" It is bad enough that people are dying of AIDS, but no one should die of ignorance."
~ Elizabeth Taylor
In recognition of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NWGHAAD), and Rock the Red Pump Day, I wanted to share a very special Sunday post. Why? It's very simple:
In the United States -
*Women account for one in four new HIV diagnoses and deaths caused by AIDS.
*The proportion of AIDS diagnoses reported among women has more than tripled since 1985.
*The vast majority of women diagnosed with HIV contracted the virus through heterosexual sex.
*African Americans constituted 64 percent of women diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 2009.
*African Americans and Hispanics represent 26 percent of all women in the U.S. but they account for 82 percent of AIDS cases among women.
*African-American women have an HIV prevalence rate nearly 15 times that of white women.
Around the Globe -
*Worldwide, women constitute more than half of all people living with HIV/AIDS.
*For women in their reproductive years (15–49), HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death.
*Women are at least twice as likely to acquire HIV from men during sexual intercourse than vice versa.
*A study in South Africa recently suggested that nearly one in seven cases of young women acquiring HIV could have been prevented if the women had not been subjected to intimate partner violence.
*In 2011, 57 percent of pregnant women living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries received effective drug regimens to prevent new HIV infections among children.
*In sub-Saharan Africa, women constitute 58 percent of all people living with HIV/AIDS. Among young people aged 15-24, the HIV prevalence rate for young women is twice that of young men.
(Statistics courtesy of AMFAR.org)
So what can we do? We can educate our friends, our sisters, our daughters on prevention. We can show love, compassion and support to the women living with HIV and AIDS. And we can contribute to the following charities that helps those living with AIDS across the world:
The Global Coalition on Women and AIDS
The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation
Women Alive
International AIDS Women Caucus
United Nations AIDS Organization
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