Today's Date: March 28, 2024
In 23rd Annual Sexual Assault Awareness Month Campaign, NSVRC Calls for Building Connected Communities to Prevent Sexual Violenc   •   Yamaha Motor Signs Technical Partnership with Lola Cars for Development and Supply of Powertrains for Formula E   •   Stamp showcasing maamoul commemorates Islamic festivals of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha   •   /R E M I N D E R -- Travelling for Easter? The Canada Border Services Agency gives tips for a smooth trip/   •   Leading In-Home Care Franchise Looks to Expand in La Crosse   •   From Tee to Triumph: Teen Entrepreneur and Golf Sensation Hosts First Annual Autism Awareness Golf Tournament   •   Intown Stars Sports Training and Events Center Wins Georgia Business Journal's 'Best of Georgia' and Atlanta Magazine's 'Best of   •   Green Boom Expands Product Line to The Home Depot   •   Jack Link’s® Unveils a Sweet Collaboration with Dr Pepper® That Brings Two Classic Tastes Together   •   Guaranteed Rate Welcomes New Atlanta Branch Manager, Carlos Mata   •   THE ST. JAMES AND TPH ACADEMY PARTNER TO LAUNCH PREMIER ACADEMIC AND SPORTS PERFORMANCE ACADEMY SERVING THE GREATER WASHINGTON R   •   The Religious Sub-forum of BFA 2024 to Feature the First Roundtable Thought Event   •   Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Richard D. Wood Jr. Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Earns Two Press Ganey Awards   •   Tractor Supply Opens Applications for Second Annual Open Buying Days Event   •   Lutheran Senior Services and Diakon Enter Into Senior Living Agreement   •   Boston Children’s Hospital and NRG Energy celebrate $1 million milestone, thanks to the Choose to Give program   •   Saviynt Debuts One-Stop Resource Exchange for Thousands of Enterprise Identity Professionals   •   Black & Veatch Distributed Infrastructure Business Awarded Highest OSHA Star Recognition   •   ComPsych Corporation Announces 2023 Health at Work Award Winners   •   Modern Health & Naomi Osaka’s Hana Kuma Launch Mental Health Focused Video Podcast Series “Can’t Wait To H
Bookmark and Share

Howard University Hosts World AIDS Day Events

WASHINGTON  -- Since the day Lisa Muschette was born 24 years ago, she has lived with a personal secret, one considered so dark by society that even she didn’t know about it until age 10.

Her mother knew.

Her father knew.

But Lisa’s secret was so taboo that they did not dare to whisper it to others, not even to Lisa, if only to spare her what they felt was the shame she would one day bear.

Still, Lisa, who grew up in Washington, D.C., knew something was wrong. She knew she was different, the recurring sicknesses, the frequent hospital visits.

It was after watching the movie version of Sarafina II in 1996 and viewing its story about something called AIDS and HIV that she turned to her mother and asked, “Do I have HIV?”

It was a child’s stab in the dark, but her mother, a drug user who had given Lisa the disease at birth, burst into tears. And from that day to now, Lisa’s life has been colored by the thing she cannot mention publicly without strange questions, confusion, sometimes derision and often revulsion

She has HIV.

It is the secret that millions of people across America and the world carry, a stigma that clinicians worldwide say fuels the spread of the disease. That stigma, the societal burden associated with AIDS, is in some ways even more damning than the disease itself, they say.

Consequently, hundreds of HIV/AIDS clinicians, scientists, psychologists, religious leaders, elected officials and workers from countries across the globe are gathering Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, at Howard University for a free, daylong international conference on the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS in Cramton Auditorium.

The “International Conference on HIV-Related Stigma: The Attitude that Spreads HIV,” hosted by Howard University Hospital, Howard University Health Sciences, and the Coalition to Eliminate AIDS-related Stigma will feature some of the world’s top HIV/AIDS experts and activists, including Dr. Sohail Rana, an HIV/AIDS specialist with Department of Pediatrics, Howard University College of Medicine and Howard University Hospital; U.S. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., and Laurie J. Bauman, Ph.D., director of the Preventive Intervention Research Center in the Department of Pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Other panelists include Willo Pequegnat, Ph.D., of the National Institute of Mental Health, co-author of Working with Families in the Era of HIV/AIDS and co-editor of Community Interventions and AIDS, Pernessa C. Seele, founder and CEO of The Balm In Gilead, Inc., a not-for-profit organization that tackles diseases, including HIV/AIDS, and Dr. Suniti Solomon, founder-director of the Y.R. Gaitonde Center for AIDS Research and Education in Chennai, India,

Also on panels are Dr. Rafael Mazin, regional advisor for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Comprehensive Care for the Pan American Health Organization; Reggie Smith of the Atlanta organization Wellness, Awareness and Recovery, and Li Li, Ph.D., director of research management at UCLA Semel Institute Center for Community Health.
Workshop panels include “Faith, Spirituality, and HIV: Barriers and Facilitators to HIV Prevention and How To Implement Interventions in Your Institution,” “HIV Stigma: Effect on Children, Youth, and Families Facilitator,” “Youth Roundtable on HIV and Stigma,” and “Criminalization of HIV, “Reducing the Stigma of HIV & STD Testing in Healthcare Settings.”

Miss America, Caressa Cameron, will also be attending the convention, as well representatives from the National Association for People with AIDS.



STORY TAGS: BLACK, AFRICAN AMERICAN, MINORITY, CIVIL RIGHTS, DISCRIMINATION, RACISM, , RACIAL EQUALITY, BIAS, EQUALITY, culture

Video

White House Live Stream
LIVE VIDEO EVERY SATURDAY
alsharpton Rev. Al Sharpton
9 to 11 am EST
jjackson Rev. Jesse Jackson
10 to noon CST


Video

LIVE BROADCASTS
Sounds Make the News ®
WAOK-Urban
Atlanta - WAOK-Urban
KPFA-Progressive
Berkley / San Francisco - KPFA-Progressive
WVON-Urban
Chicago - WVON-Urban
KJLH - Urban
Los Angeles - KJLH - Urban
WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
New York - WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
WADO-Spanish
New York - WADO-Spanish
WBAI - Progressive
New York - WBAI - Progressive
WOL-Urban
Washington - WOL-Urban

Listen to United Natiosns News