A young minister at the church I attend made an impassioned plea Sunday for everyone in the room who is engaging in baby-making activities to get tested for HIV.  She’s a health scientist with the the Department of Health and Human Services’s  Office of Women’s Health and is acutely aware of the  consequences of unprotected sex and the ravages of HIV/AIDs.  Whether you are in a monogamous relationship or not, she says, it’s important to be tested regularly. “Just like going for your pap smear,” she  told the women in the congregation.

Some people have HIV and don’t even know it, the young minister said with urgency. “People aren’t getting tested enough.” 

Today, which is World AIDS 2009, that plea is also being heard from nation to nation.  Some progress has  been made toward raising awareness, prevention and treating the disease that threatens men, women and children everywhere. More than 33 million people are living with HIV and unfortunately more are being infected everyday. 

Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS, in his World AIDS day message said  his agency was filled with hope and concern. “Concern because 28 years into the epidemic the virus continues to make inroads into new populations; stigma and discrimination continue to undermine efforts to turn back the epidemic. The violation of human rights of people living with HIV, women and girls, men who have sex with men, injecting drug users and sex workers must end.”

The message of  World AIDS Day is particularly urgent for black women, whose rate of infection is increasing each year. We can no longer afford to be passive about this virulent disease. It is shocking that among all women in the United States living with HIV/AIDS, 64 percent  are African-American. Also the rate of AIDS diagnosed for African-American women nationwide is 22 times the rate for white women.

Last year the Centers for Disease Control reported that women now account for  more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses and that women of color are especially affected by HIV infection and AIDS. The CDC  said that in 2004, the most recent year for which data was available, HIV infection was :

• the leading cause of death for black women (including African American women) aged 25–34 years.
• the 3rd leading cause of death for black women aged 35–44 years.
• the 4thleading cause of death for black women aged 45–54 years.

“In the same year, HIV infection was the 5th leading cause of death among all women aged 35–44 years and the 6th leading cause of death among all women aged 25–34 years. The only diseases causing more deaths of women were cancer and heart disease,” the CDC reported.

 The issue was important enough for my pastor, Rev. Dr. Cynthia T. Turner, to  reemphasize it in an email to members today. The challenges of AIDs hit pretty close to home for those of us living in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, she reminded us.  ”We don’t have to look around the world for the most devastating statistics. Our local statistics right here in Washington rival those in some of the hardest hits parts of the world, include Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Rev. Turner, who pastors the Dayspring Community Church in Lanham, Md.

“As bad as that may seem — and it is bad – the blessing for us is that we have access to healthcare and meds that other parts of the world are not so fortunate to come by. So I encourage you to take time to get tested and, if necessary, to get treated. We need you alive in the next decade to witness and testify to God’s goodness in the land of the living.”

If you want to know where to go to get tested, check out www.hivtest.org.  Also Google also has a resource page where you can learn more about AIDs, raise awareness or support those living with HIV/AIDS.

Have you been or will you be tested?

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