By Edwina Eyre | WASHINGTON – Breast/chest cancer is the most common cancer among women, and a staggering 297,000 women in the U.S. are predicted to receive a breast/chest cancer diagnosis in 2023.

Although the initial diagnosis is both challenging and devastating, many patients will survive and thrive, joining the other over four million breast/chest cancer survivors in the United States. However, for women with triple-negative breast/chest cancer (TNBC) – particularly Black women – this landscape looks markedly different. 

TNBC stands out as the most aggressive form of breast/chest cancer, offering limited treatment options and often spreading throughout the entire body by the time of diagnosis. Catching and treating the cancer early is critical, a task that’s made more daunting as TNBC is predominantly diagnosed in younger and premenopausal women.

Amidst these already formidable odds, Black women face even greater disparities for this cancer, and are three times more likely than white women to receive a TNBC diagnosis with significantly higher mortality rates than other racial and ethnic groups. Even further, Black women are more likely to be diagnosed with TNBC at a later stage, which complicates the prospect of a successful treatment.  

The factors contributing to these inequities are rarely included in conversations around breast/chest cancer health outcomes. Research suggests that these disparities are caused by the impact of lived experiences of structural racism on the body, while others point to genetics. However, most analyses agree that structural healthcare barriers impede Black women from accessing adequate testing, treatment and care.

To expand conversations around TNBC and its impact on Black women, Gilead Sciences launched the Toward Health Equity for Black People Impacted by TNBC grant program in 2021 to help advance Black health equity across the cancer care continuum. Since its launch, Gilead has awarded $5.7 million to 21 organizations focused on supporting Black women and building capacity of Black-led breast/chest cancer organizations across the United States.

One of these organizations is SHARE Cancer Support, a national non-profit providing free resources, education and support to those diagnosed with breast/chest, ovarian, uterine and cervical cancer. To increase public knowledge around TNBC and Black women, SHARE recently hosted a series of focus groups analyzing the diagnosis and treatment experiences of Black women living with TNBC to help identify resources that dismantle existing barriers to care. SHARE hired two Black researchers to lead the study: Dr. Tisha Felder, Associate Professor at the College of Nursing at the University of South Carolina and Dr. Lucy Ingram, Professor and Department Head in the College of Public Health at the University of Georgia.  

“Before anybody is even diagnosed, existing inequalities filter what experience any patient is going to have, especially for Black people in this country,” says Dr. Felder. “Providers need to be more educated about TNBC in Black women, and we need to make sure we are tailoring care to the needs of the people who are experiencing the issues.”

To understand the nuances of a TNBC diagnosis experience for Black women, Dr. Ingram and Dr. Felder spoke with 20 Black women to get a better understanding of their TNBC journey. The results were eye-opening: most of the women they spoke with had never heard of TNBC before their diagnosis. Furthermore, there were several instances where healthcare providers dismissed symptoms, despite some patients having a family history of cancer.

Typically, research findings like these remain confined to academic papers, but SHARE Program Director Megan-Claire Chase, who is also a breast cancer survivor herself, quickly spearheaded the creation of a TNBC info card and video series based on Dr. Ingram and Dr. Felder’s findings.

“What’s great about our partnership is that we aren’t waiting for the work to trickle down to those that need it,” said Dr. Felder. “SHARE is taking the findings we have right now and using them immediately. They’ve developed materials tailored specifically to Black women, ensuring that people benefit from this work sooner rather than later.”

Gilead’s support for SHARE goes beyond the funding of this project. “It’s unprecedented for a funder to be as engaged in connecting grantees as Gilead has been. It truly reflects that advancing health equity must be a collaborative effort,” Chase adds. “We all bring unique skills to the table, ensuring that we keep these women alive and empower the general public and Black community to ask questions and advocate for themselves.”

SHARE’s work with Dr. Felder and Dr. Ingram has laid a strong foundation, filling critical gaps and informing material development. “Having this research available validates the Black experience,” said Chase. “It’s proof that we’re not just being overly sensitive—it’s a fact that we’re often dismissed, a huge obstacle in trying to be heard and understood. It’s a call to action and education. These women aren’t just patients dealing with Triple Negative—they’re Black women. That extra layer of identity brings a whole set of unique challenges during treatment, making a real impact on their experience with diagnosis and care.”

Gilead: More than Medicine is part of a paid year-long collaboration between Gilead Sciences and the Los Angeles Blade

By Donovan Harris | WASHINGTON – There is something powerful about embracing our shared humanity. 

