Rising Up and Speaking Out About HIV and Hepatitis C

This is a campaign inspired by Chelsea Clinton raising awareness by holding a simple sign for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. My vision for this campaign is to mobilize people in places across the United States and the World willing to stand up to Stigma and Rise Up To HIV, all in an effort of realizing the UN Goals of getting to ZERO. The biggest barrier I believe to realizing these goals is STIGMA.

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Contest Details:

Write a poem related to dealing with your HIV/AIDS and or Hepatitis C diagnosis, and also opened to someone who has been affected by HIV/AIDS and/or Hepatitis C. Your poem will be posted to the RiseUpToHIV blog at www.riseuptohiv.blogspot.com and promoted throughout various social media outlets.

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I want to acknowledge how very proud I am of you. You know your mother would be very proud as well. It seems like you have found you're calling in life. You have always had a passion for helping others; this goes back to your childhood years, when you used to volunteer at the senior citizen home that your grandfather lived in. I also remember when you were in 4H club in middle school, you volunteered at a home in Albany where children lived that were orphaned to AIDS or living with HIV and AIDS; you chose that volunteer opportunity over others and you talked about that experience for years!

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Never before has the hashtag #HIV or #AIDS trended on Twitter, not even on World AIDS Day. With over 100 million users on Twitter and with a few months of preparation until the International AIDS Conference (IAC) is to be hosted in the USA (Washington, D.C.) from July 22-27, four HIV/AIDS activists have come together to assemble a team of faces and voices who will encourage the global community to tweet heavily during this week using the hashtags, #HIV, #AIDS and #IAC.

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Referencing the latest figure from the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD), as of February 23, 2012,  4,251 individuals across 11 states are on the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) waitlist. These are individuals who are uninsured or underinsured who have received an HIV+ diagnosis, and are unable to properly attain the drugs they need to remain alive, healthy and productive.

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The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) -- which oversees HIV/AIDS support and services in the United States -- nearly a year ago put into place a rule that all 56 AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) must recertify its clients every six months. While very few states have complied from the beginning, it's not until most recently that letters have begun going out like rapid fire to ADAP enrollees in MANY states.

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Having recently moved I am now unpacking and you know that one box we all have with pictures, notes, etc. from our ex's? Every couple years or so you'll open that box, because you remember how happy you were at that moment in time, and you need to read the notes to reassure yourself you are still that same person, that you are still loveable and deserve love again.

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"Keeping them honest" -- where is the money? Almost two months ago on World AIDS Day, December 1st 2011, President Obama thankfully promised an additional 35 million dollars that would go to state ADAP (AIDS Drug Assistance Programs). This money should have already been rolled out. However no state has yet to see any of these additional funds, and the frustration level in the HIV/AIDS community is building.

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As goes Ohio, so could the nation. The Ohio Health Department is putting up a strong fight to lower the federal poverty limit from its height of 500% in July 2010, lowered to 300% at that time, to now have the ability to implement a potential income eligibility change to as low as 100% FPL at anytime with no notice to anyone with a stroke of pen. If that rule had gone into effect, it would mean in order to qualify for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program a single individual cannot make more than $10,890 a year. Further, ODH could implement medical criteria one must also meet. Those given the highest priority will be PLWHA with CD4 counts lower than 201. The medical criteria make no mention of an important aspect of HIV care: viral load.

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In order to maintain sobriety it is important to be prepared and proactive during this time of year. Below is a list of things to keep in mind to make sure you're taking the proper steps to take care of yourself.

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