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Yesterday, June 27, was AIDS Testing Day. Did you know that? Did you blog it? Did you get tested? Did you even talk about or think about HIV/AIDS yesterday? How about the day before? Or the day before that? Is it my imagination or are we getting a wee bit complacent when it comes to HIV/AIDS?
We haven't won this battle in the United States and this is not the time to get complacent. Minority women are at risk.
Of the 1.3 million Americans living with HIV/AIDS, nearly 50 percent of them are Black. Black Americans represent more than 54 percent of the new HIV/AIDS cases in the United States. AIDS is the leading cause of death for African American women aged 24-34.
I was pleased to see AfterElton report that there was a strong show of support for black American testing and education but agree with the concerns about the lack of OUT black GLBT faces in these campaigns.
Often times in these movements to raise awareness for HIV/AIDS in the black community, the impact on the black LGBT community is dangerously not addressed. Many critics have argued that HIV/AIDS was completely ignored, mainly due to some sectors of the black church, until AIDS became the leading cause of death for black women aged 25-34 years through heterosexual sex. While the Black AIDS Institute has always been supportive of the LGBT community, I truly hope this was a simple oversight and that they will include openly gay or bisexual African-Americans celebrities in their future projects that revolve around HIV/AIDS testing.
In the Revolution Health Online Health Fair phone call blogged by Catherine Morgan earlier this week I asked Dr Marts about HIV drugs and women. (You can listen to the call here, this question is the very last one asked, so to get to this information, you'll have to move all the way through the call) I questioned whether we are doing a better job of creating HIV drugs for women and including women in clinical trials for HIV drugs. (The original HIV drugs did great things for men but didn't work quite the same way for women. We didn't know this was going to happen primarily because women were under-represented in clinical trials.) She feels like we're making improvements and more research on HIV/AIDS treatment and women will be published soon.
Shari Margolese, who Dr Marts mentioned during the phone call, has this to say about differences between men and women with HIV:
Until recently, very little research had been done on women and HIV. While many questions remain unanswered, there is some information about how HIV-related illnesses affect men and women differently:
* Men are eight times more likely than women to develop Kaposi's sarcoma or KS (a cancer-like disease caused by a herpes virus)
* Women are more likely than men to develop bacterial pneumonia
* Women may have higher rates of herpes simplex infections than men
* When women are first diagnosed, they tend to have lower concentrations of HIV in their blood (lower viral loads) compared to men. In addition, women tend to have lower CD4 cell counts than men with equal viral loads. Yet women seem to progress to AIDS at the same rate
And this about treating women with HIV:
Trials are currently underway to determine how certain HIV drugs affect women differently than men.
If you are thinking about starting treatment, it is important to watch your lab results and talk to your doctor about the best treatment plan for you.
Women tend to be diagnosed with HIV later in the disease than men. In addition, once they know their status, up to 25 percent of women postpone medical care due to several barriers including:
* Limited access to health care due to lack of insurance
* Unstable housing
* Fear of partner violence
* Other responsibilities such as child care or caring for a sick partner
* The stigma associated with HIV
* Active substance abuse
* Depression
Stepping outside of the United States and into Africa and HIV, check out the post by Black Looks about Bono. Not everyone thinks he deserves a Nobel Prize. Also from Africa, Gloria's story. The HIV outlook for women in the the rest of the world isn't great for women, either.
~~Denise
Flamingo House Happenings and Fast Times @ Homeschool High
