[Viva] [athenanetwork] Fwd: [HEALTHGAP] Call to action: sign on to stop USG discrimination against PLHIV

Wed May 16 09:32:10 PDT 2018

*http://www.treatmentactiongroup.org/content/sign-letter-advocacy-end-peace-corps-hiv-dismissals
<http://www.treatmentactiongroup.org/content/sign-letter-advocacy-end-peace-corps-hiv-dismissals>.
*

On Wed, May 16, 2018 at 9:31 AM, shelly tognazzini <shetognazzini at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I can't either, will look further and check Twitter. Thanks Peg😄🙏💕
>
> On Wed, May 16, 2018, 7:58 AM Pegfrank <pegfrank at telus.net> wrote:
>
>> I can’t see where to sign or write regarding this Peace Corps dismissal,
>> but am happy to discover https://www.healthgap.org/. If you can isolate
>> the link to signing any petition I am in! Love-peg
>>
>> On May 15, 2018, at 11:02 AM, shelly tognazzini <shetognazzini at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> See below 🤗
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
>> From: Teresia Otieno <coordinator-na at iamicw.org>
>> Date: Tue, May 15, 2018, 10:59 AM
>> Subject: Fwd: [athenanetwork] Fwd: [HEALTHGAP] Call to action: sign on to
>> stop USG discrimination against PLHIV
>> To:
>>
>>
>>
>> Consider to sign on.
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: 'E. Tyler Crone' tyler.crone at gmail.com [athenanetwork] <
>> athenanetwork at yahoogroups.com>
>> Date: 15 May 2018 at 08:34
>> Subject: [athenanetwork] Fwd: [HEALTHGAP] Call to action: sign on to stop
>> USG discrimination against PLHIV
>> To: "Athenanetwork at Yahoogroups.Com <Athenanetwork at yahoogroups.com>" <
>> athenanetwork at yahoogroups.com>
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: Erica Lessem <erica.lessem at treatmentactiongroup.org>
>> Date: Tue, May 15, 2018 at 8:29 AM
>> Subject: [HEALTHGAP] Call to action: sign on to stop USG discrimination
>> against PLHIV
>> To: tb-roundtable at googlegroups.com, Union Civil Society <
>> union-civil-society at googlegroups.com>, global_tb_activists <
>> Global_TB_Activists at googlegroups.com>, TB Civil Society <
>> tb-civil-society at googlegroups.com>, Health Gap <
>> healthgap at lists.critpath.org>, tb at lists.coregroup.org,
>> tbhiv at googlegroups.com
>>
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> Buzzfeed has just released an article on the discriminatory dismissal of
>> U.S. Peace Corps volunteers, including my stellar colleague Jeremiah
>> Johnson, for testing positive for HIV.
>>
>> <https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeed.com%2Fazeenghorayshi%2Fpeace-corps-hiv-prep>
>>
>> <https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeed.com%2Fazeenghorayshi%2Fpeace-corps-hiv-prep&media=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.buzzfeed.com%2Fbuzzfeed-static%2Fstatic%2F2018-05%2F15%2F10%2Fcampaign_images%2Fbuzzfeed-prod-web-04%2Fthese-gay-men-were-fired-from-the-peace-corps-aft-2-24084-1526394856-0_dblbig.jpg&description=These+Gay+Men+Were+Fired+From+The+Peace+Corps+After+They+Tested+Positive+For+HIV>
>>
>> <https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeed.com%2Fazeenghorayshi%2Fpeace-corps-hiv-prep&text=These+Gay+Men+Were+Fired+From+The+Peace+Corps+After+They+Tested+Positive+For+HIV&via=azeen>
>>
>> <?subject=These+Gay+Men+Were+Fired+From+The+Peace+Corps+After+They+Tested+Positive+For+HIV&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeed.com%2Fazeenghorayshi%2Fpeace-corps-hiv-prep%0A%0AGet+the+BuzzFeed+App:+https://bzfd.it/bfmobileapps>
>>
>> <https://www.tumblr.com/widgets/share/tool?&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeed.com%2Fazeenghorayshi%2Fpeace-corps-hiv-prep>
>>
>> Romany Tin started feeling feverish and tired this January, six months
>> into his dream job teaching English at a rural Cambodian high school as a
>> volunteer for the Peace Corps. After a battery of blood tests two days
>> later, he got the news: He had HIV and would be flown to Washington, DC,
>> for treatment.
