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If current diagnosis rates continue, approximately one in 20 black men, one in 48 black women and one in two black gay and bisexual men will be diagnosed with HIV during their lifetimes, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projections. CDC estimates show that African-Americans account for almost half (44 percent in 2010) of all new infections and represent more than one-third (40 percent or 498,400 persons in 2013) of all people living with HIV.

While the disease that emerged in the late 80s as a “white gay male disease” has clearly reached epidemic levels in black and brown communities, one University of Southern California scientist insists that stereotypes – ones consciously and unconsciously perpetuated by healthcare providers can be internalized by members of marginalized groups, such as people of color, women who seek to have children later in life and older, poor and LGBTQ people – and it may literally be making them sicker.

With collaborator Dr. Adam Fingherhut of Loyola Marymount University, Dr. Cleopatra Abdou, was the first to lead an experimental study about how stereotypes – specifically “healthcare stereotype threat” – is directly linked to health outcomes among marginalized groups, including black people.

Read more on NBCNews.com.

February 7, 2017 marks the 17th year for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD), a national HIV testing and treatment community mobilization initiative targeted at Blacks in the United States and the Diaspora. NBHAAD was founded in 1999 as a national response to the growing HIV and AIDS epidemic in African American communities.

The NBHAAD initiative leverages a national platform to educate, bring awareness, and mobilize the African American community. NBHAAD has four key focus areas which encourage people to:

• Get Educated about HIV and AIDS;
• Get Involved in community prevention efforts;
• Get Tested to know their status; and
• Get Treated to receive the continuum of care needed to live with HIV/AIDS.

The governing body of NBHAAD has evolved over the last 15 years into the Strategic Leadership Council (SLC).  The SLC provides guidance, direction, and strategic thought to engaging more African American community stakeholders and organizations to make NBHAAD a success.

The theme this year is “I am my Brother/Sister’s Keeper: Fight HIV/AIDS.” We have to challenge the mindset in our homes, communities, workplace, churches, mosques and temples, because we all need to take a stand against HIV/AIDS.

Read more and learn how you can get involved at NationalBlackAIDSDay.org.

Advocates for Texas’ homeless population are celebrating a federal report showing a significant reduction in the number of Texans who are homeless over the past decade. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual count, homelessness in Texas dropped by almost 42 percent from 2007 to 2016 – a period when the state’s overall population grew 13 percent. Eric Samuels, executive director at the Texas Homeless Network, said the progress is due to better funding and support, as well as new methods for housing the homeless.

“It’s either permanent support housing or rapid re-housing, right away. They’re not moving people through emergency shelter and transitional housing programs,” Samuels said. “Because they’re doing that and because they’re directing their funding towards those programs, we’re getting people out of homelessness faster.”

The HUD survey measured the number of people on the streets in a single 24-hour period in most American towns and cities. Samuels’ network helped conduct the annual point-in-time survey in Texas. The group also provides training to agencies tackling homelessness. Texas had some advantages in the survey, Samuels said, including lower housing costs and a somewhat better job market than in many states. But he said that helping groups like the chronically homeless and veterans remains a challenge.

“To be chronically homeless, you have to be on the street for a long duration of time or have frequent episodes of homelessness and have a disabling condition,” Samuels explained. “One of the disabling conditions often is a mental illness. The news there is good because we are getting a lot of those folks off the street.” He said another major factor in the state’s performance was that the federal government has increased funding for homeless programs in Texas by 70 percent since 2005.

Read more on PublicNewsService.org.

Nationwide, Native Americans are at least twice as likely as the general population to become addicted to drugs and alcohol, and three times as likely to die of a drug overdose. In Washington state, Indians die of drug overdoses at a rate of 29 in 100,000, compared to a rate of 12 for whites, 11 for blacks, 3 for Hispanics and 2 for Asians, according to the state Health Department.

Compounding the problem, the majority of the nation’s 2.9 million Indians living on and off reservations have little to no access to health care, much less mental health and addiction services. The Muckleshoot and a handful of other affluent tribes in the Northwest and across the country are becoming exceptions. With money from casinos and other businesses, some tribes, mostly near major cities, have been able to build world-class health care systems on their reservations that include addiction treatment programs.

In addition, Washington is one of 32 states and the District of Columbia that have expanded Medicaid to cover able-bodied adults. The federal-state health care program for low-income people pays the bill for treatment.

On the Muckleshoot reservation, population 3,500, a behavioral health center currently treats 170 people for opioid addiction. At least 85 percent of those patients are covered by Medicaid, said Dan Cable, the program’s manager. The rest are covered by a tribal health insurance plan. Developed seven years ago, the Muckleshoot treatment center and recovery housing have so far served everyone in need, with no waiting lists.

Read more on PewTrusts.org.

This report from the SAMHSA-HRSA Center for Integrated Health Solutions lays out the clear need for HIV treatment providers to jointly address behavioral health concerns and HIV, starting with screening for mental health and substance use disorders. The Case for Behavioral Health Screening in HIV Care Settings offers strategies for providers to implement screening practices, including tips for preparing staff, updating organizational culture and enhancing organizational infrastructure.

Read the full report from SAMHSA-HRSA CIHS.

Children as young as 13 can be tried in adult criminal court for serious crimes in New York state. But instead of redirecting troubled kids, prison hardens them. That’s why the New York Foundling, a private children’s-advocacy organization, offers an alternative, Families Rising, a diversionary option that mandates family therapy in exchange for delayed sentencing and avoiding a criminal record entirely if the program is completed successfully. The program also costs significantly less than housing an inmate at New York City’s Rikers Island: $8,400 versus $167,731. To date, participants have also proved the experiment’s validity: Of the Families Rising participants, 97 percent completed the program and avoided a criminal record; 92 percent completed the program and avoided jail time altogether.

Families Rising operates from the belief that most children are products of their environments. “A child who is arrested and tried as an adult should not be viewed in isolation or a vacuum,” according to their website. “Instead, we view the child in the context of his or her family, and introduce a trained therapist into the family dynamic to help them address factors leading to their arrest.” Formally called “functional family therapy,” the practice can be intensive for all members of the family—especially parents, who are often under extreme pressure to make sure the prescribed therapy is successful, lest their son or daughter be taken into custody.

Read the full article on TheAtlantic.com.