How COOL is this??? With your help, the GFL/NSS Team participating in this Sunday’s AIDS Walk New York not only hit our goal, but surpassed it…which means we’ve successfully maxed out the $5,000 matching grant from DIFFA too.
Better yet, this doesn’t even include money raised by the eighteen walkers in Central Park and the seven joining them at the Javits.
Hey, why stop here? If you haven’t signed up yet, it’s not too late.
Can’t join the team to walk? No sweat—we also accept “flat” donations (not tied to miles walked…just the total amount you’d like to kick in).
Here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/giftforlifeAWNY
Now, do your magic!
We’re down to less than a week ’til AIDS Walk NYC, which means the Gift for Life/National Stationery Show team is lacing up their tennies, getting ready to make a difference.
That doesn’t mean we’re done raising funds, though. Gotta keep pushing to hit the goals we’ve set for ourselves, in hopes of maxing out a $5,000 matching grant pledge from DIFFA.
C’mon. Join us. We need you!
Click here to join the GFL/NSS team (regardless of where you plan to walk…Central Park or the Javits).
Click here to donate, if you’re not able to make the Walk.
Click here if you’re scratching your head, wondering what the heck this is about.
And click the social links below to share the invite with your friends.
Okay. Half way there. But half way isn’t good enough.
We hit our goal of having at least 20 walkers (26 so far, and counting), but are still shy of the $5,000 mark, which maxes out a matching grant pledge from DIFFA.
Have you signed on yet? If not…what are you waiting for???
Click here to join the GFL/NSS team (regardless of where you plan to walk…Central Park or the Javits).
Click here to donate, if you’re not able to make the Walk.
Click here if you’re scratching your head, wondering what the heck this is about.
And click the social links below to share the invite with your friends.
Alicia Keys says she wants to spark a global conversation about HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
The Grammy Award-winning singer met with women who are part of an HIV program at United Medical Center in the nation’s capital Monday to discuss their experiences with the virus, including the fear and stigma associated with the disease.
Keys, who has also traveled to Africa and India to meet with women who have HIV, said she felt connected to the women there and here because “they looked like they could be my sister, or they could be my aunt, or they could be my cousin.”
And now, she said, she wants to “bridge” the gap between domestic and international conversations about the virus.
To read the full report, click here.
Looking for a new and more effective method for delivering important messages about HIV/AIDS to teens, University of South Carolina researchers turned to the graphic novel format.
Aiming for a story line that would grab those readers, they turned to students at the Department of Juvenile Justice for ideas. The result is “AIDS in the End Zone,” a graphic novel that relays a story of high school sports, teen jealousy and unprotected sex to teach about HIV/AIDS.
Kendra Albright and Karen Gavigan, research professors in USC’s school of library and information science, plan to give the graphic novel format a test drive this spring. They’ll talk with teens during special events at local library branches asking them questions about HIV/AIDS before and after they read the graphic novel.
“AIDS in the End Zone” certainly is a non-traditional way to get across a health safety message. Graphic novels use a comic book-like format to tell a story. At 34 pages, this one takes five to 10 minutes to read.
Albright is a believer in tailoring the message to the audience. During her HIV/AIDS research work in Africa, the most effective way to reach Ugandans was via radio and drama. That makes sense in a country with a strong tradition of oral history, she said.
To read the full story, click
here.
Source: The Herald, Rockhill SC
The Arkansas Senate has moved to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood for HIV/AIDS education efforts at local schools.
The sponsor says he doesn’t want state money going to an organization that makes abortion referrals. The same bill failed by one vote on Friday, but passed with a one-vote cushion on Tuesday.
Planned Parenthood supporters lined up outside the senate doors and filled the balcony to watch the debate.
The sponsor says he simply doesn’t want state money to go to Planned Parenthood for sex education because of the group’s ties to abortion, even if the education money isn’t used for abortions.
“They’re worried about a few thousand dollars for a group trying to teach young people in this school district in Little Rock about HIV/AIDS and how to prevent it. And it’s just wrong,” Eric Camp said.
“Those grants have been helpful to those children as we fight HIV/AIDS and the rise of sexually transmitted diseases. It is not about abortions,” said Linda Chesterfield.
“It says all funds are strictly accounted for and no public funds are used to pay for abortions with rare exceptions,” Jason Rapert said. “It’s very interesting they put in their own flier that none of those funds are used for abortions with rare exceptions. Fact of the matter is, they shouldn’t be done at all.”
Planned Parenthood says it will oppose the bill again when it moves to the Democratically-controlled House Public Health Committee later this week.
Source: KARK-TV, Little Rock, Arkansas
According to UNAIDS, an estimated 34.2 million people worldwide were living with HIV at the end of 2011. More people than ever are receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) as treatment coverage continues to expand. More than 8 million people in low- and middle-income countries were receiving treatment in 2011—1.4 million more than in 2010. At the same time, it is estimated that more than 7 million people in these countries who are clinically eligible for ART are not receiving it.
Expanding access to ART is more than simply delivering drugs. It requires an innovative approach to service delivery, an approach that emphasizes the importance of prevention, retention in care, and adherence to medications. This in turn requires a departure from traditional health care models that depend on specialized professionals in highly concentrated settings. There is a need for HRH solutions that can provide high-quality services at low cost.
To read the full story, click here.
Source: Frontline Health Workers Coalition
The world’s largest AIDS fundraiser—AIDS Walk NY—is four weeks from today. Lace up those sneakers, folks. We’re off to do some good.
Last year’s Walk posed a dilemma for a number of willing participants. The Walk, held in Central Park each year, overlapped the National Stationery Show (on opening morning, no less)—the reason most folks were in town to begin with.
This year, Gift for Life and NSS came together, creating a two-track game plan. Those who want to walk the park can. Those who want to walk the Javits aisles can do that instead.
And both count.
Feel like getting involved? Great!
Click here to join the GFL/NSS team (regardless of where you plan to walk…Central Park or the Javits).
Click here to donate, if you’re not able to make the Walk.
And click the social links below to share the invite with your friends.
See you in New York!
In the on-going battle against HIV/AIDs, vaccine developers are continually trying to find ways to promote immunity from this devastating virus.
Fortunately, researchers at The Scripps Research Institute and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative have developed a new vaccine-design approach. The research team — which published its report in the March 28 edition of Science Express — engineered an artificial immunogen, or substance that induces immunity, to elicit an antibody response that could be effective against several strains of HIV.
Read the full piece here.
Source: The Daily Free Press, Boston University
“The budget President Obama outlined today yet again demonstrates his strong commitment to ending HIV by increasing funding for prevention and lifesaving care and treatment for those who cannot afford it in the United States,” commented Carl Schmid , Deputy Executive Director of The AIDS Institute.
“President Obama and his Administration recognize the importance of the federal government’s role in addressing infectious diseases, such as HIV, and the need to provide care and treatment to people with HIV/AIDS to keep them healthy and reduce new infections. We now urge Congress to show the same level of support as it considers federal spending priorities for the upcoming year,” continued Schmid.
To read the entire press release, click here.
Source: The AIDS Institute
