LOS ANGELES, Nov. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- December 1st, 2006, marks the 18th annual World AIDS Day. HIV/AIDS continues to infect and affect millions around the world. In 2005, almost 3 million people worldwide died from HIV. Certain populations such as Latinos have disproportionately high rates of HIV/AIDS. Even though Latinos only make up about 14% of the U.S. population, they account for 19% of the AIDS cases in the U.S. since the start of the epidemic, twenty-five years ago. The stigma and silence surrounding HIV/AIDS prevents people from protecting themselves, getting tested, seeking treatment, and even from talking about the virus. One organization, BIENESTAR, is partnering with religious and spiritual leaders to help break the silence.
BIENESTAR, the largest Latino community based-organization in the U.S. that commits itself to meeting the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS, has addressed HIV on religious and spiritual fronts. Since 2002, BIENESTAR has reached out to religious and spiritual leaders at local churches from various denominations in order to partner with them in stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS. Discussions between BIENESTAR staff and religious and spiritual leaders include sex and sexuality, topics which can be challenging in religious settings. BIENESTAR has addressed this challenge by having pastors serve as representatives between the church and community-based organizations in order to convey the common goal of saving lives. "We wanted people living with HIV and our broader Latino community to know that the only shame surrounding HIV is the inhumane discrimination, stigma and silence that allows the virus to spread," said Oscar De La O, President and CEO of BIENESTAR.
BIENESTAR has formed several successful partnerships, including a strong relationship with Our Lady of Angels Church, located in the Historic Placita Olvera in downtown Los Angeles. The Placita Olvera is seen as the heart of Los Angeles combining tourism with the city's vast Latino history. In addition to its religious and cultural richness, Olvera Street is often the center of Latino social movements.
This year, BIENESTAR will hold their fifth annual commemoration of World AIDS Day at Our Lady of Angels Church. The commemoration will consist of hundreds of Latinos coming together to remember those taken away by the epidemic, and to commit to the struggle ahead. As part of the event, people infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS will speak, read poems, or say their loved one's name. Through this community interaction at the church's altar, the broader Latino community will see the different faces affected by the epidemic: mothers, sons, sisters, gay men, heterosexual women, undocumented immigrants, people who are transgender, and so many more. The event will allow community members to support each other and recognize that only through unity against the stigma can the community overcome and survive the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
BIENESTAR
