National Minority AIDS Council Building Healthier Communities

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) HIV Vaccine Research Education Initiative Program (NHVREI)

Download NMAC's HIV Vaccine Research Newsletter here.

Finding a safe and effective vaccine to prevent the spread of HIV is our best hope for stopping the AIDS pandemic. No major viral epidemic has ever been defeated without a vaccine. And in the United States, the very survival of communities of color – especially African Americans and Latinos, which have been hardest hit by AIDS since the epidemic began – may depend upon the discovery of a vaccine.

 

But there is a lot of public misunderstanding about AIDS and HIV vaccine research. The lack of accurate knowledge is having an extremely negative impact  on African American and Latino support for the research being done.

Here are a few of the misconceptions that surround HIV/AIDS and HIV Vaccine research:

• "AIDS was created to kill Black and Hispanic people."

• "There is already a vaccine that could prevent the spread of HIV, but because it only works on Blacks and Hispanics, no one wants to invest in it."

• "Participating in an HIV vaccine clinical trial increases your chances of becoming infected with the disease."

 

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has played a leading role in providing communities most affected by HIV with information on HIV vaccine research. NIAID’s HIV Vaccine Research Education Initiative (NHVREI) is a partnership program that seeks to engage communities, national and local organizations to increase knowledge about, support for, and the willingness to participate in HIV vaccine research. Fourteen local community organizations and five national organizations participate in the program. NMAC is one of the national partners.

 

Since joining the NHVREI program in March of 2008, NMAC has spearheaded a broad spectrum of social marketing and outreach activities to educate its constituents about the safety and efficacy of HIV vaccine research and the importance of public support for the research activities.

 

Supporting vaccine research is easy. Get educated and pass the knowledge you gain along to others. The Be the Generation website – operated by NIAID is a great educational resource.

 

Test your knowledge about HIV, treatment and vaccines with NMAC’s HIV Vaccine Awareness Quiz and Tutorial to learn more about why we need an HIV vaccine, the real deal about HIV vaccine research, the importance of diversity, the status of vaccine research, and how you can participate.