2010 CDC Health Communication, Marketing, and Media Conference Highlights

By Michelle Samplin-Salgado, AIDS.gov New Media Strategist

Last week in Atlanta I joined nearly 1,000 health communicators at CDC’s 4th Annual National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media. The theme of this year’s conference was “Convergence: Purpose, Programs, & Partners.” From the opening session, to the numerous panels, to the tweet up, to the closing session, the conference emphasized a “forward movement of partnerships and programs toward a common purpose.” The conference was divided into four complimentary tracks:

New Media and the 2010 National Gay Men's Health Summit

By Miguel Gomez, AIDS.gov Director

Later this month, the 2010 National Gay Men’s Health Summit (GMHS 2010) will take place August 25-30 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. According to the recently released National HIV/AIDS Strategy, “Gay and bisexual men have comprised the largest proportion of the HIV epidemic in the United States since the first cases were reported in the 1980s, and that has not changed. They still comprise the greatest proportion of infections nationally.” Today, gay and bisexual men of all races are the only group in the United States where the estimated number of new HIV infections is rising annually (PDF 387 KB).

International AIDS Conference 2010: Highlights & Key Scientific Outcomes From Andrew Fullem

Guest post by Andrew Fullem, MSPH, AIDS.gov Advisor and Director for JSI & World Education's Center for HIV and AIDS

Andrew Fullem, MSPH, AIDS.gov Advisor and Director for JSI & World Education's Center for HIV and AIDS

I’ve been fortunate to attend international HIV conferences for many years. Several of those conferences stand out in my memory for the results they produced. In Vancouver (1996), researchers first announced the results of the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) clinical trials—changing the future for millions of us living with HIV. In Durban (2000), delegates to the conference made an urgent call to ensure access to treatment for people in Africa and other regions of the world heavily impacted by HIV. Now the XVIII International AIDS Conference which recently concluded in Vienna joins that list for memorable results. On Monday, July 19, researchers announced a significant step forward in the development of microbicides that may one day be widely available to provide critical protection from HIV and herpes.

It was an amazing few days with scientists, service providers, clients, and advocates talking and debating about what we need to do for those living with, and at risk for, HIV. Some of the highlights for me include:

Games for Health 2010

By Michelle Samplin-Salgado, AIDS.gov New Media Strategist

We attended the Games for Health 2010 conference in Boston, Massachusetts to learn more about how video games and virtual worlds are being used to increase physical activity, train health care providers, and advocate HIV/AIDS information and prevention methods among youth. Now in its 6th year, the three-day conference was developed in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to convene public healthcare professionals and providers with game developers to bring innovative solutions to everyday issues in public health.

We talked to Lynn Fiellin, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine . Dr. Fiellin is Principal Investigator for a NIH-funded project to develop a behavioral changing HIV prevention video game. We asked her to tell us about her project, why she chose video games as an intervention for HIV and what advice she had for the HIV/AIDS community.

International AIDS Conference: Dr. Valdiserri talks to Ambassador Eric Goosby

by Dr. Ron Valdiserri, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Infectious Diseases, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

On July 22, 2010, during the International AIDS Conference , I talked with Ambassador Eric Goosby, who serves as the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, and who oversees the implementation of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program.

PEPFAR is the United States’ response to the global HIV/AIDS epidemic—but I was interested in getting Dr. Goosby’s impression of what the news coming from the conference might mean for those working on HIV/AIDS in the United States.

I also asked him to share his impressions about the new National HIV/AIDS Strategy and to give those of us responding to the domestic epidemic some advice, based on his work in the thirty-one PEPFAR partner countries.