The HPCP also manages this website, HIVhealthPA, to serve as a resource for HIV and STI testing, treatment, and prevention information for Pennsylvanians.
Contact HPCP:
HIV Prevention and Care Project
University of Pittsburgh
School of Public Helath
Public Health Building, Floor 2
130 DeSoto St.
Pittsburgh PA 15213
Phone 412-383-3000
Fax 412-383-1513
Email for website content: rgy2@pitt.edu
A new state-wide program seeks to raise awareness and build HIV Friendly communities.
Created by the HIV Prevention and Care Project at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Public Health, HIV Friendly serves as an educational campaign designed to increase awreness and to share resources regarding HIV. To register for an HIV Friendly presentation, visit the HIV Friendly registration page.
Participants who attend an HIV Friendly presentation will learn the basics of HIV, identify the ways in which stigma and discrimination negatively impact people living with HIV, and learn how to create inclusive, HIV Friendly communities for all Pennsylvanians.
Anthony “Tony” Silvestre, whose work with the LGBT community was far ahead of its time and made the pioneering Pitt Men’s Study possible, died Sept. 1, 2022 at 75.
Dr. Silvestre on the cover of Pittsburgh’s Out Magazine in May 1984
[…] His international advocacy and public health work began at Penn State (1971-76), continued with several Philadelphia organizations (1976-83) and brought him to Pitt in early 1984 until his retirement in 2018.
In 1976, he was the founding chairman of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Council on Sexual Minorities, likely the first such state organization in the country. He was U.S. liaison to the World Health Organization (1990-93) and a subject matter expert on HIV for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2002.
Through the years, he served on many expert and advisory panels for the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Allegheny County Department of Health on HIV, alcohol and substance use among gender and sexual minorities, community marginalization and health education and outreach.
But he is perhaps best known in Pittsburgh for his role in forming and running the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force (now Allies for Health and Wellbeing) in its early years. In the process, he supported more than a dozen other state and community groups promoting LGBTQIA-related and HIV-related health messaging for at-risk communities.
In conjunction with his research and teaching in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, he founded the Pennsylvania Prevention Project (now the HIV Prevention and Care Project) there in 1993 to advance comprehensive HIV planning with impacted communities. He also helped create and direct the School of Public Health’s Center for LGBT Research, and was honored by Pitt with the Chancellor’s Distinguished Service Award.
He published more than 45 peer-reviewed articles, proceedings and book chapters, and created many state and federal professional reports and presentations as well, much of which can be found at Dickinson College.
According to a 2020 CDC report, out of more than 30,000 new cases of HIV infection in the United States, Black and Latinx populations bear the brunt of being most at risk, accounting for two-thirds (20,000) of the new infections. The reason (the CDC also reports) is due to institutionalized health disparities among those groups. In other words, Black and Latinx people face higher levels of discrimination when seeking health care.
To help address the issue, the HIV Prevention and Care Project at the University of Pittsburgh, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Expanded HIV Testing Initiative at Penn State University created a state-wide program that allows residents of Pennsylvania to obtain a free HIV self-test kit through the mail.
The free test kits use an oral swab and you get results in 20 minutes
Knowing your HIV status is the first step in preventing the spread of the virus. People who test positive can obtain treatment that keeps the virus in check, and therefore makes it next to impossible to spread to others.
To obtain a free HIV self-test kit, go to www.getmyHIVtest.com. Taking care of your health is part of taking care of your community.
To find out more about the free HIV test kit program, and find other HIV/STI testing resources, you can go to the HIV Prevention and Care Project Website at https://hivhealthpa.com/resources/. If you still have questions, send an email to info@getmyHIVtest.com.
