World Aids Day
World AIDS Day takes place on December 1 each year. The CDC’s “Collective Action: Sustain and Accelerate HIV Progress” campaign helps encourage everyone to address HIV stigma--in our communities, in health care settings, and in public health research and practice—and how stigma affects access to HIV prevention, treatment, and care.
Trillium is actively engaged in these efforts to raise awareness and reduce stigma. We have historically taken steps to assist marginalized communities including those who identify as LGBTQ. According to NCDHHS, marginalized populations include those who have “historically and systematically been denied access to services, resources and power relationships, which has resulted in poor outcomes across the spectrum.” It can affect people of different cultures, those experiencing substance use disorder, immigrant populations, and more.
Through public education, training, and promotional campaigns, we want to help our LGBTQ+ communities experience improved access and health outcomes. Over the past few years, Trillium has launched the follow initiatives in order to educate our communities and help reduce stigma for the LGBTQ population:
Trillium’s OUTreach program informs about the stigmas and health disparities experienced by LGBTQ+ youth, in particular those in foster care. LGBTQ+ children who are not accepted by their families are five times more likely to attempt suicide, six times more likely to report depression, and 78% were removed or ran away from foster placements due to hostility.
Our first Pride Summit, hosted in June 2024, presented about mental health needs for youth, prevention steps for HIV/AIDS, and more for the LGBTQ+ community. We also shared about the background for the PRIDE movement and the important activism it encourages.
Trillium’s Health Equity Council welcomes participants from marginalized populations, including LGBTQ+, to have a direct role in improving health care access and reducing stigmas. The Health Equity Council provides input related to health awareness, literacy, equity, and identification of health disparities.
Our Health Disparities training, available for free on My Learning Campus, helps explain what may lead to poor health for some Trillium members and how to provide equal access to healthcare for everyone we serve.
While World Aids Day is just one day, we work throughout the year to bring awareness, understanding, and compassion to all marginalized individuals. Trillium stands with the CDC and important organizations like the ones listed below in this fight.
Resources online
- About World Aids Day
- World AIDS Day 2024 (World Health Organization)
- The Trevor Project
- Human Rights Campaign