>>
>> “At first I was just shocked,” Tin told BuzzFeed News. But after reading
>> about how HIV medications had advanced, allowing infected people to live
>> normal lives, “my mindset was literally just, *I want to make sure I can
>> come back*.”
>>
>> But that wouldn’t be possible.
>>
>> Despite effective treatment — within a month, medication had slashed the
>> amount of HIV in his blood to an undetectable level — the Peace Corps
>> notified Tin that because of his new HIV diagnosis, his assignment in
>> Cambodia had been terminated.
>>
>> In a March 8 letter about Tin’s case reviewed by BuzzFeed News, the Peace
>> Corps said that “medical separation” was appropriate. His stipend would be
>> cut off, and he would have to wait three to six months — time he’d need to
>> make sure his new treatment was working well, the letter argued — before
>> reapplying for a post in a different country with better medical resources.
>> In person, Tin recalled, his Peace Corps health worker told him that
>> Cambodia was not on an approved list of countries where people with HIV
>> could serve.
>>
>> “They’re such a progressive organization, but their stigma and knowledge
>> of HIV and how to treat it is very backwards,” said Tin, whose story was
>> first reported by Them
>> <https://www.them.us/story/peace-corps-volunteer-terminated-for-contracting-hiv>.
>> “I feel very mistreated. I feel angry.”
>>
>> Tin is one of at least two gay men ousted from the Peace Corps this year
>> after testing positive for HIV. Two other gay men who used to work for the
>> program told BuzzFeed News that Peace Corps doctors denied their requests
>> for PrEP, the daily pill that protects against HIV infection, because their
>> sexual behavior was deemed not risky enough. And when one of those men
>> managed to get a second request for PrEP approved, he was then threatened
>> with dismissal for exactly the behavior that made him eligible for the
>> drug: having unprotected sex.
>>
>> The Peace Corps is a federal program launched 57 years ago by President
>> John F. Kennedy to create a civilian army spreading American values in poor
>> areas of the world. Like the US military
>> <http://www.hivequal.org/homepage/hiv-and-the-military>, it has
>> repeatedly come under fire for its policies on the sexual health and safety
>> of its servicemembers. In 2014, for example, a new law forced the Peace
>> Corps to lift its 35-year ban on federal abortion assistance
>> <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/federal-eye/wp/2014/12/18/spending-bill-lifts-ban-on-abortions-for-peace-corps-volunteers/?noredirect=on>
>> for volunteers. The year before that, a different law overturned its ban on pregnant
>> volunteers
>> <https://rewire.news/article/2013/12/19/peace-corps-ends-discriminatory-pregnancy-policy/>.
>> In 2011, yet another law required the organization to address its long
>> track record of mishandling sexual assault cases
>> <https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/peace-corps-chief-expresses-regret-for-sexual-assaults-experienced-by-young-volunteers/2011/05/11/AFjrCitG_story.html?utm_term=.c10334b2551b>
>> .
>>
>> And in 2008, Jeremiah Johnson, a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine, had
>> his service terminated after testing positive for HIV. The ACLU
>> <https://www.aclu.org/cases/hiv-advocacy-behalf-peace-corps-volunteer?redirect=cpredirect/34948>
>> took up Johnson’s case, claiming that the Peace Corps was discriminating
>> against people with disabilities. In response, the organization implemented
>> a new policy to not automatically terminate HIV-positive volunteers but to
>> instead assess them on a case-by-case basis.
>>
>> As for the two men booted this year, the Peace Corps told BuzzFeed News
>> that, “The health, safety and security of Volunteers are Peace Corps’ top
>> priorities.” Its 7,000-plus volunteers work in 65 countries around the
>> world, but there are only 18 where it can “provide appropriate medical
>> support” to those with HIV, a spokesperson said by email.
