National Native American HIV / AIDS Awareness Day
20 March 2013
(NNHAAD) is a nationwide effort designed to promote HIV testing in Native communities through educational materials and use of marketing strategies.
The Goals and Objectives are to:
Commitment to Action for
Awareness & Education
Inter Tribal Council
of Arizona, Inc.
National Native American
AIDS Prevention Center
Asian & Pacific Islander
Great Plains Tribal
Chairmen’s Health Board
National Native American AIDS Prevention Center
To address the impact of HIV/AIDS on American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians through culturally appropriate advocacy, research, education, and policy development in support of healthy Indigenous people.
Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI)
Find A Testing Site Near You
Why the First Day of Spring
The first day of Spring was the chosen as the date to celebrate National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. This day was chosen by individuals in the community who had participated in a national survey to determine what day would be most appropriate. It was acknowledged that in many Native cultures across the U.S. that the four seasons are highly respected because they closely represent the cycle of life. Spring also represents a time of equality and balance and is the only time when day and night are at equal lengths. It is considered a time of profound change, new beginnings and birth, and a celebration of life for all people.
Founded in 1987 by American Indian and Alaska Native activists, social workers and public health professionals, the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center (NNAAPC) is the national leader in addressing HIV/AIDS issues that impact Native communities, such as stigma, discrimination, homophobia, complacency, incomplete or absent educational information, lack of political and social support for preventive approaches to health problems, limited technology and media access, and conflicting messages and attitudes across reservation and urban communities.
Weaver of the Web of all life,
Teach our children
What you have taught our ancestors,
That whatever befalls one
Befalls us all.
Teach our people:
If one is infected by HIV,
We all are infected.
This we should know.
Teach our children
All things are connected:
Life, death, sickness and health.
Everyone and everything is connected.
Until there is a cure,
We walk this path
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) reports:
Even though the numbers of HIV and AIDS diagnoses for American Indians and Alaska Natives represent less than 1% of the total number of HIV/AIDS cases reported to CDC’s HIV/AIDS Reporting System, when population size is taken into account, American Indians and Alaska Natives in 2005 ranked 3rd in rates of HIV/AIDS diagnosis, after blacks (including African Americans) and Hispanics. American Indians and Alaska Natives make up 1.5% (4.1 million people) of the total U.S. population. The rate of AIDS diagnosis for this group has been higher than that for whites since 1995.
Free Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Webinars
The following topics are covered:
For anyone who teaches “American Indian” students or teaches about “American Indians”,
Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but
Were Afraid to Ask by Anton Treuer is a trove of answers to questions you didn’t know you had.
(Recommended by Teaching Tolerance.)