Red Pump Project Celebrates Its First Anniversary

This blog has been a supporter of the Red Pump Project since it came to life a little over a year ago. We were pleased when the project added an element for men known as the Red Tie Project. In our view it is important that awareness of the HIV-AIDS plague in our community is the best way to eliminate the danger.

The founders of the Red Pump Project held a remarkable fashion show last month in Chicago to celebrate its first anniversary.

I wasn't able to attend ... but, I wanted to ensure that all of our blog readers knew about the event ... as well as the accomplishments achieved over the past year.

Red Pump Year In Impact

View more presentations from The Red Pump Project.

I hope that you find ways to support these efforts in the weeks and months to come. What say u?

The Red Tie Project: HIV/AIDS Awareness for Men

I did some work for a client in Cincinnati that focused on the issue of HIV/AIDS Awareness for women earlier this year. We created an HIV/AIDS Awareness groupsite to share information about this deadly disease via cyberspace.

In March 2009, our blog became part of The Red Pump Project to help bring awareness to the impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that our blog would like to welcome all villagers to The Red Tie Project. We will join with Luvvie, Karyn and any other progressive bloggers interested in being a resource for local and national news and discussions related to HIV/AIDS from a male perspective. If you would like to get more information or become involved, you can email theredtieproject@gmail.com.

Key Snapshot of the U.S. Epidemic Today

• Number of new HIV infections, 2006: 56,300
  
• Number of people living with HIV/AIDS: 1.1 million, including more than 468,000 with AIDS
  
• Number of AIDS deaths since beginning of epidemic: 583,298, including 14,561 in 2007
  
• Percent of people infected with HIV who don’t know it: 21%

Key Statistics Regarding Men and HIV/AIDS

• In 2006, men accounted for 73% of new HIV diagnoses, with 53% of cases coming from gay and bisexual men


• While 67% of new male diagnosis were the result of male-to-male sexual contact, 16% of new male cases came from high-risk heterosexual contact.


• Between 2001 and 2006, among males between the ages of 13 and 24, there was annual increase of 12.4 percent, compared to 1.5 percent for men overall


• From 2004-2007, there was a 26% increase in HIV diagnosis amongst men who have sex with men, and a 9% increase among heterosexual males

Please feel free to share information about The Red Tie Project with others. You can follow The Red Tie Project on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook!

Please share your thoughts about this online project with us in the COMMENTS (or 'Village Voices') section below.

The Red Pump Project

I added Life Management Institute, Inc. as a client earlier this year. I used online marketing tools to help them set attendance records for the 3rd Annual Conference on Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness held yesterday here in Cincinnati OH.

My eyes continue to be opened about the impact that HIV/AIDS is having on our community. In fact, I created a groupsite to bring together like-minded people that want to replace ignorance with awareness on this critical health issue.

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is a nationwide initiative to raise awareness of the increasing impact of HIV/AIDS on women & girls and encourages ladies to take action. While progress has definitely been made in the areas of AIDS prevention and treatment, women still represent 27% of all new AIDS diagnoses, with African American women accounting for 66% of that group.

In observance of this day, Karyn of The Fabulous Giver and Luvvie of Awesomely Luvvie came up with the idea of The Red Pump Project. My blog, the Electronic Village, is going to Rock the Red Pump to represent the strength and courage of women fighting HIV/AIDS or affected by the disease both directly and indirectly.

I hope that all villagers will find a way to support this effort in one way or another.