Too few women living in communities with high rates of HIV receive essential HIV prevention and pregnancy planning information and services. Consequently, both HIV-positive women and HIV-negative women with positive partners are unaware of new prevention strategies that help them stay healthy, reduce HIV transmission and enable safer conception and delivery of HIV-negative babies.
The...
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Testimony presented by the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) last week before the Illinois House Human Services Appropriations Committee aimed to show how Illinois' Medicaid redetermination efforts could have a significant impact on people living with HIV across the state.
Director of Government Affairs Dan Frey presented his testimony on March 3 and argued that Medicaid redetermination...
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Whether lessons come through word-of-mouth, personal experience or in an educational setting, high school is a difficult and exciting time for health education.
Peer Health Exchange (PHE), a volunteer-taught health curriculum hopes to shape teens’ conversations around sexual health, mental health and substance use. By recruiting college student volunteers to teach high school-age...
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Historic Black churches and the HIV awareness movement haven’t always seen eye-to-eye — but when the HIV epidemic today affects the African-American community more than other groups, some see the Black church as the key to raising awareness and reducing stigma around HIV.
This reconciliation is exactly what the National Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS (March 1-8) aims...
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This January, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) released a final concept paper outlining its intention to establish Medicaid Health Homes. In a huge victory, the final paper explicitly included HIV as one the conditions that can be managed by a Health Home. In December 2014, AFC submitted comments urging Illinois to included HIV as one of the chronic...
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Stigma: In and Out is a monthly series profiling the clients, providers and leaders of AFC's Corrections Case Management program, which helps HIV-positive people emerging from prison or jail get the support they need upon reentry.
Arlette D. Brooks is a woman who has overcome a lot of challenges. She works as a corrections medical case manager with the South Side Help Center (SSHC),...
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In honor of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (March 10), the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) and several of its partners in Chicago will present opportunities for women to learn about HIV, get tested and obtain condoms.
Saturday, March 7
Confidential HIV testing and counseling
TPAN will provide instant HIV testing and condom distribution at Glitter Nail Salon (912...
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The year 2015 ushers in significant changes in political leadership in Illinois, with Governor Bruce Rauner taking office as the state’s first Republican chief executive officer in 12 years. He has proposed a reckless budget with devastating cuts to HIV funding and Medicaid, and supportive housing is under attack.
In the midst of these troubling changes, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago...
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Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner today proposed a $31.5 billion budget for the state’s next fiscal year that contains draconian cuts to the Illinois Department of Public Health and HIV services. The state’s last fiscal year saw $26 million appropriated for HIV-related services, but Rauner proposed slashing HIV services in FY 2016 to $20 million, a nearly 25% reduction. ...
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Are you having trouble paying for your HIV medication? Do you feel your insurance company’s high cost sharing amounts for HIV medications are discriminatory? Tell us ; we want to hear from you!
Last week, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and AIDS Legal Council of Chicago submitted letters to three health insurance companies in Illinois – Humana , Coventry and Health...
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