The Nebraska AIDS Project (NAP) is a statewide AIDS Service Organization in Nebraska, which also serves parts of southwestern Iowa and eastern Wyoming. Founded in 1984, NAP is based in Omaha, with satellite offices throughout the state (in Lincoln, Norfolk, Kearney, Scottsbluff and others).
The first AIDS case known in Nebraska was an Omaha man who died in 1983. Three cases were identified in 1984, and more were expected. A group of people concerned about the arrival of AIDS and the accompanying panic met in Omaha in 1984. The group established a toll-free hotline that would take questions about AIDS and provide counseling. [1] The volunteers supporting the hotline were organized as the Nebraska AIDS Project in 1985. [2]
In 1988, the Public Health Service mailed an educational booklet about AIDS to every household in America. NAP expanded the hotline's hours and added more phone lines to deal with the increase in Nebraskans' questions about AIDS. [3]
NAP expanded to provide cooking, cleaning, and transportation to HIV-positive clients, and a "Buddies" program offering emotional support. In 1989, NAP director Barbara Shaw lead the expansion to become a statewide organization. [4] Shaw remarked that, in forming local chapters in Nebraska, "one of our biggest challenges will be to help people learn to live with AIDS rather than preparing to die from it." [5]
The number of AIDS cases that NAP served quadrupled in a one-year period from 1989 to 1990. [6] The national AIDS crisis was escalating.
In 1990 NAP received a grant to provide in-home health services to people infected with HIV. [7] NAP provided HIV testing in its own facilities and at gay bars, soup kitchens, and cultural and community centers. [8]
NAP sponsored condom fashion show in 2013, with clothes made from condoms by local designers. [9]
As of 2019, NAP works with about 500 clients. [10]
In the early days of NAP, Nebraskans typically perceived AIDS as a problem of distant urban centers and unfamiliar gay subcultures. Still, many Nebraskans volunteered to help NAP.[ citation needed ]
Tecumseh high school students organized a 10-hour dance marathon fundraiser for NAP in 1987. Students explained that, though there were no cases of AIDS in Tecumseh, they felt moved and frightened by the national crisis. [11]
In 1987, NAP and the Nebraska Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights mailed a survey to thousands of doctors and dentists in Nebraska, asking if they were willing to treat patients with HIV and gay or lesbian patients. About 10% of respondents said, for a variety of reasons, that they would refuse to treat patients with HIV. [12] Some response forms were "very negative" toward homosexual or HIV-positive patients; one responded by mailing back Evangelical Christian literature. This information was used to create a list of safe medical providers. [13]
In 2000 the city council of Lincoln declined to provide financial support of a NAP AIDS education project. Opposition to the project was led by council member (and future Congressman) Jeff Fortenberry. He objected that the education included condom use, which he found "highly controversial". [14]
The AIDS epidemic, caused by HIV, found its way to the United States as early as 1960, but was first noticed after doctors discovered clusters of Kaposi's sarcoma and pneumocystis pneumonia in homosexual men in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco in 1981. Treatment of HIV/AIDS is primarily via the use of multiple antiretroviral drugs, and education programs to help people avoid infection.
HIV-positive people, seropositive people or people who live with HIV are people who have the human immunodeficiency virus HIV, the agent of the currently incurable disease AIDS.
Men who have sex with men (MSM), also known as males who have sex with males, are male persons who engage in sexual activity with members of the same sex, regardless of how they identify themselves. They may identify as gay, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, or heterosexual; or dispense with sexual identification altogether.
Ernest William Chambers is an American politician and civil rights activist who represented North Omaha's 11th District in the Nebraska State Legislature from 1971 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2021. He could not run in 2020 due to term limits.
Nebraska Initiative 416 was a 2000 ballot initiative that amended the Nebraska Constitution to make it unconstitutional for the state to recognize or perform same-sex marriage, same-sex civil unions or domestic partnerships. The referendum was approved on November 7, 2000, by 70% of the voters. The initiative has since been struck down in federal court and same-sex marriage is now legally recognised in the state of Nebraska.
Tom White is a former member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature from Omaha, Nebraska. He represented the 8th District, which consists of the Benson and Dundee neighborhoods in Omaha.
Since HIV/AIDS was first reported in Thailand in 1984, 1,115,415 adults had been infected as of 2008, with 585,830 having died since 1984. 532,522 Thais were living with HIV/AIDS in 2008. In 2009 the adult prevalence of HIV was 1.3%. As of 2016, Thailand had the highest prevalence of HIV in Southeast Asia at 1.1 percent, the 40th highest prevalence of 109 nations.
