Breaking News

Taking Root – Our Stories, Our Community on March 3rd in San Francisco, CA

WORLD is a proud community partner of this community event! Presented by The Banyan Tree Project and Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center, Taking Root will showcase the power of digital storytelling to combat HIV-related stigma. Witness real-life stories from Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders affected by HIV. Click here for a flyer.

When: Thursday May 3rd 6-9pm
Where: The Eric Quezada Center for Culture and Politics [518 Valencia Street between 16th and 17th and within a 5 minute walk from 16th St. BART]
Event details: Join us for a screening of powerful digital stories, food, and performances commemorating the 8th annual National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.
Cost: Free!
Contact: for more info visit www.banyantree.org

TELE-BRIEFING 4/23: Living the American Dream? A Reality of Poverty for HIV+ Women

Count HIV+ Women in the American Dream. April 17th is Tax Day – a day that can be a powerful reminder of loss of employment, disability status, and required low income eligibility levels needed to keep benefits like health care and ADAP. Join PWN as we explore the impact of economic policies, gender, and poverty on a woman’s quality of life and overall health. Download a flyer here.

When: April 23rd 10:30a-12:30p PST/1:30p-3:30p EST
Register here or copy/paste this link: http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=ED54DB86874B
Vibrant presentations with:

  • Julie Davids, HIV Prevention Justice Alliance: What is economic justice?
  • Ethel Long-Scott, Women’s Economic Agenda Project: At the Crossroads of Health and Money: Policies, Practices, and Realities
  • Juanita Williams, PWN: Advocating for Economic Mobility

Victory for women! White House established a working group on the intersection of HIV/AIDS, Violence Against Women and Girls, and Gender-related Health Disparities

On March 30th, President Obama released a presidential memo that officially establishes a national working group that will look at how violence and gender-related health disparities impact the HIV epidemic among women in the U.S. The work group is charged with many tasks including the integration of sexual and reproductive health services, gender-based violence services, and HIV/AIDS services. Read the full memo! Post and re-post. This is a victory for women! A recognition that violence plays a huge role in a woman’s risk for HIV.

NEWS FLASH: health care services are changing for people living with HIV

January 17, 2011: Healthcare reform may have unintended consequences for HIV/AIDS patients by Mary Flynn on HealthyCal.org
Featuring PWNer Loren Jones and Sonia Rastogi – “Loren Jones was diagnosed with HIV 28 years ago. A relatively low viral load meant that for a long time, Jones, a 59-year-old African American woman, didn’t feel sick at all. “I ignored it completely,” she says of the first few years of her illness.” Read more.

January 20, 2011: Medicalizing HIV: Will Social Services Get Squeezed Out? by Zaineb Mohammed on New American Media
Featuring PWNer Loren Jones and allies Dr. Monica Gandhi – “Major medical breakthroughs over the past year in the treatment of HIV/AIDS are setting off some surprising alarm bells. While praised for their life-saving potential, they are causing a change in the dynamics of HIV/AIDS care – a shift that may squeeze out social services needed to support patients while they’re in treatment.” Read more.

ISIS/HPTN 064: HIV Rates for Black Women in Parts of the U.S. Much Higher than Previously Estimated

March 8, 2012 – The HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) announced results from its HPTN 064 Women’s HIV Seroincidence Study (ISIS) which found an HIV incidence of 0.24% in the study cohort of 2,099 women (88% black), a rate that is five fold higher than that estimated for black women overall by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The rate [...] is comparable to estimated HIV incidence rates in the general population in several countries in sub-Saharan Africa including the Congo (0.28 %) and Kenya (0.53%). Continue reading HPTN’s statement.

Safe Poz Love: An expression of love for women living with HIV is supporting our rights to our sexuality. Count HIV+ Women in on Valentine’s Day!

Join us for a groundbreaking tele-briefing & discussion on HIV+ women’s sexual rights! PWN commemorates Valentine’s Day as a day to uphold the rights of HIV+ women to have safe and satisfying sexual lives. Check out the Advocacy Talking Points here.

