New Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Podcast Series Spotlights Epidemic In The South

Source: ‘THE QUBE’

A new podcast series placing a spotlight on the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the South is launching just in time for the annual commemoration of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

“Black HIV in the South: How Did We Get Here?,” a four-part series documenting the history, impact and current state of the HIV/AIDS epidemic within the Black community in the American South, was released Tuesday and presented by The Qube, a new streaming platform.

It is the first limited series on The Qube and produced by Black, brown (BIPOC) and queer and trans people of color (QTPOC) creatives.

“Black HIV in the South: How Did We Get Here?” is hosted by Anna DeShawn, a journalist and co-founder of The Qube, and Duane Cramer, an advocate for HIV education who raises awareness through his photography.

The podcast’s guests include Jimmy Gibbs, the National CFAR Coalition Chair for the Centers for AIDS Research (CFAR) program at the National Institutes of Health; Jada Harris, program manager for the Call My Name Quilt Panel-Making Program, National AIDS Memorial; Deirdre Speaks, co-founder of Ending Criminalization of HIV and Overincarceration in Virginia; Nathan Townsend, HIV Prevention Programs Manager for the National AIDS Education & Services for Minorities; and Dafina Ward, Executive Director of the Southern AIDS Coalition.

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The timeliness and urgency of this new podcast series can’t be understated since the highest rates of HIV and AIDS diagnoses in the U.S. “continue to occur in the South,” according to statistics provided by HIV.gov, a federal online resource meant to amplify resources and knowledge around the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Despite an overall drop in transmission rates, Black people remain “severely and disproportionately affected,” the website added.

“HIV/AIDS awareness is such an important topic in our community, which is one reason I’m proud to bring this series to listeners everywhere,” said Anna DeShawn, CEO & co-founder of The Qube. “We are on a mission to uplift and share multi-dimensional experiences and voices through captivating story-telling, news and entertainment, and spotlighting the issues that are most important to Black, Brown and Queer and Trans People of Color (QTPOC). ‘Black HIV in the South: How Did We Get Here?’ will do just that, and I hope that people everywhere can listen with an open heart and mind and join us in our continued fight to reduce stigma and increase education, awareness and prevention.”

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