Stigma stops many from HIV testing

[bluemoon24]

Especially when those who are being stalked by the killer fear being stigmatized by it more than they fear dying from it.



"As far as testing goes, we have so many people who don't want to know [if they have HIV or AIDS]," Lolita Hill, spokeswoman for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day in Jacksonville, told me. "That's because testing can uncover drug use and incarceration history. ... It has the potential to deepen the stigma.



"But taking the test is important. It shows that you care about your health."



So Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is designed to do a number of things. First, it is geared toward getting black people to understand that they must begin to care more about living than about the judgments that others might make regarding their lives.



This year, it is getting a powerful assist toward doing that.



A recently released book titled Not In My Family: AIDS in the African-American Community is filled with essays by black celebrities and other notables. Edited by veteran journalist Gil L. Robertson IV, it uses traditional African-American storytelling to loosen the stranglehold of denial among black people when it comes to facing the disease.



"I'll say this - I believed that AIDS was primarily connected to a homosexual lifestyle," writes Tramaine Hawkins, who also talked about a gifted hairstylist and assistant who died of AIDS. "People are comfortable staying in the dark about a lot of things. They want to hide and say, 'it's everyone but me, it's not here, and I'm not like that.' "



Next, Black AIDS/HIV Awareness Day aims to help black people put that caring in action by providing education, information and free HIV/AIDS testing from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. today in the parking lot of River Region Human Services' office at 324 E. State St. Twenty-minute HIV testing will continue throughout the day, while testing for other sexually transmittted diseases will be done between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. For more information, call 899-6300, ext. 4470.



Hill, who directs adult outreach and awareness programs for River Region, hopes that the event will entice more people to find out what their status is. That's crucial because black people now account for 72 percent of all HIV cases and 62 percent of all AIDS cases in Jacksonville.



But she admits that can be tough.



"Numbers of men come into my office who absolutely refuse to discuss their sexuality," Hill said. "Because of that, we can't assess their true situation.



"But if we can get rid of the stigma, that would be great. ... Right now, it's like fighting through a wall."



Maybe the awareness day activities, as well as Robertson's book, will prove to be a mighty chisel in bringing down that wall. Because it would be a shame if denial allowed HIV and AIDS to add too large a chapter to the story of black people in America



Kaynak: SağlıkHaber