When: Feb. 14th 9-10:30a PST/12-1:30p EST
Register here: http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=EB59DE888549

Presentations followed by lively discussion:

  • Dr. Monica Gandhi, UCSF – Sex and Science: HPTN 052 and Treatment as Prevention
  • Aziza Ahmed, JD, Northeastern University – Sex and Human Rights
  • 3rd presenter TBA
  • Moderated by Sonia Rastogi, PWN Advocacy Coordinator

“Washington Warrior”: A Champion for the Rights of People Living with HIV

“Few people have fought as long, as hard and as effectively for people with HIV as Congresswoman Barbara Lee. There has not been a single piece of HIV-related legislation taken to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives that has not carried her signature. In fact, she coauthored or cosponsored many of the bills, including the three bills currently garnering attention in the House and in the media.” Read about Congresswoman Lee in this edition of POZ. [PDF here].

Hot off the press: PWN’s Newsletter

AIDS 2012:  Hubs Call for Proposals due January 31, 2012

AIDS 2012 is doing a Hubs call  for proposals for an organization with a focus on people who use drugs and/or harm reduction programs that would be interested in organizing and hosting one large or five or six smaller conference hubs during July 2012 and sit on the AIDS 2012 Hub Working Group. The deadline for application submission is  January 31, 2012.  Email Meg Warren at meg.warren {at} aids2012.org to learn more.

Download the announcement here.

PWN launches the Getting to AIDS 2012:  Fundraising Toolkit

This toolkit is designed to give you everything you need to reach your fundraising goals so you can participate in the International AIDS Conference in Washington D.C. (AIDS 2012).

It includes:

  • a budget template you can use to set a fundraising goal
  • tips on how to stay motivated throughout your fundraising journey
  • how to craft an effective appeal that inspires people to support you
  • step-by-step instructions on setting up an online fundraising page (to view a sample, click this link)
  • strategies for how to reach a wide pool of potential donors
  • guidelines on creating an action plan to implement offline, in-person fundraising ideas to reach your goal

….and much more!

The information is delivered through:

  • video tutorials
  • detailed handouts,
  • worksheets to help you begin implementing the information right away.

Click here for the Fundraising Toolkit!

World AIDS Day 2011:

Where in the world is PWN at the U.S. Conference on AIDS?

Will you be at USCA from Nov. 10 -13 in Chicago, IL? Hang out with PWN! Check out our schedule here.

Closing the Gaps for Women through Prevention: Inclusion of IOM Recommendations on Women’s Health into law!

A ray of hope in the war on women came on August 1, 2011, when the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) officially adopted the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) guidelines recommending that HIV testing and contraception options be included on the list of health and wellness services for women under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as the health care reform bill. Most importantly, these services will not cost patients a cent! The recommendations are now law!

Read the full post on our blog, PWN-Speaks.

Congresswoman Lee introduces bill to curb HIV criminalization

Friday September 23, 2011 – Congresswoman Barbara Lee introduces a bill to Repeal Unfair Criminal and Civil Laws. As stated in her press release, “the bill creates incentives and support for states to reform existing policies that use legal authority to target people living with HIV for felony charges and severe punishments for behavior that is otherwise legal or that poses no measurable risk of HIV transmission.” This is a cry for human rights! Read the full release here.

CDC Hear Us Now, Make Us A Priority, Women Count!

August 16th, 2011: At the 2011 National HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta, women and allies took over the escalators at the conference. We demanded to be counted in the data, budget, the prevention plan, and leadership. Many thanks to Larry Bryant for our phenomenal photos!

Hot off the Press! PWN’s Spring/Summer 2011 Newsletter~

In this issue:
Spotlight on the South: “I am not the enemy, I am the answer”
Fighting Unjust Solicitation Crimes Against Nature Law in Louisiana
IAC 2012: Make Women Count
Media Accountability and Responsible Reporting on HIV
… click here to read more!

