Please remember that today is Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. As a community it is important for us to arm ourselves with accurate information on HIV and AIDS and how our people are being affected. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly half of all new infections are in African-Americans, who make up just 13 percent of the population. On average, African-Americans are less likely to be tested for HIV, less likely to get treatment and don’t live as long if they are infected with HIV.
In another report from the Black AIDS Institute, if black Americans made up their own country, it would rank above Ethiopia (420,000 to 1,300,000) and below Ivory Coast (750,000) in HIV population. Both Ethiopia and the Ivory Coast are among the 15 nations receiving funds from the President’s Emergency Plan For Aids Relief. The United States has given about $15 billion to PEPFAR nations in the past five years.
Black and Hispanic communities have been disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS in America. In total, more AIDS cases have been diagnosed among black people than among whites. According to the latest statistics from AVERT, an international AIDS charity, among black people living with AIDS, male-to-male sexual contact, high-risk heterosexual contact and injection drug use each account for around 30% of infections. AIDS remains the leading cause of death among black women between ages 25 and 34. It’s the second-leading cause of death in black men 35-44.
According to CDC researchers, most HIV infections – for every ethnic group – occur within a two-person relationship. This is especially true among African-American women. Knowledge is power and right now we lack little of both. It is time to educate ourselves and take responsibility for educating our communities.
Education is an important factor in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS.
There are three main reasons for AIDS education:
- To prevent new infections from taking placeThis can be seen as consisting of two processes: firstly, giving people information about HIV and AIDS, such as how they are transmitted and how people can protect themselves from infection. Secondly, people must be taught how to put this information to use and act on it practically – how to get and use condoms, how to suggest and practice safer sex, how to prevent infection in a medical environment or when injecting drugs.
- To improve quality of life for HIV positive peopleToo often, AIDS education is seen as being something which should be targeted only at people who are not infected with HIV in order to prevent them from becoming infected. When AIDS education with HIV positive people is considered at all it is frequently seen only in terms of preventing new infections by teaching HIV+ people about the importance of not passing on the virus. An important and commonly-neglected aspect of AIDS education with HIV positive people is enabling and empowering them to improve their quality of life. HIV positive people have varying educational needs, but among them are the need to be able to access medical services and drug provision and the need to be able to find appropriate emotional and practical support and help.
- To reduce stigma and discriminationIn many countries there is a great deal of fear and stigmatisation of people who are HIV positive. This fear is too often accompanied by ignorance, resentment and ultimately, anger. Many families have been forced to leave their homes across the United States when neighbors discover a family-member’s positive status. Discrimination against positive people can help the AIDS epidemic to spread, because if people are fearful of being tested for HIV, then they are more likely to pass the infection to someone else without knowing.
To find an HIV Testing location near you, send a text message with your ZIP code to KNOWIT (566948) or visit www.hivtest.org
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