Prevention Matters For Professional Women

Our nation is at war and professional women constitute the next battlefield. HIV/AIDS invades her ostensibly safe, white collar life via infidelity, weekend speed use, the closet bisexual partner, and one night stands.

Four thousand five hundred eighty-six California women have been diagnosed with AIDS. Sixty-six percent of these women contracted the virus by having unprotected sex with an at-risk partner.

Health educators neglect professional women, targeting the homeless, intravenous drug users, and sex workers. Prevention educators seldom visit corporate board rooms or church sanctuaries. Professionals and pastorate women commonly feel a false sense of security, believing that low-income, drug misusers, or other marginalized persons are the only people truly at-risk for HIV/AIDS.

A surprising number of people are still ignorant about HIV/AIDS. Recent reports reveal that nearly 20% of employees believed that AIDS can be caught from a sneeze or cough.

In addition to pervasive ignorance, AIDS is an economic issue for women. Women are economically disadvantaged and less likely to afford quality health care. When employed, their jobs are less likely to provide insurance. Women are often economically dependent on male partners which can make negotiating safer sex practices difficult, perpetuating the at-risk cycle.

AIDS education at the work site can significantly change false attitudes. Employees rank workplace sources of information among the most credible.

PRO-WAR helps women avoid the catastrophe of HIV/AIDS through prevention and intervention. Our program gets the attention of falsely content professional women and educates them with life saving information and strategies for personal empowerment. PRO-WAR dispels myths, demonstrates safer sex practices and educates to inspire women to change risk-taking behavior.