Subject: (fwd) Summary of 941119 #aids/hiv IRC Meeting
From: Paradise Cowgirl <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 16:15:57 -0800

Path: news.teleport.com!rainrgnews0!psgrain!engr.orst.edu!reuter.cse.ogi.edu!uwm.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netnews
From: [email-masked] (Norman Brown)
Newsgroups: alt.christnet.motss,alt.motss.bisexua-l,alt.sex.motss,ba.motss,bionet.molbio.hiv,can.motss,gay-net.aids,manawatu.motss,misc.health.aids,ne.motss,pa.motss,pgh.motss,pnw.motss,sdnet.motss,soc.motss,triangle.motss,triangle.personals.motss,uc.motss
Subject: Summary of 941119 #aids/hiv IRC Meeting
Date: 24 Nov 1994 16:38:15 GMT
Organization: Netcom
Lines: 220
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: ix-sd1-21.ix.netcom.com
Xref: news.teleport.com alt.motss.bisexua-l:64 alt.sex.motss:21040 ba.motss:7414 bionet.molbio.hiv:529 misc.health.aids:678 pnw.motss:1658 soc.motss:239283

 The second of eight weekly trial Internet Relay Chats (IRC) which are
 being conducted every Saturday/Sunday from 21:00 UT/GMT - Universal
 Coordinated / Greenwich Mean Time (NTP) until 23:00 UTC/GMT (NTP),
 beginning November 12/13 and continuing through December 31/January 1
 was held and declared a success by those attending.

 We have now received responses from the countries of Brasil, Canada,
 Chile, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Scotland; the states of
 California, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota,
 Mississippi, Ohio and Viginia; the cities of Bowling Green,
 Burbank, Chicago, Indianapolis, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, San
 Juan Capistrano, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara and Toronto; and Columbia
 University and Johns Hopkins University, plus other countries, states,
 cities and universities which have not, as yet, been identified.  While
 everyone was not able to attend this session, they have indicated they
 will be present for future meetings.

 If anyone attempted to attend but was unable to make the connection,
 kindly email [email-masked] with the particulars.

 Things got underway promptly at 22:55 UTC/GMT (NTP) and the following
 items were discussed:

    1.  Needle-exchange Programs

        a.  Larry David Pasco, the founder and present researcher for
            Prevention Point of Indiana, explained how a loophole in
            their state law which says one needs to do research but does
            not specify who should do the research, permits Prevention
            Point to operate within their state.  Larry further stated
            the Health Departments in his state have no interest in
            this subject, or in conducing needle-exchanges.

            He further related that bleach is not the answer to stopping
            HIV in the IV drug communities; the only answer being harm
            reduction, i.e., the right of people to use, and access to
            clean needles.  He further indicated Prevention Point also
            gives out bleach, water, cotton, band-aids and condoms, but
            that making sure people have clean needles is the most
            important.  He reported they are user-friendly and they also
            do education, as well.

            Mr. Pasco related that many needle-exchanges in America are
            utilizing the NAC on-line as their means of communication.

            [In private correspondence during the week between
            Norman/HIVNET/NAC it was suggested that NAC gate their
            needle-exchange conference to the Internet; however, it was
            determined it is a possibility, but NAC has so many current
            projects getting on line with the Internet that they
            suggested we form our own needle-exchange newsgroup
            temporarily until they can make it a reality through NAC.]

            Mr. Pasco further related that the North American Syringe
            Network's phone number is 206-272-4857.

            Larry said he was hopeful that four additional people from
            his NE project would join in the meeting for November 26th.

        b.  Rod explained that in his city of San Francisco they are
            able to conduct needle-exchanges due to a state law which
            permits a city/county to declare a health emergency at which
            time it supercedes state law.  He reported that in SF
            volunters give out bottles of bleach, and users seem to be
            quite sophisticated about the use.

        c.  Norman from San Diego further added that the Mayor of Los
            Angeles had recently declared a health emergency for that
            city, and they are presently doing needle-exchanges there.

    2.  Availability of AIDS/HIV Information at Universities

        a.  Dan, a pre-med/pre-public health student at Johns Hopkins
            University, indicated his interest in discussions of
            different aspects of HIV/AIDS topics for the science section
            of his campus weekly newspaper for which he is a writer.

            He said he was currently trying to put together a series of
            articles that provide information on different aspects,
            especially from the professors and doctors at their
            affiliated medical school, entitled "to be afrAIDS".

