ACT UP TOWN HALL ON CHELSEA'S MISSING STD CLINIC

On behalf of ACT UP\New York and Treatment Action Group (TAG), we would like to invite you to a town hall meeting regarding the closure of the Chelsea STD Clinic, the state of the sexually transmitted disease (STD) and HIV epidemics in New York City, and the indifferent and incompetent response of Mayor Bill de Blasio and his health department to these crises. Following the sudden closure of the Chelsea STD Clinic in March 2015, ACT UP and TAG began to investigate the STD control and HIV testing policies of the New York City Government--what we have found is deeply concerning. Briefly: - After closing the Chelsea Clinic--the busiest public STD clinic in the city-- in March, with no announcement and no plans to replace the lost testing and treatment capacity, the city Health Department has refused to build a temporary clinic facility onsite, despite being offered funding by the City Council to do so. Since the Chelsea clinic have been closed, the number of visits to city STD clinics have decreased by 18%. - In order to save money, starting in 2010, the Health Department began severely reducing services at the City STD clinics, shutting down clinics, and losing visitors. By 2014, the number of patients seen at the clinics dropped by a third, while the number of gonorrhea cases in men citywide increased by more than 40% and the number of syphilis cases in men increased by a third. In May, the Health Department admitted it had no strategy to deal with the rapidly worsening STD epidemics. - Starting in 2011, the City reduced the number of HIV tests that it funds by a third-- a loss of over a hundred thousand tests a year. The City never restored HIV testing to its 2010 level--potentially resulting in the delayed or missed diagnosis of thousands of HIV positive individuals. We are inviting members of the community, the Health Department, City and State Local government to discuss and questions these policies on September 1, 2015, at 6:30 PM at the LGBT Community Center on 208 W 13th St (between 7th Avenue and Greenwich Ave). This is an important opportunity for community to speak out about our sexual health and wellbeing; we sincerely hope you are able to attend and also pass this invite along to others. If possible, please RSVP via https://goo.gl/AihBTA, but if you don't want to RSVP, don't worry, just show up! Thanks. In Solidarity, Jim Eigo (ACT UP) Mark Harrington [All Tag] (TAG) Jeremiah Johnson (TAG) James Krellenstein (ACT UP) Peter Staley