{"id":19046,"date":"2023-12-04T11:45:04","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T16:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/?p=19046"},"modified":"2023-12-04T12:49:00","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T17:49:00","slug":"world-aids-day-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2023\/12\/04\/world-aids-day-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"World AIDS Day\u00a02023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

Friday, Dec. 1, is\u00a0World AIDS Day<\/a>, a global day of remembrance. UNAIDS founded World AIDS Day in 1988 as the first international day for global health.<\/p>\n

Each year, UNAIDS brings agencies, governments, and organizations together around a campaign theme. The 2023 theme is\u00a0\u201cLet Communities Lead.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0The theme emphasizes \u201cperson-centered public health services\u201d and calls for foregrounding the voices and experiences of people who are most directly affected.<\/p>\n

At RHHD, STI Health Educator and Early Intervention Specialist Bellamy Riley says World AIDS Day is an opportunity to think about who is still underrepresented in conversations about HIV and life-saving medications like\u00a0PrEP<\/a>\u00a0(pre-exposure prophylaxis), a daily medication that reduces someone\u2019s chances of getting HIV.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest general misconception that I have heard is that HIV is a disease [that affects] gay men and that PrEP is specifically for gay men,\u201d they say. \u201cSome PrEP advertising has really tried to advertise PrEP as not scary, but fun and approachable, and what you can do to take charge of your health, which is cool. But that means that a lot of the advertising images have young, white, affluent gay men in a nightclub. It makes other people who could be eligible from PrEP say, \u2018well, I don\u2019t fall into that demographic.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Bellamy says that cis Black women are part of a group \u201cdisproportionately burdened by HIV, but there is generally low perceived risk of HIV and really low PrEP uptake.\u201d Their observations are in keeping with\u00a0research<\/a>\u00a0that shows that cis women\u2014particularly Black women\u2014and transgender men are accessing PrEP benefits less easily.<\/p>\n

On World AIDS Day, Bellamy encourages the following steps for people looking to prevent HIV transmission through PrEP:<\/p>\n