New Pittsburgh Courier (03.28.12) - Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Some local African-American women marked national Women and
Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and the 40th anniversary of the
publication of "Our Bodies, Ourselves" by taking part in an
intergenerational symposium at the University of Pittsburgh.
The March 10 event was hosted by Educating Teens About
HIV/AIDS (ETAH) Inc.
"African-American women ages 25-34 are the leading group who
are dying from AIDS," said Kezia Ellison, founder and
president of ETAH. "We wanted this to be an intergenerational
day because this is about all of us."
"What we've found is that just because policies exist, doesn't
mean it's trickling down," Ellison said. "We have information;
we have the statistics, and the infection rates are still
increasing."
Dr. Nekesha Oliphant, who practices family medicine and
psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, was
among the symposium's speakers. "A lot of what goes on in our
thought process affects our physical body," she told the
grandmothers, mothers, and daughters in attendance. "In the
US, there's a stigma" about HIV/AIDS. "We don't talk about
it."
Other speakers shared their personal stories of living with
HIV/AIDS. Shelia Taylor, a peer advocate with East Liberty
Health Care Center, said her HIV-positive diagnosis "was the
most devastating information [my family] had heard. But
luckily God had blessed me with a good family. I challenge you
all to educate someone," she said. "This disease is 100
percent preventable."