A new Gilead Sciences Inc. initiative aimed at transforming the HIV landscape for Black women and girls has resulted in close to $1 million in grant funding for the Howard University College of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics and Child Health.
This year, Gilead Sciences announced awards totaling $12.6 million in grant money to Howard University and 18 other organizations. These grants are a part of Gilead’s new Setting the P.A.C.E. (Prevention, Arts and Advocacy, Community, Education) initiative, which is a three-year commitment to improve HIV prevention, anti-stigmatization, and health equity efforts among Black cisgender and transgender women, a group disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic.
Education and elimination efforts have stumbled as the number of new HIV infections has decreased, according to Sohail Rana, M.D., a doctor of medicine at the Howard University College of Medicine and organizer of the annual International Conference on Stigma. “The Gilead financing will help us to develop arts-based and other educational programs that will concentrate on HIV prevention in Black people, a community that is frequently ignored in educational activities but has a significant problem of HIV,” says Gilead.
The Howard team includes Tia C.M. Tyree, professor in the Department of Communication Studies, and Rana and Patricia Houston, M.S., of the Department of Pediatrics. The team did collaborate with the country’s largest non-profit HealthHIV.
The Howard initiative’s emphasis on engaging audiences through the arts will be its most impressive feature. It will include websites, fashion shows, workshops, and podcasts specifically tailored for Black transgender and cisgender women. Up to 20 college-aged peer educators from Howard University may be trained in using performing arts methodology during the International Conference on Stigma and in other community-based jobs as part of one of the major tasks.
Even though only 14% of the country’s women live in the country, Black women made up 54% of all new HIV diagnoses in the United States among women aged 16 and older in 2021. Also, Black transgender women are the transgender people with the highest levels of new HIV diagnoses. In contrast to their peers, they are more likely to have undiagnosed and untreated health issues. Significant gaps in the provision of effective and culturally appropriate HIV prevention information and treatment services for Black women and girls only add to these injustices.
According to Deborah H. Telman, executive vice president, corporate affairs and general counsel, Gilead Sciences, “By adopting a holistic, community-centered approach to address structural inequities and improving overall health outcomes, Gilead continues to work toward advancing health equity for Black cisgender and transgender women and girls in the United States who continue to be overwhelmingly impacted by the HIV epidemic.” The action “Gilead’s Setting the P.A.C.E. initiative will help enable organizations to develop customized programs designed to combat stigma and increase access to HIV prevention and care in their communities.”
At the Howard University International Stigma Conference, Promising Futures is on display.
About Howard University
Howard University, a private, research university with 14 schools and colleges, was established in 1867. Students pursue more than 140 programs of study leading to undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees. The University has produced three Schwarzman Scholars, four Marshall Scholars, four Rhodes Scholars, 12 Truman Scholars, 25 Pickering Fellows, and more than 165 Fulbright recipients as a result of its commitment to Excellence in Truth and Service. Additionally, Howard produces more on-campus African American Ph.D. recipients than any other university in the United States. Visit www.howard.edu for more information.
For information: Sholnn Freeman, [email protected]
