Highlights from the 2009 U.S. Conference on AIDS

By Miguel Gomez, Jennie Anderson, Josie Halpern-Finnerty, and Michelle Samplin-Salgado

We just got back from the United States Conference on AIDS (USCA) , sponsored by the National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC) , and are feeling very energized. There were several themes and key messages that we took away from the conference. The opening plenary, “Transgender People and HIV: Our Time Has Come!” emphasized the importance of better understanding our audiences, specifically the transgender community. We also continued to hear that we need to improve our capacity and reach. And this year there was a new emerging theme - that of new media’s role in the response to HIV. Case in point - at last year’s USCA in Florida, we had seven people attend our new media workshops. This year we had over 150 participants!

JoAnne Keatley , UCSF Center of Excellence for Transgender HIV Prevention delivers the opening plenary remarks at USCA

Many of you at USCA told us that you’re assessing how you can use new media in response to HIV. For example, Jeffrey Campbell from St. Hope Foundation in Houston told us how he is using text messaging to promote their educational and social events, primarily to African American men who have sex with men (MSM). And Kendel Powers from RAIN Oklahoma told us how they have used MySpace, Twitter, and Facbook to recruit volunteers and bring in new clients for care and treatment. It’s an exciting time for our HIV community and it’s an exciting time for new media. Because of new media, we were able to watch the President sign the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 at the conference.

USCA New Media Panelists

NMAC also embraced new media tools more than ever for this year’s USCA. Not only did they blog , they also used Twitter , posted photos , and will post videos next week . And they supported several new media sessions and our day-long AIDS.gov new media institute which had beginner and experienced user tracks. In the afternoon both tracks came together to hear from a panel of new media experts including: Ian Anderson from POZ , Allegra Madsen from ISIS Inc , Murray Penner from NASTAD , Bonnie Goldman from TheBody.com , and Erik Ireland, a podcaster for the SF AIDS Foundation . During our panel we also had a demo of AIDSspace, a new social network site focused on AIDS, from Edward Mishaud and Annmarie Hou from UNAIDS . We’ve posted our slides from the institutes and a presentation we gave on slideshare .

Throughout the conference we also heard that some folks are still getting familiar with new media tools and are trying to understand how best to use them to meet their audiences’ needs. After the opening plenary, JoAnne Keatley , Director of the UCSF Center of Excellence for Transgender HIV Prevention told us, “In the transgender community, we’re using texting and other new media tools in our personal lives and it’s time now for us to adapt these tools in our work and response to HIV and AIDS.” Christopher Bates, HHS’ Director of the Office of HIV/AIDS Policy, also reinforced this statement in his closing remarks at the conference saying how important it is to use new media to expand the reach of our HIV programs. We look forward to seeing how the HIV community continues to adapt and adopt new media this year.

Thank you to:

AIDS.gov Facing AIDS Photo Booth (Photos two and three via the USCA blog , by Brandon Joseph Baker )

• The hundreds of you who stopped by our AIDS.gov Facing AIDS photo booth to share your personal messages about why you are helping to Face AIDS for World AIDS Day. We’ll soon post photos from the booth. Speaking of World AIDS Day, we hope you’ll join us on November 17th for Federal World AIDS Day Conference Call. Register now to hear from and ask questions of leadership across HHS.
• All of you who participated in our focus groups and usability testing about our new website.
• NMAC, in particular Circe LeCompte and Paul Kawata for putting on such a powerful conference and for helping to support our AIDS.gov activities.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWsBTwNIXL4
• All of you working so hard to address HIV and AIDS in your communities—USCA brought together many voices from across the country who are working so hard to address this epidemic.

Comments

[Georgette King]

I really enjoyed the AIDS.gov New Media presentation at USCA. Not only did I make some great connections, but I learned enough to make the decision to explore developing a wiki to accompany our @US_HIV_Prev Twitter site. My sincere congratulations to everyone at NMAC, as well as to all of the other organizers, who made USCA such a success. The type of energy that permeated USCA ‘09 is just what is needed to help address HIV disparities in the United States.

[Felipe Hernandez]

Hi,

I just wanted to give a big KUDOS to AIDS.gov for such interesting presentation at the USCA. I was really impressed by the facilitators' expertise and the engagement of the audience as well.

I believe that presentations like this should be facilitated in every CBO through out the US so that people could really take advantage of the new media to fight against AIDS.

As myself, and after have been in the presentation, I feel more convinced that the fight against AIDS has gain an ally in the new media. So, thanks AIDS.gov for being at the USCA.

[Douglas Todd]

Hey,
I think that instead of focusing on reaching different groups and informing them about AIDS and creating outreach, the USCA should wake up and realize the issue is not reaching different demographics, but not sugar coating the fact that people shouldn't be putting themselves in situations that will expose them to AIDS. I mean, come on, how many people that the USCA talks to doesn't know how one gets AIDS? Probably very few. Y'all should be informing people of what foolish decisions they are making instead of trying to provide support for those decisions they have made.