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Ridgeland Campus hosts World Aids Day with local sorority chapter
The Holmes Community College Ridgeland Campus Social and Behavioral Sciences Department, in conjunction with the Madison County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., hosted a World Aids Day event on Dec. 1 in the McGowan Workforce Training Building.
The event, themed "Getting to Zero," featured panelists Mauda Monger, program director for Mississippi AIDS Education and Training Center at UMMC, and Gerald Gibson, prevention outreach manager at My Brother's Keeper nonprofit. Othor Cain, director of communications for Mississippi Faith in Action, introduced the panelists and helped guide the discussion. The program also included a welcome by Makeaba Latiker, instructor in the social and behavioral sciences department, and closing remarks by Jennifer Riley, first vice president of the Delta Sigma Theta Madison County Alumnae Chapter.
The theme, "Getting to Zero," means working toward zero new HIV infections, toward zero discrimination pertaining to the topic, and zero AIDS-related deaths. The speakers encouraged the 70 plus Holmes students (and instructors/staff) in attendance to get tested annually and help break the stigma surrounding HIV. As Cain pointed out, "Women lie. Men lie. Numbers don't lie."
Students had an opportunity to participate in a Q&A with the panelists, giving them the chance to ask the questions they may have previously been too intimidated or uncomfortable to ask. Gibson and Monger also gave detailed information about safe sex practices, including the medicine PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis), which provides a way for people who don't have HIV to prevent infection by taking a pill every day.
World AIDS Day is an annual event, always held on Dec. 1 that provides an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV while showing support for people living with HIV and remembering those who lost their lives. Held for the first time in 1988, World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day. Some of the events organizations hold to honor the occasion include remembrance ceremonies, as well as fundraising concerts, 5Ks, bake sales, art shows, among other things. A number of companies/organizations will also distribute informative leaflets and flyers with information about HIV, and hold informative workshops.
For more information about World AIDS Day, visit http://www.worldaidsday.org/.
IN THE PHOTO: (front row, left to right) Daphne M. Higgins, member of Madison County (MS) Alumnae Chapter – Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; Jennifer Riley, first vice president of the Chapter; Katrina Myricks, president of the Chapter; Mauda Monger, director for Mississippi AIDS Education and Training Center at UMMC and a panelist; Gerald Gibson, prevention outreach manager at My Brother's Keeper nonprofit and panelist; Makeaba Latiker, instructor in the Holmes Social and Behavioral Sciences Department; Othor Cain, director of communications for Mississippi Faith in Action; (second row, left to right) Chapter members Jolivette Wallace, Angela Gowdy-Clay, Verna Myers, Yolanda Davis, (third row, left to right) Trenyse Roberson-Small, Janet Taylor, Debora Haygood, Nakeitra Burse, (back, left to right) Johnlyn Clark, Joyce White, and Sylvia Thomas.
