Calif. Advocates Dismayed By Presidential AIDS Council Firings, View It As ‘Retribution’
The Trump administration just fired the six remaining members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS several months after a half-dozen of the advisers left in protest of the administration's policies.
The Mercury News:
Activists Worry After Trump Administration Dismisses HIV/AIDS Advisors
In past years, the council has helped create a helpful “cross-pollination” between people working on different facets of the epidemic, said Bishop Yvette Flunder of Oakland’s City of Refuge United Church of Christ. She was appointed to the council by Obama before resigning in February. Flunder, whose husband died from HIV complications and who has presided over almost 150 funerals of AIDS victims in her East Oakland congregation, predicted that the Trump administration would mount a “hostile and conservative takeover” of the panel, filling it with anti-LGBT members or advisers skeptical of using condoms to prevent the transmission of HIV. (Tolan, 1/2)
In other public health news —
KQED:
Should Police Violence Be Viewed As A Public Health Issue?
Some local health professionals are advocating that the impact of police violence should be studied and treated as a public health issue. Advocates say people of color are the most at risk, yet the responsibility for providing healing resources has fallen on community members to take care of their own. (Garces, 1/2)
Los Angeles Times:
Autism Spectrum Disorders Appear To Have Stabilized Among U.S. Kids And Teens
Researchers have a new reason to believe that the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders in the U.S. has reached a plateau. The evidence comes from the National Health Interview Survey, which polls American households about a variety of conditions. When a participating family includes children, one of those kids is selected at random to be included in the interview. (Kaplan, 1/2)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Teens Who Start Vaping Are More Likely To End Up Smoking, UCSF Study Finds
Youths who vape are more likely to light up. That’s the conclusion reached by UCSF researchers, who found that using any form of tobacco — including electronic cigarettes, chewing tobacco, water pipes and snuff — makes a teenager more likely to get hooked on conventional cigarettes. (Rubenstein, 1/2)