By Raven Feagins
Darrow Alexander is a Chicago native originally from the Englewood neighborhood. He thrives on connecting with others, especially if it’s through food, and he loves giving back to his community. However, before he settled into his cozy apartment in Uptown almost six years ago, Darrow whole-heartedly believed that he would forever be alone.
“I...
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By Kirstin Brockenborough
Enrollment in the Illinois Health Insurance Marketplace will be open for a few more days, and the excitement for another year of the Affordable Care Act (the ACA, a.k.a. Obamacare) is still in the air. (It could also be climate change, but who knows!)
The ACA created a way to expand Medicaid and create more opportunities for people to enroll in...
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For more than 30 years, AFC has worked to transform the systems that contribute to HIV prevention, awareness and access to lifesaving care and services. AFC leads the largest coordinated HIV case management system in the country, ensuring over 5,000 clients receive medical and supportive services every year. Through the networks AFC has built and continues to fund and lead, thousands of people...
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By Raven Feagins
The U.S. version of the TV show Shameless focuses on a dysfunctional family from Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood. The show is filled with cringe-worthy moments, plenty of (often dark) humor and compelling storylines. During seasons six and seven (2016) the show also included a character named Caleb who was living with HIV. Caleb was an attractive firefighter...
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By Aaron Talley
An Ill-Fated Hookup
In early October 2015, when Sanjay Johnson, then 22, met up with college freshman James Booth for a hookup after meeting on Jack’d, he had no idea this consensual encounter would lead to Booth accusing him of knowingly transmitting the HIV virus.
I interview Johnson over the phone. It is now three years later, and...
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World of Chocolate 2018 is right around the corner, folks! Check out our behind the scenes interviews with our launch party chocolatier, Four Seasons Hotel Chicago , who delighted us last month with their chocolate-filled treats at the World of Chocolate launch party held at the British Consulate General Chicago. Get ready to indulge at our premiere World AIDS Day event on Friday,...
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On Tuesday, Nov. 6, people around Illinois and across the country went to the voting booth to participate in the most basic right and responsibility in our republic: to duly elect those we shall entrust to represent us at all levels of government. Every two years we as a nation make our voices heard, and in Illinois that voice was a clear and ringing denunciation of the type of politics...
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Legal Council for Health Justice and AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) laud the Illinois Department of Health and Family Services (HFS) announcement today ending the department’s policy of rationing coverage of life-saving drugs to cure hepatitis C (HCV) for Medicaid participants.
As the deadliest infectious disease in the U.S., HCV affects an estimated 3.5 million Americans. ...
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To co-opt the words of old Kanye, “Donald Trump doesn’t care about transgender people.” This president of the United States has put a target on the backs of our trans-kin, and we cannot be silent about it.
According to the New York Times, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) “is considering narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable...
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MADRID - A group of advocates and public health professionals challenged the all funders of HIV prevention research in attendance at a global conference on research for HIV prevention (HIVR4P) to explicitly offer support for short-acting, user-controlled methods for HIV prevention via its soon-to-be-funded HIV prevention trial network.
Holding signs that said, “Whose...
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