Latina
summit brings HIV awareness education
By Molly Haupt
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
The World AIDS Day was recognized at Cal State Long Beach Thursday when a special
summit was held to raise awareness of the
increases in Latina HIV infection rates.
The event, organized by the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), CSULB’s
Center for Latino Community Health, Evaluation and Leadership Training and the
Latino Coalition against AIDS, was the first of its kind put on specifically
for Latinas on World AIDS Day.
CSULB was the chosen site because in June 2005 the NCLR/CSULB Center for Latino
Community Health, Evaluation and Leadership Training was established to create
and support efforts that will positively influence the health status and availability
of resources for Latino communities.
Janet Murguia, the NCLR president and CEO, said CSULB was also chosen because
of the university’s excellent reputation, diverse faculty and a fast growing
rate of the Hispanics in the community and university.
The NCLR, founded in 1968, is the largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy
organization in the United States. Its task is to improve opportunities for Hispanic-Americans.
The event was created because Hispanics are the fastest-growing group of those
infected with HIV, the NCLR press release stated. This increase can be attributed
to an absence of linguistic-appropriate HIV/AIDS prevention information and high
rates of uninsured individuals, the press release stated.
The summit included prominent experts and HIV/AIDS advocates who spoke about
their work and research in the field, all of which were welcomed by President
Robert C. Maxson. He was proud the university was taking part in the summit.
Many of the speakers were female doctors from around the nation. One speaker
was Britt Rios-Ellis, an associate professor of Health Science at CSULB, who
also directs the newly-established NCLR/CSULB center on campus.
Teresa Quevedo, a news anchor for the nation’s No. 1 Spanish-language television
station KMEX-TV, was also present and gave a speech expressing her enthusiasm
and desire to inform and educate listeners about what she called “the silent
epidemic among Latinos.”
After numerous speakers, presentations and a lunch program, breakout sessions
took place and participants were sent to separate rooms to discuss subtopics.
Issues covered were economics and the HIV risk, increasing access to HIV testing,
examining culture and family, reproductive health and HIV risk, and a social
marketing forum.
The social marketing forum included a 20-minute video, “Mujeres Como Tu,” which
fused together facts and personal commentary of Hispanic women living with HIV.
The video was compiled by a social marketing company, the About Time Group, which
promotes social causes through the media. It discussed sexual taboos within Latino
communities, such as homophobia. It included an introduction and conclusion from
Christina Saralegui, the Oprah of the Latino community.
One CSULB sociology student, Angelica Maturino, who also served as a student
volunteer, said she felt everything about HIV was fully covered.
“
I thought it was really interesting how this [summit] gave us so much
information,” Maturino said.
Dannielle Semen, CSULB liberal studies student, also learned useful information.
“
I had a family member who died of AIDS [complications],” Semen said. “So
I try to do what I can to educate myself and others.”
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