Visit the resource page for our Black Women and HIV Project. CLICK HERE
The 16th Annual International Conference on Stigma will be held form November 18 to November 20th, 2025. Our theme is Beyond the Labels: Living and Thriving. More information coming soon.
Howard University has been funded, along with partner nonprofit HealthHIV, to address HIV Prevention in Black Women through a new project entitled, “Black Women and HIV- Empowerment through Engagement, Education, and Enrichement.”
CLICK HERE to read the Press Release
By: Matthew Wiggins
Angela is insightful, Black, and HIV positive.
Most importantly, she is trying to create a quality of life for herself, which most people take for granted. For Angela, that quality of life means long-term dating, marriage and the opportunity to create a family. Statistics show that many others are in the same situation. In fact, in May 2024, the Center for Disease Control noted infections Black and African-Americans outpaced their percentage in the U.S. population. Now, Angela is dating an individual who does not know that she is HIV positive, and she struggles to relay this to him, out of concern for how it would affect their relationship.
Sickle cell disease primarily affects about 100,000 Americans, and greater than 7 million people worldwide. Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of genetic disorders that affect red blood cells, causing them to become shaped like crescents or sickles. The sickle-shaped cells can travel through the bloodstream, getting stuck and cutting off blood flow, leading to intense pain and organ damage. Patients with SCD may experience chronic pain and have learned to manage frequent acute pain crises, leading some providers to mistakenly view them as drug seeking individuals. Thus provider bias often leads to inadequate pain treatment, with healthcare providers sometimes labeling patients as lazy, drug-seeking, or addicts.
Register for the 2024 International Conference on Stigma HERE
Internalized Stigma & the Environment: Reflections from a Photo Narrative Project
Authors/Contributors: Internalized Stigma Interest Group
The Internalized Stigma Interest Group, of the Howard University annual International Conference on Stigma, is a network of people interested in promoting the awareness and reduction of internalized stigmatization of all types of oppression, especially related to stigmatized health conditions such as HIV, mental health challenges, sickle cell, and substance use challenges. We are activists and academics, people with lived experience, researchers, program workers, clinicians, students, and many other things – sometimes within a single individual! Everyone is welcome. We meet monthly over Zoom video-conference and have an email group. Both are used to exchange ideas and resources to support each other’s varied efforts.
Silent No More: The Perspective of Heterosexual Men Living with HIV
by Temitope Creppy, Senior, Howard University
“I was refused treatment because I refused to say I was homosexual.” These are the words of a 50-year-old African-American man diagnosed with HIV who was wrongly discriminated against and denied medical treatment due to stigma that persists in the healthcare environment. Healthcare professionals doubted his relationship with his wife, and people in his daily life still consider him homosexual because he lives with HIV. Unfortunately, across the country this is the reality of a majority of heterosexual men who live with HIV and experience stigma on a day-to-day basis. A Howard University workgroup named Positive EntreEmpowerment Heterosexual Men’s Workgroup and their associated Straight and Positive support group, support heterosexual men living with HIV and combating the stigma they face on a day-to-day basis. The workgroup consists of primarily men from around the country, largely from Cleveland, Ohio, Texas, and Florida ranging from those who have been living with HIV for several decades to recently diagnosed individuals. The group is inclusive of all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Please CLICK HERE or the button to the right to view replay of sessions from the 2023 International Conference on Stigma.
CLICK HERE to apply for Scholarships. Full Travel Scholarship applications have closed. You may still apply for Virtual Scholarships or In-person Registration fees only scholarships.
CLICK HERE to Volunteer. Volunteers can get free admission if they desire. Contact joanne.adelberg@howard.edu to learn how to register for free after you sign up to volunteer.