With less than 1 percent of the population estimated to be HIV-positive, Egypt is a low-HIV-prevalence country. However, between the years 2006 and 2011, HIV prevalence rates in Egypt increased tenfold. Until 2011, the average number of new cases of HIV in Egypt was 400 per year. But, in 2012 and 2013 it increased to about 600 new cases and in 2014 it reached 880 new cases per year. According to UNAIDS 2016 statistics, there are about 11,000 people currently living with HIV in Egypt. The Ministry of Health and Population reported in 2020 over 13000 Egyptians are living with HIV/AIDS. However, unsafe behaviors among most-at-risk populations and limited condom usage among the general population place Egypt at risk of a broader epidemic.
Jeremiah J. Nordquist is a politician from the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. Nordquist represented an Omaha district in the Nebraska Legislature from 2009 to 2015. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
The Catholic Church is a major provider of medical care to HIV/AIDS patients. Much of its work takes place in developing countries, although it has also had a presence in the global north. Its opposition to condoms, despite their effectiveness in preventing the spread of HIV, has invited criticism from public health officials and anti-AIDS activists.
Sexually transmitted infections in the pornography industry deals with the occupational safety and health issue in the sex industry of transmission of sexually transmitted infections/diseases (STIs/STDs), especially HIV/AIDS, which became a major cause of concern since the 1980s, especially for pornographic film actors. From 2004 to 2009, 22 HIV cases in the U.S. pornography industry were reported; roughly half were among men who work in gay films, and the other half were men and women working in heterosexual productions.
The Naz Foundation (India) Trust is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in that country that works on HIV/AIDS and sexual health. It is based in the Indian capital of New Delhi.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in the U.S. state of Nebraska may face some legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Nebraska, and same-sex marriage has been recognized since June 2015 as a result of Obergefell v. Hodges. The state prohibits discrimination on account of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment and housing following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County and a subsequent decision of the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission. In addition, the state's largest city, Omaha, has enacted protections in public accommodations.
The portrayal of HIV and AIDS in the media refers to events and trends in the discussion of HIV and AIDS in mass media. HIV leads to a large amount of illness and many deaths. It is unique from most other diseases because there is stigma and discrimination surrounding those affected with the disease. The transmission of HIV, however, is extremely preventable and the media is a very effective way to convey this information. The UNESCO report on Journalism Education says, "Well researched television content can create public awareness about HIV prevention, treatment, care and support can potentially influence the development and implementation of relevant policies."
Carol Blood is an American politician from the U.S. state of Nebraska. In 2016, she was elected to represent District 3 in Sarpy County in the Nebraska Legislature with 51.56% of the vote. In 2020 she was re-elected with 50.4% of the vote. She is the Democratic nominee in the 2022 Nebraska gubernatorial election. Blood is a member of the Democratic Party, though elections to the Nebraska Legislature are officially nonpartisan.
Julie Slama is a Nebraska state senator in the unicameral Nebraska Legislature representing District 1. Slama is a Republican and fifth-generation Nebraskan from Peru. She was appointed to Dan Watermeier's vacancy in Legislative District 1 on January 9, 2019. Upon taking office, Slama became the youngest female state senator in Nebraska history at age 22. Slama's first year in the Nebraska Legislature included successful efforts to strengthen Nebraska's civics education statutes and a comprehensive package to crack down on human trafficking. She was named the 2019 Young Republicans National Legislator of the Year.
Nebraska Family Alliance (NFA) is a statewide religious 501(c)(3) education, research, and policy organization based in Lincoln, Nebraska. It advocates for traditional gender roles and family structures, biblical marriage, and conservative Christian views on public policy.
The 2022 Nebraska gubernatorial election will take place on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Nebraska. Incumbent Republican Governor Pete Ricketts is term-limited and cannot seek a third term.
Understanding AIDS is a pamphlet or brochure created by the United States government and mailed to every American household in 1988 as a response to the AIDS epidemic. It was the largest mass mailing in American history. The decision to create the pamphlet was made by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.
The Nebraska Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights, later called the Nebraska Coalition for LGBT Civil Rights, was an advocacy group in Nebraska that existed from 1981 to approximately 2002. It was based in Lincoln. The group advocated for LGBT civil rights. Its motto was "equality before the law," the same motto as the state of Nebraska.