What is the significance of NBHAAD?
According to the Black AIDS Institute (BAI),
“The first National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD) was marked in 1999 as a grassroots-education effort to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS prevention, care, and treatment in communities of color. It is the same year that the Black AIDS Institute was created to end HIV in Black communities.” The HIV epidemic disproportionately affects Black people in the U.S..
The data supports this:
In 2019, Black Americans represented 13% of the U.S. population
And 43% of all new HIV diagnoses
From 2009 to 2014, Black trans men and women accounted for
more than half
of all HIV diagnoses among trans men and women in the U.S.
Black Trans Men: 58%
Black Trans Women: 51%
What is the Black AIDS Institute?
Established in 1999, The Black AIDS Institute works towards ending HIV by expediting biomedical information while also addressing racial justice through the mobilization of Black communities and encouraging Black leadership. Some of their work includes creating culturally-relevant health services, educational campaigns to end stigma, fundraising galas, and capacity-building trainings.
We The People: A Black Strategy to End HIV
Created for and by Black people, this plan developed by the Black AIDS Institute is working to ensure that all communities have access to preventative treatment in order to end HIV. The four pillars of this strategy include:
Dismantle anti-Black structures that decrease equitable treatment of HIV for Black people.
Invest in resources and services for Black communities to close the disparity in health outcomes.
Ensure access to people-centered healthcare services.
Inspire enthusiasm in Black communities to work towards ending HIV.
See the full strategy detailed here.
Reflection
How can social workers contribute to the efforts to end HIV?
How can white and non-Black practitioners be allies in ending HIV in the Black community?
Sources
Black AIDS Institute. (n.d.). blackaids.org
Black AIDS Institute. (n.d.-a). HIV Organizations Announce Racial Justice Index to Remedy Disconnect Between HIV Leadership and Community Impact. Cision PR Newswire.
Black Aids Institute. (n.d.-b). We The People: A Black Strategy To End HIV – YouTube.
Black AIDS Institute. (n.d.). NBHADD.
National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 2021. (2021, February 4). AIDSVu.
National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day #NBHAAD. (2016, August 29). HIV.Gov.