On Thursday, December 1, 2022, the Cooper Infectious Disease and Early Intervention Program and Addiction Medicine/Center for Healing will collaborate with the Camden County Police Department and other community partners and stakeholders to commemorate World AIDS Day with a community memorial walk, interfaith memorial service, and health fair in Camden. Please join the teams and walk the streets to honor those we have lost to HIV/AIDS, and to raise awareness for HIV/AIDS and comorbidities including substance use disorder. All are welcome.
Memorial Walk:
Thursday, December 1, 2022, at 11 a.m.
Camden County Police Department Headquarters
800 Federal Street
Camden, NJ 08103
Interfaith Memorial Service:
Thursday, December 1, 2022, from noon to 1 p.m.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
422 Market Street
Camden, NJ 08103
Community Health Fair:
Thursday, December 1, 2022, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
422 Market Street
Camden, NJ 08103
*Labcorp will be on site at the health fair to offer free testing services.
For more information about these events, please contact Tonya Shorter, Clinical Navigator, Cooper Infectious Disease and Early Intervention Program, at shorter-tonya@cooperhealth.edu or 856.342.3348.
Important Clinical Terms:
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV/AIDS): HIV weakens a person’s immune system by destroying cells that combat disease and infection. While there is currently no effective cure for HIV, it can be controlled with proper medical care.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP): PrEP is a medication that people who are at risk for HIV can take to help prevent getting HIV from sex or injection drug use. PrEP, when taken as prescribed, is proven highly effective in HIV prevention.
Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP): PEP is a medication taken to prevent HIV after a possible exposure during sex, injection drug use, or sexual assault. It should be used in emergency situations only and must be taken within 72 hours after a recent possible exposure to HIV.
Antiretroviral therapy (ART): ART is medication recommended for all people living with HIV (regardless of CD4 cell count), to continually suppress viral load, maintain high CD4 cell counts, prevent AIDS, and reduce risk of transmitting HIV to others.
Injection drug use (IDU): The overdose crisis—both on a statewide and national level—has also brought to light an increased and ongoing incidence of blood-borne infections, from HIV to viral hepatitis to bacterial infections. These infections are primarily borne from contaminated drug injection equipment and low vaccination rates among at-risk populations.
Substance use disorder (SUD): People can be diagnosed with a specific type of SUD based on the primary substance that they are experiencing issues with, such as opioid use disorder (OUD) or stimulant use disorder. Many patients with SUD experience issues with multiple substances (polysubstance use disorder).
Medication for addiction treatment (MAT): FDA-approved medications can be used to safely and effectively treat OUD, and alcohol use disorder. MAT is clinically effective to help manage cravings and withdrawal, leading to long-term recovery.
Support Available Through Cooper:
- For more information about the Cooper Center for Healing, click here.
- For information about Cooper’s Division of Infectious Diseases and Early Intervention Program, click here.
- For substance dependence and SUD inpatient treatment information, click here.