For leaders and activists in HIV care and prevention, that is the message they are working hard to spread in the fight against HIV-related stigma.

“I’m stunned that some of the same stigma that we experienced in the early days of the epidemic continues to persist and are so pervasive across society,” said José Zuniga, president/CEO of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC). 

Zuniga was open about his experiences as a Gay, Latino man, sharing that he is no stranger to the deep-rooted stigma millions of others in the LGBTQ+ community experience. 

“I clearly understand the stigma that comes with people judging us based on our sexual orientation,” he said. “There’s a self-stigma, the self-labeling and the [fear] of feeling unworthy or being othered.”

Zuniga expressed that he is disheartened that HIV-related stigma extends to some healthcare settings, causing many people to delay essential, life-saving care. “It only takes one person within the healthcare system to stigmatize you before you hesitate to do what should be done to mitigate your risk, either becoming HIV positive or progressing to AIDS if you’re newly diagnosed with HIV,” he said. 

According to UNAIDS, people living with HIV who perceive high levels of HIV-related stigma are 2.4 times more likely to delay enrollment in care until they are very ill. 

However, there has been progress globally to reduce stigma and provide greater access to HIV care. In a recent UNAIDS report, researchers found there is a clear path to ending AIDS by 2030. Botswana, Eswatini, Rwanda, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe have already achieved the “95-95-95” targets. 

The goal is for 95% of all people living with HIV to know their HIV status, 95% of people diagnosed with HIV infection to receive antiretroviral treatment and 95% of people who are being treated are virally suppressed by 2025.  

While we have seen notable strides over the years, Zuniga said more work must be done to reduce HIV-related stigma globally. 

That is why he is proud of the work done to launch the inaugural Zero HIV Stigma Day on July 21, 2023. The day was chosen to honor Prudence Nobantu Mabele, the first South African woman to disclose her HIV status in 1992. 

“There was no awareness day singularly focused on stigma,” Zuniga said. “There certainly is one [day] around discrimination, but discrimination is really an outcome of stigma.”

Zero HIV Stigma Day was announced in 2022 as a collaboration between the IAPAC, a UK-based sexual health charity called NAZ, the Global HIV Collaborative and the Fast-Track Cities Institute. 

Gilead Sciences also stepped in to amplify the important work Zuniga and his team are doing to end stigma on Zero HIV Stigma Day and throughout the year. 

Through a grant from Gilead, Zuniga said his organization was able to implement one of the first medical education programs for primary care providers around “Undetectable=Untransmittable” which means a person cannot pass HIV through sex when they have undetectable levels of HIV.

He also said the pharmaceutical company was an early supporter of the Fast-Track Cities Institute and has helped reduce HIV-related stigma by providing resources and education through their COMPASS Initiative®, a 10 year, more than $100 million commitment to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic across the U.S. South.

“This is serious work and not something that any entity takes lightly,” Zuniga said. 

This year’s Zero HIV Stigma Day theme is “Human First” to emphasize the humanity of people living with and affected by HIV. 

“Pushing this human first message to us is critical because of course, the H in HIV stands for human,” Zuniga said. “I think we can repair the very frayed level of connectivity between us because we share a common humanity.”

Gilead: More than Medicine is part of a paid year-long collaboration between Gilead Sciences and the Los Angeles Blade

RIDGELAND, MS – Twenty years ago, Mississippi-based Dr. June Gipson was contacted by researchers who  were conducting a study of Black men living with HIV over the age of 45 in Mississippi. They wanted a list of subjects with whom to talk. It should have been an easy assignment.

It wasn’t. There weren’t enough people to talk to. Vast numbers of Black men living with HIV in the state had died.

Decades later, thanks to missions like Dr. Gipson’s, improved medicines, and more knowledgeable wellness, that is no longer the case. There is a growing population who are living and aging with HIV. 

“Essentially what My Brother’s Keeper does is training: we teach others what we do, we teach others how to sustain. We teach others how to work within the environment to be successful, “ Dr. Gipson told me.

Today, people living with HIV routinely live into their 50s, 60s, and beyond, but they still have needs that extend beyond the HIV challenges themselves. Especially in rural areas, there is isolation, stigma and poor mental health environments. Dr. Gipson leads an organization to give them resources and a deeper sense of wellness than they have ever imagined.

