AFRICAN and CARIBBEAN COUNCIL ON HIV/AIDS IN ONTARIO (ACCHO) PAVES
WAY WITH GROUNDBREAKING HIV/AIDS AWARENESS CAMPAIGN AND LAUNCH OF WWW.PREVENTAIDS.CA
A Series of Firsts Characterize this Province- Wide Initiative
TORONTO, ON (Thursday, July 20, 2006) - ACCHO
(African and Caribbean Council on HIV/AIDS in Ontario) is leading the way in
Canada with a culturally tailored, province-wide awareness campaign that strives
to increase awareness of, and encourage dialogue about, HIV/AIDS issues unique
to African and African Caribbean communities in Ontario.
“Approximately
13% of all HIV positive Ontarians are of African or Caribbean descent, and
historically these are communities in which there has not been a lot of
dialogue about treatment, testing and prevention. That is what makes this
awareness campaign so timely and important, there is a need to create
meaningful dialogue,” explains ACCHO Co-Chairperson Winston Husbands.
Built
around the themes of stigma reduction, testing, and prevention, the images of
this campaign were created by enlisting photographers and models from within
these communities, and can be seen throughout the summer on billboards, bus
shelters and print media in Toronto, London, Windsor, Peel Region, Ottawa,
Sudbury, Hamilton and Thunder Bay.
In addition to the large
scale advertising campaign, ACCHO is proud to announce the launch of www.preventAIDS.ca which serves as an interactive and
informative resource for information about HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment
and which links to the new ACCHO website, www.accho.ca
ACCHO
street teams have enjoyed great success at PRIDE and Afro-fest and will be
participating in Jamaica Day celebrations at Keelesdale Park on July 29
and 30, 2006.
ACCHO
will also be a participant at this year’s Caribana Parade with a float
on Sunday, August 6, 2006, and invite everyone to the ACCHO hosted kickoff
reception for the XVI International AIDS Conference with a performance
of the one woman show “Sometimes I Cry” by Sheryl Lee Ralph at Toronto’s
City Hall on Saturday, August 12, 2006.
ABOUT ACCHO
The
African and Caribbean Council on HIV/AIDS in Ontario (ACCHO) is made up of
organizations and individuals committed to HIV prevention, education, advocacy,
research, treatment, care and support for African and Caribbean communities in
Ontario. The 21 members include community organizations, researchers,
government, health institutions, individuals and private sector
organizations. At least two-thirds of the 18 voting members must be
African and Caribbean people.
Nadia
Sandhu
Executive Account
Manager
LH Metropolis
Communications
(P) 416-519-9045
(C) 416-839-8508
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