Welcome to WORLD:
An Information & Support Network By, For and About Women with HIV/AIDS

• WORLD Newsletter: 122 issues to date. This quarterly, 8-page newsletter with over 12,000 readers in over 85 countries has published personal stories of over 300 women living with HIV, in addition to treatment updates, resources, and other information about living with HIV.



• HIV University: Over 100 local graduates, and 40 pilot programs nationwide. This 12-week AIDS treatment education school was developed by and for women with HIV to learn about treatments and living with HIV. Over 90% of enrolees have been women of color who take what they learn back to their communities.



• Peer Advocates: Women from WORLD do outreach to HIV-positive women and men in Oakland and Berkeley to link them to health care and services (housing, substance abuse treatment, etc.) and to provide one-on-one peer support and treatment education.



• Perinatal Peer Advocacy: WORLD provides peer counseling and education, distributes an informational pregnancy packet to HIV+ women seeking resources on pregnancy and perinatal issues. WORLD has provided consultation to the NIH, CDC & Institute of Medicine on issues connected to pregnancy and HIV.



• Latina Initiative: WORLD—ë full-time bilingual Latina Peer Advocate provides peer support, education and advocacy as part of a collaborative Latina Initiative with the Family Care Network.



• AIDS Resource Library with Internet access for clients: Free AIDS literature in English and Spanish, resource guides, brochures, community bulletin boards, videos, and materials on women and AIDS.



• Retreats for HIV+ women: 25 in 10 years. Each 3-day retreat provides 50 women with treatment education workshops, stress management, and support groups. Participants have come from California (most), Texas, Alaska, Florida, New York, New Mexico, Washington, Wisconsin, Missouri, North Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, Oregon, Nevada, Tennessee, Israel and Africa.



• Information and referrals: averaging 60 calls or more per day for six years. WORLD provides peer support, information and referrals to HIV+ women, families, and service providers. For some who are isolated, WORLD is their only contact with other HIV+ women.
  
  
• Speakers Bureau: Educating others locally, nationally and internationally. Via WORLD, over 70 women with HIV have educated the public about AIDS issues at conferences, schools, churches, media (local, national and international newspapers, magazines and television), and in several videos, and on local, national and international television. Founder Rebecca Denison has presented throughout the U.S. and in Geneva, Japan, Vancouver and South Africa.



• Outreach to Prisoners with HIV/AIDS: WORLD provides free subscriptions and printed treatment information to HIV+ prisoners nationwide, does visitation and advocacy for women prisoners in Chowchilla, and provides peer support to HIV+ prisoners released to our community.



• Advocacy: Women from WORLD advocate for their communities on boards, CABs, committees, Ryan White Planning Councils, conference planning groups, and the Women—ë Interagency HIV Study. WORLD also conducted a consumer needs assessment of 170 HIV+ women.



• Collaborations: WORLD has a strong history of collaboration with a variety of organizations: As a sponsored agency of the Family Care Network, WORLD provides peer education and counseling. HIV University and retreats have involved over 200 providers from over 40 Bay Area agencies. In addition, WORLD has collaborated with many agencies to co-sponsor events, trainings and forums.