Keeping it Real and Living Affected

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day March 10

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is a nationwide observance that sheds light on the disease's impact on women and girls.

Every year on March 10, and throughout the month of March, thousands of people, advocacy organizations, and local and state public health officials host events and share facts about HIV/AIDS. This year's theme is "Share Knowledge. Take Action."

Southern WOW ( Women on Women) as a program of The Living Affected Corporation will be hosting Super Sistah Saturday, March 8, 12-4 at First Presbyterian Church, 401 North Maple Street in North Little Rock.

The event will feature area speakers on relevant women's topics, Zumba presentation, shopping, and free food. For more details and or sponsorship information contact 501.379-8203, check out their Facebook page or email at: info@livingaffected.org  Please enjoy the following posting and You are invited to:

 

LEARN

SPREAD THE WORD

JOIN

• Learn about National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and HIV/AIDS
• Spread the word
• Join our partners at events around the country
• Read about the 2014 ambassadors

HIV/AIDS is a serious public health issue for women and girls. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1.1 million people in the United States are living with HIV. Of those people, one in four (25%) is a woman 13 or older. Approximately 27,000 women have HIV but do not know they have the disease. Together we can:

• Encourage women and girls to get tested and know their status
• Help decrease the number of women who are HIV-positive
• Increase awareness of safe practices to prevent HIV infection
• Help people become aware of the levels of care and treatment

  

Trending The Living Affected

President Obama to launch major new effort to help young men of color

by Z.A. Goldfarb

President Obama will launch a significant new effort this week to bolster the lives of young men of color, seeking to use the power of the presidency to help a group of Americans whose lives are disproportionately affected by poverty and prison.

Obama on Thursday will announce a new White House initiative called “My Brother’s Keeper,” which will bring foundations and companies together to test a range of strategies across the country to support young male minorities, taking steps to keep them in school and out of the criminal justice system, a White House official said. He will also announce that his administration will launch a more vigorous evaluation of what policies work best and publicize results to school systems and others across the country.

The effort will seek “to make sure that every young man of color who is willing to work hard and lift himself up has an opportunity to get ahead and reach his full potential,” the White House official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement. “The initiative will be focused on implementing strategies that are proven to get results.”
Obama promised to launch a new project focused on young men of color in one line — widely overlooked — during his State of the Union address last month.

His focus on a relatively narrow demographic group is unusual for a president who usually stresses how his policies affect large swaths of the American public. It also comes after the first African American president has faced repeated criticism from those who say he is failing to pay enough attention to this group of Americans.

But the announcement of the initiative is just the latest way that Obama, in his second term, has been addressing race and the fortunes of urban youth more directly. Last month, Obama and his wife, Michelle, hosted a forum at the White House to persuade colleges to recruit more low-income Americans. And last year, the Justice Department overhauled drug-sentencing guidelines so that low-level and nonviolent offenders do not face stiff minimum sentences. (check out www.washingtonpost.com for video and complete article.)

Save the Date for Renegades for a Cause Equality Event!

When Is It Enough: The Call to Action part 1

Call to Action: This Is About US, Being About the Business of US

February 7, 2014 - I am my brother's and sister's keeper. That's the theme of the 14th annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and we of the Living Affected Corporation want you to take this call seriously.

 

African Americans are disproportionately represented in new infection rates of HIV and often have National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day in an effort to highlight the importance of Black LGBT leadership at the forefront of our fight against the epidemic if we ever hope to see an AIDS-free generation.  

 

In our research we often fine that despite the impact HIV and AIDS is having in communities of color there are still often to few resources to treat the virus when they learn they have the virus. Our agency was instrumental as well as at the forefront of pushing forward Arkansas' Jurisdictional Plan which outlines how this state will use its federal dollars in implementing high impact HIV/AIDS interventions.

Through our publishing efforts we have produced the first LGBT focused health journal, periodical highlighting the disease among women and created a ongoing local resource guide with the updated service providers and assistance. Yet we are alarmed and despondent that people in the Black LGBT community continue to face stigma, homophobia and isolation if they come out about their status.

