We'll Defeat AIDS Con Ganas!
National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day is October 15th
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: October 12, 2016
CONTACT: Christina Adeleke, NC AIDS Action Network, christina@ncaan.org, (305) 588-4373; Judith Montenegro, Latino Commission on AIDS, jmontenegro@latinoaids.org, (704) 340-7333
Raleigh, NC- Faith leaders, advocates, and community members from across North Carolina will gather in Raleigh at the State Capital on Saturday, October 15th at 2:30pm to commemorate National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day. The event, hosted by the Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolinas, Latino Commission on AIDS and the NC AIDS Action Network, will remember members of the Latinx community that we have lost to HIV/AIDS, but also look to the future towards the policies needed to address disparities in the Latinx community. The Latinx community in the United States are disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS. They represent 17% of the population, but accounted for approximately 24% of HIV infections among adults and adolescents in 2014.
National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day (NLAAD) is an annual national community mobilization and social marketing campaign that occurs on October 15th that unites the Hispanic/Latinx community in efforts to raise HIV awareness and promote HIV testing, prevention, and education; in addition to other critical health issues such as viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and tuberculosis (TB).
“National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day is so important because it aims to mobilize communities nationally in addressing not only HIV/AIDS but intersections of stigma, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, socioeconomics, immigration, and other social determinants of health,’ says Tony Ochoa, Program Manager of National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day. ‘These intersections impede diminishing the spread of the epidemic among Hispanic/Latinx communities.”
This year’s theme is “We’ll Defeat AIDS con Ganas.” “Con Ganas” is a Spanish phrase used in informal conversation to denote being motivated enough to act.
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