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aids
NOVEMBER 11. 2011
W W W .J U S T O U T .C O M
Scott Gcllatlv
Thirty Years Later
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CONNECTION
Nov. 17 - Dec. 31
Portland looks back, forward for
World AIDS Day 2011
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Friday Nov. 18th, 5-8 pm
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w w w .c e n tr a ld r u g sp d x .c o m
On December 1, communities through
out the world will come together for the
23rd Annual World AIDS Day— an oppor
tunity not only to remember those lost to
H IV /A ID S and the 33 million people living
with it today, but also to raise awareness
about how to prevent and curtail the spread
o f the infection. World AIDS Day 2011
holds added significance— earlier this year
marked the 30th anniversary o f the first di
agnosed case o f HIV.
Three decades and countless medical ad
vances later, perhaps the most sobering truth
is that in the last 10 years the incidence o f
new H IV infections has not gone down. It is
estimated that 56,000 new H IV infections
occur annually— that’s one every nine and a
half minutes— and 20 percent o f those liv
ing with the virus in the United States are
not aware o f their status.
Cause for hope came in May o f this year,
when a study published by the National In
stitutes o f Health found that early treatm ent
can reduce transmission to sexual partners
by 96 percent. The data led to dramatic pre
dictions by commentators and experts such
as Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu,
who in the Washington Post wrote, “An end
to AIDS is within our reach.”
It makes sense, then, that the theme for
World AIDS Day 2011 is “G etting to
Zero”— and wiping out AIDS-related stigma,
discrimination, deaths and new infections.
“I t’s huge,” says Cascade AID S Project
executive director Michael Kaplan o f the
findings, and their “potential to change the
way we think about H IV /A ID S and alter
what the future looks like.”
“In the U.S. you could take infections
down to less than a few thousand from
40,000 sexually transmitted each year in the
[country] today,” he says. “Through simply
ensuring that everyone knew their H IV sta
tus and those that are positive got early
treatment, we could really break the back of
the epidemic. It gives us a clear path and a
clear light at the end of the tunnel.”
Despite high levels o f human trafficking,
prostitution and drug use, Kaplan explains
that H IV /A ID S in the Portland metro area
is “a very concentrated epidemic, highly fo
cused on gay and bisexual men. In fact, 70
percent o f all infections continue to be
among gay and bisexual m en.”
I t’s been C A P ’s mission since 1983 to
fight the spread o f the disease, support those
living with it and educate the greater popu
lation. The nonprofit provides 3,000 tests a
year in its downtown Portland offices, and
CA P program Pivot, a community space for
“men into men," offers a variety o f social and
MARTY DAMS
BY ALEX BRYCE
BRIAN MARK I
FINE ART
“We want to encourage churches,
synagogues, schools, colleges, uni
versities, government bodies and so
on to each try to do their own event.
This supports the idea that HIV/
AIDS affects all communities.”
—WAYNE MIYA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
OUR HOUSE
educational programming for gay, bisexual
and trans men.
Among C A P ’s W orld AID S Day efforts
this year, the organization will host a public
symposium assessing “W h at’s New in H IV ”
with guest speaker Paul Kawata, executive
director o f the National M inority AIDS
Council, focusing on the key strategies o f
education, prevention and treatment.
CAP is joined in its educational efforts by
O ur House o f Portland, which in 2011 is
reaching out to students at Beaumont Middle
School. Established in 1988, O ur House pro
vides a diverse range o f services— from 24-
hour residential care to free clothing and even
pet food for owners in need— through pro
grams like Esther’s Pantry and Tod’s Corner.
CAP and O ur House are just two facets of
the Portland contingent of World AIDS
Day— a community that, since 2009, has been
united under an umbrella of engagement and
collaboration at worldaidsdaynw.org. As O ur
House executive director Wayne Miya ex
plains, “We want to encourage churches, syna
gogues, schools, colleges, universities, govern
ment bodies and so on to each try to do their
own event. This supports the idea that H IV /
AIDS affects all communities.”
It’s a notion that numerous local organi
zations have embraced. Take Portland State
University, whose Association of African
Students, a longtime World AIDS Day par-