AIDS Healthcare Foundation Opens New Men’s Wellness Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., in Partnership With Gay Men of African Descent

In News by AHF

From CDC National Prevention Information Network
January 9, 2014

This article was reported by News Medical and originally posted in thebody.com: direct link.

News Medical reported that AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has partnered with the local nonprofit organization Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD) to open the AHF Brooklyn Men’s Wellness Center at GMAD’s facility in New York City’s Brooklyn borough. Located at 44 Court Street, Suite 1000, the wellness center was open on Wednesdays from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and welcomed walk-in clients.

AHF’s NYC Regional Director Michael Camacho stated that as a relative newcomer to New York, AHF was pleased to collaborate with an established provider in tackling HIV, which had affected the black gay population disproportionately. The joint effort would offer free screening and treatment for chlamydia,syphilis, and gonorrhea, as well as free HIV testing. The center aimed to increase access to STD testing and to incorporate regular testing into routine healthcare for sexually active people. AHF’s first Brooklyn facility, an Out of the Closet Thrift Store, opened in April 2013 and offered free, walk-in HIV testing.

The GMAD/AHF partnership was the first alliance in which AHF provided services from another organization’s facility. According to Executive Director Vaughn Taylor, GMAD hoped that in the future, the partnership could add mobile testing and house calls, as AHF has done in Florida.
In 2010, the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recorded 3,481 new HIV cases in New York’s five boroughs; 63,544 new chlamydia diagnoses; 12,354 new gonorrhea diagnoses; and 955 new syphilis diagnoses. Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Williamsburg, and Bushwick reported the highest co-occurrence rates of STDs (HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis) with hepatitis B and C and TB. Bedford-Stuyvesant was the largest African-American community in the United States in 2009.

Individuals desiring additional information could call (718) 222–6300 or visit the Web site at www.freestdcheck.org/.

This article was provided by CDC National Prevention Information Network. It is a part of the publication CDC HIV/Hepatitis/STD/TB Prevention News Update.

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