NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwired – Oct 17, 2013) – Today, Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health announced that it is transitioning management of a valuable, new HIV training program to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Brought to life with funding from the MAC AIDS Fund and modeled after a successful HIV testing program in Africa, the training prepares local HIV/AIDS organizations and health departments to deliver the first-ever couples HIV testing and counseling service in the United States for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. The new service — called “Testing Together” — enables male couples to learn their HIV status together and develop a customized HIV prevention and care strategy at no charge in most locations. After the transition, CDC will roll out the training — which has been successfully piloted in several major U.S. cities — to organizations across the country.

“Most HIV prevention programs focus on individuals or groups of gay men when, in fact, most new HIV infections come from main partners in a relationship. Our ‘Testing Together’ program is the first HIV testing service geared specifically toward meeting the needs of male couples,” said Patrick Sullivan, DVM, PhD and Professor at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. “We’re happy that our collaboration with CDC is bringing this program to more HIV organizations in major cities throughout the nation. Bringing this service to scale for male couples was made possible by the generous support of the MAC AIDS Fund.”

In 2009, Sullivan and his colleagues at CDC conducted research that estimated one-to two-thirds of new HIV infections came from main partners among gay couples. Follow-up research, supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and conducted by Emory University, found that a significant number of men in longer-term relationships were unaware of their partner’s HIV status. In fact, many gay men in relationships believed that they were less at risk for HIV and were therefore less likely to have been recently tested for HIV. NIH-supported research showed that providing HIV testing for male couples was promising, but bringing this new service to men beyond the initial study in Atlanta would be a challenge.

To encourage awareness and combat a growing rate of new HIV infections among gay men in the United States, Emory engaged the MAC AIDS Fund in March 2011 to provide startup funding to pilot the innovative “Testing Together” program in Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, San Diego and Seattle. Designed to prevent new infections and improve linkage to care, the program trains HIV community-support organizations in testing and counseling skills specifically for gay couples, including ways to cope with an HIV-positive status, maintain safer behaviors between partners and help navigate treatment when one or both partners is found to be HIV-positive.

“Even with the game changing strides made in AIDS treatment as a means of preventing HIV, we cannot end the epidemic without equally powerful breakthroughs in HIV behavioral prevention for people heavily affected by HIV like gay and bisexual men,” said Nancy Mahon, global executive director of the MAC AIDS Fund. “For this reason, the MAC AIDS Fund will continue to invest in innovative and effective initiatives like Emory’s ‘Testing Together’ program, and we are so gratified that the CDC will be bringing this program to scale to reach more people nationwide.”

Following Emory’s successful pilot program, CDC became interested in taking over the “Testing Together” program and expanding training for additional, major cities with high HIV prevalence in the United States. Emory University remains engaged in supporting training and technical assistance through its collaboration with CDC. To date, more than 300 HIV counselors have been trained at 73 testing sites in 21 cities, and more than 450 gay couples have learned their HIV status together. As a result, more than 8 percent of men tested were HIV-positive with at least 10 percent in previously undiagnosed discordant relationships where one partner is HIV positive and the other is not.

As a result of the multi-sectoral collaboration between Emory, MAC AIDS Fund and CDC, “Testing Together” will be rolling out in major cities in the U.S. to bring the first HIV testing service to male couples. In preparation for the transition, CDC has initiated partnerships with more than 18 key cities to date and will continue to build capacity at health departments and with the nation’s public health workforce to implement this training. In the future, “Testing Together” will be adapted for use with other types of couples as well. To learn more, visit the new Couples HIV Testing and Counseling section on the CDC’s Effective Interventions website or find a testing and counseling center offering couples testing at TestingTogether.org.

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From the Times-Tribune online…

HARRISBURG – Mental health providers would be prohibited from counseling gay and lesbian youths to change their sexual orientation under a bill being introduced by a Luzerne County lawmaker.

Reps. Gerald Mullery, D-119, Newport Twp., and Brian Sims, D-182, Philadelphia, are seeking to ban this type of therapy for patients under age 18. They cite the precedent of a new law in New Jersey signed last week by Gov. Chris Christie. Citing studies by the American Psychological Association, Mr. Mullery said he considers sexual orientation conversion therapy to be harmful to children and causing some to even have suicidal thoughts. Conversion therapy is described as counseling and psychotherapy attempting to eliminate or suppress homosexuality. “They (patients) are being asked to change who they are,” said Mr. Mullery. “I view it like mental bullying.”

In a legislative memo, Mr. Mullery and Mr. Sims said youth need to be protected from the harm caused by sexual orientation change efforts. “Studies have concluded that there is insufficient evidence that sexual orientation change efforts are effective for changing sexual orientation, and that such efforts could result in damaging long-term effects for minors,” the lawmakers said. “Therefore, like any other harmful act that is prohibited by Pennsylvania law, we must protect Pennsylvania’s youth from sexual orientation change efforts.”

Mr. Mullery said he started researching the issue after becoming aware of the legislation moving to passage in New Jersey and Mr. Christie’s support for it. The lawmaker said he hopes Mr. Christie’s action will motivate Republican state lawmakers in Harrisburg to join as bill cosponsors.

New Jersey’s law bans state-licensed counselors, therapists and social workers from practicing conversion therapy.

From WebMD…

New guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force call for virtually every adult to be routinely screened for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The updated recommendations, which are published in the April 30 issue of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, suggest that pregnant women and all people aged 15 to 65 be screened for HIV. The guidelines are now more in line with screening recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“HIV is a critical public health problem. There are 50,000 new infections in the U.S. each year, and we need to find ways to prevent and treat it,” said guideline author Dr. Douglas Owens, a professor of medicine at Stanford University and a senior investigator at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, in California.

The guidelines, last updated in 2005, reflect new evidence about the effectiveness of treatment, especially when started early in the course of HIV infection.

“The best way to reduce HIV-related death and disability is to avoid getting infected,” Owens said. “Should someone become infected, we want them to understand that there are very good treatments that will help them live longer and reduce transmission.”

Experts agreed that such blanket screening is the best — and possibly only — way to stop the HIV epidemic in its tracks.

Knowing one’s HIV status is “a first step for both prevention and needed medical services, yet the history of the epidemic has set up barriers such that, in some states, it is still not straightforward to access an HIV test without the need for written consent or a fee,” said Dr. Sten Vermund, director of the Institute for Global Health at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville. “Free, regular screening for HIV, much as we try to have regular blood pressure or breast cancer screening, is one of the best ways to start reducing the HIV epidemic in the U.S.”

Read the full article on WebMD.