Resources to learn about and support the end to Black AIDS-Take a dose and pass it on

HIV/AIDS and it’s effects on our community, specifically women, can no longer be ignored. Whether you have the virus, know someone who does or are just looking to learn more, here are some resources.

Read It: The Naked Truth: Young, Beautiful, and (HIV) Positive

The Naked Truth: Young, Beautiful, (HIV) Positive

“I was born Marvelyn Brown, a little black girl in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 7, 1984, but I wouldn’t understand the significance of my existence until it was threatened a couple of decades later. At just 19 years of age, I was unsure what was killing me and, even more disturbing, unwilling to fight.

This is the story of my still young, wild, and, at times, reckless ride of a life. It is a cautionary tale of how I discovered self-love, self-respect, and responsibility and began traveling the globe seeking a truth in hopes of saving the lives of others. It is the story of my marvelous life.”
—Excerpted from the Prologue (page 4)

Watch It: Pills Profits Protest: Chronicle of the Global AIDS Movement

“Pills, Profits, Protest: Chronicle of the Global AIDS Movement is an up-to-the minute documentary about AIDS treatment activism. It examines the national and international grass roots response to an epidemic that has already overshadowed the Black Death in terms of human lives lost. The demand for access to affordable treatment for 40 million people living with HIV, most of whom live in poor countries, represents one of the most successful political movements of contemporary history.”

Carry It: Just in Case Condom Compacts

Just in Case is a line of “socially conscious and high fashion compacts” for women who want to carry condoms discreetly. “We

believe we can take the messages in the media about safe sex practices and the risks of unplanned pregnancy, the epidemic numbers of AIDS or STD’s, and transform them into action with Just in Case®. We provide a product that will discreetly and stylishly protect and make a difference in the lives of sexually active women, and restore her self-respect, confidence, and honoring of her own body.”

Learn It: African-American HIV/AIDS Resource Center

Online resource chock full of information on the history of the virus, prevention and testing, statistics on who gets the virus, health and legal information for recently diagnosed people, treatment, research and more.

Support It: Little Traveller Dolls

“The Little Travellers HIV/AIDS Initiative is orchestrated by a group of ordinary people, who really want to do something to ease the burden of HIV/AIDS & poverty in Africa. This is a true grassroots project: the initiative got its start at the University of Manitoba in 2005 after a few curious beaded dolls - lovingly made at the Hillcrest AIDS Centre in South Africa - were discovered to have stowed-away in the luggage of an unsuspecting volunteering returning from the Centre.

The dolls, affectionately named “Little Travellers”, were recognized as an opportunity to raise money and awareness for the plight of the crafters, all of whom are affected by HIV/AIDS, and others that the dedicated staff at the AIDS Centre work tirelessly to help.”