Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc Teams Up with AIDS Healthcare Foundation
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. has teamed up with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) to form their Healthy Kappa Communities Initiatives, which will help promote HIV/AIDS awareness, testing and treatment throughout the African-American community.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is the largest global AIDS organization and Kappa Alpha Psi is a respected black service fraternity, so the partnership has the potential to affect change in a major way. The objective of Healthy Kappas Healthy Communities, according to a press release, is to provide health and wellness information with measurement tools and metrics for our membership, their families and their surrounding communities; to educate them on ways to monitor their personal health status as well as to keep personal health as a priority.
“Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. will begin embarking upon the partnership with AIDS Healthcare Foundation by ensuring that each of the twelve (12) Provinces are represented through the implementation of prevention and advocacy amongst its membership,” said Grand Polemarch (CEO) Thomas L. Battles, Jr in a statement.
“It’s the basis for our theme, Leave a Legacy: Build a Future,” continued Battles. “We aim to presently leave a significant and indelible mark on communities across the Nation through public service initiatives now and long afterward.”
The partnership will included the fraternity sponsoring health and wellness fairs while promoting the importance of prevention, testing and advocacy. The African American community is affected by the disease at a disproportionate rate , accounting for 44% of all people with HIV/AIDS in the United States, yet only account for 12% of the population.
“The well-documented statistics that have long shown high rates of new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths in the black community absolutely require an all-hands-on-deck approach to reaching young people and promoting the life-saving importance of using condoms, being tested regularly, and undergoing medical care to treat HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases,” said Anita Castille, chair of AHF’s Black Leadership AIDS Crisis Coalition (BLACC) Divine Nine subcommittee. “Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity has a long, distinguished history of leadership and service throughout the black community and their partnership with AHF and BLACC certainly continues this tradition. Our mutual goal is to positively impact the future of black families and we are excited to work together to save lives.”
