World AIDS Day 2009
World AIDS Day was established by the World Health Organization in 1988. World AIDS Day serves to focus global attention on the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Observance of this day provides an opportunity for governments, national AIDS programs, churches, community organizations and individuals to demonstrate the importance of the fight against HIV/AIDS.
I wrote my first post about this in 1997 on my old blog and I am sad to say that the statistics that I cited on that post have not changed in a positive way and they continue to be especially troubling.
The trend continues as in previous years with the sad truth that the majority of the new cases in the U.S are found in african americans and in particular african american women!
According to the CDC, among all women in the United States living with HIV/AIDS, 64 percent are African-American.
In fact, the rate of AIDS diagnosis for African-American women nationwide is 22 times the rate for white women.
The United States has the highest rate of teenage infection in the developed world.
Every hour, two Americans between the ages of 13 and 24 contract HIV.
This leaves me to question: What are we teaching our girls about protecting their bodies?
And even more so, what do we know about protecting ourselves?
Today would be a good day to think about those questions and perhaps spend some time talking to others about this epidemic.
There are hundreds of resources to get more information regarding HIV/AIDS, here are just a few.