Hot New Campaign : Status Sexy!

The AIDS Partnership Michigan’s new movement aims to promote knowing your HIV status with a sexy, high fashion, modern style. Their latest campaign shows that getting tested for HIV shows confidence, and confidence is always sexy. (Check it out at www.statussexy.com ! Yowza! Hot stuff! )

The campaign originated from a mobilization effort targeting men who sex with men and may be helping to bash the fear some people have about getting tested.

“According to the CDC, 52% of new HIV infections are in young black men, which is why they were targeted for this effort. Statistics also show that those who do not know their HIV status account for up to 70% of new sexually transmitted HIV infections in the US. However, most who learn they are infected take important steps to protect others from infection”

Some companies have already refused to run the ads. While some may find the message too risqué, I believe that there can never be too many efforts to stop a deadly disease sweeping our nation. Different methods will attract different kinds of people to help get the message out to everyone.

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day - A Personal Note

Today's post is written by Ciara R., who is an intern here at the Dining Out for Life offices. Ciara was thoughtful enough to share her personal story with us - since the struggle to battle HIV/AIDS is for many of us...very personal!

Aware of the importance and avid about setting an example for my peers, I got tested yesterday on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Not only did I feel a sense of relief, but power as well when I received the results. Because HIV can lay dormant for years without me contracting it, there’s no telling what the results are going to be when I go in every six months. I felt powerful because I did not have to worry about knowing. Relieved because it was negative but even if it were positive, I’d have a better chance of combating the disease and living a longer more impactful life.

Thanks to my mother’s true passion for service, I have been aware of HIV/AIDS since an early age. I can remember attending conferences and meetings along with her as a little girl. One event that sticks out in my mind is an event at a local church. I remember a woman speaking about living with HIV. At the time, I knew it was a deadly disease that is transmitted through sex, but I had never seen anyone who I knew had it. I’d always imagine someone with the virus to be very frail, pale, and unable to move around on their own. To my surprise, she was full of energy, vibrant and healthy.

During her talk, she mentioned that she never went on a rampant search to find out who she contracted it from. She believed that it would be useless to get angry and a waste of her energy to search and interrogate her partners. Rather than focusing

on how it happened, she focuses her energy on what she is going to do now. She wants to keep learning about HIV, be an impact in the movement to combat it, and live a healthy lifestyle.

I tell her story to point out a few things. Young people, you cannot determine if someone is HIV positive by their look, background, personality, or sexual history. Too often, do I come in contact with people my age (22)who choose to engage in risky sexual behavior based off of assumptions they’ve made about their partner (I’ve even been guilty of it). The only true determinant is their status, but because most people don’t carry rapid HIV tests in their back pockets, the most efficient way to protect yourself is to use condoms. You can get more information on what condoms are made of, their varieties and how to properly use them here. Another important point she made was to let go of the emotional stress of not knowing how you got it. There are some cases in which it is feasible to find out and it may save other’s lives; if not, we should focus on the things that we can control. Lastly, it is probable to live healthy with HIV. From reading about the issue, I have discovered that there is a population that would rather not get tested because of the stigma associated with the virus. It is possible to live a normal lifestyle with the virus. It is better to know, so that you can get treatment and live healthy to sustain your life. Not convinced?Look at these real stories of young people living with HIV.

All in all, that one day impacted my life and view of HIV/AIDS. I thought about that woman yesterday when I got tested. I recognize that it can happen to me and I understand the importance of knowing my status. To find the nearest rapid testing location near you, go to hivtest.org

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

If you identify with the expression “It takes a village to raise a child,” then you understand that it take a village to fight HIV/AIDS. This slogan for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and it reflects the strategy being used to battle the virus in the Black community. Each year stakeholders throughout the country, and even around the globe, plan events and activities to raise awareness and get individuals tested. February 7, 2011 marks the 11^th year of this powerful initiative.

Every year since the epidemic began in 1981, African-Americans in the United States have been disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. Although African-Americans make up 13% of the U.S. population, they account for 51% of HIV cases. Blacks account for more new HIV infections, AIDS cases, people estimated to be living with the HIV disease and HIV related deaths than any other racial/ethnic group. Blacks at a higher risk for HIV include those who are unaware of their sexual partner’s risk factors, those with other STDs and those who live in poverty.

A recent study done in five cities found that 46% of African American men who have sex with men were HIV positive, 67% of which did not know of their infection. Awareness and getting tested is crucial to stop the spread of the disease and to break the stigma that many Blacks have towards the disease. Several of those at risk of HIV infection in the Black community fear the negative social label of being known as deviant and therefore shy away from getting tested. In turn, they forego treatment that may preserve their health and continue to pass it to others.

From an international perspective, sub-Saharan Africa is affected more heavily than any other region of the world. An estimated 22.5 million people are living with HIV in the region which is around two thirds of the global total; the area makes up 10% of the global population. In 2009 around 1.3 million people died from AIDS in the sub- Saharan Africa. The sub-Saharan faces a triple challenge: providing healthcare, reducing the number of new HIV infections and coping with the impact of millions of AIDS deaths.

So what can you do to help the affects that HIV/AIDS has on the Black community? Educate yourself, friends and family about the disease, its impacts and ways to protect yourself. Encourage testing to prevent new infections. Speak out against stigma, homophobia, racism and other forms of discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS. Donate time and money to organizations like as Dining Out for Life and others that work within African American communities.

All of the participants for dining for life are dedicated to finding the cure and spreading awareness of HIV/AIDS. To find out more information on events and activities for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day near you, visit www.blackaidsday.org/nahaad_nearyou.html