I Know Concert Series
Here's some info:
Background
With the assistance of friends, donors and grants, our team will be able to produce the fourth annual HIV Awareness “iKnow” Concert Series successfully. This was a pair of HIV-focused international music festivals held in Lira and Kabale, Uganda held on September 10 and September 17, 2016 respectively. We met and exceeded nearly every program goal we had:
• Our goal has been to have 5,000 people come to each event. Instead, 14,000 people attended the festival in Lira, and 12,000 attended the festival in Kabale – an unprecedented total of 26,000 people, making it the largest free concert in Uganda.
• Our goal was to distribute 15,000 condoms; Instead 150,000 condoms were distributed, including 5,000 female condoms. Classes were held on site demonstrating proper condom use throughout the day in a variety of local languages including Ruchiga, Langi Luo, and Luganda.
• Our goal was to break our previous record of 1,216 and test 2,000 people. Instead, we tested 4,588 people (2,104 in Lira and 2,484 in Kabale) for free! All those who tested positive were immediately connected to free medical care and counseling. To put these numbers into perspective, the World Health Organization, USAID, and UNAIDS have never come close to these numbers in any of their initiatives in Uganda or anywhere else. In fact, the current world record according to Guinness is 3,383 HIV tests in a single day at one location. We believe we can beat this record within the next two years in Uganda.
• Our goal was to have at least 100 artists perform. We had performances by 126 artists from the Belgium, Rwanda, Uganda, and the US (including 4 musicians from New Orleans)
• Our goal was to expand health services offered on the festival grounds. 360 people donated blood – each unit also being tested for Hepatitis and HIV, and enough for over 1,000 transfusions. Local health organizations also set up a surgical tent behind the HIV testing tents and conducted ON SITE:
• 33 cervical cancer screenings
• 31 IUD implants
• 2 vasectomies
• 2 tubal ligations
2017 Concert Series
Due to the extraordinary demand, we have been asked to return to Uganda again this year and expand our initiative into a third city, Masaka in central Uganda. The HIV prevalence rate in this region is in excess of 10.7%, and yet less than a fifth of people who are HIV+ know their status. Goals for this year include:
• Bring 10 musicians from Nashville and New Orleans to Uganda and perform concerts in Lira, Masaka, and Kabale on September 9, 13, and 16 respectively.
• Test over 6,000 people for HIV, plugging those who test positive into a lifetime of care,
• Provide dozens of additional health services focusing particularly on women;
• Attract audience of at least 12,000 people in each city.
• Between our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, local and national radio, print media, and international TV outlets, our media presence already reaches nearly 5 million people. This year we expect to top ten million.
Request
An initiative of this size requires enormous resources; this year our budget exceeds $100,000. We are happy to report that as of March 31, 2017 we have managed to raise over half of the funds necessary to produce this series.
It is important to note that your contribution doesn’t just help people on the other side of the planet. New Orleans and Nashville artists who take part in the series are enriched for life; culturally, artistically, and professionally. Not many local artists have ever had the opportunity to leave the country, let alone take three weeks out of their performance schedules to participate in public health outreach in equatorial Africa! If you would like to keep the focus of any potential contribution more local, then we invite you to consider sponsoring one of our musicians’ airfare to Africa in part or in whole.
Our team is grateful to you for your interest in the HIV Awareness iKnow Concert Series. Any support you could offer to leverage our efforts is most appreciated and will guide us in achieving our goals for 2017. If you would like any additional information, please feel free to contact us directly.
Sincerely,
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Jamie Van Leeuwen, PhD Andrew Ward, PhD Tom Larson
Founder & CEO Founder & Chairman Musical Director
Global Livingston Institute iKnow Concert Series I Know Concert Series
Jamie@globallivingston.org andrew@globallivingston.org Tom@Tomlarson.com
**RHU testing tents offering privacy and sterility
Screening tent for cervical cancer and where 35 surgical procedures were conducted
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