            Dan also indicated he was affiliated with the JHU School of
            Hygiene and Public Health.  He further related that he was
            looking at working in either International Health,
            specifically with HIV infection/AIDS, or Epidemiology.

            Dan indicated that AIDS education on campus was meagre, and
            only covered during the first week, the same message ...
            watch out, which is what he wants to change by writing more
            about it in the campus paper.

            He said he had taken a class during the past quarter which
            was excellent in providing a clinical view of HIV
            infection/AIDS, and he wants to let people know more about
            that aspect, as well as bring about a response to continued
            awareness.

            He further said he has been involved with international
            study forums which have looked at global issues like AIDS,
            and can see that people are generally ignorant of very basic
            facts about AIDS.

            Dan related that the campus Gay/Lesbian group occasionally
            does something on AIDS, but presently are involved in a
            controversy surrounding the ROTC and has not put much
            effort into AIDS awareness.  In fact, he recalls only one
            article in the past four years dealing with condoms, a
            notice of National Condom Week.  He did indicate, however,
            that condoms were readily available at the student clinic.

    3.  Home Pages dealing with HIV/AIDS

        Norman reported that his surveillance during the week had
        produced the following WWW home pages:

        a. World Health Organization:
             http://gpawww.who.ch/gpahome.htm

        b. Queer Resource Directory:
             http://vector.casti.com/QRD/.html/QRD-home-page.html; and
             http://northstar.otago.ac.nz/QRD/.html/QRD- home-page.html
               (mirror image of main QRD site);

        c. French: http://www.ircam.fr/solidarites/sida/ index-e.html;
             (in mostly French, but some English); and

        d. War on AIDS: http://www.webcom.com/~feedle/ War_On_AIDS.html
             (supporting Duesberg theory)
             (be sure to type this in exactly the upper/lower case as
              indicated above)

    4.  Larry Pasco provided the following 800-numbers for free access
        to HIV/AIDS information:

        a.  HIVNET                      1-800-788-4118
        b.  Computer AIDS Ministries    1-800-542-5921

    5.  Global AIDS/HIV Project to Increase Education and Awareness:

        a.  The cumulative suggestions are trying to get the students of
            high schools and universities involved in something like ...

            (1) Hands-around-the-World;
            (2) Electronic Quilt;
            (3) Electronic Mail to the White House
                ([email-masked]), and other world leaders  on
                next year's World AIDS Day, December 1, 1995;
            (4) Something which looks at the current situation
                and deals directly with it;
            (5) Something similar to a "universal" playing of "We Are
                The World."

            ... to make real the threat in low incidence/prevelance
            areas.

    6.  Possible New Agenda Items for Future IRC Meetings:

        a.  Pediatric AIDS; and
        b.  Women and AIDS (Dan will bring his notes on this for the
            December 3rd meeting).

        Dan felt that meetings with a specific topic each week would
        make discussion stronger.

    If anyone has input as to anything mentioned above, please feel free
    to reply in this newsgroup -or- in email to me as indicated below
    ... BUT preferably in the newsgroup in case it engenders further
    discussion.

    Matthew Lewis, Chairman of the Board of the HIVNET Foundation,
    administrator of their Internet gateway and technical coordinator
    for the group will be our "speaker" for the December 3rd meeting.
    This should prove to be a very interesting meeting as he will
    explain how individuals from around the world can become involved in
    HIVNET.

    Plan to attend as we extend the conversation across the Atlantic to
    the Netherlands and beyond!

    The local times for future Saturday/Sunday meetings until the end of
    the year are:

             Hawaii          11:00 a.m. -  1:00 p.m., November 26
             California       1:00 p.m. -  3:00 p.m., November 26
             New York         4:00 p.m. -  6:00 p.m., November 26
             United Kingdom   9:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m., November 26
             Germany          9:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m., November 26
             France          10:00 p.m. - 12:00 mid., November 26
             The Netherlands 10:00 p.m. - 12:00 mid., November 26
             Italy           10:00 p.m. - 12:00 mid., November 26
             Western
               Australia      5:00 a.m. -  7:00 a.m., November 27
             Eastern
               Australia      8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m., November 27

    The name of the channel is AIDS/HIV, so you will type ...

               /join #AIDS/HIV  (don't forget the "#")

    ... at your IRC prompt to gain access.  A password will NOT be
    required to attend.  Just show up for a nice cup of hot
    coffee/tea, a sweet roll, and a friendly chat around the fireplace.

    We never know who will show up!!  Did someone say C. Everett Koop?

                                    NORMAN R. BROWN
                                    [email-masked]

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