Health inequities don’t just happen. They’re made by the broken parts of broken systems. And when those systems are left unfixed, the divide between the people with the most need and the people with the most resources grows even wider. In this episode, we’re joined by two guests who are championing system reform and person-centered care to overcome inequalities in the global response to HIV. 

Our guests are:

Professor Kevin Fenton, the London Regional Director at the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and President of the United Kingdom Faculty of Public Health.

Dr. Oni Blackstock, an HIV researcher, physician, and founder of Health Justice, an organization helping health organizations achieve workplace equity and overcome health disparities.

This podcast was created and fully funded by Gilead Sciences, Inc. GILEAD, the GILEAD logo, and the & design are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc. © 2023 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. IHQ-UNB-4668 Date of Preparation September 2023.

References:

CDC. HIV in the Southern United States. September 2019. Accessed September 19, 2023. Available at: cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/policies/cdc-hiv-in-the-south-issue-brief.pdf

Fuller H, Dubbala K, Obiri D, et al. Addressing vaccine hesitancy to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 vaccination uptake across the UK and US. Front Public Health. 2021;9:789753. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.789753

GOV.UK. England on Track to End New HIV Transmissions by 2030. Accessed September 22 2023. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/england-on-track-to-end-new-hiv-transmissions-by-2030

HPTN096. Getting to Zero Among Black MSM in the American South: Testing the Efficacy of an Integrated Intervention Strategy. Accessed September 19, 2023. Available at: Getting to Zero Among Black MSM in the American South: Testing the Efficacy of an Integrated Intervention Strategy

Kaiser Family Foundation. Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions. Accessed September 19, 2023. Available at: https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/status-of-state-medicaid-expansion-decisions-interactive-map/

Malebranche DJ, Peterson JL, Fullilove RE, Stockhouse RW. Race and sexual identity: perceptions about medical culture and healthcare among black men who have sex with men. J Natl Med Assoc. 2004;96:97-107

National AIDS Trust. HIV in the UK Statistics. Accessed September 19, 2023. Available at: https://www.nat.org.uk/about-hiv/hiv-statistics

The path that ends AIDS: UNAIDS Global AIDS Update 2023. Geneva: Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS; 2023. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO

UK Office for National Statistics. Updating ethnic contrasts in deaths involving the coronavirus (COVID-19), England: 8 December 2020 to 1 December 2021. Accessed September 19, 2023. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/updatingethniccontrastsindeathsinvolvingthecoronaviruscovid19englandandwales/8december2020to1december2021

UK Office for National Statistics. Coronavirus and vaccine hesitancy, Great Britain: 9 August 2021. Accessed September 19, 2023. Available at:  https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandwellbeing/bulletins/coronavirusandvaccinehesitancygreatbritain/9august2021

Zang X, Krebs E, Mah C, et al. Can the 'Ending the HIV Epidemic' initiative transition the USA towards HIV/AIDS epidemic control? AIDS. 2020;34(15):2325-2328. doi: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000002668

Sure, children are the future, but why shouldn’t they have a hand in the present? Today’s episode of Zero Hour introduces us to two HIV advocates—one an HBCU professional and the other a person born with HIV—who are centering education for youth and adolescents in their missions to end the epidemic.

Our guests are:

Leslie Hall, director of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Program at the Human Rights Campaign. He shares his intersectional experiences as a Black queer man and discusses the significance of bringing HIV prevention and education to HBCUs.

Ashley Rose Murphy, a National Youth Ambassador for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research and a global HIV speaker and rights advocate. She shares her triumphant story of outliving a six-month life expectancy after being born with AIDS and channeling her experiences into a life of activism.

This podcast was created and fully funded by Gilead Sciences, Inc. GILEAD, the GILEAD logo, and the & design are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc. © 2023 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. IHQ-UNB-4353 Date of Preparation August 2023.

References:

United Negro College Fund. The HBCU Effect®. Accessed August 3, 2023. Available at: https://uncf.org/pages/the-hbcu-effect

Leaving home is never easy—especially when discrimination, xenophobia, and cultural barriers await you in your new destination. In this episode, Zero Hour™ speaks with two leaders who are working to not only ease the transition for migrants and displaced people, but to also connect them with vital HIV services and resources.

Our guests are:

Denis Onyango, a grassroots activist who organizes HIV testing, prevention, and peer support services through his role as Programs Director for the Africa Advocacy Foundation. He reflects on how losing his brother and three sisters to AIDS spurred his focus on HIV activism, as well as the harsh realization that the care they went without was widely available in other parts of the world.

Isjed Hussain, founder of the Prisma Group Foundation, which supports bicultural and Muslim LGBTQ people in the Netherlands. They explain how Prisma helps refugees to navigate the asylum process and how they assist refugees living with HIV.

This podcast was created and fully funded by Gilead Sciences, Inc. GILEAD, the GILEAD logo, and the & design are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc. © 2023 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. US-UNBC-1760 Date of Preparation August 2023.

Correction: Guest states that a study took place with 3000 participants in 10 countries. In actuality, the study took place in 9 countries with 2009 participants.

References:

Alvarez-Del Arco D. et al, AIDS, 2017; 31(14):1979-1988. Accessed August 23, 2023

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control/WHO Regional Office for Europe. HIV/AIDS surveillance in Europe 2021 – 2020 data. Stockholm: ECDC; 2021. Accessed July  15, 2023. Available at: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/hiv-aids-surveillance-europe-2021-2020-data

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. HIV and migrants. Monitoring implementation of the Dublin Declaration on partnership to fight HIV/AIDS in Europe and Central Asia: 2018 progress report. Stockholm: ECDC; 2019. Accessed July 15, 2023. Available at: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications/hiv-migrants-monitoring-implementation-dublin-declaration-2018-progress-report

Frescura L, Godfrey-Faussett P, Feizzadeh A A, El-Sadr W, Syarif O, Ghys PD; on behalf of the 2025 testing treatment target Working Group. Achieving the 95 95 95 targets for all: A pathway to ending AIDS. PLoS One. 2022 Aug 4;17(8):e0272405. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0272405.

Gbadamosi SO, Trepka MJ, Dawit R, Jebai R, Sheehan DM. A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis to Estimate the Time from HIV Infection to Diagnosis for People with HIV. AIDS Rev. 2022 Mar 1;24(1):32-40. doi: 10.24875/AIDSRev.21000007. PMID: 34077404; PMCID: PMC8636511. Accessed August, 23 2023

US Department of Health and Human Services. Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in Adults and Adolescents with HIV. March 2023. Accessed July 15, 2023. Available at: https://clinicalinfo.hiv.gov/sites/default/files/guidelines/documents/adult-adolescent-arv/guidelines-adult-adolescent-arv.pdf