A Focus on Community- Day 3 at USCHA

On the third day of the US Conference on HIV/AIDSExit Disclaimer (USCHA) in Puerto Rico, HIV.gov interviewed Hendryx Malaret, Special Projects Director at Migrant Health Center, Inc., who spoke about the significance to the local community of the conference being held in San Juan this year. We also sat down with Justin Smith, a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA), who reiterated the value of maintaining the focus on the community when working toward ending the HIV epidemic.

The day also featured a plenary session that showcased excerpts from Love in GravityExit Disclaimer, a podcast featuring six stories from the gay and queer Latinx and Afro-Latinx communities. Snippets from three episodes of the Love in Gravity podcast were performed, exploring themes of healthy relationships, homophobia, HIV stigma, mental health, and self-worth. Actors from the series were on stage for the reading and the vignettes were interspersed by musical performances.

The United States Conference on HIV/AIDS (USCHA) is the largest HIV-related gathering in the United States, bringing together thousands of participants from all segments of the HIV community. Organized by NMACExit Disclaimer, the 2022 conference, held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from October 8-11, was attended by over 3,000 participants. The conference featured over 120 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. At USCHA, the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy launched the new viral suppression campaign “Celebro mi salud,” the Spanish version of “I am a Work of ART.”