AHF/Magic Johnson Testing Van Teams with AID Atlanta, Inc. for Free HIV Testing Event Today

On Monday, June 22^nd AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the nation's largest non-profit AIDS organization, will partner with AID Atlanta, Inc. to provide free HIV testing through a mobile HIV testing van in the parking lot of Kroger’s Supermarket, 3030 Headland Drive, Atlanta, GA 30311 from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

In an effort to boost AIDS awareness and HIV prevention and testing efforts in some of the hardest hit regions of the United States, AHF began a three week, fourteen-city cross country HIV testing caravan in one of its popular AHF Mobile HIV Testing Units, which are named in honor of and partnership with HIV positive basketball legend Earvin Magic Johnson, Jr. and actor and AIDS advocate Blair Underwood. The tour kicked-off in Los Angeles on Monday, June 8^th and culminates with the mobile unit's arrival in Washington, DC on Saturday, June 27^th-National HIV Testing Day. AHF is permanently relocating one of the mobile testing units from Los Angeles to D.C., to provide free, easy-to-access rapid HIV testing in various neighborhoods throughout the nation's capital, where it was recently reported that the HIV prevalence rate has surged past 3%-higher than in Lagos, Nigeria.

As AHF staffers and HIV testing counselors drive the van from Los Angeles to Washington through many Southern and Eastern states, AHF's 'whistle stop' testing tour will seek to heighten awareness about HIV testing in local communities along the route.

"While making initial plans to transport our brand new, state-of-the-art AHF/Magic Johnson Mobile Testing Unit from Los Angeles to Washington, DC, we hit upon the idea that this cross country road trip presented a unique opportunity to raise awareness about HIV testing, prevention and treatment through specific testing events and community outreach in cities and states along the way," said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "As a result, AHF partnered with respected local AIDS and community groups in Phoenix, Albuquerque, Houston, New Orleans, Jackson, Mississippi; Pensacola, Florida; Montgomery, Alabama; Jacksonville, Atlanta, Columbia, South Carolina; Charlotte, Norfolk and Washington, DC to host free HIV testing and media events in each of these communities. At the end of the tour, the AHF/Magic Johnson Mobile Testing Unit will remain and operate in Washington, where AHF will also open a free AIDS treatment clinic-our first in that city-later this summer."

"The beauty of these free mobile HIV testing vans is that AIDS Healthcare Foundation operates them right in the heart of the community-in parking lots of popular retail stores, nearby hip nightclubs and gathering spots, at church events-and they provide the testing, counseling and results all in one session, so people get their test results right away on the same day," said Blair Underwood, who attended the Los Angeles kick-off event. "It is important that people learn how to avoid becoming infected with HIV; or if they are infected, know their HIV status, and seek medical treatment, if needed. People really need to know their HIV status today. These HIV testing vans provide that opportunity for free in a friendly, no hassle way."

HIV Statistics in the United States

“Last August, the Centers for Disease Control released new data showing an alarming 40% increase in HIV infections in the US—56,000 new cases each year up from a previous estimate of 40,000 new cases annually,” said Whitney Engeran-Cordova, Director of AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s Public Health Division. “There is no doubt that the South is disproportionately affected by HIV and without adequate resources. On our trip we want to meet our colleagues in these cities, support agencies in providing testing and do what we can to raise awareness about the genuine need for HIV testing and treatment throughout the region. The number of new infections in the U.S. is absolutely unacceptable. We have a responsibility to do what we must to help those with HIV know their status and get linked into care.”

According to an HIV/AIDS Policy Fact Sheet produced by the Kaiser Family Foundation (“The HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the United States,” updated, February, 2009, with statistics through 2007):

• Ten states account for 71% of AIDS cases reported since the beginning of the epidemic. Nine of these states also rank in the top 10 for newly reported cases. Three of the states that the AHF/Magic Johnson Mobile Testing HIV testing Unit will visit on its tour—Texas, Florida, and Georgia—are among these top ten states; together, they account for 21% of the nation’s reported AIDS cases through the end of 2007—or 216,199 cumulative AIDS cases.

The Kaiser Fact Sheet also pointed out:

• (AIDS) case rates per 100,000 provide a different measure of the epidemic’s impact, since they reflect the concentration of cases after accounting for differences in population size across states. The District of Columbia has the highest AIDS case rate in the nation. Seven of the top 10 states by AIDS case rate are in the South. The AHF/Magic Johnson Mobile HIV Testing Unit tour will travel to and do HIV testing events in five of these Southern states and areas: Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and the District of Columbia.

