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 Let's Talk
Denise Rolark Barnes
Columnist Page
Friday, December 3, 2004; Page 20
‘AIDS, Thy Face Now is Female’
December 1st was World AIDS Day. More than two decades have passed and still our city, the nation and the world are battling a pandemic that has taken the lives of millions of people around the world. This year’s day of recognition, however, caused us to take stock of the fact that women, just like some of you and me, represent the fastest growing number of new HIV/AIDS cases reported. Why? Excerpts of an article written by Bernice Powell Jackson of the United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries, that follow, addresses how women are affected and infected and why.
AIDS, thy face now is female.
That’s right. Half of those infected with HIV/AIDS worldwide are now women – and girls. Over the past decade there has been an increasing feminization of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, so much so that the 2004 focus of World AIDS Day, December 1, is women and girls. It is now estimated that 20 million women and girls are HIV positive worldwide.
AIDS, thy face now is female. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable. They are biologically, culturally, economically and socially vulnerable. The vulnerability is due to inadequate knowledge, insufficient access to HIV prevention services, inability to negotiate safer sex, a lack of female-controlled HIV prevention methods and the reality of sexual violence in their lives, in some cases by their intimate partners. Moreover, in many places women face a hostile judicial system and lack access to reproductive services.
AIDS, thy face is now female. Girls are being infected at a frightening rate. The rate of HIV infection among young people worldwide is growing rapidly – they are 67 percent of the newly infected and in the developing world young women make up almost two-thirds of those newly infected. In many places in the world marriage at a young age can also make for increased vulnerability to infection.
AIDS, thy face is now female. With the explosion of sex trafficking of women in the world over the past decade, it should be no surprise that HIV infection is on the rise among women and girls. It is estimated that at least two million women and girls are trafficked each year. Many of these are young girls sold by their families to brothels in Asia, but they also include women in the U.S., Mexico, Africa and Europe.
AIDS, thy face is now female. Many of the HIV infected women are married. A recent study in South Africa, for instance, found that 10.5 percent of married couples in that nation were HIV infected. It found that married women actually are at somewhat greater risk of infection because they did not practice safe sex and did not know their husbands were infected. There is no reason not to assume that this is true in the U.S., as well.
AIDS, thy face is now female. Women in war zones are particularly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infection as rape is increasingly being used as a tactic against women caught in war zones. But women in other places also are susceptible to infection by rape. Moreover, many women find it difficult to negotiate safer sex with their partners who have recently returned from war, prison or other highly susceptible places.
AIDS, thy face is now female. Many women don’t know their HIV status until they become violently ill. That’s why it is critically important for everyone to be tested for HIV infection.
AIDS thy face is now female. More and more in the U.S., the face of the pandemic is that of Black women. In the U.S., where African Americans make up about 12 percent of the population, more than one-third of the HIV/AIDS cases are African Americans and more than half of these are women. Indeed, the HIV/AIDS rate for African American women is 20 times that of White American women.
AIDS, thy face is now female – and both young and old. One of the fastest growing infected populations in the U.S. is Black teens, ages 13-19. They make up 60 percent of the infected youth population. Likewise, Black senior citizens make up half of the HIV cases in their age group. And, two-thirds of the pediatric AIDS cases are Black children.
It is clear that the messages about HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment or support services are not adequately reaching women, especially African American women. Praise should be given to those who used this World AIDS Day to highlight the impact of this pandemic on our community; prayer, on the other hand, must be offered to those whose days will be cut short by this disease because the discussion ended the day after.
For Denise Rolark Barnes send email to drbarnes@washingtoninformer.com
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