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Musical performances, free HIV testing set for World AIDS Day observance
November 27, 2007
Top Hip Hop and R&B recording artists Mike Jones, Bun B, and Harmoné are among the entertainers who will perform at Houston’s World AIDS Day event Saturday, December 1.
Sponsored by the Houston Department of Health and Human Services (HDHHS), Texas Southern University and numerous community organizations that provide prevention services and treatment for people with HIV or AIDS, the event will take place from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Texas Southern University’s Sterling Life Student Center, 3100 Cleburne Street.
The ceremony will include a keynote address by local AIDS activist Amber David, chair, African American State of Emergency Task Force for HIV/AIDS. Local elected officials will offer brief remarks. Members of Houston’s Black Clergy will announce their proposal for a national HIV/AIDS Elimination Act. Throughout the event, a commemorative name drop will run continuously and feature a reading of the names of friends and loved ones that have died of AIDS.
Other entertainers that will perform throughout the afternoon include Se7en, J Xavier, Blessed Child, Werner Richmond, Baby Girl, Mookie Jones, MC Wickett Crickett, and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Houston. Members of the H-Town Texas Cyclones women’s professional football team will be on hand.
Community organizations will offer free HIV testing and staff booths with educational information about HIV, AIDS and local prevention and care services. Participants will receive a variety of gift items with the message of the day “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.”
A total of 24,558 AIDS cases from Houston and Harris County have been reported to HDHHS since the epidemic started in 1981. Cases of new HIV infection reported to HDHHS between 1999 and September 2007 total 14,585. Fifty-four percent of the new HIV infections are among blacks, 24 percent, white; 21 percent, Hispanics and 1 percent, others.
World AIDS Day is organized annually to raise awareness of the impact that AIDS has in society, remember the millions who have died from AIDS and help prevent the spread of HIV. The event marks the 26th annual World AIDS Day commemoration.
For more information, call 713-794-9020.