Hats Off to ALFA!

If you read the news regularly, you know that HIV doesn't make many headlines these days. Media silence about HIV can be hard to break--and those silences perpetuate ignorance and HIV-related stigma.

So we wanted to give special recognition to our friends at ALFA in Hickory, who recently broke that silence in an unexpected place: Wilkes County.

This story in the Wilkes Journal-Patriot packed a lot of punch:

* It dispelled the myth that HIV is an exclusively urban problem; in fact, 1 in 4 HIV cases in NC are first diagnosed in rural areas;

* It drew attention to the availability of care services outside of urban centers; and,

* It publicized opportunities for community institutions to partner with ALFA in providing testing services in "non-traditional" sites, from college campuses to clubs to churches.

So: Hats off to our friends at ALFA for the great coverage--we love to see it!