The resources in our National Policy Resource Center database are organized into 38 issue topics of importance to people living with HIV and their advocates.
Advance directives are documents that alert others, such as family members, friends, and health care providers, how a person wants to be treated in the event of incapacitation and/or an inability to speak or decide for himself.
HIV transmission through blood and organ donation was an issue of national concern in the first years of the HIV epidemic before tests to screen HIV and its antibodies were available.
Disclosing one's HIV status is still widely perceived as socially dangerous. Similarly, another great risk people living with HIV face is the inadvertent or improper disclosure of their status which can result in denial of employment, violence, and many other collateral consequences.
From the beginning of the HIV epidemic, fear and ignorance about HIV's routes and relative risks of transmission have fueled a backlash against people living with HIV, most evident in the laws that punish them for engaging in consensual sex or activities that pose no risk of HIV transmission.
Access to a quality education free from harassment is a right for all young people, including those living with HIV.
Employment discrimination against people living with HIV may take the form of bias in hiring, refusal to grant workplace modifications to accommodate medical conditions, or unjustified termination.
Epidemiology is the study of health and disease in human populations. We gather insight on HIV by identifying and assessing risk factors associated with HIV acquisition and transmission, and the development and progression of the disease in men, women, young people, and the elderly.
People with HIV often face discrimination in family court due to HIV-related stigma, assumptions about their health and ability to care for their family, and misconceptions about the routes and relative risks of HIV transmission.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) may use the existence of a person's outstanding criminal warrant as the basis to consider that person a "fleeing felon" and discontinue that person's Social Security benefits, per provisions of the 1998 Welfare Reform Act.
Gender issues should inform HIV advocacy at every level. Gender inequalities - reflected in socioeconomic status, traditional gender roles, and domestic violence - can prevent women living with HIV from accessing adequate care and maintaining their well-being.
This HIV Policy Resource Bank category includes materials on HIV-related health care and health insurance issues, including cases, statutes, and regulations that govern the treatment of people with HIV, including health care workers; pleadings and briefs on topics such as denial of care based on
This Resource Bank category includes court decisions, briefs and agency guidelines where the central issue being litigated or under discussion is whether or not HIV is a "disability" that is covered under federal (and some state) laws that prevent discrimination against people living with disabil
HIV denialism is a contradictory set of claims without foundation in science that HIV does not exist, or that it exists but is harmless, and that AIDS does not exist.
Homophobia is a significant barrier to HIV diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, and is a critical public health issue.
Stable, affordable housing is essential to HIV prevention and the health of people living with HIV. Without it, access to health care and drug therapies is significantly compromised.
While nearly every category in the Resource Bank is directly related to human rights, this category addresses the importance of a human rights approach to HIV advocacy. Human rights are rights inherent to every individual, including civil, political, social, economic, and cultural rights.
Gross inequities in the United States immigration system disproportionately harm HIV affected people, documented or otherwise, and their families.
HIV is a truly global issue. Since the beginning of the epidemic, HIV has affected almost 70 million people. At the end of 2011, there were approximately 34 million people living with HIV worldwide. There are an estimated 2.5 million new transmissions every year.
HIV-related legal services are essential to protect and promote the rights of people living with HIV, and are essential to ensure good public health outcomes.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, questioning, and intersex (LGBTQI) individuals have unique needs with respect to their health and the HIV epidemic. Gay men, in particular, continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV.
The system of laws governing the armed forces is distinct from the federal and state regulations typically imposed on civilian populations.
Infectious diseases such as hepatitis, meningitis, and tuberculosis (TB) remain a serious global threat to people living with HIV.
Women living with HIV have the fundamental right to make informed, uncoerced choices about their sexual and reproductive health and pregnancy, and have the right to receive non-discriminatory medical care to help them conceive, carry a pregnancy, and give birth.
The essential starting point of HIV prevention is understanding how HIV is transmitted and then employing mechanisms to avoid or reduce the risk of transmission. Generally, HIV is transmitted in one of three ways: unprotected sex, shared needles or syringes, and from mother to child.
Over two million people are incarcerated in the United States. Men and women of color, particularly black men and women, are disproportionately represented in the correctional system.
Public accommodations are programs or services that are generally open and available to the public, including retail stores, libraries, gyms, schools, courthouses, salons, healthcare facilities, restaurants, theaters, museums, and hotels.
In the United States, people living with HIV may secure Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and other public benefits.
Aquà encontrara publicaciones de El Centro de Leyes y PolÃtica de VIH (CLPV) a demás de algunos de los recursos del Banco de Recursos de VIH.
As people of color disproportionately suffer the brunt of the HIV epidemic in the United States, HIV is a racial justice issue as well as a public health issue.
Reproductive rights are central to HIV advocacy. All individuals, including those living with HIV, have the right to make informed, autonomous decisions about whether to bear a child and, for women, the appropriate care during pregnancy and childbirth.
All states have sex offender registration and notification laws.
Like other marginalized populations, sex workers face significant barriers to HIV prevention and treatment. The stigma associated with sex work, combined with the prosecution of sex workers and the socioeconomic and physical threats many sex workers face, contribute to these barriers.
HIV-related stigma is among the most formidable obstacles for people living with HIV and their advocates. Stigma is a product of misinformation and broad societal acceptance of certain human characteristics or behaviors as inherently bad or spoiling of individual identity.
In the United States, HIV testing is governed by a range of federal and state laws, common law principles, constitutional provisions, and various codes of ethics. State laws vary widely in the degree of protection provided.
This HIV Policy Resource Bank category includes materials focused on the basic facts of HIV transmission: how it does and does not occur, and the different transmission risks through various identified routes.
Treatment for HIV infection has evolved considerably since the first treatments were developed in the 1980s, as evidenced by the numerous iterations of HIV treatment guidelines for adults, adolescents, children, and pregnant women issued by various federal agencies.
HIV is often simply a different disease for women, with a host of distinct issues, both biological and sociological.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that one in four new HIV infections in the United States occurs in young people ages 13 to 24.
Young people institutionalized in foster care and juvenile justice facilities are overwhelmingly members of the communities most affected by, and at risk for, HIV: low-income youth, youth of color, LGBTQ youth, and survivors of violence and other abuse.