Stigma, Strengthening HIV Prevention and Care for Gay Men of Color, and Social Media Fellows Featured in Facebook Live Events from USCA 2016

As the 2016 U.S. Conference on AIDS (USCA) continued on September 17 in Hollywood, Florida, HIV.gov shared more conference highlights via three Facebook Live events.

PACHA Members Their Work at the Conference and Focus on HIV Stigma

Two members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA or below.

SMAIF-Supported Activities Addressing HIV among Black Gay Men

Our second Facebook Live event put a spotlight on a two current initiatives supported by investments from the Secretary’s Minority AIDS Initiative Fund (SMAIF) that aim to improve outcomes Black gay, bisexual, and same-gender loving men at risk for or living with HIV. Harold Phillips and Anthony James were each making presentations about these initiatives during the conference, so we asked them to stop by and share some highlights with us. Harold is the Director of the Office of HIV/AIDS Training and Capacity Development at HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau and Anthony is a Regional Prevention Coordinator Supervisor with the Louisiana Office of Public Health’s STD and HIV Program. Anthony described a project underway in New Orleans. Under a grant from CDC that is supported by SMAIF, the Louisiana Office of Public Health has developed a collaborative among the health department, several community-based organizations, healthcare providers, behavioral health providers, and social services providers focused specifically on meeting the needs of gay, bisexual, and same-gender loving men of color living with or at risk for HIV. They are one of seven health department grantees supported under Project THRIVE. Harold discussed the SMAIF-supported and HRSA-led His HealthExit Disclaimer project which makes available to healthcare providers training tools, expert-led continuing education courses, innovative models of care and evidence-based resources to support the delivery of high quality, culturally affirming healthcare services for Black men who have sex with men. View their conversation hereExit Disclaimer or below.

Perspectives from Two NMAC Social Media Fellows

Finally, we also had an opportunity to speak en español with two fellows from the 2016 USCA Social Media Fellows Program. This initiative aims to create and cultivate the HIV community's youth leadership and their use of digital platforms to amplify messages. After seeing a number of sessions at USCA focused on the response to HIV among Latino communities across the United States, including several sessions offered in Spanish, two of the Fellows wanted to share some of their experiences. So Alex Castro-Croy and Jesus Manuel Cotto Carrero sat down with Michael Alonso of the Broward County Health Department for our first-ever Facebook Live event en español. View their conversation hereExit Disclaimer or below.