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December 1st, World AIDS Day (WAD), is a day to celebrate the lives needlessly lost to the HIV epidemic, to spread awareness of available HIV prevention and treatment, and to redouble our efforts to end the HIV epidemic globally. This year, on WAD, I had the opportunity to speak with one of our local news stations here in NYC about the tools we have to end the HIV epidemic and how stigma…

We need policies that support the health and safety of people who are homeless instead of policies that increase policing and criminalize poverty.

Health equity is about ensuring that all individuals and communities have access to the resources and opportunities that they need to attain optimal health and wellbeing. Key to creating and sustaining healthy communities is improving maternal health outcomes.

Health Justice Celebrates its 1-Year Anniversary

It’s World AIDS Day 2021—an opportunity to remember those who we have lost, the advances that have been made, and the work that still needs to be done to end the HIV epidemic.  Stark HIV-related inequities persist and Black and Latina men who have sex with men and Black and Latina cis and trans women in the U.S., continue to be disproportionately impacted by HIV. The COVID-19 pandemic has further complicated efforts…

Global vaccine inequity continues to be a pressing concern with many countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, having severely limited access to COVID-19 vaccines. Dr. Blackstock, Health Justice’s founder and Executive Director, spoke on September 20, 2021, just steps from United Nations (U.N.) building in NYC where global leaders were convening for the U.N. General Assembly meeting, to speak out in support of global vaccine equity and to demand the US and other high-income countries support the Global South in developing the regional capacity to manufacture and disseminate COVID-19 vaccines.

So much of achieving health equity is about addressing the underlying policies that drive inequities. Yesterday, August 4th, 2021, Dr. Blackstock, Health Justice’s Founder and Executive Director, participated in a housing justice media event to call for action to address unsafe living conditions for people who are homeless. As NYC experiences an increasing number of COVID-19 cases, the city is moving people who are unhoused from the safety of hotel rooms to congregate shelters.…

As efforts have intensified to get more Americans vaccinated, Health Justice is happy to share a healthcare provider training video that Health Justice developed with Advancing Health Equity for the NYC Health Department. The training video highlights how motivational interviewing techniques can be used to build patient confidence in and acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines. Take a look and share with any health care providers who may find this content helpful!

Photography by Steve Kong. Dr. Oni Blackstock, Health Justice’s founder and Executive Director, recently participated in a protest outside Pfizer’s NYC headquarters to bring attention to and increase support for the critically important issue of global COVID-19 vaccine equity. Below she shares her remarks from this important protest: I’m primary care and HIV doctor.  I’m also a public health doctor—up until last year I oversaw NYC’s response to the HIV epidemic as…