Faith plays a major role in the lives of many Americans. Many find faith to be a connection to a spiritual being, deity, or creator. Unfortunately for many Americans living with HIV, faith communities can turn from a place of refuge to a source of stigma and turmoil.
Since 2017, RAHMA and its partners have led National Faith HIV & AIDS Awareness Day events across the Nation. We’ve reached over 200,000 people representatives of the Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu and Baha’i and other faith traditions across the US to take a stand against stigma in their congregations and raise awareness on HIV.
On August 6, 2020 we officially became recognized as an Awareness Day on HIV.gov. While we celebrate this significant milestone and have come a long way since our first event, we understand there is still a ways to go. We will not stop until we address HIV stigma in all faith communities in the US.
Join us on August 30th, 2020 for the 4th annual National Faith HIV & AIDS Awareness Day on a virtual platform near you. Visit here to see all the amazing virtual events we have planned. We also invite you to host your own event. Use #NFHAAD for the chance to be highlighted on our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
One Day. Each Year. Until We Find A Cure.
Steering Committee
Khadijah Abdullah
Founder, RAHMA
Khadijah Abdullah founded National Faith HIV/AIDS Awareness Day to unite faiths across the country to address HIV/AIDS stigma and work towards creating safe spaces for all in their respective communities.
Khadijah is the founder of RAHMA (Reaching All HIV+ Muslims in America) which means mercy in Arabic. RAHMA’s mission is to address HIV, Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), Sexual Health, and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in faith communities through education, advocacy, and empowerment.
We envision a world where marginalized and vulnerable populations feel safe within their communities regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, HIV status, faith or lived experiences.
To learn more about RAHMA please visit www.haverahma.org.
Khadijah holds a degree in public health from Southern Connecticut State University.
Pastor William Francis
Lead Servant
Pastor William Francis is Lead Servant at Atlanta Faith in Action, “The AFIACenter,” an Integrated Care Ministry that’s transforming ministry, minds, lives and souls in order to change communities and the World in which we live.
The AFIA Center wraps social services around ministry and offers the community: Medical, Dental and Behavioral Health Services?Emotional Wellness?Case Management?Medical Insurance Assistance?Linkage and Retention to Care Services?Free HIV, HCV, STI Testing?Financial, Tax and Legal Workshops?Employment and Job Readiness Training ? GED Prep, Tutoring and Mentoring?Reentry Programs?Substance Abuse Support Groups ? Assistance with State, Federal and Local Benefit Programs?Food Pantry and Clothes Closet ? Hygiene Kits ? Utility Assistance?Housing Services.
Pastor Francis is an Author, Life Coach, Ambassador for the Black Church and HIV: Social Justice Initiative and Visionary behind William Francis Ministries, whose personal ministry has reached over 73 million people globally.
He embodies what he has coined, “The H3 Ministry Model: Help, Hope and Heal.”
Pastor William is excited to work on FHAAD because he knows all to well that at the intersection of HIV and Faith is one’s Healing.
Elder George Kerr
Community activist
Elder George Kerr is a nationally renowned community activist and grassroots non-profit executive who is a staple in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the Greater Washington DC Metropolitan Area for more than 23 years. He service as a volunteer Co-Moderator for The Presbyterian AIDS Network (PAN) PHEWA, PC USA. We welcome those who advocate with and care for persons and families who have been infected or affected by HIV and AIDS. He is now the CEO of G III Associates. G III Associates is committed to advocating, educating and collaborating for social justice through harm reduction.? Together we can build a healthier community
The reason I am participating in this amazing event I am putting my faith in action. As a community, we need a interfaith response to if we are going to end the stigma.
Ulysses Burley
Founder, UBtheCure
Ulysses W. Burley III is the founder of UBtheCURE, LLC a consulting company on the intersection of faith, health, and human rights. He previously served as an associate at Northwestern University School of Medicine’s Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology Clinical Research Unit and Program Director of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Strategy on HIV/AIDS. He is currently a member of the U.S. Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. “I am participating in the planning and execution of National Faith HIV/AIDS Awareness Day because I believe that science and medicine has given us all we need to treat HIV, but love, compassion, and dignity are what we need to treat people – and the faith community can offer that. I hope this event receives the recognition it deserves and sends a rallying cry to Americans and the world at large that faith is a solution and not a problem in the fight against HIV/AIDS.”
Learn more about Ulysses III at www.ubthecure.com at www.ubthecure.com
Cedric D. Pulliam
Civil Service Officer
Cedric D. Pulliam is a career Civil Service Officer of the U.S. Department of State where he has served in the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator and Health Diplomacy (PEPFAR) and the Office of Economic and Regional Affairs (Bureau of African Affairs) – where he serves as the Economic Development, ESTH (Health), and Multilateral Affairs Officer. He is the founder of CDP Career Consulting, LLC a consulting firm that provides career services within the United States and serving clients virtually throughout Europe and Asia. He was recently appointed on the Alexandria Commission on HIV/AIDS (Virginia) and is leading the first ever Regional HIV/AIDS Policy and Planning Summit that will take place in the lead up to World AIDS Day 2017 bringing together those working in the epidemic response in the DC, MD, and VA region. He serves on the Board of the Gay Men’s Health Collaborative of the Inova Juniper Program of Fairfax, VA and as a Testing and Outreach Volunteer. “I got involved in the planning of National Faith HIV/AIDS Awareness Day because I am a firm believer that the initial responders in the domestic/global HIV response were devoted clergy and faith leaders and I pray that this interfaith effort can bring to light the core significance of working together regardless of which faith community we may belong to.”
The Rev. Michael Schuenemeyer
Michael Schuenemeyer has served as Executive Director for the United Church of Christ HIV & AIDS Network since 2002, providing leadership in HIV prevention education, comprehensive sexuality education, and advocacy for increased faith engagement in the HIV response. He is the founding Chairperson of the US HIV & AIDS Faith Coalition and serves on the HIV Strategy Group of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance. As Project Manager for the Framework for Dialogue in the U.S., he brings together faith leaders and people living with HIV for a dialogue process designed to lead to joint actions that reduce and eliminate HIV-related stigma and discrimination. Rev. Schuenemeyer was ordained by the United Church of Christ in 1984, and as a local church pastor in Southern California, served on the Interfaith AIDS Coalition of the Inland Empire and Southern California Interfaith AIDS Coalition. He lives with his husband in Cleveland, Ohio.
Some of the organizations that are involved
- ADAP Advocacy Association
- Bros In Convo
- Atlanta Faith in Action
- Black AIDS Institute
- Positive Women’s Network
- Islamic Relief USA
- Balm in Gilead
- Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA)
- UBtheCure
- United Church of Christ
- USCHA
- US Zen Institute
- Presbyterian AIDS Network (PAN) (PHEWA) Presbyterian Church (USA)