Black AIDS Institute CEO Phill Wilson has launched a new monthly column about HIV/AIDS in the Black community - themed on the Greater Than AIDS message. The new series debuted in conjunction with National Black AIDS Awareness Day on February 7, and explores how Black people can mobilize - through individual and community action - to roll back the scourge of AIDS in our communities.
March is Women's History Month, and this Wednesday, March 10th, is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, a day when women educate themselves and learn how they can keep from becoming infected with the disease.
This exercise is particularly important for Black women because while most of us know the facts about HIV, many times we don't act on what we know.
Although Black women account for 12 percent of women in the
But just as Harriet Tubman, one of the most celebrated women in Black history transcended her circumstances by first escaping slavery and then creating a way for others to save themselves, every Black female can both protect herself from HIV and help to create an environment where other Black people can protect themselves. But what does it take to be greater than AIDS in a world where Black women shoulder a disproportionate burden of family responsibilities, are often poorer and have poorer health outcomes than other women, and are frequently abused and disrespected? And what must we do as a community to help them?
Deciding to know your HIV status is one of the most important
steps that a Black woman can take.
Black women can also be greater than AIDS by taking control of her life—sexual or otherwise. Most women have the power to decide whether or not they will be intimate with someone and what the intimacy will entail. But let’s not get it twisted, from poverty to gender disparities to domestic violence, there are a tremendous number of factors that cause women not to take control of their lives or their sexual decision-making. As a community we need to change the cultural norms to celebrate a woman loving herself and having enough self-esteem to carry condoms and insist on using them.
It's also essential that Black women take better care of themselves--mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Between caring for her children, looking after aging parents and keeping up with her partner's wellbeing, often the last person a Black woman worries about is herself. We need to change that aspect of Black American culture. We should place Black women at the top of our priority list. Because the truth of the matter is, when a Black woman becomes ill or her wellbeing suffers, the community of people depending upon her struggles as well. For women who are already HIV positive, taking care of yourself includes seeking medical treatment and adhering to the drug and self-care regimen that your doctor prescribes. Black women can save themselves because Black women are greater than AIDS.
Phill Wilson is
president and CEO of the Black AIDS Institute.
February, 2010
I'm excited to be a regular contributor to GreaterThan.org as we commemorate both Black History Month and National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, Sunday, February 7th. This is “Greater Than AIDS,” a new monthly column that will run in conjunction with the national Greater Than AIDS movement. Our goal is inform Black people about activities that our community is already engaged in—and to enlist your support in what we still need to accomplish—to overcome HIV/AIDS and bring the epidemic to an end.
Black people have been greater than any challenge we have confronted in the past. We were greater than the Middle Passage. We were greater than slavery. We were greater than Reconstruction. We were greater than Jim Crow. And, we will be greater than AIDS as well.
Yet each year more than 56,000 Americans contract HIV—almost half of whom are Black. Black people account for two-thirds of the infections that occur among women. Among youth, that number rises to 70 percent. A five-city study conducted among young Black gay and bisexual men suggests that about half of them are HIV positive. And the AIDS rate in our nation's capital is as high as that of many African countries. These are the challenges we face. These are the challenges we cannot afford to ignore.
We confront these issues at a unique time in Black American
history. Slightly over one year ago, we celebrated the inauguration of
And, over the past 12 months, much progress has been made. Last April, the White House and CDC launched "Act Against AIDS," the first national HIV/AIDS social-marketing effort the government has undertaken in 20 years. The Administration is also working to create the first-ever National HIV/AIDS Strategy, a road map that will help federal agencies and state health departments work more strategically and collaboratively to fight AIDS.
The President has also lifted the ban against syringe
exchanges that replace injection-drug users' dirty needles, as well as laws
barring people with HIV from traveling to our country. These changes bring the
At the same time, however, our nation's economic crisis is forcing state and local governments to make hard choices about how they spend their dwindling financial resources. Funding is being cut to organizations that treat and support people with HIV and AIDS, and waiting lists for low-income people who need governmental subsidies for AIDS medications are lengthening.
As we mark another Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, I’m reminded that governments can only do so much. Each of us has the power to make a difference in response to AIDS - in our relationships, in our families, and in our communities.
Today, Black people are educating themselves about HIV/AIDS, getting their annual or semi-annual HIV test, increasing their involvement in the movement to end the disease and seeking treatment if they need it but haven't yet done so. But we must not become complacent; for our community, every day presents a new opportunity to respond to this disease, to protect ourselves, to challenge stigmas, and to embrace our brothers and sisters who are already living with the virus.
Against this backdrop, we start this Greater Than AIDS conversation. I invite you to go to GreaterThan.org to learn the facts, listen to real talk from real people, and find out where you can get tested and how to become involved. While you're there, don't forget to share your comments. I look forward to hearing from you and exchanging thoughts on how we are greater than AIDS.
Phill Wilson is President and CEO of the Black AIDS Institute.
1 Comment
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Mr. Wilson,
I am a fan of yours, and a writer on HIV/AIDS issues in Oakland, Ca. I would love to connect with you and possibly a interview, or a contribution from you for an upcoming project. We have met on several occasions, and look forward to working together.
Jesse Brooks at Post News Group (postnewsgroup.net)
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