HANC Embraces Southern Joy at USCHA 2024

September 12-15, 2024 | New Orleans, LA

At USCHA this year the theme was Southern Joy, and that joy was brought in spades, perhaps most abundantly by Big Freedia Queen Diva herself! The performances by Big Freedia and other artists from the South showcased the region’s abundant talent and highlighted that joy is itself a strength that can and will be used to end the epidemic.

Attendees witnessed the diversity, pride, uniqueness, and power of the South. We were reminded that it is essential to center and attend to the diverse needs of diverse communities. But we were also reminded that there is immense strength in diversity and power to be leveraged when the South stands as a whole. In communities and our different aspects of this HIV work, we can’t afford to be siloed.

Performances, speeches, and workshops throughout the conference carried this theme. They emphasized a syndemic approach to preventing and treating HIV and an intersectional approach to undoing the socio-structural factors that contribute to the HIV epidemic. Once such speech was by none other than Stacey Abrams, former Georgia State Representative! Her words delivered lessons on the power that individuals and the South as a whole have to instigate transformational change. And, she reminded us, HIV and health are political, so vote.