My American Tragedy
I read a report called; “AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY” New data shows the terrible toll that HIV/AIDS is taking among African Americans. Under President Obama, Dr.Jeffery Crowley will work to develop a national AIDS strategy within the next year. It is long over due and desperately needed. The article says that the epidemic with no cure is devastating the African American community.Blacks make up just 12 percent of the total population U.S. population and account for 46 percent of those living with HIV/AIDS. The rest of the article goes on to state the MSM (men seeking men) who are having sex with other men continue to bear the brunt of the epidemic. With 30,000 people becoming HIV positive each year, young black men are the hardest hit, but during my search for knowledge about the female point of view there was much less available.
Early in the epidemic, HIV and AIDS infections were diagnosed for relatively few women and female adolescents (although we know now that many women were infected with HIV through injection drug use but that their infections were not diagnosed). Today, women account for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses. Women of color are especially affected by HIV and AIDS infections. In 2004 (the most recent year for which data is available), HIV infection was the leading cause of death for black women (including African American women) aged 25–34 years. HIV is the fourth leading cause of death for Hispanic women aged 35–44 years.
HIV/AIDS was diagnosed for an estimated 9,708 women. High-risk heterosexual contact was the source of 80% of these newly diagnosed infections. Women accounted for 26% of the estimated 37,163 diagnoses for adults and adolescents. Of the 126,964 women living with HIV/AIDS, 64% were black, 19% were white, 15% were Hispanic, 1% was Asian or Pacific Islander and less than 1% were American Indian or Alaska Native. The estimated number of HIV/AIDS infections in female adults or adolescents decreased from 11,941 in 2001 to 9,708 in 2005. According to a recent CDC study of more than 19,500 patients with HIV in 10 US cities, women were slightly less likely than men to receive prescriptions for the most effective treatments for HIV infection.
In finding all of this out from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's web site it seems like everyone is focused on the male side of the epidemic but what about the female perspective? I mean at one point they were telling us that we only got it though IV (sharing needles when doing drugs) but that’s old history. I got it from a bisexual male while engaged in heterosexual sex. The condom broke. I noticed most articles focused on men but what about us as women we should be able to get the exact same coverage?
I mean, I’m a parent living with HIV and I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t do any kind of drugs but I got it through sexual contact. I’ve also given birth to an uninfected child thanks to the medication in my HIV cocktail that is a HAART medication. It consists of three pills designed for pregnant woman. Now in my biased opinion, I feel like if this drug cocktail was designed for the pregnant female then we must be getting discussed.
So why aren’t we publicized as much as the men infected with this epidemic? I mean we are hit just as hard by the new aged plague, often referred to as the new black plague amongst some of my peers. As a woman, I have to go and seek out the resources that are easily accessible? to men. All I’m saying is that we should all be treated equal and have equal access to information and resources.
For Beyond the Odds, I'm B-Lady.
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