Dr. Gipson is the President and CEO of My Brother’s Keeper in Ridgeland, Mississippi. My Brother’s Keeper has expanded its service range into the clinical arena with the establishment of Mississippi’s first LGBTI primary healthcare clinic, Open Arms Healthcare Center. With a background that spans criminal justice and education in addition to healthcare, Dr. Gipson is a formidable leader and evangelist in creating effective and available healthcare in rural and marginalized communities. Her organizations not only provide services to such communities, they teach other organizations how to do the same. With a new grant from Gilead’s Zeroing In™ program — which aims to support organizations working to increase the overall health and wellness of communities most impacted by the HIV epidemic — they have been tapped to provide technical assistance and capacity building to other organizations.

Dr. Gipson’s advice to other organizations following the My Brothers Keeper/Open Arms model? “Just do it. When someone goes into the healthcare arena as a community-based organization, there’s a level of fear but… you’re going to have to just do it. You’re not going to have all the answers in the beginning. You will learn things along the way, but you do have to get started,” she says.

My Brothers Keeper and the Open Arms Healthcare center work synergistically to provide services to the community with an emphasis on the particular needs of LGBTQ individuals. “We have a wonderful avenue to not just do the work, not just teach others how to do the work, but to combine these things into real life lessons. We are the epitome of what community-based programs can become.” Dr. Gipson is in a constant state of continuous improvement. She is embarking on research with organizations in London and Australia to perfect best practices to reach out in underserved communities.

She acknowledges that such communities, especially the one she has served in Mississippi, are difficult to reach because accurate healthcare education is actively discouraged. “I think that the fact that we lack so much education around reproductive health and sex ed puts us at a complete disadvantage. The system is still talking about abstinence, which is not effective. We’re still bringing up abstinence when we have some of the highest HIV rates and some of the highest STI rates.” 

Gilead is determined to make a difference. “We go where the need is greatest,” is a phrase they use frequently.

In this case, that “where” is in rural areas in the United States. These communities face disproportionate challenges in accessing HIV and other healthcare services caused by a shortage of local doctors, poverty, and remote locations. The patient-to- primary care physician ratio in rural areas is only 39.8 physicians per 100,000 people, compared to 53.3 physicians per 100,000 in urban areas. Additionally, 59% of the decline in the number of US community hospitals between 2015 and 2019 were rural hospitals and 47% of rural hospitals have 25 or fewer staffed beds. Seven states have a disproportionately high number of HIV diagnoses in rural areas: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and South Carolina. In the U.S. South, 23% of new HIV cases happened in rural areas, and for late-stage diagnosis, the percentage for Black people was higher than in urban or metropolitan areas.

That was consistent with the fact that Black, Latino, Native American, and other minority groups residing in rural regions have higher than average rates of HIV.

In March, Gilead Sciences announced $3 million in grant funding to eight organizations through the Zeroing In grant program, including My Brother’s Keeper, to provide services to communities disproportionately impacted by HIV in rural areas in the United States. Darwin Thompson, Director of Public Affairs at Gilead Sciences stated at the announcement, “Our Zeroing In rural grants are helping organizations expand their testing programs, provide remote communities with access to necessary resources and fight ongoing stigma by promoting a culture of compassion and inclusion. We know it takes more than medicine to end the HIV epidemic for everyone everywhere. By supporting these organizations, we’re increasing their capacity to educate communities, change perceptions and provide critical access to healthcare where it’s needed most.”

Dr. Gipson and other leaders were selected for investment due to their strategic, community-driven approaches toward dismantling systemic barriers that prevent people in rural communities from accessing quality HIV testing and treatment.  

“The funding from Gilead was a gamechanger. What Gilead gave us was the needed startup funds to be able to do this work. I remember opening my clinic. I remember, it was literally $8,000 that was separating me from opening.  There were expenses for exam beds, cotton balls. Band-Aids – simple things that should not impede someone from starting a new business, but those were the pieces that held me back,” Dr. Gipson says of the Zeroing In project. 

The project is designed to bring healthcare equity and stop HIV devastation in all venues. While HIV is prevalent in both urban and rural communities in the United States, resources are heavily concentrated in urban centers, and lack of public health infrastructure and heightened stigma in rural communities create barriers of access to necessary care. 

As Dr. Gipson points out, Gilead and Zeroing In are dedicated to changing the game. My Brother’s Keeper and its sister grantees are literally keeping their fingers on the pulse of people living with HIV with dedication and determination.

Gilead is equally determined to see them succeed with wellness and health for all.

Gilead: More than Medicine is part of a paid year-long collaboration between Gilead Sciences and the Los Angeles Blade