>>
>> In addition to concerns about volunteers’ health, the Peace Corps also
>> must consider local legal restrictions around HIV status that could
>> endanger the safety of volunteers or people they work with. In some
>> countries
>> <https://www.scribd.com/doc/312008825/Advancing-HIV-Justice-2-Building-momentum-in-global-advocacy-against-HIV-criminalisation>,
>> for example, it’s illegal for people with HIV to have sex without condoms,
>> or to keep their HIV status secret from their sexual partners.
>>
>> “The agency considers factors including access to reliable specialists
>> and trusted laboratories as well as a country’s legal climate when placing
>> HIV-positive Volunteers,” the spokesperson said.
>>
>> Still, legal experts and HIV advocates say that the Peace Corps’ medical
>> separation policy may violate the Americans with Disabilities Act as well
>> as HIV-specific anti-discrimination laws.
>>
>> “The paternalistic response that it is in their ‘best interests’ does not
>> change the stark fact of discrimination,” Lawrence Gostin, a professor of
>> global health law at Georgetown University, told BuzzFeed News by email.
>>
>> Forced medical separations also ignore the effectiveness of current
>> treatments, HIV advocates say.
>>
>> “We are concerned that the Peace Corps’ policy pertaining to volunteers
>> diagnosed with HIV is arbitrary, not grounded in evidence, and being
>> implemented without critical attention to the wellbeing of the volunteers,”
>> said the Treatment Action Group, a think tank that has been advocating on
>> Tin’s behalf, in an open letter
>> <http://www.treatmentactiongroup.org/content/sign-letter-advocacy-end-peace-corps-hiv-dismissals>
>> to the Peace Corps last week.
>>
>> “In practice,” the TAG letter added, “these policies mean that volunteers
>> who make the health-conscious decision to get tested for HIV — a practice
>> the Peace Corps should encourage — are, in effect, punished if they test
>> positive.”
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> A second gay man who was terminated from his post after getting HIV had
>> been teaching high school students in Southeast Asia. (Because of privacy
>> concerns, BuzzFeed News is using the first initial of his middle name, M.,
>> and not disclosing the country of his assignment.)
>>
>> M. joined the Peace Corps in March of last year. In a sexual health
>> training session, he said he asked whether he could get PrEP and was told
>> Peace Corps doctors would not prescribe the medication unless he had
>> already had unprotected sex in the country. He hadn’t.
>>
>> In March of this year, M. got his blood tested for another medical issue
>> and was surprised to find out he was HIV-positive.
>>
>> His doctor told him that because of the country’s restrictive laws
>> against people with HIV, he would be putting its Peace Corps program at
>> risk of being shut down if he stayed at his post. So M. flew back to his
>> host family for a week to say his goodbyes. “We didn’t know what to do but
>> cry,” he said.
>>
>> Once back in DC, M. was told by the Peace Corps that he could not go back
>> to that country, that he would be put on forced leave without his stipend,
>> and that he’d have to wait three to six months before re-applying to serve.
>> He was devastated, he said, to be forced out of his adopted country, and
>> furious that the Peace Corps doctors had not encouraged him to take PrEP
>> when he’d expressed interest in the drug.
>>
>> Like Tin, M. received a letter from the Peace Corps stating that the
>> termination was to ensure his safety. “This condition limits your ability
>> to perform your Volunteer assignment and has the very real potential for
>> further aggravation during the remainder of your Peace Corps service,” the
>> letter stated. He was medically separated this month.
>>
>> Two former Peace Corps members told BuzzFeed News that they were denied
>> PrEP while serving in Ukraine, which has one of the highest rates of new
>> HIV diagnoses
>> <http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/355570/20171127-Annual_HIV_Report.pdf>
>> in Europe.
>>
>> After 32-year-old Jeremiah arrived in 2015, he saw a Peace Corps doctor
>> in Chernihiv and asked about how to get access to PrEP. The doctor seemed
>> generally uncomfortable discussing gay sexual health, Jeremiah recalled,
>> and was confused about what the drug was. (BuzzFeed News is withholding
>> Jeremiah’s last name to protect his identity.)
>>
>> The doctor eventually asked him to fill out a form, based on the Centers
>> for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2014 guidance
>> <https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/prepprovidersupplement2014.pdf> around
>> evaluating risk of HIV exposure. A few weeks later, according to emails
>> reviewed by BuzzFeed News, the Peace Corps denied his request for PrEP,
>> saying his answers on the form showed that his sexual behavior was not
>> risky enough to merit a prescription. Jeremiah was stunned.
