Poz 100 Honors Southern Activists Working to Eradicate HIV/AIDS
Every year since 2010, POZ has honored the POZ 100, a roundup of HIV and AIDS advocates who are fighting the virus. This year’s list focuses on the American South, where 44 percent of all people diagnosed with HIV live, and where Black women account for fully 69 percent of the women with the virus.
“In this presidential election year, our choice of a POZ 100 theme was clear,” Oriol Gutierrez, POZ’s editor in chief said in an emailed statement. “We can’t end the U.S. HIV/AIDS epidemic without addressing the impact of the virus in the South, so we wanted this year’s list to spotlight the efforts of those who are already leading the way.”
The list contains many people of color, most of whom are HIV positive. Among them:
- Tiye Amos-Mandela, health and wellness manager for Nashville CARES’s HealthyU program
- Dazon Dixon Diallo, founder of SisterLove in Atlanta
- Jaysen Foreman-McMaster, helps HIV positive people secure health insurance via RAIN in Charlotte
- Leslie Hall, manager for HBCU Project for Human Rights Campaign in Capitol Heights, Maryland
- Arianna Lint, transgender Latinx advocate for HIV positive trans women of color in Fort Lauderdale
- David Parker, pastor at Triumphant Victory Christian Church in Washington, DC
- Ashton P. Woods, Black Lives Matter Houston organizer
Read about all the advocates on the 2016 POZ 100 here.