including a whole generation of gay and bisexual men in the United States. We are also able to celebrate how far we have come, and how much further we have to go in getting access to PrEP both in the US and in other countries.