The 2023 US Conference on HIV/AIDS (USCHA)Exit Disclaimer opened in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, Sept. 6 with thousands of participants from all segments of the HIV community. HIV.gov’s conference coverage began with a conversation about the upcoming programming and this year’s theme: “A Love Letter to Black Women.”
Organized by NMAC, USCHA features institutes, workshops, and posters addressing issues in biomedical HIV prevention, aging, service delivery, and telehealth, prioritizing the issues of people with HIV and the next steps in ending the epidemic.
As the International AIDS Conference gets underway in Brisbane, Australia next week, new data published by UNAIDS offers a glimpse at the current state of the decades-long battle against the epidemic.
National HIV Testing Day (NHTD) is observed each year on June 27 to highlight the importance of HIV testing. This year, we’re going beyond the test to emphasize the steps everyone can take once they know their HIV status. The NHTD theme for 2023 is “Take the Test & Take the Next Step.” This theme emphasizes that knowing your HIV status helps you choose options to stay healthy.
HIV testing, including self-testing, is the pathway to engaging people in care to keep them healthy, regardless of their test result. People who receive a negative test result can take advantage of HIV prevention tools such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), condoms, and other sexual health services such as vaccines and testing for sexually transmitted infections. People who receive a positive test result can rapidly start HIV treatment (antiretroviral therapy, or ART) to stay healthy.
Of course, as always, anyone who resides in Pennsylvania can get a FREE HIV self-test kit in the mail. Go to our sister site www.getmyHIVtest.com to order today!
May 19th marks National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NAPIHAAD, also referred to as APIMay19), an important occasion for raising awareness and promoting action against HIV/AIDS within Asian and Pacific Islander (API) communities. NAPIHAAD serves as a powerful reminder of the unique challenges faced by these communities and the need for comprehensive support and initiatives to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS.
The San Francisco Community Health Center, formerly Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center, previously led the awareness day and continues to be heavily involved in NAPIHAAD, which is a vital opportunity to inform API communities about this preventable disease. Stigma and discrimination can often prevent folks from seeking care and support when learning about their sexual health status. That’s why the need for culturally competent providers who are experienced in engaging with diverse API populations is urgent.
For more information about National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, go to CDC.gov.
Getting tested,,,
Knowing your HIV status is the first step in fighting HIV. Right now, anyone who resides in Pennsylvania can get a free HIV self-test kit from www.getmyHIVtest.com. If you live outside Pennsylvania go to https://gettested.cdc.gov and search by zip code to find local testing clinics. Most are free.
We need your input in helping to create HIV prevention and care services outside Philadelphia.
What is the most important HIV service in your region? What services are your community and organizations providing?
Join us on Wednesday, May 17th to learn more about HIV planning in Pennsylvania. The HIV Planning Group (HPG) is comprised of community members, health professionals, and stakeholders from across the Commonwealth, and they want to hear from you about your experiences and services provided in the collar counties around Philadelphia.
FREE dinner is provided if you RSVP! Local public transportation reimbursement available!
Specific discussions and events will occur throughout the afternoon with the community about what HPG does and how they plan to improve the HIV Care Continuum and lives in PA and the region. The finalized agenda will be added to the event page upon approval.
You can participate in the meeting by joining us at the The Alloy King of Prussia – Double Tree by Hilton or join us remotely on your computer or phone on Microsoft Teams at https://bit.ly/HPGMayTownHall.
Keep in mind: this town hall is specifically for the collar counties of Philadelphia. All members of the community are encouraged to attend, but specific events and discussions at the town hall will have to do with the counties surrounding Philadelphia.
The University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health is looking for an HIV Intervention and Planning Lead Specialist to work within the HIV Planning and Care Project.
Qualified candidates will possess significant experience conducting HIV prevention interventions and planning activities with specific, at-risk populations. Required research skills and experience include qualitative data collection and reporting. History of writing for publication preferred. An extensive knowledge base in HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention, and/or in working with communities experiencing higher rates of STIs, is required. Master’s Degree or commensurate/relevant experience is also required. Public health degree or social science education/experience strongly preferred.
Today is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Knowing your status is the best way to protect your health…and residents of Pennsylvania can get a free in-home HIV test kit from our website www.getmyHIVtest.com. Tests come in the mail, in an unmarked package and you get the results in 20 minutes!
The theme for NWGHAAD 2023 is: Prevention and Testing at Every Age. Care and Treatment at Every Stage.The Office Of Women’s Health (OWH) continues this theme to reemphasize the need to further prevention efforts and ensure equity in HIV care and treatment. It also reinforces the first 3 goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS), that focus on the prevention of new HIV infections, improving HIV-related health outcomes of people living with HIV, and reducing HIV-related disparities. NWGHAAD focuses efforts on three of the target populations outlined in the NHAS; Black women, transgender women, and youth aged 13-24 years.
Today is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. CDC data shows that Black/African American are at a higher risk for HIV infection as compared to other races and ethnicities. Why? Because these communities are impacted by demographic factors such as discrimination, stigma, and institutionalized health disparities—all of which affect their risk for HIV.
If you reside in Pennsylvania, you can get a free HIV self-test kit delivered through the mail. Go to www.getmyHIVtest.com to order your kit today.
If you live outside of PA, you can go to the CDC’s testing locator website at https://gettested.cdc.gov/.
Knowing your status will protect you and your partner’s health.
Anthony “Tony” Silvestre, whose work with the LGBT community was far ahead of its time and made the pioneering Pitt Men’s Study possible, died Sept. 1, 2022 at 75.
Dr. Silvestre on the cover of Pittsburgh’s Out Magazine in May 1984
[…] His international advocacy and public health work began at Penn State (1971-76), continued with several Philadelphia organizations (1976-83) and brought him to Pitt in early 1984 until his retirement in 2018.
In 1976, he was the founding chairman of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Council on Sexual Minorities, likely the first such state organization in the country. He was U.S. liaison to the World Health Organization (1990-93) and a subject matter expert on HIV for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2002.
Through the years, he served on many expert and advisory panels for the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Allegheny County Department of Health on HIV, alcohol and substance use among gender and sexual minorities, community marginalization and health education and outreach.
But he is perhaps best known in Pittsburgh for his role in forming and running the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force (now Allies for Health and Wellbeing) in its early years. In the process, he supported more than a dozen other state and community groups promoting LGBTQIA-related and HIV-related health messaging for at-risk communities.
In conjunction with his research and teaching in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, he founded the Pennsylvania Prevention Project (now the HIV Prevention and Care Project) there in 1993 to advance comprehensive HIV planning with impacted communities. He also helped create and direct the School of Public Health’s Center for LGBT Research, and was honored by Pitt with the Chancellor’s Distinguished Service Award.
He published more than 45 peer-reviewed articles, proceedings and book chapters, and created many state and federal professional reports and presentations as well, much of which can be found at Dickinson College.
If you or someone you love has been affected by HIV, the PA Department of Health and the HIV Prevention and Care Project at the University of Pittsburgh need your input.
This plan guides all activities related to HIV prevention and care in Pennsylvania. Feedback will help the Division of HIV Disease most effectively plan for the ongoing needs of all people served in Pennsylvania.
