Anderson Center to host screening of film ‘Yesterday’ on March 8

The Anderson Gender Resource Center’s Project WISE (Women's Issues and Sexual Empowerment) at Idaho State University invites the public to a National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day screening of "Yesterday," a film about an HIV positive woman living in Africa.

The event is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. March 8 in the Salmon River Suite of ISU Pond Student Union.

Following the screening will be an open panel discussion led by local HIV/AIDS educators and experts including Rick Pongratz, ISU Counseling and Testing; Dave Hachey, ISU Kasiska College of Health Professions; and Elizabeth Kusko, Project WISE Coordinator. The panelists will discuss protection strategies, personal risk factors and what to expect when receiving various forms of tests. Free condoms, lubricant and educational handouts will also be available.

The event is free and open to all who are interested in learning more about HIV/AIDS and its impact on women and girls.

Written and directed by South African filmmaker Daryl James Roodt, "Yesterday" has received recognition worldwide. The film is billed as a moving and heartfelt portrait of a young, devoted mother named Yesterday, who learns that she is HIV positive and remains determined to stay alive until her young daughter Beauty is old enough to go off to school. Her husband is also stricken with AIDS, and Yesterday cares for him even as her family is ostracized by fearful neighbors in their tiny Zulu village.

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is a nationwide initiative to raise awareness of the increasing impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls. Families, health organizations, businesses, communities and individuals come together to offer support, encourage discussion and educate women and girls about practicing safer sex methods and the importance of discussing both HIV/AIDS and the decision to get tested.

Funding for the screening of "Yesterday" was made possible in part by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's Office on Women's Health. The views expressed in written materials or publications and by speakers and moderators at HHS-sponsored conferences do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does the mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. government. The Anderson Center received funding for this event through a competitive proposal submission.

Every 35 minutes, a woman tests positive for HIV in the United States, according to the Anderson Center. More and more women have become infected with HIV since it was first reported in the early 1980s. Today, about 25 percent of Americans who are living with the disease are women. In Idaho, only 35.2 percent of women have ever been tested for HIV/AIDS, which ranks the state eighth lowest in the nation.

The ISU Anderson Center serves as the focal point on campus for the consideration of gender issues. In its efforts, the center is especially guided by the ideal of diversity, which allows it to envision a future free of the limitations imposed by our culture's standard definitions of gender and other categories of difference.

More information about this event or the Anderson Center is available by contacting Rebecca Morrow, 282-2805.

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