In our November Issue:

• Join Us For Our World AIDS Day Commemorations
• Blogging with TheBody.com for World AIDS Day
• Transgender Day of Remembrance
• National HIV/AIDS Strategy: A&PI Community Recommendations
• We Need Certified HIV Test Counselors!
• Upcoming Trainings

A&PI WELLNESS CENTER COMMEMORATES WORLD AIDS DAY

We invite you to join us for our World AIDS Day events!

December 1 marks the 23rd observance of World AIDS Day. As part of World AIDS Day, A&PI Wellness Center is hosting and participating in five different events around the city and nationwide, and we hope you'll join us! For more information and updates about our activities, please visit our special World AIDS Day page.

New Voices: Emerging Research on HIV and A&PIs Tuesday, November 30, 10:30 AM A&PI Wellness Center Offices For the past decade research focusing on HIV and A&PIs has been lacking. Prominent scholars in this field often express the urgency for more research on this topic. This panel of A&PI researchers, who are working on new HIV and A&PI research, will discuss their work, new data projections, and the implications of disaggregated data on HIV prevention efforts and policy. The panel will also feature a question and answer session, and a chance to meet panelists afterward.

AQU25A World AIDS Day Event Tuesday, November 30, 6:30 PM A&PI Wellness Center Offices AQU25A, our 25 and under program will be screening and discussing "The Blood of Yingzhou District," the Oscar-winning documentary following children in Anhui Province, China, who have lost their parents to AIDS. This program is specifically for those 25 and under. To RSVP, contact Mike Nguyen at (415) 292-3420 x 315 or at michael@apiwellness.org

The Other City Wednesday, December 1, 5:45 PM Sundance Kabuki Theater 1881 Post Street, San Francisco PURCHASE TICKETS ($10) Join the HIV Prevention Section of San Francisco Department of Public Health and a coalition of local HIV/AIDS organizations for a special World AIDS Day screening of the acclaimed HIV/AIDS documentary, "The Other City." The film tells the story of another side of Washington, D.C. that visitors rarely see - a city where people are living with and dying from HIV at staggering rates. The documentary carries powerful messages about stigma, homophobia and racism that are relevant in San Francisco and most major cities nationwide. The screening is an important opportunity to reinforce HIV prevention and care messages in a city that's been hit hard by the disease.

HIV Testing & Hepatitis Screenings Wednesday, December 1 A&PI Wellness Center Offices We will be providing HIV testing and hepatitis B screenings on December 1 as part of our regularly scheduled testing clinic. To make an appointment, please call (415) 292-3400. If you can't make it in on World AIDS Day, we offer testing an screenings every Wednesday and Friday!

Facing AIDS with AIDS.gov During the Panel Discussion and AQU25A events We will be participating with AIDS.gov in their Facing AIDS Campaign for World AIDS Day. We hope that you will share with us and the rest of the nation how you're facing AIDS. If you want to find out more about Facing AIDS, check out some photos from last year, or want to do a Facing AIDS activity at your company or office, please visit http://www.aids.gov/facingaids/

TheBody.com WORLD AIDS DAY BLOG SERIES

A&PI Wellness Center's Banyan Tree Project was recently asked by theBody.com to participate in a series of blog posts for World AIDS Day. TheBody.com is a complete HIV/AIDS resource, using the web to lower barriers between patients and clinicians, demystify HIV/AIDS and its treatment, improve the quality of life for all people living with HIV/AIDS, and foster community through human connection.

We were asked to be part of a special series for World AIDS Day that captured the diversity of the AIDS community. Through the rest of the month and beginning of December, postings from clients, staff and community advocates will be appearing on The Body's special World AIDS Day page.

Sonia Rastogi, formerly of A&PI Wellness Center and now with WORLD in Oakland is one of the guest writers. Here's an excerpt from her blog post:

"Women and HIV.