Even more alarming is the fact that this agency is the sole entity which has taken a dedicated track to deal with the issues and challenges within the Black gay community. Since our existence we have struggled with getting the deserved respect for our efforts not only within the confines of public health but much of the Black community who has all but placated the situation with lip service and tepid responses that warrant the ultimate question: when is the senseless dying ever going to be enough?  The Living Affected Corporation observes:

 

Know The Facts:

• While Black people represent approximately 14 percent of the total U.S. population, they accounted for almost half (44 percent) of all new HIV infections in 2010 (20,900) and represent half of all people living with HIV, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). 
• Approximately one in 16 black men will be diagnosed with HIV during their lifetime, as will one in 32 black women. Nationally, 25 percent of new infections are in Black and Hispanic men on average (CDC).
• The Black AIDS Institute reported in 2012 that Black men who have sex with men (MSM) make up nearly one in four new HIV infections in the United States and one in six Americans living with HIV. 
• In the National Transgender Discrimination Study (NTDS) published in 2011, over one-fifth of Black respondents were HIV-positive (20.23%) and an additional 10% reported that they did not know their status. 

Be Your Brother and Sister's Keeper.

 

Take Action:

• Get tested for HIV every six (6) months. Need help finding somewhere to get tested? Visit www.hivtest.org to find testing services in our local community.
• If you are HIV positive, find a provider you can trust and develop a treatment plan in order to take control of your health. Click here to find a list of providers in our community. 
• Know your healthcare options. If do not have health insurance, visit healthcare.gov and learn about the new health exchanges available to you through the Affordable Care Act.  Call us at 501.379-8203 for Free HIV testing and direct health care enrollment assistance.

Black History Month 2014

I Am My Brother's and Sister's Keeper: Fight AIDS!!
By Gina Brown, Program Manager, AIDS United

“I Am My Brother’s and Sister’s Keeper. Fight HIV/AIDS!” This is the 2014 theme for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day was first observed in
1999, and since then, advocates, allies and people living with HIV/AIDS in the Black community have worked hard to be “Our Brother’s and Sister’s Keeper”. We’ve organized, united, strategized, articulated and advocated for the need to be our brother’s and sister’s keeper, as we remain dedicated to fighting HIV/AIDS in the Black community.

HIV/AIDS continues to disproportionately affect Black America. Currently, three in five Black Americans know someone living with or who has died from HIV/AIDS. Although we account for less than 14% of the U.S. population, Black America represented 44% of all new HIV infections in 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Men who have sex with Men (MSM) remain the group most heavily affected by HIV, while young Black MSM continue to account for more than half of new infections among young MSM. The CDC reports a 21% decline in new HIV infections among women overall, however the new data shows that black women continue to be far more affected by HIV than women of other races/ethnicities. Of all the women living with HIV in the United States, approximately 66% are African American.

According to the Southern AIDS Strategy Initiative (SASI), in 2010, 46% of all new diagnosis of HIV infection occurred in the South. Compared to other regions, a higher percentage of diagnoses in the South were among women (23.8%), Blacks/African Americans (57.2%). With numbers this high, it is crucial to expand Medicaid in the South, since Medicaid Expansion would allow greater access to care and treatment for HIV positive individuals.

What does it mean to be “Our Brother’s and Sister’s Keeper?” One way this can be interpreted is that a sister or brother takes responsibility for the others behavior. It means taking care of them and not ignoring their problem, it also means being concerned with someone else besides you. You keep him or her from harm. As a woman living with HIV, the way I do my sisterly duty is by speaking for those women who have yet to find their voices. I take this charge seriously because I AM my Sister’s Keeper!

So looking forward, how do we take greater responsibility for one another in the Black community, as we recommit to ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic? First, EVERY Black American must know his or her HIV status.

Second, every person who tests HIV positive must have access and be linked to care, which helps to improve their health outcomes.

Third, partners and allies must work to ensure that all groups and individuals who are challenged by social determinants work to keep the Black community within reach of access to opportunities that limit poverty and social exclusion.

This focus is critical as we work together to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Since its inception, National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day provides a heightened opportunity for Black Americans to come together for education, testing, involvement and treatment, if necessary.

As our Brother’s and Sister’s Keeper in the Black community, on this National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, we are dedicated to ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic in America.