Across North Carolina, Latinos in the South had the opportunity to partner with Lambda Pi Chi Sorority, Incorporated chapters through the Ella/Her program to create spaces for honest conversations about HIV, stigma, sexual wellness, and community care.
Over the past year, we’ve joined hermanas at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, High Point University, North Carolina State University, Davidson College, and Western Carolina University for events centered on HIV awareness and sexual health education. Together, we’ve hosted conversations that go beyond statistics and fear-based messaging to focus on what young women actually need– information they can use, space to ask real questions, and connection to resources to help them make decisions without shame.
These conversations have covered topics like HIV stigma, prevention tools including PrEP and PEP, and the practical steps women can take to take control of their sexual wellness. Just as importantly, they’ve created opportunities for students to speak openly about the pressures, misinformation, and barriers many young women face when trying to access care and advocate for themselves.
For many Black and Latina women in the South, conversations about sexual health are still shaped by stigma, silence, cultural expectations, and unequal access to healthcare. Despite advancements in HIV prevention, Black and Latina women continue to experience disproportionate HIV rates. According to the CDC, only 8% of PrEP users are women, despite women accounting for 18% of new HIV diagnoses. HIV-related mortality rates are also 15 times higher for Black women and four times higher for Latina women than for white women.
Latina women also continue to face barriers including lack of information about PrEP, stigma around sexual health, language barriers, and healthcare systems that are often difficult to access and navigate.
Ella/Her was created to help change that.
Originally launched in 2022 by the Latino Commission on AIDS, North Carolina AIDS Action Network, and Southern AIDS Coalition, Ella/Her centers Black and Latina women in the fight to end the HIV epidemic by increasing awareness, advocacy, and access to prevention and care with the support of Viiv Healthcare. The strong coalition that launched this project embodies how relationships are at the heart of Ella/Her.
That focus on relationship-building has also shaped our work with Lambda Pi Chi chapters across North Carolina. Beyond hosting conversations on HIV awareness and sexual wellness, we’ve worked to connect students with local organizations already serving communities impacted by HIV. At Davidson College, we partnered with Mecklenburg County Health Department and RAIN, Inc. to help connect students to local HIV and sexual health resources, including PrEP navigation services.
At Western Carolina University, the hermanas organized a 5K fundraiser benefiting the Latino Commission on AIDS and exceeded their fundraising goal. Through the event, students also partnered with the Western North Carolina AIDS Project to provide HIV testing on campus and assembled hygiene kits for WNCAP to distribute through its food pantry and community programs.
Creating connections between young leaders and local HIV organizations is an important part of this work. It helps students better understand the realities communities are facing while strengthening long-term relationships rooted in care, advocacy, and mutual support. That has also included helping students explore what advocacy can look like in practice. At North Carolina State University, the hermanas wrote letters to legislators urging them to fund HIV prevention and healthcare access.
At every campus, we’ve seen the same thing– young women eager for honest conversations and ready to support one another, and their community.
In a moment where sexual and reproductive healthcare, immigrant rights, and access to accurate public health information are increasingly under attack, helping young women gain the confidence to speak up for themselves and others is more important than ever.
We are deeply grateful to the hermanas of Lambda Pi Chi for welcoming us into these spaces and for their leadership on campus.
Learn more at ellaher.org
