Milwaukee, WI. – In recognition of National HIV Testing Day 2016, Greater Milwaukee Center for Health and Wellness, Inc. in collaboration with Grace Fellowship Church of Milwaukee will host “The State of HIV Prevention in Milwaukee” Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday June 22, 2016 from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm. The town hall meeting will include attendees who are members of the community, local, city and state government officials to have an active dialogue about HIV Prevention in Milwaukee County in 2016. The general public is strongly encouraged to come and join in this conversation of community-level significance.
According to the Wisconsin /AIDS Surveillance Annual Review, during 2015 HIV cases were diagnosed in 33 of the 72 Wisconsin counties. Milwaukee County accounted for 53% of the newly diagnosed cases. Additionally, Milwaukee is disproportionately impacted by HIV as it makes up just 10% of the state’s population yet has 47% of all statewide HIV diagnoses. The Centers for Disease Control reports show that nationally 12.8% of people living with HIV are unaware of their HIV status. However, for Wisconsin the percentage of HIV unaware is 16.2%. This indicates an ongoing need for creating many more pathways to HIV testing, prevention education and access to treatment.
“We are at a critical point in the history of HIV testing, prevention and treatment now that we have a biomedical intervention for individuals who may be at risk known as PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis). PrEP is one of many effective tools to address a matter that affects many people regardless of age, race, gender or sexual preference,” states Ericka Sinclair, Founder and CEO of Greater Milwaukee Center for Wellness, Inc. “It is important that we hear from different parts of the community regarding the cross sections of the social, clinical and political aspects that surround HIV and other related issues.”
To start the conversation, we are debuting a video on HIV prevention and testing that features several local community members and elected officials. We are asking that the community participate in the Milwaukee National HIV Testing Day 2016 Town Hall Meeting on June 22, 2016.
For more information on Milwaukee’s National HIV Testing Day 2016 Town Hall Meeting “The State of HIV Prevention in Milwaukee”, please contact Shana Brown, Greater Milwaukee Center for Health And Wellness, Inc. at 414-269-8282 or sbrown@gmchealth.org.
