Fraying at the edges – The Coast

Former member say that in its effort to plan for the future, the AIDS Coalition of Nova Scotia is forgetting about the HIV-positive people it’s supposed to serve.

There were more people at the zombie walk last year than the AIDS walk. Dressed in tattered costumes and gruesome make-up, over 100 people shambled around the downtown on September 25. Meanwhile, on the very same day at the Central Common, about 90 people (including sponsors and media) gathered together wearing red-pinned ribbons for the AIDS Coalition of Nova Scotia’s annual Walk for Life.

It’s a sharp decline from 2007, when the AIDS walk attracted roughly 600 participants. But a lot has changed over the last decade. New regulations on government money have kneecapped AIDS organizations across the country at the same time that fundraising efforts are drying up. The AIDS crisis that brought people together in decades past has turned into a chronic health issue, and public stigma about the disease has largely been replaced by ambivalence.

Read More: http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/fraying-at-the-edges/Content?oid=6609394