The Pulse: December 2023

ISSUE 07

DEC 2023

website feature The new LetsStopAIDS website is officially live! Our site includes an indepth breakdown of our mission, programmes, community, and more.

Check out page 4 for details.

WORLD AIDS DAY RECAP

LET YOUTH LEAD

This past World AIDS Day, LetsStopAIDS embarked on a video campaign looking to amplify youth voices and highlight the importance of youth leadership in ending HIV/AIDS. “Let Youth Lead” is a storytelling campaign that shares the wishes, pain points, and challenges that young leaders have faced and are currently facing in the fight against HIV/ AIDS.

Our campaign directly follows suit with the 2023 UNAIDS World AIDS Day campaign, “Let Communities Lead” which highlights the importance of organizations taking a step back and providing space for community-led initiatives to take the forefront in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The “Let Youth Lead” campaign has reached over 100,000 people since its release, demonstrating the power that youth have in sparking conservations.

hiv/AIDS MEMORIAL TRIBUTE

On the morning of December 1st, LetsStopAIDS attended the annual AIDS memorial hosted by the Toronto People With AIDS Foundation (PWA) in Barbara Hall Park. The memorial gives individuals a chance to come together, pause, reflect, and commemorate the lives lost due to HIV/AIDS.

LetsStopAIDS is grateful to have been given the opportunity to share the space with our fellow friends and community organizations, who continue to fight for housing equality, equitable healthcare access, and intersectional approaches towards addressing the epidemic within marginalized communities. Hearing these passionate individuals come forward and speak about their unique lived-experiences truly underlined the importance of community-led initiatives in the fight against HIV/AIDS. 01

WORLD AIDS DAY RECAP P2P WORKSHOPS This World AIDS Day also marked the opportunity for the LetsStopAIDS team to partner with Seneca College and host a number of P2P workshops simultaneously across the Newnham, Markham, York, and King campuses.

These workshops represent only a fraction of the workshops being delivered throughout the months of December and January in different high schools, and universities across Toronto.

Since LetsStopAIDS’ recent partnership with Toronto District School Board (TDSB), our dedicated staff and volunteers have been working tirelessly to deliver these workshops in an effort to supplement Canadian Youth’s understanding of HIV/AIDS. The success of these workshops have demonstrated that an interactive approach is the best way to ensure student engagement, and we will continue to work towards this goal one workshop at a time.

Voices for World AIDS Day To finish the night, the LetsStopAIDS team attended the Voices for World AIDS Day event hosted by Casey House at the Toronto Reference Library. The evening was dedicated to celebrating Black women and their accomplishments within the HIV/AIDS movement, and entailed a heartfelt collection of personal struggles, triumphs, and lived experiences. The event was a reminder to all that Black women play a crucial role in ending HIV/AIDS, and that community-led initiatives should always be considered with an intersectional approach. Thank you so much to our friends at Casey House for letting us take part in this incredible event.

02

The new LetsStopAIDS website is officially live.

Click here to view

03 04 01

January 2024

04

LETSSTOPAIDS IN ACTION WIN UP TO $1500! & mentorship to realize your dream project

SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL The Winning Seed is a programme designed to give young people the opportunity to start their own HIV initiative with the help of funding and mentorship by LetsStopAIDS.

...

Your creative project may be the next big idea that changes the way people think about HIV!

WANT TO SUBMIT AN IDEA? Click here to apply!

Choose your SDG for a chance to see your HIV advocacy initiative come to life.

05 06

IN THE NEWS

Photo Credits: Bing Images

LONELINESS IN THE COUNTRY’S MOST POPULATED CITY

By: Gabrial Brown According to a report by Toronto This research underscores the broader impact Foundation, Toronto is now one of the of social isolation on health, indicating a 30% loneliest cities in Canada. With almost a increased risk of heart disease, a 50% higher quarter (23%) of the adult population likelihood of early onset dementia, and experiencing symptoms of depression elevated risks of addiction, suicide, and consistent with a major depressive disorder obesity. Pete Bombaci, Founder & Executive in 2023. This equates to approximately Director of the GenWell Project, emphasizes 575,000 individuals; among the hardest-hit the need to shift focus from crisis intervention groups are young women, socially isolated to proactive measures. By educating the individuals, and those facing financial public on the importance of social connection, vulnerability.

akin to promoting physical activity and balanced nutrition, society can prioritize One key factor contributing to this mental social health and mitigate the rising tide of health crisis is the decline in social mental health issues. Ultimately moving away connections among Torontonians. In 2018, from the isolationism of the past few years, 55% of the population reported having reinvigorating the city’s sense of community.

many close family or friends. However, by 2022, this figure plummeted by 11 This holiday season, this shocking data should percentage points to 44%. The correlation serve as a stark reminder for the importance between social isolation and mental health of loved ones; and that not everyone has is evident, as 43% of individuals with few them. Please reach out, and reconnect with close connections report fair or poor mental the people in your life, because they might health, in stark contrast to the 17% among not have anyone else. those with abundant close friends or family.

