Iris House Hosts Women as the Face of AIDS Conference

Registration is now open for the 9th Annual Women as the Face of AIDS Summit, a program of Iris House, the New York, Harlem-based AIDS service organization that has been helping women living with HIV for 20 years. The annual event will be held on May 5, with a community health fair component on May 10.

"When we started the Iris House Summit nine years ago, we did so to spotlight the crises and unique needs of women living with HIV, a woefully underrepresented population in the field of provider education," said Iris House Executive Director Ingrid Floyd. "Today, as funding streams for programs with women living with HIV are drying up, it is more important than ever for us to continue to highlight how critical services and educational programs for women still are."

The conference features a focus on HIV education at all ages, and breakout sessions on teens, people in prime reproductive years and seniors. Jacqueline Rurangirwa, MPH, Director Director of Quality Management & Capacity Building, Bureau of HIV/AIDS Prevention & Control, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, will open the event with a special "Update on Women and Girls and HIV." There will also be a networking reception, exhibit hall and poster presentations.

"Iris House's summit continues to be the largest single-day educational event focused on women and our attendees take away new information about successful programs and services, awareness tools and tips that work, and how to engage women as peers and advocates in the system," said Floyd.

Organizers have lined up a number of plenary sessions on anger and advocacy, the changing face of HIV service organizations, and more. Breakout sessions cover Prepping for PrEP, Health Coordination for Individuals Over 50, How New York Sex Ed Standards Fail Students, Intimate Partner Violence and HIV, Sex and Safety, Finding and Managing Program Income, Mainstream Media's HIV Coverage, Women Aging With HIV, Overcoming Anger by Building Confidence, Reducing Barriers to Care, Life After a Positive Diagnosis, HIV activism, and more.

Represented at the summit are groups including GMHC, Gilead Sciences, STAR Health, ACT Up, the HIV Law Project, Positive Women's Network, Office for the Prevention of DV, The Women's Collective, the 30 for 30 Campaign Project and BOOM! Health.

"Our audience, which is comprised of 1/3 consumers, 1/3 staff from AIDS service organizations and a collection of providers, academics, activists and funders, benefits by taking tangible tools and not just theories that can be used to successfully engage women in HIV services and move them along the Care Continuum," said Floyd.

Registration is free and includes breakfast, a seated luncheon and dessert during the Networking Reception. You must register specifically for lunch in order to attend.

No registration is necessary to participate in the May 10 Community Health Fair, co-sponsored by AmidaCare. The event will feature testing for HIV or Hepatitis C, stations for glucose, hypertension, cholesterol screenings and much more. Join dozens of local health care organizations and learn more about how you can live a healthier lifestyle!

Iris House thanks the following groups for their continuing support: Diaspora Community Services; God's Love We Deliver; the Tau Omega Charitable Trust/Alpha Kappa Alpha; TheBody.com; New York City Council, The Honorable Melissa Mark-Viverito, Speaker; AmidaCare; Merck & Company; Orasure Technologies;
M&T Bank; Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS ; BOOM! Health; The Imperial Court of New York; Health Education Alternatives for Teens (HEAT); HELP/PSI; Town Total Health; Diaspora Community Services; GMHC; and the William F. Ryan Community Health Center.