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EDITOR'S CHOICE |
Editor-in-Chief
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The Journal’s editorial team is dedicated to addressing a breadth of HIV/AIDS issues—from health and human rights and international financing of treatment to domestic programs centered around needle exchange and violence prevention—yet we also recognize how vital it is to focus on the particular needs of vulnerable communities and why public health approaches have remained stubbornly ineffective in marginalized populations. In his feature article, "The Second Wave Will Drown Us," Michael Gross reminds us that stigmatization continues to obstruct effective prevention programs and policies, allowing HIV to spread again, unchecked.
Such difficulties have precedent. In commenting publicly on the affirmative action case currently before the US Supreme Court, Lee Bollinger—formerly president of the University of Michigan and now president of Columbia University—noted how difficult it is for US society to deal with the thorny issue of race. Every 50 years, he argued, we seem to backslide on historic advances. It has been close to 50 years since the landmark 1954 Brown v Board of Education of Topeka decision that prohibited school segregation on the basis of race. Will the US Supreme Court resist the impetus to undo this civil rights victory? We remain cautiously hopeful.
Having struggled to come to terms with the catastrophic HIV epidemic among MSM in the 1980s by addressing the pointed issues of sexuality and heterosexism, are we set to backslide a mere 20 years later as HIV incidence rates move steadily upward, especially among MSM? How much more difficult is it to prevent HIV infection among young MSM of color when we barely know how to address the health of men, and know even less about dealing effectively with the racism and sexual prejudice that contribute to substandard health care and shortened lives for MSM of color? David Malebranche is among the public health researchers who are pointing the way forward (see his contribution on page 862). In the coming year, the Journal will feature additional research on the HIV epidemics throughout the world, notably in sub-Saharan Africa.
In closing, the Journal thanks former associate editor Jeffrey Levi for his 4 years of service, during which he used HIV as a lens through which to better understand what ails US public health and health care. As a final testimony to his generosity, the transition in the editorial team occurred with barely a ripple in the flow of papers through the tracking stream. While HIV returns to afflict our communities, the Journal remains steadfast in its vigilance in covering this modern plague, as well as the diverse other health concerns burdening LGBT populations.
Footnotes
Michael Gross, featured in the photograph above, was the lead editor for this issue of the Journal.
Related articles in AJPH:
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