San Antonio Express-News Profiles AIDS Outreach Group Targeting Latinas, Families
The San Antonio Express-News on Wednesday profiled Mujeres Unidas Contra el SIDA -- or Women United Against AIDS -- a not-for-profit group founded in 1994 to target Latinas who are HIV-positive or are otherwise affected by HIV/AIDS. Mujeres Unidas offers support groups for women and their families, programs for children and information about HIV prevention and about staying healthy after contracting the disease. In 2002, the group started the Madrinas -- or Godmothers -- program in which newly diagnosed HIV-positive women are teamed up with other women who are either HIV-positive or have family members who are HIV-positive. The women are required to contact one another twice a month, but many of the women are in more frequent contact, according to the Express-News. "It's sort of like your buddy system," Yolanda Rodriguez-Escobar, executive director of the program, said. The group, which has not-for-profit status, operates primarily on grassroots fundraising, in addition to a three-year $50,000 grant from Pfizer and a one-year, $40,000 grant from the Levi Strauss Foundation (Davila, San Antonio Express-News, 1/7).
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