Women Take Action to Strengthen their Voices and Leadership in HIV/AIDS Policy

On November 10, 2009, The National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS organized the first National Black Women’s Conversation on HIV/AIDS, a historic meeting of over 50 prominent African-American women leaders, inclusive of Black women who are living with the disease, providers of critical HIV/AIDS services, advocates, and leaders from a broad spectrum of women’s organizations, sororities, academia, government, medical associations, faith and business leaders, civic and community organizations, to advocate for a stronger voice in public policy and to address the growing crisis of HIV/AIDS in communities of African descent nationwide.  The leadership summit was held Nov. 10 at the Sofitel Washington D.C. Lafayette Square.

Among the objectives of the meeting were to promote a, united front in addressing the impact of HIV/AIDS among Black women in determining public policy; establishing a National AIDS Strategy; advocating for women’s health and reproductive rights, and developing strategies for preventing and eliminating HIV/AIDS related health disparities. The aim of the leadership gathering was also to encourage the development of collective strategies and sustained action in addressing the impact of AIDS among black women.

The theme, “Strengthening the Voice and Leadership of Black Women in AIDS Policy”, stimulated enormous dialogue and discussion. The one day summit provided an opportunity for participants to increase their awareness, share information, promote greater collaboration and partnerships, and to highlight the work women leaders are actively engaged in around the country. Strategic work groups were developed in order to advance the coalition’s activities in key planning areas, public policy, leadership/community mobilization, fund development and media, with clear goals and objectives and a framework for ongoing work processes and communications.

One outcome of the meeting included the creation of a recently published comprehensive Joint Plan of Action for Change: Addressing the Growing Crisis of HIV/AIDS among Women and Girls, specifically designed to offer solutions for existing health care disparities. In addition, the work of the collective resulted in the development and submission of a joint statement of national women leaders to President Obama and the Office of National AIDS policy in response to the President’s National Call to Action offering comprehensive recommendations to reduce HIV incidence, increase access to care and health outcomes, and reduce HIV-related health disparities.

Ongoing quarterly strategic regional meetings are being planned in areas with the highest rates of HIV/AIDS among American women and efforts are underway to launch ongoing advocacy activities including the development of key policy positions which advocate for a fair share agenda addressing the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS among Black women, the inclusion of  Black women’s voices in key decision making and resource allocation processes, and  targeted HIV/AIDS funding to support capacity building and technical assistance for ongoing initiatives focused on Black women and girls.

Sustained Partnerships and Collaborations

Partnerships and collaboration remain a vital part of our efforts to eliminate HIV/AIDS. The participants of the National Black Women’s Conversation (NBWC) affirmed their commitment to continue working in coalition each other and to encourage sustained partnerships with other key stakeholders. The following is a brief update on a few reported activities and developments of interest that have been initiated by women leaders since the inaugural gathering of our National Black Women’s Conversation (NBWC) summit.

National Women’s Organizations

The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, a national civic organization whose mission is to serve as an advocacy organization for women and children of color, hosted a fantastic HIV/AIDS Leadership Summit in Atlanta in March 2010, which provided comprehensive information about the impact of HIV/AIDS on black women. Some 45 of the coalition’s chapters were represented and a total of 75 members were in attendance.

Civil Rights

NBWC participant, Bernice Frazier, Executive Director of the Southern Christian Leadership Foundation, an Atlanta-based civil rights organization, published a comprehensive article on the National Black Women’s Conversation summit highlighting the group’s collective action and submission of policy recommendations to President Obama and the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) for input into the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.

Corporate Responsibility – Arts & Entertainment

With the leadership of NBWC participant, Sonya Lockett, Black Entertainment Television convened a media summit, BET Leading Women Defined, hosted by Debra Lee, Chairman & CEO of BET Networks in Washington DC. and invited the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS to participate. The gathering brought together diverse women leaders in the arts and entertainment, business, faith-based, civic, social and policy arena who are committed to making a difference in the community. Building on the National Black Women’s Conversation several of the summit participants were invited to represent the voices of black women impacted by HIV/AIDS and to underscore the importance of women’s leadership in addressing health disparities in the African American community.

AIDS Service and Community Health Organizations

Dr. Marjorie Hill, Executive Director of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and NBWC policy workgroup member, hosted a forum in commemoration of Women’s History Month in New York City, which featured the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS as one of its speakers. The event provided an opportunity for broadening community awareness about the outcomes of the NBWC and ways to more effectively address the impact of HIV/AIDS on women.

