Savannah State University Greater Than AIDS Team

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) National Prevention Information Network (NPIN) Featured Partner resource offers HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, STD, and TB prevention-focused organizations a platform to showcase their services, programs and materials. The goal is to highlight the work of CDC's prevention partners and encourage partners to connect with each other to share information and strategies. Organizations are nominated by CDC or their peers, or are self-nominated. Those selected are featured on the NPIN website for the month.

The Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) STD program has a mission to provide technical assistance and programmatic support to the public health districts, private providers and community-based organizations to prevent sexually transmitted infections, ensuring the availability of quality prevention, intervention, and treatment. Georgia is second in the country for infection with syphilis and seventh for gonorrhea.

Sexually transmitted infections remain a burden throughout Georgia. The devastation of HIV has been tremendous in the state. There are 41,262 people living with HIV/AIDS in Georgia. Out of those, nearly 29,000 are black. To address the spread of HIV, chlamydia, and gonorrhea, DPH's HIV and STD Offices partnered with the Black AIDS Institute and the Kaiser Family Foundation to conduct the Greater Than AIDS Testing Tour to historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) within Georgia.

Tour stops included Paine College, Savannah State University, Albany State University, Fort Valley State University and the Atlanta University Center, which is comprised of Clark-Atlanta University, Morehouse College and Spelman College. During testing, D.R.E.S. tha BEATnik and Chauncey the spoken-word artist entertained and educated students. Both artists gave personal accounts of why they are "Greater Than AIDS." During the tour, more than 500 HIV tests and 300 STD screenings were conducted, resulting in a positivity rate of 18 percent for chlamydia, 1 percent for gonorrhea, and 0.4 percent for HIV.

-Source National Prevention Information Network  http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/partnerforum/FeaturedPartner.asp