For years several of us on dA have pushed for greater HIV/AIDS awareness not just online but in our communities as well. Each year we see more participation, more involvement and greater awareness.
People were shocked by ^estudio's HIV+ campaign, and well they should have been. It challenged people to evaluate their own perceptions of the illness and suddenly thrust them in the position where the illness affected THEM personally.

We have rallyed behind `GeneratingHype, *wordworks , ~EveningDownpour and behind me for two years.
Now I'm asking for another rally behind me.

March 15th 2009 will mark the twentieth annual Houston HIV/AIDS walk, an event that sponsors education programs, testing, counseling, and supportive care for those infected or caring for and HIV+ person. More than anything it provides support and solidarity of a community for individuals. The message that AIDS Foundation Houston promotes is one of hope. Every year the walk demonstrates that HIV+ people are not alone and that they are as deserving of support and love as anyone else with an illness.

The stigmas still remain but each donation, each demonstration, each time someone talks about having HIV or caring for an HIV+ person, we remove slivers of the stigma. We debunk myths, we help halt the spread of an illness.

Houston Texas has the second highest rate of new infection in the state and one of the highest in the country. That is partially because we are a large metropolitan area, but it is also because we are a young city in terms of population. We need, more than ever, strong education programs and pushes for testing.

Early treatment means a longer, healthier life. The correlation is so strong it is ridiculous. It's intuitive.

Join me and help stop the spread and remove the stigma!
It is our generation's problem and it will do nothing but grow wildly out of control if we don't do something to stop it.

Get tested. Even if you don't think you're at risk. Do it to have the slip of paper, to know for 100%. Do it with a group of friends--it might save their life.

Sponsor me Here
even 5 dollars will help, and if you have problems with the site note me and send it to my paypal (agomez281@gmail.com)

or put out a shout out in your own journal using the link below without spaces:
www. aidshelp.org /goto/stjoan09

Read the information in the links below and educate yourselves, educate your friends, your family, whoever. Get the word out about the truth and help us break the stigma.

Steal the CSS and post information about this cause in your journal

Sport an avatar!


Share the stamps!

All the people who have sponsored me this year in my HIV/AIDS Walk either through donations or through shout outs in your journals:
_{if i've let you off please let me know i'll change it asap!}



@lenawargo ^Thiefoworld `touchedvenus `Beccalicious
*johohanna =mombeam `RetroZombie `SRSmith `synconi
=steph1254=kasumichan2003 ^cosfrog =littleblackduck
~wyldhoney ~Kimete *Memnalar =ashescry =lady-shirakawa
*mode-de-vie $Moonbeam13 ^joannastar `GaioumonBatou
*snapesgirl34 ^Platinus












Check out the HIV Activism collection: Find more deviations here

(if you have any you'd like to share please tell me!)

AIDS.org
Center for Disease Control and Prevention HIV/AIDS Fact Sheet
U.S. CDC HIV/AIDS prevention
National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (7 February 2008)
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services: HIV/AIDS Days
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services AIDSinfo
National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (15 October 2007)
AIDS/HIV Awareness.org
CBS Cares: HIV
amfAR: The Foundation for AIDS Research
Avert.org: World AIDS DAY (1 December 2007)
The AIDS Memorial Quilt (The NAMES Project Foundation)
UNAIDS: The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
NetAid (an initiative of Mercy Corps): ACT NOW: HIV/AIDS
Red Ribbon Foundation
KidsHealth.org: HIV and AIDS
HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, NIAID/NIH
The Office of Minority Health: Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (SAAC): HIV/AIDS Awareness in the African American Community
National Catholic AIDS Network
What Does the Catholic Church Say About HIV/AIDS?