>>
>> “I was sexually active and was going to a country where they had the
>> highest prevalence of HIV infection in Europe,” Jeremiah said. “It was
>> definitely something I felt I needed.”
>>
>> Months later, he visited a different Peace Corps doctor in Ukraine and
>> made a second request for PrEP. When filling out the form this time, “I
>> lied and said I was engaging in risky behavior,” Jeremiah said.
>>
>> His request was approved — but before getting the drugs, he had to listen
>> to his doctor read a statement out loud. The letter, Jeremiah recalled,
>> stated that he was violating his Peace Corps contract by engaging in sexual
>> behavior that put himself or others at risk. And if he continued this
>> behavior, the doctor said, he could face dismissal. (The Peace Corps did
>> not answer questions about whether volunteers are contractually obligated
>> to use condoms. Instead the spokesperson wrote: “Peace Corps Volunteers are
>> expected to comply with both Peace Corps’ medical policies and the
>> instructions of Peace Corps Medical Officers regarding the prevention and
>> treatment of illness and injury.”)
>>
>> Jeremiah began taking the drugs and finished his service at the end of
>> last year. “I think LGBT health in the Peace Corps is almost nonexistent,”
>> he said. “It just isn’t there.”
>>
>> James Fishon had a similar experience in the summer of 2017. He was
>> working in a Ukrainian village near the border with Belarus, focusing on
>> programs for kids with HIV.
>>
>> At the medical office in Kiev for a routine medical check, Fishon asked
>> the doctors about PrEP. Initially, as with Jeremiah, the doctor said he
>> didn’t know what PrEP was, and then gave him a form to fill out. Fishon
>> stated that he was a man who had sex with men, and that in the last year he
>> had had sex without condoms and had contracted a sexually transmitted
>> infection — all factors that make PrEP strongly recommended by the CDC.
>>
>> When asked if he had yet had sex in Ukraine, he said no — and that answer
>> prompted the Peace Corps to deny his request. A doctor at Peace Corps
>> headquarters wrote an email to Fishon saying his “current sexual activity
>> does not meet criteria” and advised him to “use condoms every time you have
>> sex.”
>>
>> Three months later, after filing three complaints with the Peace Corps
>> about potential safety risks in his village, Fishon was attacked in the
>> street by two men who knew he was gay and working on LGBT issues. After the
>> attack, he left.
>>
>> “I am so disappointed in the Peace Corps because I feel like they dropped
>> the ball every step of the way,” Fishon said. “They talk about being an
>> organization that wants to be diverse and inclusive — and they like that on
>> the surface — but the fact of the matter is they don’t have the structure
>> in place to protect those people.”
>>
>> On Feb. 22 of this year, hoping to go back to his work in Cambodia, Tin
>> appealed his termination. He argued that his viral count in two recent lab
>> tests was undetectable, that Cambodia has the medical infrastructure to
>> support the regular bloodwork he needs, and that his meds could be shipped
>> in from the US.
>>
>> “Please don’t judge me hastily because of my diagnosis and take into
>> consideration everything that I have mentioned into the kindness of all of
>> your hearts,” his letter concluded. “I really wish to continue my service
>> without any interruption.”
>>
>> On March 1, the health coordinator in DC told Tin that his appeal had
>> been reviewed by the Medical Review Board and had been denied. On March 8,
>> Tin was officially terminated.
>>
>> He’s now back in his hometown in Southern California, figuring out what
>> he’ll do next.
>>
>> “I feel completely healthy, mentally and physically. They know that,” Tin
>> said. “I could have returned to service.”
