Report on Using HIV Viral Load as Measure of Quality of Care; AIDS Epidemic Among Black Americans; Coalition To Secure CARE Act Reauthorization
- "The Role of the Viral Load as a Measure of the Quality of Care for People Living With HIV: The Expert Meeting Report," New York State Health Department's Health AIDS Institute: The report -- written by a panel of HIV clinicians from New York -- discusses proposals made by some experts to use viral load suppression rates to gauge quality of care, thereby providing a process for accountability. It also addresses concerns about whether to use viral load to measure quality-of-care monitoring practices despite a lack of published resources. The report includes a review of the resources pertaining to the topic, a summary of presentations and discussions of panel members and the group's recommendations (Hirschhorn et al., "The Expert Meeting Report," 9/9).
- "A Turning Point: Confronting HIV/AIDS in African-American Communities," National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors: The document -- which highlights the impact HIV/AIDS has had on black communities -- asks federal agencies, state and local health departments, black leaders and policy makers to increase their response to the epidemic. NASTAD seeks to raise black leaders' awareness about HIV/AIDS, promote access to prevention and care for blacks, support a federal plan to fight the disease and expand state and local health department programs (NASTAD release, 11/15).
- "Coalition of National Constituent-Based AIDS Organizations Launches Ryan White Legislative Group": The group -- which includes AIDS Action, the AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families, the CAEAR Coalition, the National Association of AIDS Education and Training Centers, the National Association of People with AIDS and the National Minority AIDS Council -- aims to secure reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act "as swiftly as possible" and "with sound legislative changes" (RWLG release, 11/10).