The Choose U World AIDS Day panel brought together three longtime advocates living with HIV to talk about care, stigma, and what living with HIV over the long-term means to them. The conversation featured Jahlove Serrano, Joyce Belton, and Andrew Nichols, who have each lived with HIV for more than 20 years. News is Out hosted the […]
Tag: HIV
Posted inHealth
HealthHIV introduces a new learning series and resource hub focused on healthy aging
Nonprofit organization HealthHIV has launched a new accredited learning series that looks at what it means to age with HIV and how providers can better support people through that process. The Healthy Aging series arrives as World AIDS Day events continue across the country and reflects growing attention on the needs of long-term survivors and […]
Posted inHealth
HIV rates are highest in the American South, despite effective treatments – a clash between culture and public health
The American South has the highest HIV rates in the country, accounting for more than half of new HIV diagnoses nationwide in 2023. This is despite growing availability of a highly effective HIV prevention medication that has made it possible to live a long, healthy life with this once fatal disease. This medication – called […]
Posted inTop Stories
Left behind in the race to zero: Why Black and Brown LGBTQ+ communities aren’t seeing the same HIV gains
Jordan J. Edwards remembers the moment he was diagnosed with HIV at 22 years old. It was supposed to be a turning point where he’d receive clarity, care and next steps. But instead, it left him feeling shaken and alone. “The provider who told me the results actually pulled out a box of pens and […]
Posted inTop Stories
Cuts to HIV funding and health services could hit LGBTQ+ communities hard
As the second Trump administration rolls back LGBTQ+ rights and visibility, some of his early decisions could prove to be an indirect hit to already marginalized members of the community. The federal government recently terminated millions of dollars in grants towards HIV-related research. The Trump administration is also considering eliminating the CDC’s HIV prevention division, […]
Posted inHealth
Experts: HIV stigma still a ‘persistent challenge’ despite signs of progress
When Cedric Sturdevant, of Mississippi, was diagnosed with HIV in 2005, he tried to ignore his status. Sturdevant said he was concerned about what people would think of him for having HIV and afraid to talk openly about his diagnosis, which led him to avoiding addressing the condition and the kinds of care it required. […]
Posted inTop Stories
How U=U is transforming HIV stigma and empowering a global movement
In the 80s, HIV devastated the public, particularly the gay community, and a positive test often rendered a death sentence. Society treated HIV-positive people as outcasts, shunned by the stigma that came with the virus and fueled fears about casual contact. Fast-forward to today, and the landscape has shifted. On the brink of 2025, HIV […]
Posted inCommunity
Half of Black gay men will be diagnosed with HIV, despite highly effective preventive treatments − why?
At a pharmacy in Iowa, a 42-year-old Black gay man couldn’t find a medication he needed. The pharmacist, a white woman, told him they didn’t stock that medication. But while he waited to pay for his other purchases, he saw another customer place the medication he just asked for on the counter. “I felt really […]
Posted inOut and Aging
Long-term HIV survivors fighting for their lives all over again
The fight against the HIV epidemic has seen a number of good milestones lately – the World Health Organization reaffirmed July 22 that those who consistently take antiretroviral treatment and maintain undetectable viral loads don’t transmit the virus during sex. Meanwhile, among HIV-negative men who have sex with men seen at San Francisco City Clinic, PrEP use increased each […]
Posted inCommentary
A right-wing threat to HIV prevention
Reducing, and ultimately eliminating, new HIV transmissions—even as health care providers, advocates and community members already have many components of the needed toolkit already available—remains a formidable challenge for communities across the nation. Even in states and municipalities, largely respectful of their LGBTQ+ populations, funding difficulties can result in diminished funds allocated for HIV prevention […]
Posted inCaring for Community
With proper care, healthy aging with HIV is possible
There was a time when an AIDS diagnosis was a death sentence–no exceptions, no relief, no end in sight. In the 1980s and ’90s, a generation of men shrank into wretched illness that robbed them of their dignity and their future.