IU receives $8.9 million for AIDS work

HIV/AIDS prevention in Africa got a timely boost thanks to an $8.9 million federal grant to the IU School of Medicine, which will triple the number of patients that can be treated in Kenya. The president's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief contributed the money to complement the $15 million they gave to IU in 2004.\nThe grant comes just in time for the 25th anniversary of AIDS being recognized as a disease, which has killed more than 22 million people since 1982, according to the Web site until.org. \nThe funds will go to HIV treatment clinics IU has set up in Kenya and will provide treatment, including screening programs for pregnant women, and education and training for medical personnel in AIDS-ravaged Kenya. IU has a partnership with Moi University, located in Kenya, which is involved in using the resources that IU provides to give HIV prevention and treatment. \n"This funding will save tens of thousands of lives," said Robert Einterz, associate dean for International Programs in the School of Medicine and director of the IU-Moi program. "Both directly, in numbers of people prevented from getting HIV, and extending the lives of thousands more infected with HIV."\nMore than 42 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, and almost 75 percent of those infected are living in Sub-Saharan Africa according to until.org. \nThe clinics IU has been involved with have already made major strides, including cutting down the rate of mothers spreading the disease to their children from 50 percent to 5 percent in some areas, Einterz said. \nThe IU-Moi clinics have worked since 1990 and usually have approximately six full-time IU staff members and 600 Kenyans. The new grant will provide antiretroviral treatment for 18,000 people by September 2007, which will triple the number treated in the fall of 2005. \n"It's a good thing," Eintez said. "We can mobilize the community, embrace people infected and engage the problem."\nHIV and AIDS are still a significant problem in the United States and is still a threat for Hoosiers. Indiana has had its share of cases since AIDS was recognized in 1982. \nWilliam Yarber, professor and senior director of the rural center for AIDS/STD prevention, said that 243 cases have appeared in Monroe County, 574 in South Bend, 1338 in Lake County and 4,746 in Marion County. \nJill Stowers, the prevention coordinator for Bloomington Hospital's Positive Link, oversees a department of prevention and direct services for AIDS. They offer testing, support and information for Bloomington and the surrounding area. \nStowers said that they have one of most active prevention sites in the state. After a free, 20-minute confidential test, if the result is positive, Positive Link can start getting the patient into services that day. \n"I've been working in HIV for over five years," Stowers said. "It's amazing how much has improved in the treatment, but it also shocks me the stigmas people still associate with AIDS." \nStowers said that many people still think of it as a gay or a minority disease, and said it's time people realize that a person's sexual or ethnic orientations has less to do with contraction than does behavior. \n"The U.S. is leveling off at 40,000 new infections a year, but people are still practicing risky behavior," Yarber said.\nPart of the problem is that students coming out of high school may not be getting a comprehensive sex education. With recent studies showing that only 7 percent of Indiana high schools teaching proper condom usage, IU faculty think a change in education is necessary.\n"People have a right to all the information so they can make informed decisions," Yarber said.\nStowers encouraged anyone practicing unsafe sex with multiple partners or other risky behaviors to be checked. The tests -- painless oral swabs -- are free and easy, and yield results in only twenty minutes. Testing is completely confidential, she said.\nNational testing day is June 27, and free testing will be available all day from June 26-30 at Community Health Services, located at 333 E. Miller Dr. next to Iron Pit Gym. Call 353-3261 for more information. Regular testing is from 9 a.m to 4 p.m., Monday, Thursday and Friday. \n"There are enormous amounts of work to be done to fight AIDS," Einterz said. "But Indiana University has proven that HIV can be controlled on a very large scale. We can do it"