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Beginning February 14, Daytona State
College will display the HIV Project Mobile Art Exhibit. The display features
photographs of Floridians with HIV, their journal entries, videos, and free
testing, in an attempt to humanize HIV. One Ormond Beach resident called the
exhibit “quite poignant,” stating that the exhibit gets to the heart of putting
a face with HIV.
A project of the Florida Department
of Health, the mobile display has circulated around the state with stops in
Orlando, Jacksonville, and South Florida. The display emphasizes disparities in
the disease, making stops at the African-American Museum of the Arts in DeLand
and Bethune-Cookman University. Although recent progress has been made, blacks
are more apt to both contract and die of AIDS. CDC has identified several
contributing factors for the prevalence of HIV and AIDS in the black community:
a stigma against HIV and homophobia, economic barriers, lack of insurance, and
social instability caused by a high incarceration rate for black men.
Florida ranks third in the United
States for HIV and AIDS rates, with an estimated 135,000 people living with the
disease. The Volusia County Health Department states that in Volusia and
Flagler counties, 1,497 people have HIV or AIDS, and an additional 300 people
possibly have the disease but do not realize it. In Volusia and Flagler, blacks
comprise 40 percent of the people living with HIV or AIDS, even though they
make up only 10 percent of the population, declares Patrick Forand, Volusia
County Health Department’s HIV/AIDS coordinator. The number of people living
with HIV has gradually increased in recent years, according to Forand, which is
attributed in part to HIV patients having longer lives because of advancements
in medication. In 1995, 75 people died of AIDS in Volusia County; that number
decreased to 17 in 2011. Forand points out that reaching that part of the
population that has the disease but does not realize it is crucial in halting
its spread. Declares Forand, "The biggest message is to know your status
and get tested. The resources are available.”
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
