Actors Undergo Public HIV Screening to Encourage Black America to Get Tested and Stop the Aids Epidemic

Actors Undergo Public HIV Screening to Encourage Black America to Get Tested and Stop the Aids Epidemic

-- Screen Actors Guild Hosts National HIV Testing Day Event, Vows to Help End

                 AIDS Epidemic in Black America by 2012 --    WHAT:       In anticipation of National HIV Testing Day on June 27th, the               Screen Actors Guild, the Black AIDS Institute, Artists for a               New South Africa (ANSA), Palms Residential Care Facility and               the Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch of the NAACP will host an               HIV screening event and press conference at the national SAG               headquarters featuring A-list Black celebrities being tested               for HIV in front of the cameras.  Those who plan to attend and               publicly take an HIV test at the press conference include:               - Jimmy Jean-Louis ("Heroes")               - Regina King ("Ray," "Jerry McGuire," "24")               - Hill Harper ("CSI New York")               - Rockmond Dunbar ("Prison Break," "Heartland")               - Meagan Tandy (Miss California USA 2007)               - Vanessa Williams ("Soul Food")               - Sheryl Lee Ralph ("ER," Original "Dreamgirls" on Broadway)               - Hosea Chanchez ("The Game")               - Ovie Mughelli (Atlanta Falcons, FB)               - Henry Simmons ("Shark")               - Tatyana Ali ("The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air")               - Howard Hesseman ("Boston Legal," "WKRP in Cincinnati")               - Author/journalist Gil Robertson will sign copies of his book                 Not in My Family: AIDS in the African-American Community               - Phill Wilson (Executive Director, Black AIDS Institute) will                 be available for interviews               - Gloria Reuben ("ER", "Life Support") will also be available                 for interviews from New York City    WHY:        The June 25th press conference is part of a national Mass               Black Response to the AIDS epidemic sponsored by the Black               AIDS Institute, The Balm In Gilead, the National Black               Leadership Commission on AIDS and leading national Black               Institutions.  The Black AIDS Mobilization (BAM) is committed               to ending the AIDS epidemic in Black America by 2012 by:               - Cutting HIV rates in Black America by 50%               - Increasing the number of Black Americans who know their HIV                 status by 50%               - Increasing the number of Black Americans in appropriate                 early care/treatment by 50%               - Reducing HIV/AIDS stigma In Black America by 50%               Black Americans are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS.               Of the 1.3 million Americans living with HIV/AIDS, nearly 50               percent of them are Black.  Black Americans represent more               than 54 percent of the new HIV/AIDS cases in the United               States.  AIDS is the leading cause of death for African               American women aged 24-34.  A study by the CDC showed that               forty-six percent of Black gay men in America may already be               HIV positive.  Twenty-five percent of HIV positive people in               the U.S. do not know they are infected.    WHEN:       Monday, June 25, 2007, 10:00-11:00am PT    WHERE:      Screen Actors Guild National Headquarters:               5757 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036    CONTACT:    For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact               Doug Hochstedler:               Doug_Hochstedler@cohnwolfe.com               Office:(212) 798-9724               Cell: (317) 791-6444   

This educational event is sponsored by the Black AIDS Institute, Artists for a New South Africa, Screen Actors Guild, Palms Residential Care Facility, NAACP (Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch), Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center, BET Network/Wrap-It-Up, TV One and the Pan African Film Festival with funding and other support provided by the M.A.C. AIDS Fund, the Ford Foundation, The Gil Foundation, Open Society Institute, and Merck & Co., Inc

PRNewswire -- June 20

Source: The Screen Actors Guild; The Black AIDS Institute

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Profile: International Entertainment