Today is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NWGHAAD).
Every 35 minutes, a woman tests positive for HIV in the US. It's time to focus on how to address the needs of women and children. In order to explain this clearly, Debra Fraser-Howze wrote an opinion editorial about the significance of this day and the impact of HIV on women. She will be at the National Press Club in Northwest today from 12 noon- 5 pm for a press conference and luncheon.
The HIV/AIDS crisis impacts every segment of the U.S. population, but since 1985 the proportion of estimated AIDS cases diagnosed among women has more than tripled, from 8 percent in 1985 to 27 percent in 2005. Worldwide, HIV is a heterosexual epidemic and half of the estimated 33.4 million people living with HIV are women. In fact, if new HIV infections continue at their current rate worldwide, women with HIV may soon outnumber men with HIV. Women of color continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS is a leading cause of death for both African American and Hispanic women ages 25-34 and 35-44, and the third leading cause of death among women behind cancer and heart disease. African American women are 15 times more likely to acquire HIV infections compared to white women – clearly indicative of an alarming racial disparity among those infected with the disease.
The reasons are not all directly related to race or ethnicity, but also include sexism, poverty, sexually transmitted infections, stigma, negative attitudes, beliefs, and actions directed at people living with HIV/AIDS. In 2006, 72 percent of women living with HIV were infected through heterosexual contact. As an African American woman, this fact hits very close to home for me. The time has come for women and girls to change the course of this epidemic.
Even more alarming than these numbers is the fact that there are even more women and girls who do not know their HIV status and are potentially spreading the virus unknowingly. It is imperative for people to get tested and learn their status so that HIV positive women can be empowered to both change their behavior to protect others and get the treatment and counseling they need to live long, healthy lives.
March 10th is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Day (NWGHAAD). Now in its fifth year, NWGHAAD is a nationwide initiative coordinated by the Office on Women’s Health (OWH) to raise awareness of the increasing impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls. It serves as an opportunity for organizations across the country to come together to offer support, encourage discussion, and educate women and girls about prevention, the importance of getting tested, and how to lead a normal, healthy life despite being infected.
It is said that somewhere between heaven and earth is a place called hope. It is my hope that fathers will take this opportunity to talk with their daughters, sons to their single mothers, uncles to their college-aged nieces, and that worldwide all men will tell the women they love to get tested.
Testing is the very first step in stemming the spread of the HIV epidemic. And in honor of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Day, I am also writing to urge all women and girls to get tested. It is time for us to come together and openly address this issue that is affecting so many women and girls throughout this nation and around the world.
----------------------------
Debra Y. Fraser-Howze is the Founder of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, the oldest and largest not-for-profit organization in the country dedicated to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the African American Community. She advised two U.S. Presidents while serving on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS from 1995-2001. Ms. Fraser-Howze is the Vice President of Government and External Affairs at OraSure Technologies.
Note to Readers: Residents can call or visit /www.hivtest.org to get a complete listing of locations offering free testing today and beyond.
Comments