According to the World AIDS Day website maintained by the National AIDS Trust (NAT):
World AIDS Day is a global movement to unite people in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Since 1988, communities have stood together on World AIDS Day to show strength and solidarity against HIV stigma and to remember lives lost.
This guide was created in Academic Year 2019-2020 using information and graphics provided by NYU students Michele Thorpe, Angelica Terc, and Hayden Howard, with the assistance of Jill Conte and Maria Mejia at NYU Libraries.
Is an undergraduate majoring in Social Science with a double concentration in Media Studies and History at NYU. As a New York native who grew up in NYC during the height of the 1980’s HIV/AIDS crisis, Thorpe absorbed the personal stories and memories of numerous family members who died of AIDS. World AIDS Day at NYU allows for space to honor the past and move HIV/AIDS education, activism, and advocacy forward by looking at women and other marginalized groups who still experience stigma and who lack policy support. Thorpe is currently applying to a Master’s program in Global Public Health, which will allow her to continue applying an anthropological lens when looking at social and behavioral factors impacting these communities.
Is an undergraduate at the NYU Silver School of Social Work. She has a special interest in health policy and finding ways to improve the lives of the under privileged. In 2019 she won the NYU Presidential Service Award for her work with the Student Association of Applied Studies to bring toys and art supplies to children undergoing cancer treatment at NYU Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital. She has also worked as a Peer Educator in Brooklyn doing outreach and teaching about HIV harm reduction practices.
Is an undergraduate at NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study and is Student Government Assembly Representative and Senator of Gallatin. For World AIDS Day, Howard is putting on two different workshops across NYU that explore the intersections of race, gender, and class in the context of the AIDS epidemic and new HIV infection rates. With a global goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030, it is the job of administrators and members of Student Government alike to spread awareness and spark important conversations. These events are being co-sponsored by the NYU LGBTQ+ Student Center, the School of Professional Studies, the Student Disabilities Union, the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, and the Student Government Assembly.