News

Blog

Alleged Bite Leaves Bitter Taste of Unjust Law

December 6, 2011

An incident last month in which an Oak Park man allegedly bit a police officer upon arrest has again raised questions about Illinois' HIV criminal transmission law, among the harshest of such laws in the country. According to the Chicago Tribune brief , a 36-year-old man allegedly bit a police officer on Nov. 18 when he was arrested for felony retail theft. He was also charged with aggravated...
Read more...

Watch David Ernesto Munar on PBS

December 2, 2011

Watch When Will We See an AIDS-Free Generation? on PBS. See more from PBS NEWSHOUR. On World AIDS Day, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) was all over the news, framing and contributing to the conversation about the ongoing epidemic. In an interview ( above ) with PBS NewsHour, AFC President David Ernesto...
Read more...

AFC Hails World AIDS Day News

December 1, 2011

The AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) applauds President Barack Obama's historic announcement to scale up domestic resources and expand global goals in the fight against HIV/AIDS. To commemorate World AIDS Day, Obama participated in a panel discussion on Dec.1, at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., which...
Read more...

All Eyes on Obama on World AIDS Day

November 30, 2011

Tomorrow is World AIDS Day and big hopes are pinned on President Barack Obama to lead the United States forward in the fight against HIV/AIDS -- at home and abroad. Obama is scheduled to meet with a panel of dignitaries and celebrities, including President George W. Bush, President Bill Clinton, Bono, Alicia Keys and others. No question...
Read more...

A Setback in Microbicide Research

November 28, 2011

A disappointing setback in microbicide research was announced on Black Friday, as a gel intended to protect women from HIV was dropped from an important study because it didn't prove to be effective. The vaginal microbicide gel was the second "arm," or experiment, to be dropped from the the VOICES (Vaginal and Oral Interventions to Control the Epidemic) trial in Africa. Both the gel and...
Read more...

Interview with South African Author Jonny Steinberg

November 23, 2011

As a journalist and an author, Jonny Steinberg has covered a wide swath of issues in his homeland of South Africa. But when he delved into the HIV/AIDS epidemic in his 2008 novel “Sizwe’s Test: A Young Man’s Journey Through Africa’s AIDS Epidemic,” it was Steinberg’s most intimate work. “For that book to succeed, I really had to understand what...
Read more...

AFC Makes "The POZ 100"

November 22, 2011

POZ , the well-known HIV magazine, has unveiled its annual “The POZ 100” — a top 100 list of things, people and ideas from the past year. And, lo and behold, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago made the list three times. In alphabetical order, Julie Davids (no. 27), David Ernesto Munar (no. 68) and Jim Pickett (no. 74) were all recognized for their leadership in the...
Read more...

Lois Bates, Trans-Activist, Dies

November 17, 2011

Lois Bates in 2010.            Photo courtesy of Hal Baim/Windy City Times and chicagogayhistory.org Lois Bates, a longtime transgender activist in Chicago, died today. Bates was the transgender health manager at the Howard Brown Health Center. Over the years, in addition to being an outspoken HIV activist, she...
Read more...

Crunch Time for Super Committee

November 16, 2011

One week -- that's how long the so-called Super Committee has to reach an agreement on how to reduce the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years. So far, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago has sent over 2,600 messages to lawmakers, through the Super Friends action alert, to urge them to come up with a plan that will not harm HIV/AIDS funding. If you haven't already...
Read more...

Healing the Prison System

November 12, 2011

Aaron Burks, Sr., shares his story at the United States Conference on AIDS in Chicago on Saturday.   AFC Photo-Ed Negron Sixteen years ago, when Aaron Burks, Sr., robbed a Minneapolis convenience store with his fingers pointed like a gun in his pocket, he had wanted the police to shoot him down. He was HIV-positive, struggling with stigma and his own sexual identity,...
Read more...