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Russia Helps Solidify Missile Defense in Europe With Remarks by President Medvedev

PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Riki Ellison, Chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA) www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org issued a statement today reacting to remarks by Russia's President, Dmitry Medvedev. The statement is as follows:

"The public remarks by President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia at his state of the union address to the Duma demanding the withdrawal of the U.S. missile defense systems in Europe by threatening the placement of Russian mobile missiles and other military action has helped solidify the continued deployment of the European Missile Defense site by the United States of America and its NATO allies.

"These remarks, made the day after the U.S. election, were directed at the President-elect Barack Obama and his new administration. This rhetoric, reminiscent of 20-year-old cold war tactics, has been used in different degrees and at different audiences over the past two years. The European Missile Defense site the Russians are opposing will consist of a U.S. midcourse x-band radar (EMR) in the Czech Republic and 10 U.S. ground-based interceptors in Poland, which will defend most of Europe including the northwest parts of Russia and Moscow as well as protecting the United States from ballistic missiles launched from Iran.

"This past year, former Russian President Vladimir Putin used a similar type of threat prior to the NATO summit in Bucharest, which had an adverse effect and galvanized the Europeans and NATO to endorse the European missile defense site after his remarks. President Putin also used the threatening rhetoric of targeting missiles towards the Czech Republic and Poland prior to each of their formal agreements with the United States to host these missile defense systems and again his statements galvanized both the population and the leadership to move forward with the agreements.

"This particular threat by President Medvedev comes again at the wrong time to the wrong audience, as it is clearly the first test to President-elect Obama. Like his predecessor before him, President Medvedev's intended intimidation will further embed the European Missile Defense site in the next U.S. Administration rather than less and strengthens the unity of Europe with the United States on missile defense."

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Verizon Wireless Continues Support of National HIV Testing Awareness Campaign

PRNewswire -- The message about the importance of HIV testing is getting out to the general public, thanks to the innovative use of wireless communications. Verizon Wireless, the company with the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, announced today its continued effort to draw awareness to the importance of HIV testing and encourage everyone to know their status. In honor of National HIV Testing Day on June 27, an annual event organized by the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA), Personal Public Service Announcements (PPSAs) -- created from "man on the street" interviews captured in Atlanta using wireless video phones and technology -- will be broadcast via a variety of channels on the Web, television and through the Verizon Wireless network.

In partnership with the University of Georgia's New Media Institute and with the support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Verizon Wireless participated in events in Atlanta and Philadelphia over the past year, making wireless phones a new medium in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The use of the PPSAs created at the Atlanta event for National HIV Testing Day is the culmination of those efforts.

"It's exciting to see how wireless equipment and our network can capture and make available critical health messages to the public at large," said Jeff Mango, president of the Georgia/Alabama region for Verizon Wireless. "Wireless technology no longer is just a one-to-one communication tool. It serves a much broader social networking role in our individual lives and in our communities. It's critical that we all continue to harness the power and reach of wireless technology for the greater good."

In both Philadelphia in 2007 and Atlanta in 2008, public service announcement videos were created by college students and delivered on personal mobile media devices. Using Verizon Wireless phones and data equipment, student teams from Emory University, the University of South Carolina, Clark Atlanta University, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Temple University, Chapman University, and the University of North Texas collaborated during each event with health experts from the CDC, as well as professional producers and editors from around the country, to shoot, edit, produce, and premiere short video PPSAs encouraging HIV testing. These PPSAs will be distributed ahead of June 27 to increase the awareness of the upcoming National HIV Testing Day.

The videos will be distributed in a variety of ways including e-cards, podcasting on key Internet sites, e-mail distribution, YouTube, MySpace, Verizon Wireless' V CAST network, Verizon Communications FiOS network, and more.

"Delivering health messages to young people today can be frustrating," said Dr. Scott Shamp, director of the New Media Institute and professor of telecommunications at UGA's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. "A whole generation isn't using their parents' media, so we have to find new ways to reach them. Mobile media has powerful potential for reaching young people with information to help them stay healthy and protect others."

National HIV Testing Day is an opportunity for people nationwide to learn their HIV status and to gain knowledge to take control of their health and their lives. According to the CDC, more than a quarter million people are estimated to be living with HIV and are unaware of their infection. Often those infected exhibit no visible symptoms and are more likely to pass the virus to others. Knowing infection status can lengthen life expectancy dramatically as patients are able to start treatment earlier.