CHARLOTTE, N.C. /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — “No matter how you look at it, through the lens of gender, age, sexual orientation, education, socio-economic status or region of the country where you live, Black people bear the brunt of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in America today. Black youth are particularly disproportionately impacted by the disease,” says Phill Wilson, President and CEO of the Black AIDS Institute. To respond to these disparities, the Black AIDS Institute, the only national HIV/AIDS think tank in the US focused exclusively on Black people, is joining forces with Novant Health, Orasure Technologies, Cigna, and Blackdoctor.org to sponsor the first health pavilion held at the CIAA Basketball tournament.
CIAA is the largest Historic Black College and University (HBCU) basketball tournament in the nation, the third largest conference tournament in the entire NCAA, and one of the largest African-American lifestyle events in the nation. The Novant Health Pavilion will be held at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, North Carolina from Thursday February 26 thru Saturday, February 28. This year’s Health Pavilion is a bold and unprecedented commitment by CIAA, Novant Health, and the Black AIDS Institute to provide lifesaving information and health awareness. The Pavilion will be the center of health information and promotion and screening for HIV, Hepatitis C, and Diabetes, hypertension, Obesity, and other potential health challenges disproportionately impacting Black Americans. The program connects consumers and patients to culturally appropriate information, best practices, and screenings for pre-diabetes, and high blood pressure and obesity – delivering world-class care with innovative technologies.
“Black Americans are disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS, but the truth of the matter is we are disproportionately negatively impacted by almost every disease,” says Ophelia Gorman-Brown, Senior Vice-President of Novant Health. “Novant Health is committed to addressing these disparities. Our “Remarkable You” campaign focuses on Hypertension, Diabetes, and Obesity. But we are acutely aware that we must look at the whole health of our patients. That is why we are so excited to partner with CIAA and the Black AIDS Institute to provide comprehensive health screening to a population that otherwise would not be thinking about their health.”
CIAA historically attracts Black athletes who are young Black men (37%) and women (63%) between the ages of 18 and 23, alumni, and Black Baby Boomers from throughout North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland/DC, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.
The CIAA Fan Experience Pavilion is free to the public. Based on the 2014 conference participants, 27% are under 24 years old, and 25% over 45. Fifty-four percent were college graduates and another 32% reported having completed some college.
The CIAA Fan experience hosted 28,000+ attendees in 2014. In addition to offering health screenings, the health pavilion will offer free hourly giveaways, a photo booth, and talks by celebrities and health providers. Jussie Smollett, from the hit Fox series “Empire” and Vanessa Williams from the ShowTime’s series “Soul food” are scheduled to appear and sign autographs on Friday and Saturday.
