Celebrate SOS's Anniversary

June 20 marks the one-year anniversary of the Sistas Organizing to Survive (SOS) mobilization initiative. A year ago, black women gathered in Orlando, Florida. They committed to get tested for HIV, to educate their sistas about HIV, and to encourage sistas to be tested where you live, work, play, and worship. Since that time, eight local SOS conference have been conducted, 4,100 people have taken our online pledge, and over 88,000 Black women tested in 2008.

On this anniversary of SOS, the SOS Black Women's Advisory Group is asking black women around the state to join them in getting tested and to Take a Sista to Get Tested. It is their goal to have 500 black women tested on this day. Last year, the journey began. Today, we continue to travel along the path of mobilizing and empowering black women to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. Join the SOS Black Women's Advisory Group in making the statement that black women's lives are worth saving.

Sistas Organizing to Survive (SOS) is a grassroots mobilization of black women in the fight against HIV and AIDS. In Florida, one in 68 non-Hispanic black women are known to be living with HIV/AIDS. This compares with approximately one in 1,281 non-Hispanic white women, and one in 472 Hispanic women. For over 15 years, HIV/AIDS has been the leading cause of death among black women aged 25-44 years in Florida.

The Sistas Organizing to Survive movement aims to educate black women about the impact of HIV/AIDS and to develop an action plan that prevents the further spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases in Florida's black communities. Recently, the Florida Department of Health hosted the first SOS: Sistas Organizing to Survive conference in Orlando, FL. Almost 600 consumers, health providers, and community leaders participated in the event. Over 300 women actively pledged to engage in a statewide education network that encourages black women to become participatory in their own health.

Objectives of the SOS conference:

• Educate black women about HIV/AIDS and how other STDs, hepatitis and substance abuse increase their risk
• Empower black women to take charge of and control of their sexual health
• Connect black women to HIV/AIDS resources
• Offer tools to enable black women to educate others where they live, work, play and worship
• Encourage black women to take a pledge to get tested for HIV and to educate others where they live, work, play, and worship

Our goal is to test 100,000 black women each year by 2010.