Today, we need your help in reaching out to the Asian & Pacific Islander community. We need everyone to watch our public service announcement and share it with their family and friends. Email it. Blog it. Share it on your Facebook or MySpace page. Tweet about it. We also have two special commemoration messages that you can share as well. We hope that you will join us in commemorating National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day by talking about HIV!
James Kyson Lee, of NBC's Heroes is a Banyan Tree Project spokesperson. For the 6th annual National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, James took time out of his busy schedule to film a special ask for the community to get educated and talk about HIV.
Kiran Ahuja is the Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. She is responsible for directing the efforts of the White House Initiative and the Presidential Advisory Commission on AAPIs to advise federal agency leadership on the implementation and coordination of federal programs as they relate to AAPIs across executive departments and agencies. Kiran sat down with A&PI Wellness Center Executive Director Lance Toma to film a special message to the community for May 19.
The Banyan Tree Project is a national campaign to end the silence and shame surrounding HIV/AIDS in Asian and Pacific Islander (A&PI) communities. The Banyan Tree Project produces an annual social marketing campaign, the National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and Capacity Building Assistance (CBA) programs, targeting community-based organizations serving Asians and Pacific Islanders.
The Banyan Tree Project, Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center's national anti-stigma partnership, has wrapped production on its social marketing materials! Check out our new public service announcement, poster and fact sheets. This year's campaign slogan is "Saving face can't make you safe. Talk about HIV."
"Saving face" is a common cultural concept in A&PI communities, where individuals seek to protect the family from perceived public shame or disgrace. In practice, "saving face" contributes to silence about sex, HIV, and safe sex practices. Saving face and stigma also lead to higher rates of HIV infection and a lack of knowledge about one's HIV status:
Saurabh Bajaj, A&PI Wellness Center’s Director of Development, was recently interviewed for Comcast Newsmakers. Saurabh talks about the problem that stigma poses for the A&PI community, and how stigma contributes to increasing rates of HIV.
It's easy! Get ready and set to help spread the word:
When you're ready and set, GO!
Download a PDF of our poster.
Our partners are nonprofit and community-based organizations dedicated to providing HIV referrals, education, outreach, advocacy, prevention and care services to A&PI communities.