Actors Undergo Public HIV Screening to Encourage Black America to Get Tested and Stop the Aids Epidemic

Actors Undergo Public HIV Screening to Encourage Black America to Get Tested and Stop the Aids Epidemic

-- Screen Actors Guild Hosts National HIV Testing Day Event, Vows to Help End

AIDS Epidemic in Black America by 2012 --

WHAT: In anticipation of National HIV Testing Day on June 27th, the
Screen Actors Guild, the Black AIDS Institute, Artists for a
New South Africa (ANSA), Palms Residential Care Facility and
the Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch of the NAACP will host an
HIV screening event and press conference at the national SAG
headquarters featuring A-list Black celebrities being tested
for HIV in front of the cameras. Those who plan to attend and
publicly take an HIV test at the press conference include:
- Jimmy Jean-Louis ("Heroes")
- Regina King ("Ray," "Jerry McGuire," "24")
- Hill Harper ("CSI New York")
- Rockmond Dunbar ("Prison Break," "Heartland")
- Meagan Tandy (Miss California USA 2007)
- Vanessa Williams ("Soul Food")
- Sheryl Lee Ralph ("ER," Original "Dreamgirls" on Broadway)
- Hosea Chanchez ("The Game")
- Ovie Mughelli (Atlanta Falcons, FB)
- Henry Simmons ("Shark")
- Tatyana Ali ("The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air")
- Howard Hesseman ("Boston Legal," "WKRP in Cincinnati")
- Author/journalist Gil Robertson will sign copies of his book
Not in My Family: AIDS in the African-American Community
- Phill Wilson (Executive Director, Black AIDS Institute) will
be available for interviews
- Gloria Reuben ("ER", "Life Support") will also be available
for interviews from New York City

WHY: The June 25th press conference is part of a national Mass
Black Response to the AIDS epidemic sponsored by the Black
AIDS Institute, The Balm In Gilead, the National Black
Leadership Commission on AIDS and leading national Black
Institutions. The Black AIDS Mobilization (BAM) is committed
to ending the AIDS epidemic in Black America by 2012 by:
- Cutting HIV rates in Black America by 50%
- Increasing the number of Black Americans who know their HIV
status by 50%
- Increasing the number of Black Americans in appropriate
early care/treatment by 50%
- Reducing HIV/AIDS stigma In Black America by 50%
Black Americans are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS.
Of the 1.3 million Americans living with HIV/AIDS, nearly 50
percent of them are Black. Black Americans represent more
than 54 percent of the new HIV/AIDS cases in the United
States. AIDS is the leading cause of death for African
American women aged 24-34. A study by the CDC showed that
forty-six percent of Black gay men in America may already be
HIV positive. Twenty-five percent of HIV positive people in
the U.S. do not know they are infected.

WHEN: Monday, June 25, 2007, 10:00-11:00am PT

WHERE: Screen Actors Guild National Headquarters:
5757 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036

CONTACT: For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact
Doug Hochstedler:
Doug_Hochstedler@cohnwolfe.com
Office:(212) 798-9724
Cell: (317) 791-6444

This educational event is sponsored by the Black AIDS Institute, Artists for a New South Africa, Screen Actors Guild, Palms Residential Care Facility, NAACP (Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch), Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center, BET Network/Wrap-It-Up, TV One and the Pan African Film Festival with funding and other support provided by the M.A.C. AIDS Fund, the Ford Foundation, The Gil Foundation, Open Society Institute, and Merck & Co., Inc

PRNewswire -- June 20

Source: The Screen Actors Guild; The Black AIDS Institute

-------
Profile: intent