National Minority AIDS Council Building Healthier Communities

8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

Opening Plenary Breakfast: Soy... la Voz del Cambio. I am...A Voice for Change: Heroes in the Response to the Latino HIV/AIDS Crisis

Location: Hall A, First Floor

Read the press release.

This special session is being organized by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Univision, with support from the Latino Commission on AIDS, as part of an ongoing partnership to inform Latinos about HIV/AIDS. It will be moderated by award-winning television personality and journalist, Teresa Rodriguez, co-host of Univision’s “Aqui y Ahora,” and include an intimate conversation with heroes working on the frontlines of the Latino AIDS response. Attendees also will see a sneak preview of SOY… (I AM…), the first national Spanish-language media campaign profiling Latinos living with HIV and their loved ones. (Click here for a special campaign trailer!)

 

The need for dialogue about the impact of HIV/AIDS among Latinos has never been greater. The 2008 International AIDS Conference, held in Mexico City, marked the first time the meeting was held in Latin America, highlighting the impact of the epidemic there. And in the U.S., the latest statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that HIV continues to disproportionately impact Latino communities nationwide. HIV rates were found to be 40% higher than previously estimated overall, with 56,300 HIV cases occurring in 2006 alone, 17% of which were among Latinos. 

 

Today, an estimated 200,000 Latinos are living with HIV/AIDS in the United States, with millions more indirectly impacted by the disease. Despite these staggering numbers, few people in the Latino community want to talk about AIDS, which has helped disseminate fear, stigma and misperceptions about the disease, as well as cause new infections. Because of this fear, AIDS is claiming the lives of Latinos at four times the rate of the general U.S. population.

 

We hope you will attend this most important session.

 

Institutes: 10:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.  (break 12 noon – 1:30 p.m.)

Institutes are full-day sessions that offer in-depth exploration and discussion of current HIV/AIDS issues. Approximately 20 institutes will address topics affecting specific populations.

• Finding Solutions/Changing the Trendline: The Black Gay Men's Institute

• Stigma Institute

• Project START: The First Corrections-Based DEBI

• AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families Institute

• Mobilized to Succeed!

• HIV/AIDS and Aging: A Focus on the Forgotten Population

• Latinos and HIV/AIDS Institute: Mirando al Pasado..Caminando Hacia El Futuro – Latino/Hispanic Communities Organized for Change

• Asian & Pacific Islander Institute

• Cause-Marketing Prevention Strategies: Using Media to Impact Outreach Efforts

• Native American Institute: Innovative Approaches to Fund Development-You Got to Have Game!

• Grant Writing Capacity Building Institute

• Working with Transgender Populations: intervention strategies, successes and challenges

• Day of Empowerment Institute – AIDS, Medicine and Miracles

• Women’s Institute - Generation XX: The HIV/AIDS Impact on Girls and Young Women

• Why US Activists are Key to Global AIDS Advocacy

• International Faith Exchange to Address AIDS

• African Americans and HIV/AIDS Institute: The Board is in Play

• Gay Men and Other Men who have Sex with Men (MSM)

• Making “DEBIs” Work for You

12:00 noon - 1:30 p.m.

Beyond the Diagnosis Luncheon (supported by Gilead)

6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Welcome Reception

Location: Greater Ft. Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center
This special event, organized by the local host committee, will include the creation of a living AIDS ribbon ceremony. To learn more about this event, read the press release.