World AIDS Day highlights continued fight against epidemic

Dec.1, 2005

World AIDS Day highlights continued fight against epidemic

To highlight progress made in the battle against the AIDS epidemic and remind people how much still needs to be done, World AIDS Day is commemorated around the globe each year on December 1st. This year's theme is "Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise," focusing on the need for national governments and international policymakers to meet the commitments they have made in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

“HIV and AIDS are global killers of almost unimaginable scale, and too many men and women continue to get infected in our community,” said King County Executive Ron Sims. “We must continue to fight this disease to stop the tragic suffering.”

“We estimate that that about 8,400 persons are currently living with HIV or AIDS in King County, and about a quarter may not yet know they are infected,” said Dr. Bob Wood, HIV/AIDS Program Director for Public Health - Seattle & King County. “Through continued community support and personal actions, people can learn their HIV status, and all infected persons should be in care programs to monitor their health, get treatment, and prevent further disease transmission.”

There are things that everyone can do locally to help in the fight against AIDS:

Know the facts – how HIV is transmitted, what puts people at risk, and the health consequences of infection
Support comprehensive sex education for youth who are entering sexually active years.
Support comprehensive prevention strategies, such as needle exchanges which reduce risks associated with drug use.
Individually, know your HIV status, share that information with new sexual partners, use condoms, and get tested before starting a sexual relationship that might lead to sex without condoms.

An estimated 40.3 million people worldwide are living with HIV at the end of 2005, and over 25 million people have already died of AIDS. Globally each year nearly 5 million new infections occur and 3 million people die; AIDS is now the leading global killer. There are about 1.1 million HIV-positive individuals living in the U.S. and 35,000 to 40,000 new infections occurring every year.

In King County, the work to control AIDS is carried out by Public Health’s HIV/AIDS Program in collaboration with a large array of community partner agencies. The Public Health program began in 1983, one year after the first two cases of AIDS were identified locally. Since then, much has happened to change the face of this world-wide pandemic.

Early prevention efforts focused education on the uninfected high risk groups (gay/bisexual men, injection drug users, and persons with sexually transmitted disease), but increasing efforts have recently targeted persons with HIV and broader segments of the population, as the disease has begun disparately impacting disadvantaged persons of color, the homeless, and other vulnerable people.

In 2005 about $18.5 million dollars, largely from federal and state grants, will pass through Public Health’s HIV/AIDS Program, including $7.1 million to support the care needs of persons with HIV/AIDS, $6.1 million for HIV prevention activities, and $3.7 million for HIV/AIDS surveillance and epidemiology studies. More than two-fifths of these funds are provided to community partner agencies for prevention and care services.

Case numbers of AIDS, the final stage of HIV infection, grew in King County every year until 1993 when over 600 persons were diagnosed with AIDS. The number of new AIDS cases began to fall, mostly due to the discovery of highly effective anti-retroviral treatment “cocktails” which began to be used in the mid-1990s. Yearly deaths reached a peak of nearly 500 in 1995 and then fell as well, as people began receiving effective treatment. But today, still about 100 persons die each year of AIDS in King County.

Where to get tested

HIV tests are highly accurate. Testing is simple and can be done by all care providers and clinics. It usually requires a simple blood draw, finger stick, or oral fluid specimen, and produces results in a week, or as rapidly as 20 minutes at some testing sites for persons at especially high risk. The FDA may soon approve a home self-test, like pregnancy testing at home.

For information about HIV testing or to make an appointment, call Public Health's HIV/STD Hotline at 206-205-7837 or 800-678-1595 (open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday - Friday). Information is also available at online.

Public Health - Seattle & King County began providing anonymous and confidential HIV testing in 1985, and has expanded these efforts, particularly for gay and bisexual men, injection drug users and people of color. In addition to the STD Clinic at Harborview Medical Center and other Public Health clinics, Public Health staff provide HIV counseling and testing at local correctional facilities, community partner sites and other outreach venues.

The federal Department of Health & Human Services Office of Minority Health Resource Center has a web page devoted to World AIDS Day.

Public Health - Seattle & King County is among the largest metropolitan health departments in the country, providing effective and innovative health and disease prevention services that achieve and sustain safer and healthier communities for over 1.8 million residents and visitors of King County . Answering the needs of an increasingly diverse population, Public Health - Seattle & King County touches people's lives every day through health promotion and prevention activities, disease surveillance, health care, outreach and referral services, environmental health services, emergency medical care, jail health services, and readiness and response to public health emergencies.