Diamond Jenkins
Staff Writer
One small finger prick and what feels like the longest 15 minutes of your life is all it takes to know where you stand!
On February 7 2012, Jackson State University’s Task Force Team, which is comprised of Project Safe, SMHART Choices, JSU Interdisciplinary Alcohol and Drug Studies Program, the Latasha Norman Center, and the student organization TROOP -Teaching and Reaching Our Own Peers, hosted its 12th annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, a national HIV testing and treatment for community mobilization initiative.
Though the disease does not discriminate against any race, this event targets primarily young African Americans in the United States.
The event’s major focus is: education, testing, involvement, and treatment.
Students and local communities learn about the basics of HIV/AIDS and become aware of it in their local communities.
Testing is at the core of this initiative, with February 7th of every year to be the annual or biannual day to get tested for HIV.
“Everyone needs to be tested. So many people do not know their statuses; therefore awareness is not there. We are doing this program for free as well as providing counseling for Jackson State students,” said Rochelle Williams, who works with the Mississippi state Health Department Of Health. “If someone is positive, we start paperwork, so they can see a physician. We also try to help the JSU students and all other Mississippians. Unfortunately the African Americans are the growing cases of HIV.” said Williams.
Justin Clark, a sophomore psychology major from Gary, Ind. said, “Students can be fully aware of what is going o in the community if they take advantage of it. Young students need to be safe.”
For many college students, the thought of getting tested may leave them apprehensive, but others were eager.
According to BioMedicalCentral.com, recent statistics on the human immunodeficiency virus acquired immunodeficiency syndrome show a continuing racial disparity.
While African Americans represent 12.3 percent of the U. S. population, they account for 50 percent of HIV/AIDS diagnoses and are more than 15 times more likely in their lifetime to be diagnosed with HIV compared to Whites.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2010 estimated that 1 in 50 African American man and 1 in 60 African American women are infected with HIV. The transmission rates among African Americans have not declined significantly in response to effective interventions compared with Whites. In 2008, rates of AIDS cases were 47.6 per 100,000 for African Americans compared to 5.4 for Whites.
Although both African American men and women are disproportionately represented in HIV/AIDS diagnosis, the disparity is greatest for African American women who experience rates more than 20 times that of White women.
Veronica Hayden, a senior communicative disorders major from Vayden, Miss. said, “We are an HBCU, Black people need to be more aware and cautious, as they somehow seem to believe that they are invincible. I am a member of T.R.O.O.P., which is an advocating group for HIV/AIDS awareness.”
T.R.O.O.P. is a student organization under the supervision of the JSU Health Center.
“Jackson State is a great institution for higher learning. Hosting the HIV Awareness Day shows that our school is involved and we are willing to learn and educate ourselves,” said Symone Davis, a senior mass communications major from Gary, Ind. “I am a proud participant of today’s activities. It is better to know than be completely oblivious.”
For more information, contact the STD/HIV Bureau of prevention and education at 1-800-826-2961.
Natosha Hubbard contributed to this story.