"Let us first start there. While men who have sex with men (MSM) are still disproportionately affected, the number of women at risk and living with HIV has sky-rocketed at a dangerous and alarming rate. The CDC's 2007 surveillance report reveals that 31 percent of new HIV diagnoses are women -- 10 to 15 years ago, this number was under 10 percent. Overall, women account for an estimated one third of national HIV/AIDS cases. Approximately 80 percent of new infections are attributed to high-risk heterosexual contact, meaning heterosexual contact with a person known to have, or to be at high risk for, HIV infection.

"Those are the statistics, but what do those statistics mean? Women are most likely infected through their partner, be it a boyfriend or a husband. What irks me about the descriptor "high-risk heterosexual contact" is that it can create the assumption that HIV-positive women choose to sleep around, have multiple partners, are prostitutes, and use drugs. For many women, this is not the case -- it is a boyfriend or a husband, who may or may not know their status, who is the source of "risk." For women who engage in sex work and injection drug use, choice is not always an option -- there are other factors at play."

Read more of Sonia's piece.

Check out The Body's World AIDS Day blog series.

JOIN WITH US AND THE TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY ON NOVEMBER 20

San Francisco's transgender community, with family, friends and allies, will gather on the 12th anniversary of the Transgender Day of Remembrance to remember and honor transgender victims of violence. The program includes community speakers, a reading of names, a vigil, and march through San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood to Ark of Refuge for a community celebration with food, music and community performances.

This year, we will pay special tribute to our local fallen sisters Mariah Malina Qualls and Chloe Anne Lacey. Chloe's parents, Allison Murphy and Sean Dempsey, will honor their daughter's legacy and memory by attending this year's San Francisco DOR to share their story and their commitment to empowering and enriching the lives of transgender people.

EVENT PROGRAM:
6PM: Gather at San Francisco City Hall
7:30-8PM: March to Ark of Refuge (1025 Howard Street)
8-10PM: Trans Community Celebration at Ark of Refuge

READ MORE ABOUT THIS YEAR'S EVENT.

This year's Transgender Day of Remembrance is coordinated by SF TEAM, a program of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, in collaboration with the Ark of Refuge, A&PI Wellness Center's TRANS:THRIVE, ATE, and T-LISH Programs, El-La Program para Trans Latinas, Joie de Vivre Hospitality, Lyon Martin Health Services, SFDPH - HIV Prevention Section, San Francisco LGBT Center, Transgender Economic Empowerment Initiative, Transgender Law Center, TransGender San Francisco, and UCSF's Center of Excellence for Transgender Health.

A&PI COMMUNITY MAKES RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE NATIONAL HIV/AIDS STRATEGY

On October 15, A&PI Wellness Center with Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum and nearly twenty other A&PI serving organizations from across the nation sent their comments, feedback and recommendations for implementing the National HIV/AIDS Strategy to the Department of Health and Human Services.

The letter contains 35 concrete recommendations for HHS and its departments and agencies to reduce new HIV infections in the A&PI community. Currently, the National HIV/AIDS Strategy Implementation Plan does not prioritize the A&PI population.

CLICK HERE TO READ AND SHARE THE LETTER!

Do you hold a current California HIV Test Counselor Certification? WE NEED YOU! Volunteer HIV Test Counselors conduct on-site and mobile HIV risk assessments, provide disclosure counseling, and perform HIV tests.

For more information regarding HIV Test Counselor opportunties, please contact Ben Cabangun at 415.292.3420 x 314 or at ben@apiwellness.org.

VOLUNTEER TRAINING
Would you like to volunteer at A&PI Wellness Center? Come get acquainted with our programs and sign up to help out!

Saturday, December 4th
9:30AM - 5:30PM
A&PI Wellness Center Office
RSVP: Call Ruben Garcia at 415.292.3420 x 324 or email ruben@apiwellness.org

CSTEP TRAININGS
We have two trainings coming up in December:

Treatment Certification
December 1-3, 2010
9:00AM-5:00PM each day

SYHC Corporate Office, Mural Room
3045 Del Sol Avenue
San Diego, CA 92154
REGISTER NOW

Benefits Certification
December 16-17, 2010
9:00AM-5:00PM each day

Community Medical Center
Ambulatory Care Clinic Building, 1st Floor
290 Wayte Lane
Fresno, CA 93701
REGISTER NOW