How the Media Affects Black HIV-Test Rates, and Will the National HIV/AIDS Strategy Help Black Women?

When we strategize about preventing HIV/AIDS, we often think about the media's power to drive prevention messages home. Our assumption is, as Dr. Maya Angelou says: "When you know better, you do better."

But, in reality, do we?

Dr. Robin Stevens, one of the elite handful of American researchers who presented at the International AIDS Conference this July, explains that this is not always the case. In this issue we dial back in with a dialogue we started with her in Vienna, asking her to share her findings about the media's impact upon Black people's HIV/AIDS testing rates.

We also continue with our series on the National HIV/AIDS Strategy's impact upon Black Americans. This week writer Rod McCullom examines the plan's goal of reducing health disparities. He asks, for example, how the plan aims to reduce HIV/AIDS among one of our nation's most at-risk groups of people -- Black women -- when it calls for no specific plan to do so.

Finally, if you’re in the Los Angeles area this Friday, September 24^th, I invite you to join me and celebrity host committee Michael Beach, Rocky Carroll, Bill Duke, Cathy Hughes, David Macklin, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Brenda Russell, Tasha Smith, Vanessa Williams and producer Sheila Johnson for the Hollywood Premiere screening of “The Other City,” the critically-acclaimed documentary that shines a light on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Washington, DC. CNN, Essence, The New York Times and The Village Voice all praise this must-see film. The Black AIDS Institute is proud to be the national community partner for "The Other City." Watch the trailer, then click here to purchase your tickets today. You don't want to miss this film.

Yours in the Struggle,
Phill