Support National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day at Kent State, Feb. 7

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is Tuesday, Feb. 7, and Kent State University is hosting several opportunities for the community.

Attendees can pick up a free tri-color pin and sign up to win a free T-shirt at the outreach table located on the 2nd floor of the Kent Student Center on Feb. 7. Staff also will pass out educational materials, risk reduction kits, refreshments and promotional items while supplies last.

Hydeia Broadbent, international HIV/AIDS activist, will present “The Changing Face of AIDS” on Wednesday, Feb. 8. The event begins at 7 p.m. and continues until 8 p.m. in the Kent Student Center Kiva, and is free and open to the public.

“HIV/AIDS still affects thousands of people each year,” said event committee member Leanna Lampkin of University Health Services’ Office of Health Promotion at Kent State. “It is very important to be more informed about HIV/AIDS and begin to take steps to stop the spread of this disease.”

Broadbent will speak about the struggles of HIV/AIDS. At birth, Broadbent was abandoned at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas where Patricia and Loren Broadbent adopted her as an infant. Although her HIV condition was congenital, she was not diagnosed as HIV-positive with advancement to AIDS until age three. The prognosis was that she would not live past the age of five. Now at the age of 25, Broadbent spends her time spreading the message of HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention by promoting abstinence, safe sex practices for people who chose to have sex. Broadbent’s primary goal is to raise awareness about the disease and provide an understanding of avoiding risky situations.

“This same disease I am living with is the same disease you can get if you don’t practice abstinence or safe sex,” Broadbent said. “I ask people to use my testimony as a warning of what you don’t want to go through.”

Undergraduate Student Government is funding the event. The speaker is being sponsored by FACE AIDS-Kent State and co-sponsored by University Health Services’ Office of Health Promotion. 

The Kent State Health Center is offering the university community free confidential HIV tests on Thursday, Feb. 9, from 10 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. To schedule an appointment, call the University Health Services’ Office of Health Promotion at 330-672-2320.

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day initiatives are being co-sponsored by University Health Services’ Office of Health Promotion, FACE AIDS-Kent State, KSU-NAACP and Public Health Student Alliance.

For more information about University Health Services and its Office of Health Promotion, go to http://www.kent.edu/uhs/ohp.

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Media Contact:
Scott Dotterer, sdottere@kent.edu, 330-672-8266