National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is Friday, Feb. 7, set during Black History Month to remind people of the devastating toll HIV has taken and continues to take on Black communities.
To date, over 230,000 Blacks have died of complications due to AIDS. Of the more than 1 million people that live with HIV in the United States, around half are Black.
The commemoration has become a testing and treatment community mobilization initiative for
Blacks in the United States and across the Diaspora since it began in 1999.
There are four specific focal points: Get Educated, Get Tested, Get Treated, and Get Involved.
The overall theme is “I am my brother’s, my sister’s keeper,” emphasizing that all African Americans regardless of sexual orientation, economic class, or educational level, can be an important part of the solution to the HIV epidemic in African American communities.
Throughout the month there will be free events throughout the area with opportunities of education, testing, and knowledge of the latest prevention tools.
Free Feb. 7 events:
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Faith leaders, ministers and pastors only, Allen Temple Baptist Church, 8501 International Blvd. Oakland RSVP to Milton Hadden aat [email protected]
9 a.m. to noon. Preservation Park, Oakland: “Research and Reality” open to public
1233 Preservation Park Way, Robinson Classroom, Oakland.
5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.: City Hall San Francisco: open to the public. Candle light vigil that starts from City Hall ends at 9th Street for program
Free testing at Oakland at AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s Out of the Closet Thrift Store, Oakland, 238 E18th St. noon to 7 p.m.
Free testing at AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s Out of the Closet Thrift Store, S.F., 1295 Folsom St., San Francisco, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
