The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting in association with the M∙A∙C AIDS Fund and the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism presents “HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean: A Deadly Cycle of Stigma and Secrecy.” The panel discussion will take place on Tuesday, September 22, 2009, 4:00-5:30pm at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, Room 308, 219 West 40th Street, New York, NY 10018. A reception will follow.  

Stigma and discrimination prevent people around the world from accessing the HIV prevention, care and treatment services they need. This is particularly true in areas of the Caribbean, such as Jamaica, where anti-sodomy laws and concerns about violence put vulnerable populations at extreme risk. A panel of journalists, funders, AIDS activists and community members discuss the human impact of this discrimination, the need for coordinated multi-sectoral action, and journalism’s role in bringing these issues to the broadest possible public.

Jon Sawyer, Executive Director of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting will deliver the opening remarks. The panelists will be Kwame Dawes, poet and writer (HOPE: Living and Loving with HIV in Jamaica; also see our post HOPE: Living & Loving with HIV in Jamaica); Micah Fink, Filmmaker (Glass Closet); and Nancy Mahon, Executive Director of M∙A∙C AIDS Fund, Senior Vice President of M·A·C Cosmetics, and Executive Director of JFLAG (Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-sexuals and Gays). Julia Greenberg, Associate Director of AIDS-Free World will serve as moderator. Seating limited is limited. Please write to confirm your attendance to rsvp@pulitzercenter.org.

For more information on the event and panelists, see http://pulitzercenter.org/openitem.cfm?id=1908

Photo by Joe McLaren from http://www.flickr.com/photos/joemclaren/3791285102/