November 28, Fashion Show Sets the Stage for World AIDS Day Activities

In observance of World AIDS Day, the HIV Prevention Network, a consortium of clinics, organizations and individuals, will host Faith, Facts and Fashion, a fashion show featuring women leaders representing faith-based organizations, media, government and the community.

Posted on November 16, 2004 at 11:20 a.m.

 

WHAT:

In observance of World AIDS Day, the HIV Prevention Network, a consortium of clinics, organizations and individuals, will host Faith, Facts and Fashion, a fashion show featuring women leaders representing faith-based organizations, media, government and the community. Half of the women will model red apparel, representing the HIV/AIDS ribbon; half will wear black and will recite a fact about HIV/AIDS. Angela Williams, project coordinator for MOMS (Making Our Moms Stronger), a project of UAB's School of Public Health, is chairing the event.

WHEN:

Sunday, November 28, 2004
4 p.m.
(Reception and entertainment following the event)

WHERE:

Sixth Avenue Baptist Church
1101 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. SW
Birmingham, AL

MORE:

World AIDS Day, held annually on December 1, is coordinated globally by the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. The theme of this year's event is "Have You Heard Me Today?" The focus is on raising awareness of HIV-related issues affecting women and girls.

According to the Alabama Department of Public Health, there are currently 3,384 women in Alabama living with HIV/AIDS.

The event is free of charge and open to the public. For more information, contact Angela Williams at (205) 975-5419, or James Mapson at (205) 934-6777 or (205) 837-8333.

HIV Prevention Network partners are: AIDS Alabama; AIDS in Minorities; Alabama Vaccine Research Clinic at UAB; American Red Cross; Birmingham AIDS Outreach; Birmingham Healthcare, UAB Family Clinic at Children's Hospital; Hopewell AME Church; Jefferson County Health Department; Girls, Inc. of Central Alabama; Metropolitan Interdenominational Church Technical Assistance Network; Making Our Moms Stronger (MOMS)/UAB School of Public Health; St. George's Clinic; UAB Center for AIDS Research, UAB 1917 Clinic; and WOW Community Outreach.



Facts About HIV/AIDS

Following are some facts that will be recited during the Faith, Facts and Fashion show hosted by the HIV Prevention Network beginning at 4 p.m. on Sunday, November 28, in observance of World AIDS Day 2004:

  • HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. AS HIV slowly ravages the body’s immune system, HIV disease progresses. AIDS is the final stage of the disease.

  • There is not a cure for HIV disease. A variety of drugs are used to slow down the damage that HIV does to the immune system. When they are effective, these drugs reduce the amount of HIV in a person’s body. However, the drugs do not totally rid the body of the virus. There is not a cure.

  • Women remain the fastest growing group to be infected with HIV. In fact, today one out of every three people found to have HIV infection in the United States is a woman.

  • The only way to know if you are infected is to be tested for HIV infection.

  • African American and Hispanic American/Latina women make up less than one-fourth of all U.S. women, yet account for more than three-fourths (78 percent) of AIDS cases in women.

  • HIV is the fourth leading cause of death for African American women between the ages of 25 and 44 and the seventh leading cause of death in infants aged 1 to 4 years old.

  • In the United States, 58 percent of new HIV/AIDS cases among 13 to 19 year olds are girls.

  • The proportion of AIDS cases reported among women has grown from 7 percent in 1985 to an estimated 30 percent today.

  • Nearly 60 percent of all reported AIDS cases in Alabama afflict the African American community.

  • Heterosexual contact is the second most common method of infection in Alabama, and the rate is increasing.

  • Twenty-five percent of all new AIDS cases in Alabama are women.