A Deadly Cycle of Stigma and Secrecy
Presentation and panel discussion held at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, September 22nd, 2009
Presented by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting in association with the M∙A∙C AIDS Fund and the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.
Stigma and discrimination prevent people around the world from accessing the HIV prevention, care and treatment services they need. This is particularly true in areas of the Caribbean, such as Jamaica, where anti-sodomy laws and concerns about violence put vulnerable populations at extreme risk.
A panel of journalists, funders, AIDS activists and community members discuss the human impact of this discrimination, the need for coordinated multi-sectoral action, and journalism’s role in bringing these issues to the broadest possible public.
Welcome: Jon Sawyer, Executive Director, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
Moderator: Julia Greenberg, Associate Director, AIDS-Free World
Panelists:
Kwame Dawes, Poet and Writer HOPE: Living and Loving with HIV in Jamaica
Micah Fink, Filmmaker Glass Closet
Nancy Mahon, Executive Director, M∙A∙C AIDS Fund, Senior Vice President, M·A·C Cosmetics
Jason McFarlane, Executive Director, JFLAG (Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-sexuals and Gays)***Due to the sensitive nature of the topics and the need for anonymity, Jason remains off camera and is using a pseudonym.
Rachel Tiven, Executive Director, Immigration Equality
Learn more about the panelists
Part 1:
Pulitzer Center Executive Director Jon Sawyer introduces the work of the Center on HIV/AIDS in Jamaica with clips from LiveHopeLove.com and Glass Closet.
Part 2:
Panelists discuss cultural conditions that contribute to Jamaican homophobia as well as its disproportionate magnitude and severity.
Part 3:
The panel explores social stigma and its implications for public health, funding for education and prevention, and innovative ways of presenting the issue to regenerate and sustain public attention.
Part 4:
Poet Kwame Dawes addresses cultural ramifications of both domestic and foreign media coverage; panelists examine challenges to encouraging attitude shifts via education.
Part 5:
Panelists explore potential avenues to erode social stigma through cultural institutions including schools, the church, industry and music.
Read on to the next page →1 2
Tags: AIDS, gay, HIV, homophobia, homosexual, Jamaica, JFLAG, Jon Sawyer, julia greenberg, Kwame Dawes, MAC, Micah Fink, prevention, Rachel Tiven, stigma
Is the AIDS epidemic getting any better now than it was before? Is it worse?
The HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to grow each year. Prevention and education are really the only way to keep the disease from growing and right now we don’t have the social or political will to fully address the issue.
A few fast facts:
* 33 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS in 2007.
* 2.7 million people newly infected with HIV in 2007.
* 2 million deaths due to HIV/AIDS in 2007.
* More than 95 percent of these infections and deaths occurred in developing countries that are already overburdened by societal challenges, such as nutrition, poverty, and health care.
(from http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/HIVAIDS/Understanding/quickFacts.htm)