Florida: Women Unite to Help End Stigma of HIV

Nearly 100 women attended the Volusia/Flagler Minority AIDS Network's first conference, "Sistas Organizing to Survive," on Saturday in Daytona Beach. Organizers noted HIV/AIDS is disproportionately affecting black women and men. "Yet there is a stigma about it -- they don't think it's going to happen to them," said Dr. Bonnie Sorensen, director of the Volusia County Health Department. To demonstrate the reach of HIV, several role-playing participants -- a pregnant teen, a college student, a gay man -- explained to attendees how they became infected. April S. Hogan, mobilization specialist with the state Department of Health's Bureau of HIV/AIDS, said the goal is to test at least 100,000 Floridians for HIV annually. Women can be key influencers in the drive for more testing and less risky behavior, Hogan told the audience at Bethune-Cookman University's L. Gale Lemerand School of Nursing.

Back to other news for March 2010