The Black AIDS Institute Brings AIDS 2012 Hubs to Atlanta

On Sept. 13 and 14, HIV/AIDS service providers and members of Atlanta's African American community attended two one-day HIV Post-Conference Updates at the headquarters of SisterLove, the HIV/AIDS advocacy organization for women.

At both events, they learned about the latest HIV/AIDS research, testing and treatment innovations that were shared at the International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., in July.

The updates were part of a 16-city nationwide tour sponsored by the Black Treatment Advocates Network (BTAN) and the Black AIDS Institute in conjunction with community partners across the country. The Atlanta hubs were held in partnership with SisterLove, the Georgia Department of Public Health, the Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness and the Hope Clinic at Emory University.

"They represented Black AIDS Institute's vision of truly bringing the international conference back to a local level and then making it relevant to that area," says Leisha McKinley-Beach, the Southern regional coordinator for the Black AIDS Institute, of the two-part meeting. The discussion centered around Atlanta's plan for the rollout of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the strategy of giving HIV-negative people daily ARV-drug therapy to reduce their risk of HIV infection.

The first day was geared toward social service providers and was "standing room only," which "speaks to the commitment of the HIV industry within Atlanta to coming up with local strategies to end the epidemic," says McKinley-Beach.

SisterLove's founder and president, Dázon Dixon Diallo, led the discussion and showed the plenary speech given at AIDS 2012 by Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.--director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health--to frame the conversation about PrEP.

The second day was geared toward the general community. It included a screening of the Frontline documentary End Game, followed by a panel discussion about AIDS 2012, the current state of AIDS in Atlanta and how to end the AIDS epidemic in the Black community.

Many in the audience of predominantly Black women were hearing about PrEP for the first time, according to Lisa Diane White, director of programs for SisterLove and BTAN Atlanta co-chair. Participants took a test at the beginning of the event to see what they knew about PrEP, and most knew little about how it worked. But by the end of the evening, members of the Atlanta community "had an opportunity to understand what was real and what was myth," White says.

According to the Black AIDS Institute, approximately two-thirds of all newly diagnosed cases of HIV in Georgia occur in the Atlanta metropolitan area, with Fulton and DeKalb counties accounting for more than half of new infections. Georgia ranks sixth in the country for the number of people infected with HIV.

While participants left with a better knowledge of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment options, organizers stressed that this was just the first of many information sessions that would be set up to educate the Atlanta community. "We want everyone to have more opportunities to get informed so they will be less likely to spread misinformation," says White.

Tamara E. Holmes is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist who writes about health, wealth and personal growth.