Michigan HIV prevention workers give new White House AIDS plan mixed reviews

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the White House earlier this week announced the first plan in 20 years to directly and publicly address the HIV epidemic in the United States, but that plan is not sitting well with some AIDS advocates locally in Michigan.

“This is Pollyannish and rose-colored glasses,” said Kendra Kleber, a Royal Oak attorney specializing in representing clients with HIV, of the new strategy, which was announced on Tuesday.

White House and other government officials said the new plan, called Act Against AIDS, is meant to further a public conversation about social stigma related to HIV, along with providing facts about the disease and prevention. Overall, the new plan aims to raise public awareness by stressing a critical statistic: One American is infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, every nine and a half minutes.

Kleber is not buying the new strategy, however: “There is nothing in there that leads the American public forward in a dialogue.”

Richard Wolitski, acting director of the CDC’s HIV/AIDS prevention program, downplayed the local concerns about the administration’s plan in an interview with Michigan Messenger on Wednesday.

“This is something that is evolving and we will be adding additional content to the website and people will see that this is something living and breathing,” Wolitski said. “As people watch this evolve they will be very happy with what they see.”

In order to address the crisis head on, the government on Tuesday announced $55 million in funding over the next five years for a series of HIV prevention strategies, including the newly launched nineandahalfminutes.org and a series of new public service announcements. About $10 million of the total amount will be spent on funding 14 leading prevention programs aimed at African Americans with such national groups as the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the National Urban League. The 14 African American-focused groups will share $2 million annually for the next five years.

The focus on African Americans is due to increased numbers of infections in that demographic. According to the administration, 1 in 16 black men and 1 in 30 black women will be infected with HIV in their lifetime.

The remaining $45 million will fund a public information campaign through the use of posters, public transit ads and online outreach.

Much of the local criticism hasn’t been focused on the methods of outreach but on the substance of what’s being said.

“Ugh–yep–looks like more of the ‘ABC’ message that was created under Bush 2,” Mark Peterson of the Michigan Poz Action Coalition wrote in an email, referring to Abstinence, Be Faithful, use Condoms. “The problem is that very seldom do we see messages that are articulated in such a way to say what simpletons see as a ‘mixed message’ …”

Peterson was taking aim at the language for prevention on the government’s new website.

That language reads in part:

Three critical ways of reducing your risk of getting HIV
Don’t have sex at all (anal, vaginal, and oral sex).
Only have sex (anal, vaginal, or oral) if you are in a mutually monogamous relationship and you have both tested negative for HIV.
Use a condom every time you have anal, vaginal, or oral sex.

Peterson, who is married, said he also took issue with the focus on monogamy.

“I DO however have a problem with the whole abstinence until marriage crap because gay men and women are not allowed to marry in all states yet,” he wrote. “I also have an issue with the ‘monogamous’ partner thing because there are many different definitions of monogamy. This assumes anyone in a polyamourous relationship or those who do not conform to a [C]hristian puritan relationship norm is at more risk —that is ONLY true if one of the partners has HIV to pass to someone else and that can happen between monogamous couples too.”

As an example he pointed out his own relationship with his wife.

“My wife and I are in a mutually agreed upon sexually monogamous relationship — that in itself doesn’t do a thing to protect her from my HIV,” he said. “Safer sex practices are what keep her from becoming HIV positive.”

Wolitski said he was “somewhat surprised” to hear the concerns about the new program.

“I mean that perspective isn’t one we have gotten from other people living with HIV or other groups of individuals who represent people living with HIV,” he said about the concerns expressed by Peterson and Kleber.

“I am not minimizing those concerns, we have heard very positive feedback from other groups,” Wolitski said.

Craig Covey, CEO of the Michigan AIDS Coalition in Ferndale, took a different tact on the new national AIDS/HIV plan.

“This seems to be it could be quite inclusive,” he said. “I think for all practical purposes, abstinence, monogamy and safe sex practices are good to talk about.”

Planned Parenthood of Mid and South Michigan CEO Lori Lammerand concurred with Covey.

“The CDC’s recommendations are the standard ways to reduce HIV transmission – remaining abstinent or being in a mutually monogamous relationship with both people having first tested negative for HIV or using a condom every time you have sex. I don’t think it desexualizes people living with HIV,” Lammerand said. “The CDC also recommends additional ways to prevent spreading HIV and other STDs, including having open and honest discussions with partners about sexual history and HIV test results. We think this includes a person living with HIV discussing their HIV status with a potential sex partner.”

Still, Kleber feels that the new approach undermines one of the things the program aims to avoid: Stigmatizing HIV.

“This is misleading. They have two paragraphs about how a person gets HIV,” Kleber said. “I think the whole thing is stigmatizing.”

She pointed to the line that a person should only have sex in a mutually monogamous relationship if “both tested negative for HIV.” She questioned what were HIV-infected people supposed to do.

Wolitski promised the website would continue to evolve and was “a work in progress.”

“And I have to say on a personal level as a person living with HIV myself, I really feel that this campaign as it evolves is gonna be one that is going to help give voice to the experiences of people living with HIV and be one that I hope that will be able to provide information and resources that are useful to people living with HIV as well,” he said.

While the administration’s plan may be a work in progress, Kleber feels that the core elements are rooted in the past.

“It would be nice to see a more to HIV prevention and care that is not only medically relevant, but reflects something more than white wash Reaganism,” Kleber said. “There is nothing new about this.”