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STD & HIV Conference Report to MHAC
Reported by Monique Green
The 14th Annual STD/HIV Conference commenced at the Ann Arbor Marriot in
Ypsilanti on November 6-7, 2008. This year’s conference was extremely
well-attended with over 400 participants taking part in the two day event.
An astounding 32 different focused, interactive workshops were available for
participants to learn and network and included the 9 track areas of outreach,
counseling and testing, social justice, care and treatment, prevention,
substance use, health disparities, youth issues and general STD/HIV issues.
Most workshops were well-attended, including the HIV in the Aging Population,
Broadening the Scope of Cultural Competence, It Won’t Happen to Me: Teen’s Sense
of Invincibility and Tackling Health Inequalities through Public Health. Other
well-attended sessions included Violence Against Women in the Shadow of
Substance Use, HIV and Trauma, as well as Youth of Color: At Disproportionate
Risk of Negative Sexual Health Outcomes.
Between workshop sessions, participants had the chance to speak with exhibitors
about their products, services and programs. Abbott Laboratories, Gilead
Sciences, Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Center and the Central Michigan University
Safe Sex Patrol were amongst the 15-20 companies or programs attending.
The opening keynote speaker was Jane Fowler, a former journalist who was
suddenly diagnosed with HIV at the age of 56. Jane spoke of being shocked about
her diagnosis because she simply wasn’t aware she was at risk. She had been
married for many years and upon getting a divorce she began to date again.
Thinking that condoms were merely to prevent pregnancy, she engaged in
unprotected sexual intercourse with a man she had been dating. She learned of
her HIV status 5 years later while applying for supplemental health insurance.
Jane stressed the importance of educating older Americans about their HIV risks
and about the dangers of assuming that seniors are not engaging in sexual
activity. She expressed concerns about senior sexual health in the age of Viagra
and encouraged all to help educate this segment of the population. She has been
an advocate and HIV educator/speaker for many years and has founded HIV Wisdom
for Older Americans in Kansas.
The 14th annual conference was a huge success and next year’s conference has
been scheduled for October 29-30th in Kalamazoo.
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