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________
>> https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/healthgap
>> HealthGAP is a public list. To post, send an email to
>> healthgap at critpath.org. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or for help with your
>> account, send an email to admin at healthgap.org or visit your subscription
>> page at https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/healthgap
>>
>> www.healthgap.org
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> *E. Tyler Crone, MPH, JD*
>> Executive Director, ATHENA Initiative
>> Co-Founder, ATHENA Network
>> http://www.athenanetwork.org
>>
>> Phone: +1-206-697-4789
>> Skype: tyler.crone
>> Email: tyler at athenanetwork.org <tyler at athenanetwork..org>
>> Follow us @ETCrone and @NetworkATHENA
>>
>> *Join the movement, shape the agenda, use your voice. #WhatWomenWant*
>>
>>
>> __._,_.___
>> ------------------------------
>> Posted by: "E. Tyler Crone" <tyler.crone at gmail.com>
>> ------------------------------
>> Reply via web post
>> <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/athenanetwork/conversations/messages/13938;_ylc=X3oDMTJyYWQxZ3FjBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE4MzY0NTgwBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2MjEzMgRtc2dJZAMxMzkzOARzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNycGx5BHN0aW1lAzE1MjYzOTg0NjQ-?act=reply&messageNum=13938>
>> • Reply to sender
>> <tyler.crone at gmail.com?subject=Re%3A%20Fwd%3A%20%5BHEALTHGAP%5D%20Call%20to%20action%3A%20sign%20on%20to%20stop%20USG%20discrimination%20against%20PLHIV>
>> • Reply to group
>> <athenanetwork at yahoogroups.com?subject=Re%3A%20Fwd%3A%20%5BHEALTHGAP%5D%20Call%20to%20action%3A%20sign%20on%20to%20stop%20USG%20discrimination%20against%20PLHIV>
>> • Start a New Topic
>> <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/athenanetwork/conversations/newtopic;_ylc=X3oDMTJmdTgxZWI4BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE4MzY0NTgwBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2MjEzMgRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNudHBjBHN0aW1lAzE1MjYzOTg0NjQ->
>> • Messages in this topic
>> <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/athenanetwork/conversations/topics/13938;_ylc=X3oDMTM3dW9rMWdzBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE4MzY0NTgwBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2MjEzMgRtc2dJZAMxMzkzOARzZWMDZnRyBHNsawN2dHBjBHN0aW1lAzE1MjYzOTg0NjQEdHBjSWQDMTM5Mzg->
>> (1)
>> ------------------------------
>> Have you tried the highest rated email app? <https://yho.com/1wwmgg>
>> With 4.5 stars in iTunes, the Yahoo Mail app is the highest rated email
>> app on the market. What are you waiting for? Now you can access all your
>> inboxes (Gmail, Outlook, AOL and more) in one place. Never delete an email
>> again with 1000GB of free cloud storage.
>> ------------------------------
>> Advancing Gender Equity and Human Rights in the Global Response to HIV
>> and AIDS
>> http://www.athenanetwork.org
>> Visit Your Group
>> <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/athenanetwork/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmOHRkOTRyBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE4MzY0NTgwBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2MjEzMgRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE1MjYzOTg0NjQ->
>>
>>    - New Members
>>    <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/athenanetwork/members/all;_ylc=X3oDMTJnNmY3dmR0BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE4MzY0NTgwBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2MjEzMgRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2bWJycwRzdGltZQMxNTI2Mzk4NDY0>
>>    5
>>
>> [image: Yahoo! Groups]
>> <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo;_ylc=X3oDMTJlcmJnNDdhBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzE4MzY0NTgwBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2MjEzMgRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNnZnAEc3RpbWUDMTUyNjM5ODQ2NA-->
>> • Privacy <https://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/groups/details.html>
>> • Unsubscribe
>> <athenanetwork-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe> • Terms
>> of Use <https://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/>
>>
>> .
>>
>> __,_._,___
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Viva mailing list
>> Viva at lists.resist.ca
>> https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/viva
>>
>>
>> - Peggy Frank
>>
>> Now seeing the morning sun rise from 1103-139 Clarence St., Victoria, BC
>> V8V2J1
>>
>> “
>>
>> *I have been and still am a seeker,but I have ceased to question stars
>> and books;I have begun to listen to the teachings*
>> *My blood whispers to me.*”
>> - Herman Hesse
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Viva mailing list
>> Viva at lists.resist.ca
>> https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/viva
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Viva mailing list
> Viva at lists.resist.ca
> https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/viva
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.resist.ca/pipermail/viva/attachments/20180516/aad1a3d7/attachment-0001.html>