06

UPCOMING EVENTS

IN CANADA BRITISH COLUMBIA Whistler pride and ski week 2023 Whistler Mountain, Whistler, BC Jan 21

55+ Queer MEn’s Discussion Group

1033 Davie St, Vancouver, BC Jan 3

QUéBEC

Harm Reduction material pick up AIDS Community Care Montreal, Montreal, QC DEC 19

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MEDICAL, PHARMACEUTICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES 2023 TBA, Montreal, QC Dec 29 - dec 30

NOVA SCOTIA

Dalhousie health justice institute seminar series Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada Jan 12

ALBERTA

Queer board Games The Sentry Box, Calgary, AB DEC 15

cOLLEQTIVE

CommunityWise Resource Centre, Calgary, AB Jan 26

SASKATCHEWAN

Rapid Access Counselling Frances Morrison Central Library, Saskatoon, SK Dec 22

International Conference on Science, Health and Medicine 2023 TBA, Regina, SK Dec 25 - Dec 26

ONTARIO

International Conference on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment (ICHAPT) Toronto, ON Jan 3

Children’s holiday party Toronto PWA Foundation, Toronto, ON Dec 17

Men’s Peer to Peer Support Group

Pozitive Pathways, Windsor, ON Dec 20

07

UPCOMING EVENTS AROUND THE WORLD North America Bethegeneration San Diego, US JAN 1

HIV & Infectious disease training Colorado Springs, US Jan 18 - Jan 19

Current issues in lgbtq Health with isci

EUrope

International Conference INTERNATIONAL on HIV, AIDS and Sexually CONFERENCE ON HIV/AIDS Berlin, DE Transmitted Infections Turin, IT DEC 20 - DEC 27

DEC 29

Tampere, FI JAN 8

Bristol, UK JAN 19

WHOSE AIDS? International Conference Brussels, BE on HIV/AIDS Prevention and DEC 14 Treatment (ICHAPT) HIV Awareness training

Chicago, US JAN 25

africa

South AMerica

Nutrition and hiv/aids management

World Congress on Healthcare & Health Economics Lima, PE DEC 22 - DEC 23 mHealthux | Intro to gamifying health São Paulo, BR DEC 14 Love sessions 2023 Rio de Janeiro, BR DEC 16 - DEC 17

Pretoria, ZA DEC 4 - DEC 15

WORLD congress on infectious diseases Teyateyaneng, LS DEC 28

ASIA

Internatioal Conference on emerging infectious diseases Hanoi, VN DEC 29

OCEANIA

Positive Youth Brisbane, AU DEC 18

YOUTH Mental health first aid course Sydney, AU DEC 19

THe Future of medicine, health care and biological studies Wellington, NZ DEC 21

08

COLE KAUDERMCMURRICH

Cole has been with LetsStopAIDS since the end of September, working as a front-end developer and back-end engineer for a collection of our different websites. As a coop student, Cole has been working closely alongside our own full stack developer, Kai and claims to have learned a lot about development, programming, and HIV/AIDS in general.

Outside of LetsStopAIDS, Cole is also an active member of his school’s robotics team, Warps 7. This club involves constructing a different robot every year from scratch, and then competing against other robots in a series of challenges at the end of each year.

MANINDER KAUR

Maninder joined LetsStopAIDS in September 2023 as co-op student and is currently working as a volunteer for the People & Culture team. Over the last 3 months, Maninder has learned a lot from her role which includes onboarding new staff, coordinating our vast network of interns and co-op students, and managing all of the LetsStopAIDS recruitment team’s communication channels.

“Keep smiling and take life as it comes at you – Don’t stress oUT TOO MUCH!” Outside of work, Maninder loves to spend her time reading motivational books & watching motivational videos. In her own words, she is a very positive person and loves to spread her positivity with the people around her.

www.LetsStopAIDS.org 09

@LetsStopAIDS

OUR FRIENDS

10

11