International Women's Day Webinar with OHMM Focuses on the Incarceration of Women Living with HIV

On March 8, for International Women's Day, Amir Sadeghi, National Policy and Partner Strategist for The Center for HIV Law and Policy and Naimah O'Neal, Medical Social Worker for Circle Health Service, team up to discuss what they are seeing in their day to day work life - rising numbers of women incarcerated for crimes related to their HIV status. What is behind this trend? What is happening to the women and their families? 

 

Naimah O'Neal is a Social Worker new to Circle Health Service. She came from the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland and has over eleven years of experience with a long history of serving and advocating for people living with HIV/AIDS. She has been an active member of the Cleveland TGA Part A Ryan White Planning Council since 2006. She is currently a Co-chair of the Community Liaison Committee (CLC), where she leads by example, volunteering to serve on other committees, coordinating initiatives to recruit and engage new members, especially PLWHA and bringing new ideas to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS.

 

Amir Sadeghi is a policy strategist and advocate who analyses the scope of criminal laws that target and discriminate against people living with HIV, viral hepatitis, and other stigmatized diseases. He works to build community influence on dismantling carceral responses to public health issues and reduce contact between marginalized communities and the criminal legal system. He is passionate about amplifying intersectional movements and creating dynamic conversations. Amir holds an MA in Philosophy from The New School, and a BA in Philosophy from The University of Central Florida.