Numerous Events To Honor World AIDS Day 2015 Include Free World Music Concert

More than thirty years into a worldwide epidemic, HIV/AIDS has had an undeniable impact on our community. While the number of new cases has declined, hundreds of people in our community are still diagnosed with HIV every year. More than 12,000 people are living with HIV in Washington state, 60% of whom live in King County. Since the start of the epidemic, more than 6,500 people in Washington state have died as a result of the disease.

At the same time, our community’s progress in responding to HIV has been remarkable. 92% of gay men living with HIV in King County have been diagnosed. Of those people, 74% are virally suppressed, meaning that they are engaged in treatment sufficient to bring their viral load to undetectable levels, making it nearly impossible for them to transmit the virus to others. The rate of new HIV diagnoses in King County is down 23% from 10 years ago. These numbers are extraordinary, the best of any city in the United States and quite possibly the world.

We’ve achieved these extraordinary results by working together. It’s through the combined efforts of agencies like ours, and through your generous support, that we’ve been able to make a difference.

Phill Wilson will also make an appearance at an event sponsored by Gay City Health Project. Mr. Wilson will speak that evening (Dec 1) from 6pm to 7:30pm at the Seattle Public Library, downtown Seattle, 1000 4th Avenue in an event open to the public and free of charge, “about his experiences navigating the intersections between the black community, the LGBTQ community, and HIV.”

If Rotarian style breakfasts and conversations in libraries ain’t your thing to honor World AIDS Day, the musical delights of  “We Are One: A Free World AIDS Day Concert” at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, 104 17th Avenue South (the corner of 17th & Yesler in the C.D.) might be more up your alley. It features some terrific performers presenting music from around the world and it’s happening Saturday, December 5th from 2pm to 5pm.

A free concert to lift your spirit in commemoration of World AIDS Day 2015, featuring performances by:

Message from Guinea

Zambuko Marimba Ensemble

Kaze Daiko

Temple Beth AM Choir

Minister Sam L. Townsend & the Imani Fellowship
Choir

Sponsored by AIDS Healthcare Foundation, UW/Fred Hutch Center for AIDS Research and Fred Hutch.

Produced by the Multicultural HIV/Hepatitis Action Network (MHHAN) in partnership with Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute.

MHHAN is a network of community-based organizations and concerned community members working together to end the disproportionate impact of HIV and Hepatitis within communities of color.

The partners of MHHAN who specifically volunteered to bring this concert to you for free:

African American Reach & Teach Health Ministries
AIDS Clinical Trials Unit
defeatHIV
Entre Hermanos
People of Color Against AIDS Network
Seattle HIV Vaccine Trials Unit

It’s a free event open to the public.

Here’s video from last year’s concert: