Women, Girls & HIV: Why Stella Has To Watch How She Gets Her Groove On!

In addition to being Women’s History Month, March also hosted National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on March 10th. Events were organized around the country by national and local community groups and AIDS organizations throughout the month. According to womenshealth.gov,” National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NWGHAAD) is a nationwide initiative celebrated on March 10 every year to raise awareness of the increasing impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls.” It also notes that, “Every 35 minutes, a woman tests positive for HIV in the United States. More and more women have become infected with HIV since it was first reported in the early 1980s. Today, about 1 in 4 Americans living with HIV are women. It’s time for women to get tested.” In addition to the information above, the website also made it possible to view all events scheduled around the country, allowed one to send free e-cards and locate HIV/AIDS resources.

One would wonder why such a national event was important or necessary, well despite all the public awareness campaigns the infection rates of women, especially women of color, are still increasing. In 2005, women represented 26 percent of new AIDS diagnoses, compared to only 11 percent of new AIDS cases reported in 1990. Most women are infected with HIV through heterosexual contact and injection drug use. Women of color are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. AIDS is now the leading cause of death for Black women ages 25 to 34.

Until the infection rates of women drop significantly, all and every effort is necessary to send the message that women need to protect themselves and be tested. In my effort to stay aware, I attended a few events during the month. One was hosted by the Young Women of Color HIV/AIDS Coalition in NYC at the New Lots Public Library in Brooklyn. I took away a lot of good information from this event. It was noted that we all must treat everybody that we encounter as someone who has something we can catch. And although, that seems harsh and even paranoid, think about the times you got sick from someone at work who had a cold or the flu and wouldn’t stay home and get better. The same happens in sexual relationships, people have unprotected sex knowingly or not that they are infected or have an STD and pass what they have on to you.  It certainly doesn’t mean treating someone like a leper, but what it does mean is that an once of prevention can make a big difference in how you live out the rest of your life. Being safe is much better than being sorry!!!

Another point that was extremely significant was the importance of teaching young women how to be financial stable and independent. Young women need to develop marketable job skills, acquire work experience, learn how to write a resume and get a good education. It would seem like common sense for some but when young women are financially dependent on someone else they tend to compromise their themselves for money and security. Most young women who become infected are not from men of their own age but by much older men. If they are thrown out the house or desire material objects they become dependent and vulnerable to older men who take advantage of them. It’s not uncommon for a girl 14yrs old to be sexually involved with a man more than twice her age. Teaching young women critical thinking and survival skills increases their chance of becoming financially stable and less likely to be involved in a sexually abusive relationship.

Another event, “Women are not dolls, their lives are not to be played with,” was held on the steps of Brooklyn Borough Hall and hosted by the Gay Men’s Health Crisis. The stairs leading to the entrance of Borough Hall was filled with dolls representing all ethnicities and races with notes on the stating who they were Several presenters including the NYC Comptroller John Liu and the President of GMHC, Marjorie Hill spoke.

The last event was Well & Aware: Women and Girls Taking Charge of their Lives, Responding and Reflecting on HIV/AIDS at the National Black Theater in Harlem. This event was sponsored by The Partnership for Family Health: Northern Manhattan HIV Consortium (PFFH), a program of Public Health Solutions and Harlem community partners such as Iris House, Harlem United Community AIDS Center, National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS and Sister Link/Northern Manhattan Perinatal Partnership (NMPP), as well as other. Funding was received from the HHS/Office of Women’s Health. This was a huge event that offered everything from HIV testing, STI screening and Blood pressure screenings to massages, make overs and a safe sex workshop. All the community sponsors tabled the event and provided materials from their organizations along gifts and the usual safe sex kits. It was packed by what some of the organizers noted was the power of social networking. C.Viriginia Fields, President of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS provided the Keynote Address. Community Advocate and AIDS activist Michelle Lopez and Ingrid Floyd, Executive Director of the Iris House were also scheduled to speak. In my many years of attending workshops, panel discussions and community events this had one of the largest turnouts and was the most interactive. There was a lot to see, do and hear. And was happy to see folks into it.

I bring these events up and the importance of the National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day because it reminds us that we are still in a state of crisis and that we must stay vigilant outside of these national awareness days. When the women at the GMHC rally yelled, “Women are not dolls, our lives are nothing to play with,” they meant it. Now we all need to stop playing with our lives and get real about protecting it.

Posted by urbanmw on Thursday, April 15th, 2010 at 4:00 AM