Where in the world is PWN at the 2011 National HIV Prevention Conference?

Check out PWN’s NHPC Calendar here! Roundtables, workshops, special sessions, meet-and-greets and more~

Will you be attending? Facebook us and let us know.
Unable to attend? Keep your eye out for our facebook posts, tweets, and blogs!

One year after National HIV/AIDS Strategy Release:  Where Are Women?

Women Commend President Obama’s Leadership on National HIV/AIDS Strategy; Urge Increased Focus on Women; Southern U.S. and “Shadow Cities” in Implementation

Wednesday July 13, Oakland CA – One year after the release of the U.S. National HIV/AIDS Strategy, HIV-positive women leaders are cautiously optimistic and urge increased attention on women’s issues and the U.S. South.

The first-ever coordinated and comprehensive effort to address the U.S. domestic HIV epidemic, the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (“Strategy”) has the potential to be groundbreaking, say advocates for women.  Advocates are encouraged that the Obama Administration has held themselves to the same standards of recipients of U.S. PEPFAR funding and developed a strategic plan of action to approach the epidemic at home. The Strategy has gone above and beyond previous governmental approaches to the HIV epidemic by addressing the HIV-related stigma and racial and ethnic disparities that continue to plague the U.S. HIV epidemic.

Thirty years into the HIV epidemic, however, women of color in the U.S., especially Black and Latina women, bear a disproportionate burden of the epidemic. This burden is especially pronounced when women’s care taking responsibilities for children, families, and partners are taken into consideration. Yet funding for women-focused HIV services seems to be disappearing at an alarming rate.   Read more…

In honor of June 27th National HIV Testing Day: the Oakland Tribune states HIV is an issue we cannot afford to ignore

Left to right: Sonia Rastogi, of U.S. Positive Women’s Network/WORLD, Cecilia Chung of Women Organized to Respond to Life-Threatening Disease, Henry Ocampo with the Office of Minority Health, and Hulda Brown with WORLD.

“HIV/AIDS is not solely an individual concern. It is a family issue that we can’t afford to ignore. It affects not only the person living with the virus, but the entire family and, ultimately, our entire community. This is especially true in California, which has among the highest infection rates of any state in the nation.

National HIV Testing Day is Monday — a good reminder to turn our attention to the ways HIV/AIDS affects our families as well as our community.”

Read the full article here. Check out more PWN in the media here!

30 years of HIV: We Spoke Up.

Makewomenapriority“June 5th, 2011 will mark 30 years since the first case of what now is called HIV was recorded in U.S. history. Since then, people living with HIV, advocates, allies, friends, and families have spoken up consistently.

We spoke up for our rights to quality and comprehensive health care, for the end of discrimination and injustice, and for access to affordable and life-saving medications.”

Read more here.

30 years of HIV: AIDS in the ’90s: ‘I wasn’t going to die miserably’

Linda Scruggs, Program Director at AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth, and Familes and PWN Founding Member

June 1, 2011 – PWN Founding Member Linda Scruggs talks with CNN about her experiences living with HIV as part of CNN’s 30 years of AIDS Coverage series. June 5, 2011 marks 30 years since the first case of HIV recorded. Linda is a powerful and courageous leader who discusses her journey living with HIV and her inspiration to serve women, youth and families.

Read CNN’s article and watch Linda’s video here!

PWN is hiring!:: International AIDS Conference 2012 Organizer – Applications due June 20, 2011

The IAC organizer is responsible for ensuring that HIV-positive women’s participation and priorities are appropriately represented leading up to and at the International AIDS Conference in July 2012 in Washington, DC. IAC 2012 Job Description.

Letter to the CDC: What is your stance on criminalization?

On May 25th, 2011, the (CDC) received a letter from the HIV Prevention Justice Alliance, the Center for HIV Law & Policy and the Positive Justice Project asking the CDC to take a clear stance and leadership position on de-criminalizing people living with HIV. They have until July 13, 2011 – the 1 year anniversary of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy – to respond. Read the letter to the CDC here!

