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

Wed May 16 09:33:06 PDT 2018

Thanks Anne!! 👍

On Wed, May 16, 2018, 9:32 AM anne bonner <thewoodbuffalo at gmail.com> wrote:

> *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
>>
>>
> _______________________________________________
> 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/f2925a29/attachment-0001.html>