The Annual Meetings of Beyond AIDS and of the Foundation Board were held on November 19 in Redlands, CA. The legislative efforts of Beyond AIDS were not particularly effective. A California bill supported by Beyond AIDS (AB 1534), to permit the same physician to serve alternately as a patient's primary care provider and his/her HIV consultant, almost passed, but was stalled at the last minute and will become a two-year bill. Another California bill (SB 239) strongly opposed by Beyond AIDS, to eliminate all penalties for knowingly exposing others to HIV or other communicable diseases, passed and was signed into law.
Officers and directors for the Beyond AIDS Board were elected to serve in 2018 and 2019. The Board in turn appointed the Foundation Board. Ron Hattis will continue as President of Beyond AIDS, and Gary Richwald will be the new President of the Foundation.
In a discussion of projects for 2018, interest was expressed in promoting simultaneous screening for HIV, other STDs, and viral hepatitis. With regard to legislation, Beyond AIDS will continue its efforts to coordinate with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and in California, with the California Medical Association and Health Officers Association.
World AIDS Day, as always, was December 1, and the Beyond AIDS Foundation co-sponsored a 4-hour continuing education program on HIV at Loma Linda University, covering a wide range of topics including legal testing requirements in California, early treatment to benefit both the patient and public health, management of clinical problems in HIV care, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and questions presented to a panel of public health and HIV specialists. The slide presentations and videos are available to all on this Beyond AIDS Website. The Foundation is planning to conduct a one-hour Webinar early in 2018, on early HIV treatment and proper use of PrEP. Work is continuing in an effort to publish the findings of a national survey of state and territorial HIV/AIDS directors. The internship/fellowship program also continues.
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| Panel discussion 12-1-17 at Loma Linda, L to R Drs. Daniel Pearch, Steven Larson, Ron Hattis, and Prashanth Bhat |
By vote of the Beyond AIDS Foundation Board, the annual Nettie award for significant contribution to HIV prevention and control was given to Matthew Golden, health officer and HIV director for King County/Seattle Department of Public Health. He won the award for leading the first successful North American campaign to reach the UNAIDS goal of "90-90-90." This means that 90% of infected persons were diagnosed, 90% of them were started on anti-viral medication. and 90% of those reached undetectable viral loads. San Francisco is reportedly close behind in achieving the same.
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| The award for Dr. Matthew Golden |
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