Guest blog post written by Megan Judy, AIDS Free Pittsburgh Intern
AIDS Free Pittsburgh (AFP) and ONE Condoms had a strong presence at Pittsburgh’s annual PrideFest on June 12, 2016. Our volunteers and thousands of other attendees cheerfully wore their pride out loud with colorful outfits and a goal of promoting equality for Western Pennsylvania’s LGBT community.
The mission of AFP’s countywide initiative is to achieve an AIDS Free Allegheny County by 2020, with no new AIDS diagnoses and reduction of new HIV infections by 75%. Our strategies include: normalizing HIV testing, increasing access to PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis), and improving linkage to care for newly-diagnosed HIV patients.
While at Pride, we promoted AIDS Free Pittsburgh and safer sex by handing out ONE condoms with an AFP sticker attached. Our supply of donated ONE Condoms went quickly, in just a matter of an hour! This was a great feeling knowing that people were taking them in an effort to protect themselves and their partners.