Today the Gay Men's Health Crisis, the Women's HIV Collaborative of NY, along with other HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention groups in NY will be marching on the steps of city hall to raise awareness for the alarming rate at which young women are being infected with HIV. One of their demands is increased education around issues of HIV and AIDs.
Why is this an important issue? The Women's HIV Collaborative blog tells us.
Here in the United States, women comprise about 27% of HIV infections, up from about 8% in 1984. In many countries around the world, women already represent over 50% of HIV infections. Rates of sexually transmitted infections among youth and teenage pregnancy have risen over the last several years - both indicators that we may soon see a corresponding rise in HIV infections among both young women and men. And, although generally considered a chronic manageable condition in the U.S., HIV continues to be the leading cause of death among African American women aged 25 to 34 years old.Yet most of the general public in the U.S. think of HIV as a men's disease and some members of the HIV advocacy/policy community have gone so far as to say "HIV/AIDS in this country is a men's disease".
If you are in NY the march is today at 1 pm. More specific info can be found here.
If you are not in NY but know of other events please put them in comments.
UPDATE: Also check out this piece from the Feministing Community (originally appeared at HuffPo) about HIV in NY with this year's theme for the National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day theme being "HIV is Right Here at Home."
Rona Taylor, author of the piece tells us,
The theme for this year's National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, "HIV is Right Here at Home," hits close to home here in New York City, where 10% of all women living with the virus in the United States reside.
It's the largest population of women with HIV in the country. If all 30,000 of these HIV-positive women and girls were to come together and walk down Fifth Avenue, the crowd would approximate the swell of runners in the NYC Marathon. They could sell out Radio City Music Hall five times over and occupy more than half the seats in Yankee Stadium. A disproportionate number of these women--90 percent--are black and Hispanic; over half, or 68 percent, are over the age of 40; and more than a third, or 41 percent, were infected through heterosexual activity. This is the same female face of HIV that we have been seeing since the epidemic first began to be acknowledged in women in the 80s.
You can check out the report from the Women's HIV Collaborative of NY here.
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On March 24th in Prescott, AZ there will be an all day event at Prescott College to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS among women and girls. We will be showing a film, there will be several guest speakers, tabling from local non-profits including Northland Cares the leading HIV/AIDS care provider in Northern AZ, and free testing. This event is free for all and everyone is welcome to attend. For more information email costerfelt@prescott.edu. Thanks!
My school had a free HIV testing event. I went, and was so pleased to see a lot of students of all types there. Anyone who believes they have had the slightest risk of contracting HIV should go. It's really easy. There's an oral test that involves no needles and no blood.
In 1996 there was a first solo album of the singer "Nha Vida", the header composition from which has caused wide interest and has been shown at festival "Red Hot + Lisbon", devoted to campaign against AIDS.
All it very much helps propagation of correct understanding to tendencies of modern methods of contraception.
Rising against the fanatics seeing in this epidemic a fair penalty Divine and running from sick AIDS as from infected with pestilence, more or less tolerant people concerned them fraternally and tried to prove, that contact to them is not fraught with any danger.