Illinois: Actress Launches AIDS Campaign

Actress and singer Sheryl Lee Ralph is lending her celebrity to a new Chicago-based HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. "Change My Story" is an initiative the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) hopes will spark frank discussions about the serious impact of HIV on minorities.

"Change My Story is about inspiring and empowering people to take control of their life and health, with respect to HIV/AIDS and all life-changing illnesses," said AFC President and CEO David Ernesto Munar. "No one is helpless to HIV/AIDS and other chronic conditions: You can literally change your story for the better with proactive steps. Thanks to medical advances, dramatic improvements in health are within greater reach than ever."

At the campaign's kick-off at the Gallery Guichard in Bronzeville on Aug. 12, Ralph noted that "HIV/AIDS is 100 percent preventable. It does not have to happen."

"But why does it keep happening? The number-one reason why folks don't tell people they have HIV/AIDS is because they don't know they have it," Ralph said. "They haven't been tested."

Ralph said she believes community engagement is key to lowering the high rates of HIV/AIDS among African Americans. "We are not doing enough and we can do more," she said.

According to AFC, Change My Story is debuting on the city's south side, where the organization coordinates a complete range of testing, case management, and support services. Advertisements in bus shelters are up in the Bronzeville, Hyde Park, South Shore, Chatham, Beverly, Morgan Park, Auburn Gresham, and Englewood communities.

For more information, visit http://changemystory.org.

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