Today is National Latino AIDS Awareness Day

By Daniella Rivera, AIDS.gov Fellow

James Albino, Office of National AIDS Policy

Today is National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (NLAAD) . Earlier this week we shared some of the ways that people are using new media to get the word out about NLAAD. Here's an update on just a few of this week's many NLAAD activities.

The Latino Commission on AIDS (the lead organization for the day) and its partners sponsored a Congressional Briefing yesterday on Capitol Hill that brought together the voices of key leaders who are addressing the disproportionate impact of the epidemic in Hispanic/Latino communities nationwide. The Office of National AIDS Policy was invited to be a part of a wide array of speakers at this session on Capitol Hill. Here’s a short audio clip I recorded, (transcript also available - PDF, 21 KB) in which James Albino, Senior Program Manager, recapped the key messages offered during the briefing by Jeffrey Crowley, Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy.

United We Can Stop HIV and Prevent AIDS, Unidos Podemos Detener el VIH y Prevenir el SIDA

By Deb LeBel

National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (NLAAD) , planned by The Latino Commission on AIDS (LCOA) and its partners , is this Thursday, October 15. This year NLAAD organizers from LCOA, AIDS service organizations, faith communities, health departments and others are integrating a variety of communication tools — both traditional and new media — to most effectively reach their local and national audiences. Some of the tools include:

• PSAs: Soy (I Am) is a national campaign with a series of Spanish-language public service announcements (PSAs) with subtitles in English that feature Latinos living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and Latin America. In their second year of collaboration, Soy partners Kaiser Family Foundation , Univision , and LCOA have created fourteen new PSAs for you to embed in your website, blog, or social network site.

Using New Media to Reach Communities of Color: Lessons Learned from Leaders in the Field

By Denean Standing, Advisor to AIDS.gov, Indian Health Service

AIDS disproportionately impacts communities of color. Because we work to build capacity in minority communities to augment the response to HIV/AIDS, last month Miguel Gomez and Fard Johnmar , Founder of Envision Solutions, LLC , moderated a discussion about the current status of new media, where it is headed, and how AIDS.gov can better reach the organizations and leaders who are serving communities of color.

Mobilizing for National Caribbean American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 2009

By Deb LeBel and Tseli Mohammed

On June 8th we will join our partners in observing National Caribbean American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NCAHAAD) . NCAHAAD is an HIV mobilization effort designed to encourage Caribbean-American and Caribbean-born individuals, across the United States and its territories, to get educated, tested, treated, and involved.

Since NCAHAAD is only in its third year, spreading the word is an ongoing challenge for the National Planning Committee lead, Caribbean People International Collective, Inc. (CPIC) . Population-specific HIV awareness days help those of us working in HIV prevention, treatment, and research to publicly focus on the effects of HIV among a specific group of people. Messages for this day may resonate with members of these communities and complement the overall messages of the other HIV awareness days.

Turning Compassion into Action for National Asian and Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

By Deb LeBel

Today is National Asian and Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NAPIHAAD). This year's theme is “After a quarter century of HIV, compassion isn't enough—Take action now!” I spoke with David Stupplebeen of the Banyan Tree Project (“BTP” - the partnership that plans and implements the day) about what you can do to turn compassion into action for NAPIHAAD and beyond.

David told me that BTP is continuing to use new media to communicate their NAPIHAAD messages. The big news this year is that BTP did a video with Dr. Sanjay Gupta which talks about stigma in the Asian and Pacific Islander (A&PI) community.