National Women and Girls Day

On March 10, in recognition of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, NBLCA participated in several community forums and issued a proclamation calling upon all of its partners, national women’s organizations, women living with the disease, HIV/AIDS service providers, public health practitioners, sororities, youth, civic, faith, government leaders, advocates and all people of good will to observe the day with programs and activities to increase awareness and carry messages for eradicating HIV/AIDS among women and girls in local communities.

Government and Public Officials

NBLCA and The National Black Women’s HIV/AIDS Network, sent letters to President Obama, the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of National AIDS Policy advocating for the expansion of PACHA to include broader representation of Black women and women living with HIV/AIDS within its membership. A subsequent opportunity was provided for Barbara Joseph, NBWHAN Chair and President of Positive Efforts of Texas, to make a brief presentation before PACHA and other NBWHAN executive committee members to meet with ONAP officials.

Sororities

Barbara A. McKenzie, International President of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., committed to offer a workshop and exhibit space at the sorority’s national convention promote HIV/AIDS education, awareness and information sharing among its membership comprised of over 250,000 college-trained women from around the world, who represent a diverse constituency of women, from educators to heads of state, politicians, lawyers, medical professionals, media personalities and decision-makers of major corporations.

Civic Organizations

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) partnered with the NBLCA to convene the Mississippi State Conference HIV/AIDS summit entitled, Faith Leaders Fighting for a Health Community. The summit was the first in a series of regional meetings incorporating the work of the National Women’s Conversation and featuring specially tailored workshops to strengthen women’s voices and civic leaders in HIV/AIDS Policy. Efforts are underway to expand this initiative into other areas. The partnership will be extended into Virginia and Boston in the coming months and several additional cities.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities

NBLCA kicked off its HIV/AIDS Emerging Leaders Peer Education initiative, in partnership with Bennett College for Women, to address the impact of HIV/AIDS among women attending historically black colleges and universities. The training was held at the National Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina and designed to promote HIV, Hepatitis, and Substance Abuse Awareness and Prevention and the importance of women’s leadership in public policy.  Students enrolled in the sessions are being trained to independently lead educational sessions with their peers on campus and throughout the college community ongoing.

Other activities

In addition, NBWC participants and partners have been involved in several other activities and produced resources which we wish to highlight:

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women’s Health in partnership with UNAIDS/DC hosted, “Bringing Gender Home:  Implementing a Gender Responsive National HIV/AIDS Strategy for U.S. Women and Girls” on June 10 – 11, 2010, at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC.  The purpose of the forum was to promote and encourage increased leadership for a woman sensitive HIV/AIDS strategy among health providers, U.S. policy makers along with public and private entities including governmental and nongovernmental organizations. We have reached out to initiate discussions regarding ways the NBWC can partner with the co-sponsors of this event ongoing. For more information, visit: http://www.womenshealth.gov/calendar/detail.cfm?ID=1964.

* NASTAD released its Black Women’s Issue Brief No. 2, Black Women and HIV/AIDS: Findings from the Southeast Regional Consumer and Provider Focus Group Interviews in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Women’s Health.  The brief provides qualitative data from Southeast regional focus groups that occurred from April to August 2009.  Particular attention is given to the voice of women living with and affected by HIV/AIDS to provide a clear and fresh perspective on issues and suggestions for health departments to consider when designing, targeting and implementing culturally relevant programs or interventions for black women.  For more information, visit www.nastad.org.

* One of our NBWC partners, Iris House, a New York community-based organization that provides comprehensive services and advocacy for women, families, and communities infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS, hosted its fifth annual Women as the Face of AIDS Summit on June 24 at the New York Academy of Medicine from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. The event was a two-day summit for medical providers, AIDS service organizations, community based organizations, persons living with HIV/AIDS and youth. NBLCA participated on the planning committee and as a speaker addressing the important role of women and faith leaders. www.irishouse.org/2010Summit.html

Next Steps

Over the course of the next several months, building on the National Black Women’s Conversation on AIDS, we will be calling upon all of our NBWC partners to encourage their continuing leadership in implementing our collective plan of action and mobilizing others to join us in calling for increased attention to the concerns of women and girls impacted by HIV/AIDS.  We will initiate planning and secure commitments from our partners to convene a series of regional meetings and our 2^nd Annual NBWC summit. Strategic outreach to key public officials and policy makers will be facilitated. Additionally, we will encourage ongoing participation of women’s groups in national HIV/AIDS activities, training opportunities, forums and the development of ongoing prevention education programming.  We welcome all who are interested to join us as partners in this critically needed work.

For more information about NBLCA’s National Women’s initiatives contact: Athena Moore, Director of Public Policy/Project Manager of National Black Women’s Conversation on AIDS, at (212) 614-2086 or amoore@nblca.org