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 Let's Talk
Denise Rolark Barnes
Columnist Page
Friday, December 10, 2004; Page 20
Women Must Commit
to Saving Our Lives
Okay ladies, in case you didn’t get the message last week, it is definitely worth repeating once again this week. For those of us who reside in the District of Columbia, we – women and girls – are contracting HIV and AIDS at a higher rate than women and girls in any other city in the United States of America.
Last week, I participated on a panel with six other women gathered together by the D.C. Department of Health HIV/AIDS Administration (HAA) to discuss why women and girls – particularly Black women and girls, and especially Black women and girls who live in the District of Columbia – represent the largest numbers of new reported HIV/AIDS cases. More importantly, we were asked to sign a Declaration of Unity and Commitment, as women leaders in the District of Columbia, “to stand united in our mission to put an end to HIV/AIDS once and for all.”
Now that the commitment has been made, the work must begin. The first step, of course is to understand the problem. In 1981, the D.C. Department of Health reported the first AIDS case. As of December, 2003, 15,899 AIDS cases have been diagnosed among adult District of Columbia residents, and, according to HAA, 20 percent of the cases diagnosed have been women. The proportion of cases among women increased three-fold between 1991 and 2001: 11 percent of adult cases diagnosed in 1991 were women; 33 percent of the adult cases diagnosed in 2001 were women.
Historically, HAA reports, the majority of AIDS cases among women were attributed to injecting drug use. However, among recently diagnosed cases, more women are infected through heterosexual contact. Nearly half of the recently diagnosed AIDS cases are among women who live in Wards 7 and 8.
The Administration reports that nearly 60 percent of AIDS cases diagnosed in adolescents are females. In addition, more than one-third of new cases of Chlamydia are women between the ages of 15 and 19. This indicates that young women are practicing risk behaviors that may lead to HIV, as well.
These are but some of the statistics that only tell a small part of the story about what is happening to my sisters and yours in D.C. This is not just their problem; it is a problem that affects us all, and one that we all must resolve to abolish.
“But how?” the panel was asked.
Women must begin to talk to each other and we must expand the conversation beyond bad-mouthing the men on the ‘down low.’ Shame on them, absolutely, but stopping the spread of the virus begins with our own ability to respect, care for and protect ourselves. As adult women, we have to realize that we are putting ourselves at risk when we have sex with men who are almost strangers, and know how to protect ourselves when we decide to throw caution to the wind.
And, we have got to talk to our daughters and younger sisters and younger next door neighbors and students to empower them to do the same thing. Oh, and don’t forget our widowed and divorced mothers, grandmothers, aunts and adopted moms who are single and dating; their numbers are growing, too, because AIDS is no respecter of age either. And, for real, AIDS is no respecter of marital status. So all of you married ladies, this is for you, too!
Hooray for those courageous women and girls who have decided that suffering alone is worse than sharing their story publicly and putting a face on the disease that looks like yours and mine.
Every woman who is sexually active, now or ever, must know her status. Get tested. And, the medical community must make sure that the process is as stress-free as taking a patients’ temperature or blood pressure and is incorporated as a part of the routine physical.
Phil Wilson, founder of the Black AIDS Institute, has requested that every woman in D.C. buy a subscription for yourself or a friend to Essence Magazine by December 31, 2004 because 100 percent of the proceeds will go to help the organization continue its crusading efforts to stop the AIDS pandemic in America.
Lydia L. Watts, HAA’s Senior Deputy Director, is passionate about her job. Her goal, she said, “is to aggressively pursue avenues that will garner resources needed to decrease the rate of HIV infection in the District and to close the persistent and growing health disparities affecting women and girls.”
Wilson and Watts, who spend their daily lives wrestling with this pandemic, believe it or not, are extremely hopeful and optimistic. They say that we… “WE” can put a stop to the spread of this disease.
Join them, as I have, and make your commitment to help save lives, especially your own!
For Denise Rolark Barnes send email to drbarnes@washingtoninformer.com
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