Rocking the Red Pump: Women and HIV/AIDS

Rocking the Red Pump: Women and HIV/AIDS

I'm rocking the Red Pump today in honor of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. The goal is simple: raise awareness.

I must admit: I do not know any women with HIV or AIDS (or open to me about it, rather). However, I find this damn near impossible when I look at the statistics. I find it even more impossible when I look at the alarming rates that black women and girls are affected in my own community.

HIV is the 5th leading cause of death in women in the United States, ages 25-44. Every 35 minutes a woman in this country finds out she's HIV positive. Black women make up 66% of all new diagnoses of HIV in women.

It gets scarier, especially for those of us living in the DC Metropolitan area. The rate of women in D.C. infected with HIV/AIDS is nearly 12 times the national average. According to the Washington Post, in "at least 3 percent of District residents have HIV or AIDS, a total that far surpasses the 1 percent threshold that constitutes a "generalized and severe" epidemic.”

Last I knew, epidemics were faced with much more urgency. So that begs the question, at least in my mind, what will it take to not only increase the urgency in our own community, but also get the full attention and support of our leaders? I mean... what will it take for you to truly believe that this is a serious issue??

I remember when I first got tested. It was in school at Howard. Honestly, I only did it because I heard they didn't need to draw blood. (I have this fear of blood and needles that I'm beginning to get over so don't judge me please!) Since then I've been tested by swab and/or by blood just about each year. And each time it's the same. You take the test and you wait for results. I don't care if you're abstinent, that wait is nerve-racking whether you’re waiting 15 minutes or a few days (to get lab results back)! But it’s entirely worth it.

Knowing your status empowers you. Finding out that you are infected allows you a fighting chance. Finding out that you are not means you are blessed to be one of the few who will get to live without the disease another day.

So please. Don’t be a part of the 21% who don't know they are infected with HIV. Get out. Get tested. Know your status. And raise awareness.

If not for yourself, do it for the betterment of our community. Our lives depend in it.

Statistics from the The Red Pump Project website.