What is NYHAAD?
National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day (NYHAAD) is commemorated annually on April 10th to urge policymakers and the public to take action regarding the impact of HIV and AIDS on young people. The day also highlights the HIV prevention, treatment, and care campaigns of young people in the U.S. Check out our social media toolkit to participate.
From April 5-11th, we’re coordinating a series of events & activities in the lead-up to National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day (#NYHAAD).
FRIDAY, APRIL 5th: BGSAH Film Screening
Tune in at 9:00pm EST Film Screening & Youth Introduction w/ BLACK, GAY, stuck at home (bgsah)
Join us for a film screening and youth panel in partnership with bgsah. bgsah is a project created by Michael Ward (he/him, @michaelxward) and Joshua Henry Jenkins (he/him, @joshjenks). As the world was asked to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic, they recognized that a need for affinity and community remains. Their effort to both gather folks together and to also center Black queer film. Head to http://www.bgsah.com/ for key updates about the feature film and introduction featuring a NYHAAD Ambassador.
MONDAY, APRIL 8TH : NYHAAD Week of Action Kickoff
Stay tuned to our Instagram account @advocatesforyouth to learn more about the NYHAAD campaign, our values, and our demands. In addition, throughout the week, @mystoryoutloud will highlight several NYHAAD Ambassadors—a bold group of young people leading HIV prevention, treatment, and care campaigns in their communities.
TUESDAY, APRIL 9TH- NYHAAD Congressional Briefing
Join us at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC, from 11:30 AM EST- 12:30 PM EST for a youth-led Congressional Briefing in partnership with the Office of Congresswoman Barbara Lee. 3 NYHAAD Ambassadors will brief policymakers and advocates on the current state of youth HIV prevention, treatment, and care.
Follow along on our Twitter or Instagram to get all the live updates on the briefing.
⭐ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10tH- NYHAAD⭐
April 10th is National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day!
Join us and thousands of accounts nationwide in posting online using #NYHAAD. We encourage you to (1) use the NYHAAD toolkit here for inspiration. Remember to use #NYHAAD in your posts, regardless of the social media platform.
THURSDAY, APRIL 11th – Healthcare Professionals, Youth, and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP)
Join us in urging healthcare professionals to learn more about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and young people, and their unique role in addressing barriers. In partnership with Clinical Care Options (CCO), we’re sharing a medical education series for healthcare professionals, Paths Forward in PrEP: Overcoming Barriers to PrEP Engagement in Adolescents. Share the series, using our social media toolkit, throughout the day.
We hope you can join us for all or some of these events and activities!
Why is NYHAAD important?
Today’s young people are the first generation who have never known a world without HIV and AIDS. The CDC reports that in 2020, youth aged 13 to 24 made up 21% of the new HIV diagnoses in the United States. Young people living with HIV are the least likely of any age group to be retained in care and have a suppressed viral load. Addressing the impact of HIV on young people requires they have access to affirming, culturally-competent, and medically accurate resources and tools.
What is the NYHAAD Collective?
The National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day (NYHAAD) Collective is comprised of youth activists leading HIV prevention, treatment, and care campaigns in their communities. Their campaigns highlight the challenges faced by young people living with and impacted by HIV, offer insight on how they combat stigma and discrimination on local, state, and federal levels, and enhance the awareness among physicians, policymakers, and youth-serving organization staff, etc. about the existing disparities.
What are the campaign demands?
➤ Increasing empathy and reducing stigma about HIV and its impact on young people on campus and in communities; ➤ Affirming policies around HIV care, treatment, and prevention on campus and in communities; ➤ Decriminalizing HIV; ➤ Accessing HIV services, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), on-campus and in communities without parental consent; ➤ Updating sex education curricula, which includes medically accurate information about HIV.