According to this article, the HIV rates among Black women in parts of the USA are as high as those in Africa, where the disease has been rampant for decades. What? How is that so?
Easy. This is so, because many people do not get tested. They are exposed to others who do not get tested. They are unaware that they may be +. Then they, themselves, expose others to the virus.
Educational efforts to fight this disease have been made since the 1980's. That has done little in some communities to lessen the image of HIV being a death sentence. It's done even less to deal with the stigma associated with this virus.
Many of these women are professionals & well educated. However, the culture of their communities still holds them back when it comes dealing with HIV. They often do not get tested. Maybe, they just don't want to know. If they know, then they have to face it or consciously choose not to.
Regardless of the why's & how's, it simply means that an enormous amount of women of color in this country are going untested, therefore untreated. They are being exposed to & exposing others to HIV. They are dying, not because of HIV, but because of ignorance, lack of information & shame. As long as this persists, these women & the people they contact intimately are at risk.
The real shame of the matter is that after all this time, some of us are still treating being + as a value judgment, as some way to grade a person's character or morality. To hell with that notion & those that hold it. I hope these women find the courage to face this challenge & save themselves before it's too late.
Cya
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