By Aunsha Hall-Everett, MA | February 4, 2016
Executive Director, REACH LA

Throughout my time working with young people, I have had the opportunity to witness amazing conversations. I recently spoke with a group of young Black gay men (ages 16-19) about some of the sexual health and health promotion efforts we are building.

Hearing them share their experiences gave me two “ah ha” moments. First, I’m getting old. Second, we need to improve intergenerational relationships and build better communication between younger and older adults.

By Cathy Maulsby, PhD, MPH & Kriti M. Jain, MSPH | February 1, 2016
Assistant Scientist & Doctoral Student, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

We’ve traveled a great distance in the fight against HIV since it first appeared in the 1980s. After decades of activism, research, and the development of effective medications, HIV is a manageable chronic disease for many. In fact, in the U.S., the average life expectancy for people living with HIV (PLWH) is inching towards that of all Americans. However, we still have much further to go to end HIV.

Today, around 1.2 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV, and certain populations (such as gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, Black women and men, Latino men and women, people who inject drugs, youth aged 13 to 24, and transgender women) are disproportionately affected by the disease. Out of the 1.2 million PLWH in the country, too many lack access to ART—the lifesaving medications that reduce HIV transmission by lowering the level of virus in the blood (viral suppression).

ETR's Chief Science Officer, Vignetta Charles, PhD, was a contributing author to the new publication Improving Access to HIV Care: Lessons from Five U.S. Sites. Cathy Maulsby and Kriti M. Jain, who penned this post, are also authors. Find more information about the book here.

By BA Laris, MPH | January 21, 2015
Research Associate, ETR

People are talking about HIV and AIDS. You hear it, see it, Google it. Yep. There is a lot of talk.

But are people listening?

At ETR’s Community Impact Solutions Project (CISP), we believe members of the HIV prevention workforce are a vital part of this HIV and AIDS conversation. They need and deserve state of the art training to understand the many changing aspects of HIV and AIDS to help protect themselves, the community and families, friends, and partners.

By Michael T. Everett, MHS | December 9, 2015
Project Coordinator, ETR

Two questions plague any responsible person in a position of authority: (1) Am I a good leader? and, (2) How am I to know?

I’ve had a few years to consider these questions myself, and they have taught me a good deal about leadership. I’d like to share three of the lessons leadership has brought to my own work and life. 

By Laura Perkins, MLS | December 4, 2015
Project Editor, ETR

PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) for HIV means taking a combination pill to prevention transmission of the virus. The pill, brand name Truvada, has proved to be successful at protecting at-risk individuals. Trials evaluating PrEP among gay and bisexual men, heterosexual men and women, and injection drug users indicate that the risk of getting HIV decreased by up to 92% for participants who took the medicine consistently.

This is phenomenal!

By Tanya Henderson, PhD | December 1, 2015
Project Director, Community Impact Solutions, ETR

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”

—Mark Twain

When I first heard this quote, it really hit home with me. I was always a planner, a bit of an overachiever, but things really didn’t come together for me until I began doing work in the HIV/AIDS arena. Today, on World AIDS Day, I reflect not only on what I see as my calling, but also why I do this work.

In the early days of this new millennium, HIV/AIDS was one of the top five health disparities affecting African Americans and underrepresented minorities in the U.S. This was also true in my hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. I don’t think I’d fully understood to that point that a disease like HIV could run rampant, so disproportionately affecting some communities.

HIV was sexually transmitted and surrounded by great stigma and misinformation. It was sometimes passed between people who loved one another deeply. All of this tugged at my heart strings.

During this time, I first heard of the death of someone I knew. 

By Michael Everett, MHS | October 29, 2015
Project Coordinator, ETR

What responsibility do HIV/AIDS organizations have concerning the wellness of staff who are also Black men who have sex with men?

I have pondered this question often throughout my 15-year career in HIV services. 

By Michael Everett, MHS | October 15, 2015
Project Coordinator, ETR

Confinement has its costs. There are costs to being confined physically, emotionally, sexually, mentally or spatially for any period of time. You can often tell when people have grown up in isolation, or with little social interaction. They seem unprepared for social exchanges.

I have seen a version of this with members of the LGBT community. We grow up and discover that what we feel on the inside is seen as wrong in the larger world around us. We learn that who we are “goes against” religious and historical principles.

This can really do a number on you.