Project Runway Designer in San Francisco to Educate About Living with HIV and Combat Stigma Associated with the Disease
- Filed under: Health Advices, Health News
- Date: Feb 23,2009
Jack Mackenroth to kick off 2009 Living Positive By Design local tour at largest Academy Awards(R) party outside Hollywood
Jack Mackenroth, from the hit reality television series “Project Runway,” is visiting San Francisco for the Academy of Friends’ annual Academy Awards Night Gala, representing Living Positive By Design, his national HIV and AIDS education initiative. The Living Positive By Design campaign, a major sponsor of the Gala, seeks to help combat the stigma associated with HIV by engaging people in thoughtful conversation about the disease and is being supported by Merck & Co., Inc. At the Gala, which benefits 12 local Bay Area HIV and AIDS service organizations, Jack will unveil a new series of Living Positive By Design video vignettes that he has created to garner support for the goals of the program as well as provide on-site commentary on the celebrity fashions from the awards show. The Gala event is being held on Sunday, February 22, 2009 at Fort Mason.
“I am excited to bring Living Positive By Design to San Francisco in partnership with the Academy of Friends, an organization committed to improving the lives of people living with HIV,” said Mackenroth. “Through Living Positive By Design, I have been speaking about my experiences living with HIV for more than 20 years, addressing the stigma still associated with the disease and highlighting the importance for people living with HIV to have a positive outlook on life while effectively managing their disease.”
In addition to Jack, local HIV specialist Lisa Capaldini, M.D. of Castro Medical will also be available the weekend of the Gala to discuss the current and future landscape of HIV and AIDS treatment and research.
“One of the goals of Living Positive By Design is to educate people living with HIV that taking medications to help reduce the amount of virus in the blood to undetectable levels and helping to restore their immune system must be some of the priorities for today’s disease management,” said Dr. Capaldini. “In addition to this, with new advancements in HIV treatment, physicians should also factor in the tolerability of treatment regimens.”
In 2008, Jack held Living Positive By Design events in Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at the 2008 United States Conference on AIDS (USCA); in Atlanta, Georgia, at the Atlanta AIDS Walk; and in New York, New York, at the Gay Men’s Health Crisis’ (GMHC) annual Fashion Forward fundraiser. He will continue to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS through events in additional cities, including Houston, Texas. For more information on Living Positive By Design and participating cities, please visit: www.LivingPositiveByDesign.com.
Prevalence of HIV and AIDS
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one million Americans are living with HIV and AIDS in the U.S. and approximately 55,000 new people become infected every year. In 2006, 50 percent of new diagnoses were among men who have sex with men (MSM). The state of California has the second highest number of reported AIDS cases compared to any other state in the U.S. At the end of 2007, 15,470 San Francisco residents were living with HIV or AIDS.
Source: Living Positive By Design
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