The Well Project feels very fortunate to work with such a truly amazing community of women. As an integral part of this community, our A Girl Like Me bloggers represent the best of what the blogosphere has to offer, sharing deeply personal insights into their experiences living with HIV, and helping so many across the globe to feel less alone and more empowered to live positively with HIV.

This month, we wanted to highlight one woman who has worked tirelessly to advance knowledge about women and HIV and help dispel myths and stigma about the disease. Maria Mejia is an internationally known activist and educator, as well as an avid blogger for A Girl Like Me and a member of The Well Project's community advisory board.

Guillermo Chacon, Executive Director of Latino Commission on AIDS; Maria Mejia, Recipient of the Dennis de Leon Award; Miriam Vega, PhD, Vice President of Latino Commission on AIDS; and Ally Sheedy, Actor

This month has been a very momentous one for Maria. She married her long-time partner Lisa, published her book, "From a Warrior's Passion and Pain," and received the Latino Commission on AIDS' Dennis De Leon Voz de Compromiso Award. The Latino Commission on AIDS and Maria were generous enough to invite Krista Martel, The Well Project's executive director, to accompany her to the illustrious Cielo gala, allowing Krista to witness this momentous occasion firsthand.

We have taken this opportunity to feature a spotlight interview we conducted with Maria on our website, which you can read by clicking here. We are so very proud of Maria and privileged to call her a member of The Well Project family!

Read more about Maria and all of her recent achievements!

Please read Maria's most recent blog, "My Marriage and Very Important Dennis De Leon Voz de Compromiso Award" about all of the exciting events described above.

As she says in her interview, "I believe marriage is a human and civil right and we just wanted to feel equal to everyone else. The legal aspect was also very important to us -- we never know what may happen and we want to be prepared. We are more committed than ever and it feels good to finally be able to say, 'Lisa, my beautiful wife'."  

Did you know that almost half of the more than 1,700 Truvada prescriptions written for PrEP in the United States between January 2011 and March 2013 were for women? However, most of the media coverage and debates around PrEP use focuses on men who have sex with men (MSM), with the exception of HIV and conception. PrEP is only one of two female-driven prevention methods currently available, and is an important tool for women and girls.

The Well Project would like to highlight stories about PrEP among women and girls by inviting our users to share their experiences. We believe it is important to share this information, including:

• Why women are choosing to use PrEP
• How women are learning about PrEP
• Women's overall experiences using PrEP, including other safer sex measures use when taking PrEP (if any)

We would also like to hear from providers who prescribe PrEP to women, and/or discuss the use of PrEP with women, including women's reception to the idea of its use in preventing HIV.

If you know a woman using PrEP or a health care provider who prescribes PrEP to women, and would be willing to share those experiences, please send an email to [email protected] by June 19, 2014. All names/personal details will be kept confidential if requested. For more information about PrEP for women, please click here.

Not yet a member of The Well Project online community? Sign up here! Once you are a member, we invite you to join/post to some of the public groups including HIV News, Call to Action, HIV Events/Conferences, and many more.

We also encourage organizations and individuals to create groups, which can help spread the word about the work you are doing or facilitate communication around a certain geographic area, topic or language. You can also post questions in our online forums.

We look forward to hearing from you!

• HIV is Not a Crime: National Conference on HIV Criminalization, June 2-5, 2014; Grinnell College, Iowa
• White House Office of National AIDS Policy Listening Session, June 3, 2014; Columbia, SC
• National Caribbean American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, June 8, 2014; United States
• National HIV Testing Day, June 27, 2014; United States 
• Supporting Children Affected by Parental Co-Occurring Disorders: Substance Abuse, Mental Illness, HIV (National AIA Resource Center), June 30-July 2, 2014; Seattle, WA  
• 20th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014), July 20-25, 2014; Melbourne, Australia 
• Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC 2014),  September 5-9, 2014; Washington, DC
• SPEAK UP! A National Leadership Summit for Women Living with HIV (PWN-USA), September 17-19, 2014; Ft. Walton, FL
• National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day, September 18, 2014; United States

Become a member of our website, and add your event/conference to our to our HIV Events/Conferences Group! 

www.thewellproject.org 

The Well Project's mission is to change the course of this HIV/AIDS pandemic with a unique and comprehensive focus on women through our web portals, A Girl Like Me blog, social media outlets and Women's Research Initiative on HIV/AIDS.

Donate to The Well Project