World AIDS Day at Home
I spent World AIDS day, Thursday, December 1, 2005, not contemplating the magnitude of the virus’s damage on a global scale, but on a very local scale of half million people in a small town around the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. I was in the crowd of cast and crew of “Multitude of Miseries,” a short film on a DC church’s experience with AIDS in their community, as it debuted Thursday night on BET. (An encore presentation aired today at 1 pm).
As joyous as the crowd was and should have been at their accomplishment—the realization of a dream to make a movie—the facts of the matter quickly sobers champagne sippers.
• 1 in 20 adults in DC are HIV positive.
• 1 in 50 adults in DC have AIDS.
• DC has the highest rate of AIDS cases of cities of 500,000 people or more, Baltimore and New York respectively second and third.
• Nationwide, DC accounted for about 2% of AIDS cases reported nation-wide for the two-year period, 2001-2002.
In the film, adolescent parishioner and HIV positive Jabari, ignites the debate over how the church should respond to AIDS. More interesting to me than the church’s ultimate response is the issue of AIDS in the DC youth community. Anne Wiseman, program director for youth AIDS education organization MetroTeenAIDS, described the scope of the problem, obstacles, and reasons she feels hopeful.
Wiseman lays out these facts: The CDC estimates between 2500-3000 youth are HIV positive, a rate of 1 in 45 youth (13-25) or one young person in every classroom. However, only about 300 to 500 are receiving treatment.
“Our big push, then, is to know your status. It’s free, it’s easy, it’s quick. ” she explains.
Free, easy, and quick. And life-altering. “Multitudes of Miseries” warns of the social isolation, judgment and loneliness that may accompany the HIV+ identity. Might that deter young people from being tested?
True, she acknowledges, but knowing puts the individual in a better position to treat the disease. “You won’t walk into a hospital and drop down dead because you have a T-cell count of 4.” T-cells are white blood cells, extremely important to the immune system. The lower the T-cell count, the greater likelihood of infection. The T-cell count also gauges the progression of HIV/AIDS.
The organization strives not only for youth to know their status but to know the facts.
MetroTeen AIDS The center welcomes youth to daily “Freestyle” drop-in hours, 4-8 p.m., and to Friday “Floetics,” open poetry sessions. Each visit is laden with information about HIV and AIDS prevention.
Teams also take the message to the classroom and to the streets. The HOPE (HIV Outreach and Prevention Education) team, a group of trained AmeriCorps volunteers teach the CDC-approved “Making Smart Choices” curriculum in DC public high schools.
The StreeTeam, twelve trained and paid youth educators, straight talk their peers in the language of youth and common experience.
For World AIDS day, MetroTeen AIDS continued to go to the youth. Peer educators held signs at Metro stations advertising the facts, conducted workshops in schools, and sponsored a fashion show where HIV/AIDS awareness was en vogue.
Their efforts aim at what Wiseman identifies as the greatest obstacle to curbing youth HIV infection: Invincibility. Or rather the youth’s belief that HIV/AIDS can not happen to them. “HIV/AIDS is not necessarily at the top of the list when you ask young people what they’re worried about.” Education and physical safety (a bullet can kill you faster than AIDS) are their first concerns, she says, then AIDS.
Though the activities cast a wide net to reach as many youth as possible, Wiseman measures progress “one youth at a time.” Each time a youth leaves a session better educated is considered a positive step.
The youth are the reason Wiseman feels so hopeful decline in AIDS infection among DC youth. Initially, says Wiseman, “we equipped them to talk the talk. Now, they’re starting to walk the walk.” Having deeply internalized the mind-set, peer educators couch casual girl-talk and friendly advice with facts. “Even when they’re off,” says Wiseman, “they’re on” message.
Their commitment gives Wiseman faith in the reality of staggering numbers. “They understand the struggle, and they understand the fight. I feel comfortable and confident in what they have the ability to do.”
As joyous as the crowd was and should have been at their accomplishment—the realization of a dream to make a movie—the facts of the matter quickly sobers champagne sippers.
• 1 in 20 adults in DC are HIV positive.
• 1 in 50 adults in DC have AIDS.
• DC has the highest rate of AIDS cases of cities of 500,000 people or more, Baltimore and New York respectively second and third.
• Nationwide, DC accounted for about 2% of AIDS cases reported nation-wide for the two-year period, 2001-2002.
In the film, adolescent parishioner and HIV positive Jabari, ignites the debate over how the church should respond to AIDS. More interesting to me than the church’s ultimate response is the issue of AIDS in the DC youth community. Anne Wiseman, program director for youth AIDS education organization MetroTeenAIDS, described the scope of the problem, obstacles, and reasons she feels hopeful.
Wiseman lays out these facts: The CDC estimates between 2500-3000 youth are HIV positive, a rate of 1 in 45 youth (13-25) or one young person in every classroom. However, only about 300 to 500 are receiving treatment.
“Our big push, then, is to know your status. It’s free, it’s easy, it’s quick. ” she explains.
Free, easy, and quick. And life-altering. “Multitudes of Miseries” warns of the social isolation, judgment and loneliness that may accompany the HIV+ identity. Might that deter young people from being tested?
True, she acknowledges, but knowing puts the individual in a better position to treat the disease. “You won’t walk into a hospital and drop down dead because you have a T-cell count of 4.” T-cells are white blood cells, extremely important to the immune system. The lower the T-cell count, the greater likelihood of infection. The T-cell count also gauges the progression of HIV/AIDS.
The organization strives not only for youth to know their status but to know the facts.
MetroTeen AIDS The center welcomes youth to daily “Freestyle” drop-in hours, 4-8 p.m., and to Friday “Floetics,” open poetry sessions. Each visit is laden with information about HIV and AIDS prevention.
Teams also take the message to the classroom and to the streets. The HOPE (HIV Outreach and Prevention Education) team, a group of trained AmeriCorps volunteers teach the CDC-approved “Making Smart Choices” curriculum in DC public high schools.
The StreeTeam, twelve trained and paid youth educators, straight talk their peers in the language of youth and common experience.
For World AIDS day, MetroTeen AIDS continued to go to the youth. Peer educators held signs at Metro stations advertising the facts, conducted workshops in schools, and sponsored a fashion show where HIV/AIDS awareness was en vogue.
Their efforts aim at what Wiseman identifies as the greatest obstacle to curbing youth HIV infection: Invincibility. Or rather the youth’s belief that HIV/AIDS can not happen to them. “HIV/AIDS is not necessarily at the top of the list when you ask young people what they’re worried about.” Education and physical safety (a bullet can kill you faster than AIDS) are their first concerns, she says, then AIDS.
Though the activities cast a wide net to reach as many youth as possible, Wiseman measures progress “one youth at a time.” Each time a youth leaves a session better educated is considered a positive step.
The youth are the reason Wiseman feels so hopeful decline in AIDS infection among DC youth. Initially, says Wiseman, “we equipped them to talk the talk. Now, they’re starting to walk the walk.” Having deeply internalized the mind-set, peer educators couch casual girl-talk and friendly advice with facts. “Even when they’re off,” says Wiseman, “they’re on” message.
Their commitment gives Wiseman faith in the reality of staggering numbers. “They understand the struggle, and they understand the fight. I feel comfortable and confident in what they have the ability to do.”
posted by Rhonda Henderson at 3:41 PM
1 Comments:
Ummm...since this is a serious topic I've noticed that nobody has written anything...thus, let me say something...cough!cough! Don't go in bare-back...without the bare facts.
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