Healthcare

After more than three decades of the AIDS epidemic, today we are talking about the end of AIDS – in our lifetimes.
 
This is an exciting moment made possible by tireless advocacy efforts, lower HIV drug prices, significant research strides, and an unprecedented international response. Our collective efforts have led to expanded global access to HIV care and treatment and improved capacity at all levels. New infections are decreasing and more people are receiving treatment to live longer, healthier lives.

Military suicides this year have hit a record high -- more men and women in uniform are dying by their own hand than in combat.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta described this dreadful trend as an “epidemic.” And with one service member committing suicide every day on average, I would venture to call it a crisis.

In the first six months of 2012, military suicides jumped 18 percent, with firearms involved in more than two-thirds of service member suicides. Between 2008 and 2010, nearly three-quarters of service members who committed suicide with a firearm used their personal weapons.

Military leaders and military families are eager to end these senseless deaths, yet there are restrictions on commanding officers that interfere with their obligation to keep their troops safe.

Having played in the National Basketball Association for 15 years, and having also survived a potentially terminal health problem, I’m often astounded by how much in our lives is determined by chance. A last-minute desperation three-point shot or the slight angle of the ball circling the rim can determine a win or loss in a big game.  Similarly, a timely versus a delayed physical exam can mean the difference between life and death. 

Life is full of seemingly inconsequential decisions that have lasting, life-altering effects.

The elections showed that, nationally, the landscape of who is engaging with political representation in this country is changing. By all accounts the votes of women, immigrants, people of color, Native people, LGBT people and youth changed the presidential and some state elections. For the national conservative platform, relying on an agenda that often alienated these communities ('legitimate rape,' anyone?), the 2012 election results revealed a need for a change of rhetoric.

While our nation faces an impending fiscal cliff with expiring tax cuts, spiraling entitlements, and a dreaded sequestration, another year-end deadline is approaching that has deadly consequences - the expiration of patents on the original formulations of highly addictive prescription pain pills like OxyContin.
 
These so-called "long-acting opioids" were billed as the next wonder drugs; solutions to chronic pain with low risk of addiction. In reality, crushing early versions of these drugs created a powerful, and sometimes deadly, high - totally overwhelming communities. Suddenly and without warning, in the quiet hills in my region of Appalachia, these drugs intended to manage pain were creating pain in the form of overdoses, crime and uncontrollable addiction.

34 million people are HIV infected and more are infected every day. But the pace of infection has been slowed and the number of deaths have been reduced. We have the technology and political will to dream of an AIDS free generation. We have the capacity to use science and research to make a difference at the implementation level. USAID calls it “implementation science”. Additional 6.8 million HIV infected people need treatment urgently.

Say the word Medicare in Washington, and you’re sure to be in for a hot debate. It’s not surprising why. Medicare is vitally important to millions of retired Americans who paid into the program during their working years, just as it matters to today’s taxpayers who are covering Medicare’s current bills. We all have a vested interest in Medicare’s financial health and long-term viability.

But the conversation on Medicare is often disappointing. As we’ve seen in the past two political cycles, one side offers substantive ideas. The other employs sleight of hand by arguing tertiary points – that the “idea guys” are scary, that the federal government doesn’t need to change, and that if Americans paid more in taxes, things would be set right.

Several lawmakers have called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to “do something” to protect the public from the alleged threat of energy drinks after the agency received a small number “adverse event reports” related to the products. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has called for an outright ban. Such overheated reactions are out of line with reality. Basing policy on a knee-jerk reaction to a handful of incidents that may or may not be related to energy drinks could rob consumers of their right to make their own choices about their health and diet.

Activists around the world are engaged in the “16 Days of Activism to End Gender Violence” campaign, calling on governments to take action on crimes from rape in war to domestic abuse by International Human Rights Day on December 10. In the United States, activists have added motivation for pushing policymakers to act within this timeframe. Congress is at an impasse over renewing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), the country’s primary national legislation addressing domestic abuse, sexual violence, and stalking. With the remainder of the 112th Congress now a matter of weeks, it is a very real possibility that the act will not be renewed.
 
If that happens, it will constitute an alarming failure of Congress as a whole and in particular of members of the House of Representatives who rallied against a progressive renewal bill.

Voters in Colorado and Washington made history on Election Day. For the first time ever, a majority of voters decided at the ballot box to abolish cannabis prohibition.
 
In Colorado, 55 percent of voters – four percent more than favored President Barack Obama – decided in favor of Amendment 64, a constitutional amendment that allows for the legal possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and/or the cultivation of up to six cannabis plants in private by those persons age 21 and over. In Washington, 55 percent of voters similarly decided in favor of Initiative 502, which removes criminal penalties regarding the adult possession of up to one ounce of cannabis for personal use (as well as the possession of up to 16 ounces of marijuana-infused product in solid form, and 72 ounces of marijuana-infused product in liquid form.) Washington’s new law takes effect on December 6. Colorado’s measure becomes law in early January. (Additional provisions seeking to enact state-licensed regulations governing the potential sale and taxation of cannabis do not begin taking effect until early 2014.)