NATIONAL WOMEN AND GIRLS HIV/AIDS AWARENESS DAY
Courtesy Xochitl Mora,
Laredo, TX.— The City of Laredo Health Department (CLHD) is commemorating the fifth (5th) annual National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. This is a day to raise awareness among women and girls about HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Infections and Teen Pregnancy. A date to stress the importance of knowing your HIV status, to understand wellness and promote healthy behaviors that reduce the risk of HIV infection and co-morbidities.
HIV is the virus that causes AIDS, and it is taking a devastating toll on women. In 2007, women accounted for more than a quarter (30%) of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses, compared to only 11 percent reported in 1990. According to data from the CDC, in 2005, 80 percent of women living with HIV were infected through heterosexual contact. Furthermore, women of color, a category that includes Black and Hispanic women, are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. Worldwide, half of the estimated 33.4 million people living with HIV in 2008 were female, and HIV was the 4th cause of death for Hispanic women aged 35-44. In Laredo, the CLHD has identified 90 females with HIV since 1985. In addition, since 2007 we have seen a 30-45% rise in new HIV infections in women. As public health professionals we are paying close attention to the behaviors that put young women in particular at risk and are focusing on stressing the importance of early detection and prevention.
We invite women and their loved ones to the CLHD’s HIV program on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 from 9:00 to 11:00 am, at the TAMIU Student Center 236 (theater) to learn more about HIV and prevention.
The CLHD’s HIV program wants to encourage women and girls to take advantage of routine HIV testing and, if infected, to start treatment as early as their doctors recommend. The observance of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day marks an opportunity for all of us to consider what we can do to curb the spread of HIV among women and teenage girls, whether that means ourselves or female partners, relatives and friends.
For more information please call the City of Laredo Health Department’s HIV services program at (956) 795-4905.
Leave your response!