For my topic I picked HIV and women. This is a subject of interest to me because I am a woman so I would like to learn about other women who have been diagnosed with HIV. The first thing I looked up on the internet was white women and HIV. Since most cases of HIV in women are among blacks and hispanics, white women are often overlooked. Terri L. Wilder says in her article The Hidden Epidemic: White Women and HIV, "I just finished pulling up the May 2001 NIH Fact Sheet labeled "HIV Infection in Women" and it does not even mention white or Caucasian women." (2001) In the article, she also talks about how nobody believes her when she tells them she has HIV and how even though she went to the doctor often she had never been suggested an HIV test. Every time she ever took one it was because she asked for it. I found this to be true when my doctor thought I had oral thrush. She never suggested I be tested for HIV, she just assumed that I might have diabetes. I don't know if this was just to keep me from being worried, but you would think that since oral thrush is an HIV related illness, the doctor would suggest being tested for it.
For my organization outside of the state I found AIDSAlabama, an AIDS organization located in Birmingham, Alabama. They do things like give free HIV testing, provide housing for low-income people living with HIV/AIDS, and prevention education programs. One of the interesting things I found on their website was the "BratMobile", a large motorhome which they use to drive around and give out free HIV tests.
Works Cited:
Wilder, Terri L. The Body: The Complete HIV/AIDS Resource. (2001, September). The Hidden Epidemic: White Women and HIV. Retrieved September 14, 2009, fromhttp://www.thebody.com/content/art32215.html.
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So what is your Did You Know column? Is it the fact that white women with HIV are overlooked because the largest segment is black women? Where is the rest of your blog about your third week in class? Don't be so stingy with your writing, Holly.
ReplyDeleteWhere is your URL address for AIDS Alabama? I took the time to look them up and they talked about RED HOT for the Cause and Dining Out which you could have explained about for your reading audience. What about the ban they helped get removed for prisoners with HIV not being on work release programs? That was interesting also.
They also has an article on Critical Issues for Women and HIV that I would have thought was right up your alley since you want specialize in HIV and women, but you didn't even mention it.
I look forward to reading future posts.
Sorry, yes that was my Did You Know fact. The URL for AIDS Alabama is aidsalabama.org. RED HOT for the cause was a casino night dedicated to increasing awareness and raising funds for HIV and AIDS. Dining Out is where restaurants donate a portion of their proceeds in exchange for advertising and marketing from AIDS Alabama. AIDS Alabama also helped get the ban for prisoners with HIV not being on work release programs removed. This was a discriminatory ban and after more than 2 decades of protests, it was finally removed. I did not write about the article on Critical Issues for Women and HIV because the link to the report did not work.
ReplyDeleteWow! I think that is very interesting how white women get overlooked. I think that even though HIV/AIDS has been a huge issue since the 80's, many people still have misconceptions. I think that when Linda P said, "HIV does not discrimminate" it was very powerful. It does not care what sex orientation one has or the race that we have. There should be more HIV education throughout the world.
ReplyDeleteThat was a very interesting topic to choose. Way to think out of the box! "The Hidden Epidemic" could potentially become the most dangerous one. Overlooking and assuming are risky things to be doing, especially if like you said, our medical professionals are the ones doing the assuming. We should be encouraging anyone at risk to be tested, and everyone is at risk. Sarai made a great point too that HIV does not discriminate.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic to choose, i never knew white women were so often overlooked for HIV/AIDS. I guess being a man I never really thought about whether white women were overlooked or not, but it seems like in this day and age anyone and everyone should be suggested to testing. Also hearing that even after you had oral thrush the doctor wouldn't even think to suggest the testing for HIV.
ReplyDeleteWOW!! Holly I never knew that white women were overlooked to the extent that you say. I wonder why it is like that? Moreover, I cannot believe that your doctor did not mention anything about HIV when she said you had Oral Thrush. I am looking forward to reading your post as HIV and women is an interesting topic.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteYou are collecting too much informations about this disease.Your article is interesting to read.
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I think It is grea that you took a particular interest in studying HIV in women. There are some many disease that women are at risk of such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and cervical cancer, sometimes other diseases get overlooked. But there are also so many different aspects of HIV in women that you can study. I wrote a blog about HIV + pregnancy and learned a lot about the different options that women have when they want to start a family. You can also study the statistics of HIV in homosexual vs heterosexual women, young, old, black, white, etc. The list goes on!!!
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