LOS ANGELES, Calif.– Black AIDS Institute (BAI), the U.S.’s only national think tank focused on HIV impact in Black communities, has announced “30 Days Of HIV” a national, digital, community campaign to raise awareness, educate and mobilize Black communities around the ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis in Black communities across America. Launching on May 27 through National HIV Testing Day (June 27), this campaign has three core elements: An Online Community Calendar to promote HIV and health related events serving Black communities, an Instagram storytelling series titled In The Life, featuring community-sourced life experiences of Black, gay/bi/trans men, and lastly, Daily Actions – once a day call to action to mobilize Black communities and those who serve them.
Phill Wilson, President and CEO, Black AIDS Institute and a Black, gay, HIV-positive man, who conceptualized this initiative says: “Even though it is not in the news as much as it was a few years ago, HIV/AIDS is an ongoing, and in among some sectors of the Black community, a tragically growing crisis. Black gay and bisexual men in the United States have a 50% lifetime HIV infection rate. Black women still represent 61% of the new HIV infections among women. Our house is still on fire and we don’t seem to notice. 30 Days Of HIV is designed to spotlight the problem, but more importantly, what we are and what we can do, if we focus on this problem.
The Online Community Calendar will feature HIV and health-related activities for Black communities during the May 27-June 27 time period. Organizations planning health fairs, HIV-testing or other outreach activities during this timeframe are invited to submit the events for inclusion on the calendar to geraldG@blackaids.org. The Instagram campaign, In The Life, invites Black GBTQ/SGL men to submit their photo stories about a select life experience, by May 23, to pavniatwork@gmail.com. Finally, the Institute will be publishing Daily Actions to mobilize Black communities to take care of their health and fight HIV/AIDS.
