Black AIDS Institute Holds 15th-Anniversary Heroes in the Struggle Gala

On May 20, 2014, The Black AIDS Institute celebrated its 15th anniversary as it hosted Heroes in the Struggle, the gala reception and awards presentation sponsored in part by Merck, Walgreens, Gilead Sciences and Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

Hepatitis C: Raising Awareness About a Silent Epidemic

While much progress has been made in increasing awareness about the realities of HIV, hepatitis C is a silent epidemic that is wreaking havoc on the Black community.

Hepatitis is a family of viral infections that affect the liver. One of those infections, hepatitis C, is caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV).

Pre-Existing Condition Bans – Are They Really Gone?

"Welcome to Cigna," said the letter, dated May 16, on behalf of my new employer, the Kaiser Family Foundation. They were placing me on a one-year waiting period for any pre-existing conditions.

Iowa Modernizes HIV Criminalization Law

On May 30, 2014, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad signed into law a bill making substantial revisions to the state's HIV criminalization law. The new legislation rewrote state law 709c, which was originally passed in 1998 and made it a felony, punishable by up to 25 years in prison, for persons living with HIV infection (PLWH) who are aware of their serostatus to expose "the body of one person to a bodily fluid of another person in a manner that could result in the transmission" of HIV. Under the former law, PLWH could be found guilty of a felony even if a condom was used during sex and no HIV infection resulted. The legislation, known as Senate File 2297, was passed unanimously by both houses of the state legislature.

Deadline for African American HIV University Science and Treatment College Extended

You now have until June 23, 2014 to submit your application for the Black AIDS Institute's 2014 Science and Treatment College held from August 1-31, 2014 in collaboration with the UCLA Center for World Health and the UCLA AIDS Institute.