Will a recent big donation help Atlanta organizations fight off HIV like never before?
According to Project Q, seven Atlanta-based HIV organizations have collectively received $400,000 to fight off the disease in the city. The groups include Thrive SS (which received $80,000), NAESM ($75,000), He Is Valuable ($65,000), A Vision 4 Hope ($52,500), Here’s To Life ($50,000), Aniz ($42,500) and SisterLove ($35,000).
“For the first time, we have funds to support implementation and evaluation of our support model, its activities and engagements,” said Larry Scott-Walker, the executive director of Thrive SS, to Project Q Atlanta.
As for NAESM, their executive director Alvan Quamina says the organization will use their award to expand.
“This is phase one of our Modernization Project, providing the platform of good governance, multi-level constituency engagement, and basic IT infrastructure upon which subsequent agency systems improvements can be built, preparing the agency for the important work of ending the HIV epidemic among black gay and bisexual men, and supporting those already living with HIV,” Quamina explained.
THRIVE SS Celebrates the 31st World AIDS Day with the release of their 5th annual iTHRIVE Campaign – https://t.co/vBliEXm59N pic.twitter.com/S52hxoEvqY
— THRIVE SS (@thrive_ss) December 1, 2019
All seven organizations were among 40 to receive $2.3 million to fight HIV in the American South. The U.S. South and the city of Atlanta are two regions with the highest infection rates in the U.S. In fact, Atlanta has the second-highest rate of new HIV infections in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
All 40 organizations were awarded the money by pharmaceutical company Gilead, which created PrEP, through the grant program COMPASS Initiative. This is one of many iniatives pursued by Gilead to fight the spread of HIV. That includes Gilead and the U.S. government working together to award free PrEP to citizens and offer the H.I.V. prevention drug to 200,000 uninsured Americans before that earlier process begins.
Source: Project Q,
