[Posted Dec. 7, 2007]
World AIDS Day
Is Grim Reminder
Of World Crisis
By Tanya Christian
Associate Reporter
Hampton University
Since the early 1980s, when HIV/AIDS was first recognized, advertising companies have spent billions on campaigns geared at informing the public of the devastating and real effects of the disease. Despite their efforts, there are still over 40,000 new infections that occur each year. 55 percent of which affect the African-American community.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control, in 2001, HIV/AIDS was the third leading cause of death in the US for Non-Hispanic Blacks aged 25-34, the second leading cause of death for those aged 35-44, and the third leading cause of death for Non-Hispanic Blacks aged 45-54.
Greg Fordham in wheelchair leads the way during 2007 AIDS Walk from NSU campus to EVMS where marches linked up with marchers from ODU.
Although men currently make up the majority of the AIDS population, recent trends have shown that women are getting infected at higher rates, and may soon close the gap.
This has left many young women, especially college students at local HBCUs, concerned. This year, in light of World Aids Day, Hampton University students participated in a weekend of activities to commemorate the date, and help promote awareness amongst black students.
Lauren Epps, a senior at Hampton University, said, “It’s important that the black community is aware of the seriousness of this epidemic. As a young, black woman, I am especially concerned because I know so many of us are contracting the disease.”
Kahlia Barnes, a student at HU, believes that the reason why recent trends have shown an increase in AIDS cases among black women is in part due to the inability of black men to be in a monogamous relationship.
Although numerous sexual partners is a large area of concern, advocates of AIDS awareness believe that the number one reason why AIDS is taking so many lives, is because of a lack of education on the seriousness of the disease, and the importance of practicing safe sex.
Like advertising companies which spend millions of dollars on campaigns such as “Wrap It Up,” “(RED),” and “KNOW HIV,” small advocacy groups in Hampton Roads are also urging the public to be aware of the effects of this disease.
The AIDS Care Center for Education and Support Services, located in Norfolk, understands just how important AIDS education is. They are an AIDS service organization which provides case management, housing assistance, meal assistance, and other essentials that help to improve the quality of life for AIDS victims. More importantly, this organization educates the community.
They do this through both individual and group level education sessions, and by having street outreach workers to educate people. Their organization also offers HIV testing, and all of their services are free.
Members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. walking in the AIDS walk.
Irma Hinkle, Programs Director of the AIDS service organization, believes that by educating the public about the disease, people will stop attributing stigmas to it.
“I think the most devastating effect for me is that AIDS carries so much stigma, which makes people scared to talk about diagnosis. Individuals (who are living with AIDS) feel unsupported and isolated,” Hinkle said.
Hinkle also believes that the stigma associated with AIDS is the reason why it is such a widespread disease. If people feel isolated and unable to talk to others about the disease, it leaves them unable or afraid to be honest with their sexual partners. This only “feeds the epidemic and allows it to continue to spread,”” Hinkle stated.
In the black community, secrecy about AIDS is just one of the problems fueling the epidemic. Another large issue is the secret sexual lives that many black men are living.
The term “down low” was an African-American term about keeping sexual relations between men a secret, but a recent phenomenon has changed that definition. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the trend has resulted in a disproportionate number of heterosexual non-drug using African-American women contracting AIDS.
According to an article on the body.com, a web resource for HIV/AIDS, “In Western Tidewater, the health district including Suffolk, Blacks represent 87 percent of HIV patients. Blacks constitute 32 percent of Hampton Roads' population. No group is harder hit than gay black men—one of three gay minority men in Norfolk is HIV-positive.”
Although gay men are the hardest hit minority group in the Hampton Roads area, AIDS awareness advocates warn communities to not turn a blind eye to the reality that anybody can be infected by the disease.
“What we have seen happen is that we focus on only certain groups of people. People kept thinking it wouldn’t happen to them. When AIDS was first discovered, the assumption was that only white gay males contracted it, so there was a delay in how we handled it. This is a part of the reason why its spreading through other communities. There are all groups of people who get it. It affects us all,” Hinkle said.
Judith Josiah, a financial worker for human resources in New York City, sees the effects of AIDS everyday, as she only works with AIDS victims. She agrees with Hinkle’s sentiments and explains that as long as people continue to disregard safe sex practices, there will be a serious problem.
From what she has witnessed, many young black women, are not protecting themselves. 75 percent of the AIDS cases she sees are that of this minority group. What’s even sadder than this number, is the devastating effect that it’s leaving on the black community. “A large number of women who have the virus still have children and then they pass it on to the child,” Josiah said.
In order to improve the statistics, the black community must first understand the severity of the problem. HIV/AIDS is no longer that disease that only affects gay men, homeless people, or injection drug users, as some may previously believed. The problem affects us all.
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