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.
Larry Hill is a 50-year-old returning citizen currently residing in Chicago. Hill desires to be an advocate and speak up for those impacted by stigma,...
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This article is the first in AFC’s Cuts to the Cascade series, which focuses on the people, programs and communities representing columns of the HIV treatment cascade . All of the Cuts to the Cascade subjects are under threat of losing vital state support as a result of Governor Rauner’s proposed cuts to the Illinois budget.
If one pill could...
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by Anne Statton, PACPI Executive Director
This essay first appeared on the Pediatric AIDS Chicago Prevention Initiative (PACPI) website .
This year, for my birthday, I decided to give myself the gift of triathlon. Sounds funny, I know. I really enjoy competing against myself and with my friends and family.
I come from a swimming background. As a kid, I swam and competed...
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This week, Coventry Health Plan announced that it would dramatically reduce out-of-pocket costs for HIV medications in individual plans purchased on Health Insurance Marketplaces established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The change comes in response to requests from advocates, including AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) and AIDS Legal Council of Chicago (ALCC).
“We thank...
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“Home” has meant many things to Nancy. It has been a space for argument, for rejection, for abuse — and when she hasn’t had a home, Nancy’s life has been even worse. But today, Nancy has a home, and it has served as the foundation for her many life goals....
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Gilead Sciences recently awarded the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) $100,000, becoming the first member of AFC’s Corporate Partnership Program. Through the Corporate Partnership Program, AFC is engaging companies across the US to make major contributions to HIV/AIDS programs and services in Chicago and beyond.
Corporate partners, such as Gilead, make unrestricted contributions...
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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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