Strauss-Kahn Case: Another Day, Another Vicious Attack on Women

Oakland, CA May 18, 2011 – Rather than focus on the issue of this young woman’s assault charges against a high-powered diplomat, the NY Post chose to break a sensationalist, and unfounded story speculating about the young woman’s HIV status.

Read the full public statement here. Use PWN/WORLD’s advocacy talking points. Read the NY Post’s article.

Homophobia and Transphobia is Everyone’s Concerns

Oakland, CA, Tuesday May 17, 2011 – In honor of the 7th International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO), the U.S. Positive Women’s Network (PWN), a national membership body of women living with HIV and a project of WORLD, calls on women leaders everywhere to speak up and stand up against hate and violence.

Read the full press release here.

Hot off the press! PWN’s Winter 2011 Newsletter: Speak Up!

Contents include: PWN in 2011, Harm Reduction Summit in Philadelphia, IAC 2012: sex workers and drug users still invisible?, Community Organizing 101 and MORE!

Click here to read this quarter’s newsletter | Past newsletters

South Carolina lawmakers halt access to brand name drugs, April 29, 2011

“COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina senators chipped away Wednesday at spending on the state’s Medicaid program, approving budget measures that will make it tougher for patients with mental illness or HIV/AIDS to get name-brand drugs. The $5.8 billion spending plan the Senate is considering for the fiscal year that begins July 1 includes more than $1 billion for Medicaid programs.”

What does this mean for women in your community? E-mail us at pwn(at)womenhiv.org.

Read the full article here.

PWN survey shows HIV+ women suffer from human rights violations

Oakland, CA, March 10, 2011 – Although much progress has been made, HIV-positive women routinely suffer from human rights violations, says a survey released by the U.S. Positive Women’s Network (PWN). The PWN released its survey – Diagnosis, Sexuality and Choice -  in time for National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, a nationally commemorated day that recognizes the impact of the HIV epidemic on women and girls, encourages women to get tested, know their status and protect themselves, and honors the 300,000 women estimated to be living with HIV in the U.S. alone.

Read more here | Read PWN’s Human Rights Survey Report: Diagnosis, Sexuality and Choice

Branded as Sex Offenders: Challenging Louisiana’s Crime Against Nature Law

On February 16th, 2011, attorney’s filed a federal civil rights suit in New Orleans to challenge Louisiana’s Crime Against Nature. This 206 year-old law continues to brand people who solicit oral and anal sex as sex offenders by mandating sex offender registration and putting the words “Sex Offender” on a driver’s license.

In the case’s press release, Deon Haywood, Executive Director of the New Orleans-based organization, Women With a Vision says, “I work with the people directly affected by this statute every day: the toll it takes is devastating. Many of these women are survivors of rape and domestic violence themselves, many have struggled with addiction and poverty, yet they are being treated as predators. What this law does is completely disconnect them from our community and from what remains of a social safety net, making it impossible for them to recognize and develop their goals and dreams.”

Check out Women With a Vision’s NO Justice program.

Reproductive Rights Violations in Philadelphia: PWN-Philly Condemns Policies that lead to Unsafe Abortions for Poor Women and Women of Color

January 24, 2010 — After 32 years of deadly and dehumanizing conditions, a West Philly clinic providing abortions and serving primarily low-income women of color has been forced to close its doors. An investigation found unsanitary and dangerous clinic conditions and untrained staff leading to unreported and unnecessary deaths. Dr. Kermit Gosnell, the clinic’s founder, was charged with eight counts of murder.

A grand jury report stated: “We think the reason no one acted is because the women in question were poor and of color […] and because the victims were infants without identities, and because the subject was the political football of abortion.”

PWN-Philly condemns policies that allowed this clinic’s acts to go unnoticed leading to the dehumanizing reproductive rights violations of countless women.

PWN’s Press Release | New York Times article here