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On August 31, community partners in Baton Rouge, La.
sponsored the inaugural Youth Education AIDS/HIV Awareness Rally to provide HIV
prevention education and free testing with counseling in Howell Park. The
rally’s theme was “know your status.”
Event Planner Rogers Cooper stated that Affordable Pharmacy
recognized an urgent need and organized the rally in response to increasing
requests for help from HIV-infected teenagers. The Baton Rouge AIDS Society
mobile health van and Metro Health provided free HIV testing and counseling
during the event.
Baton Rouge AIDS Society Founder Rev. A.J. Johnson reported
that Baton Rouge had the highest HIV incidence of any US city and was similar
to a person on the side of the road who needed assistance. Speaker Millicent
Foster described her personal experience as an HIV-infected person and
encouraged attendees not to “walk in her shoes.” Baton Rouge AIDS Society
Spokesperson Katya Ross stated that the society’s mobile health van also
regularly provided free HIV testing and counseling at area nightclubs and
community events.
Rally co-sponsors included HIV/AIDS Alliance for Region Two,
Baton Rouge AIDS Society, Metro Health, Volunteers of American, Target, 100
Black Men, Subway, Chase Bank, and others. Other organizations that also
presented information and services at the rally included Sexual Trauma
Awareness Response, Southern University School of Nursing, Volunteers of
America, HIV/AIDS Alliance for Region Two, the Baton Rouge City Constable’s
Office, and Drug Abuse Resistance Education.
