INDIANAPOLIS — Thursday is World AIDS Day.
This year’s theme is “Putting Ourselves to the Test: Achieving Equity to End HIV.”
“He’s not forgotten. I mean, he was a beautiful man. He was funny, he was a great educator, and he was really a great mentor," Todd Fuqua said, remembering his friend and mentor Phillip Carey.
Fuqua is 54 years old, the same age Carey was when he died of AIDS-related complications in 1994.
“I actually was on an international business trip when he passed away and I flew home for his funeral. I’ve been looking for his quilt. I was down in Bloomington at the quilt," he said.
After years of searching, he finally got to see it with his own eyes.
The Marion County Public Health Department joined other community organizations to mark the occasion on Thursday.
“We’re here to commemorate people who have been affected by HIV — both those individuals who have passed and those who are currently living and thriving with HIV," Director of the Ryan White HIV Services Program Michael Butler said.
His organization works to reduce barriers for individuals to learn their HIV status and get into care.
As of September 2022, there are 5,330 people living with HIV in Marion County, with an estimated 797 additional people who do not know they are living with the virus.
One of those people is Johnny Jones, who’s been living with the virus for 17 years.
“Don’t demonize this virus, like it’s a death sentence or something nasty, or make people feel like they’re unclean for having it," Jones said.
HIV/AIDS is no longer the death sentence it once was.
Jones says many people are unaware that undetectable equals untransmissible, or U=U.
That’s when those living with HIV who are consistently on HIV medication and virally suppressed cannot transmit HIV sexually.
“Take your medicine and you’re gonna live a happy, healthy life," Jones said.
Marion County is one of more than 50 local jurisdictions working on the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative.
The goal of the plan is to reduce HIV transmissions by 90 percent by the year 2030.
-
Statewide Silver Alert cancelled for 63-year-old woman from Elkhart
Annette Hibler was last seen at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday in Elkhart, which is 164 miles north of Indianapolis.
2027 Indy 500 logo unveiled, ticket renewals begin
Indianapolis Motor Speedway is celebrating back-to-back grandstand sellouts with the launch of ticket renewals and the new logo for the 111th Indianapolis 500.
Katherine Legge finishes 31st at Coke 600 after 'Double' ends at Indy 500
Katherine Legge flew to North Carolina and finished in 31st at the Coca-Cola 600 after losing a tire mid-race.
Mitch Daniels returns as Purdue interim president
The Purdue Board of Trustees voted Monday to appoint Mitch Daniels as interim president, effective July 1. Daniels served as Purdue's president for 10 years from 2013 to 2022.
