I am interested in becoming an HIV/AIDS activist .How do I begin?

I live in Philadelphia and would like to become a voice in the fight against AIDS.

Hi Bob.
I first want to commend you for your nobel gesture.
Contrary to other people who might try to convince you that you should probably abandon the Idea because " AIDS does not exist to them", I think you are on the right track. I dont know a lot about Philly bu t i know that the start is with a Volunteers' organization near you. This will help you understand better the inner workings of the AIDS community and you will learn how to request for grants and funds.
Most importantly it will give you first hand experience with People Living with HIV and AIDS. (Its an experience that might totally change your life).

I was running a volunteers AIDS clinic in Africa (Uganda) for a couple of years and I would suggest that if you have the resources, you should travel to Africa for a couple of months. ( The Marine corps have a part for this kind of experience. You can also check out the VSO canada website http://www.vsocanada.org which also pays you).

There are also other ways you can help like helping in Washington to lobby for funds for AIDS organizations, or lobbying with pharmaceutical companies to make AIDS drugs free to all or subsidize the market.

Philly has a lot of community-based organizations that advocate for the Poz community. One that I found was FIGHT http://www.fight.org Volunteering with an organization is a good start. They will teach you a lot.

I see you want to start an organization of your own. While that's a noble intention, it's difficult ot start a new org. It's better to sign on with an established organization whose goals are in line with your own. They are often better funded (funding is hard!) and have more political clout, meaning you can accomplish more in terms of interventions and policy.

PROF SAM: This question was about community involvement and advocacy and had little to do with the nature of AIDS and HIV at all. If YOU want BOB to join your side of the debate, you could've described how your side gets involved in the community and the roles you play as an organization outside of Y!A

You can start right here, and similar sites on the web.

If you search for questions with HIV or AIDS as a keyword, you find that a majority of the questions asked in the past month have been SPAMed by Paul King (AKA pk_dag), Prof Sam, and a few other people who came here from the MSN Dissident Action group to convince schoolchildren that HIV does not exist, and that condoms are dangerous.

The best we can do to fight the pandemic, until save, affordable and effective vaccines are available is to educate people about HIV. If you do not get infected, you do not need a cure, or expensive treatments.

Paul King and other so-called "dissidents" deny that any solid research has been done on the link between HIV and AIDS. They are wrong, but insist on "educating" the public that their false beliefs are the "truth". They have had small impacts in the USA so far, but have done enormous damage in South Africa.

Well, your position on the science of 'HIV/AIDS' will determine what sort of AIDS activist you become... You can become an AIDS Apologist activist and oppose the health and human rights of consumers to be fully informed in their consent or dissent on a life and love-altering matter. AIDS Dissenters or Dissidents like me are providing AIDS alternative health and dissenting scientific resources and information to the consumer, standing in 'HIV' testing lines outside of clinics or festivals, sometimes using guerilla tactics posting on AIDS Apologist websites, etc. since we do not have the multi-million dollar budgets of the AIDS Industry. We think it's worth it to fight for lives and loves, since that is what is 'at risk' here, Bob. If you're open to questioning the 'HIV/AIDS' theory or model, you can have an important voice, in empowering the consumer with both sides of the story. Afterall, people are making life and love-altering decisions based on the 'HIV' test and 'AIDS' diagnosis, so they have to be certain they are valid or meaningful medical markers, right? AIDS Dissidents do not tell people what to think or do. However, the AIDS Apologists oppose these basic health and human rights and feel they should decide in behalf of others; what information and resources to withold from the consumer.

Did you know, hundreds of scientists, doctors including Nobel Laureates and Members of the National Academy of Sciences and thousands of journalists, academics, consumers and advocates around the world, are raising critical questions about everything we thought we knew about 'HIV' and 'AIDS?'