Biographical HIV/AIDS Facts for Life: Key Highlights by Dr. Marvel Parker

Dr. Marvel Parker is committed to raising awareness about HIV/AIDS, particularly its impact on African American communities. Through her work, she highlights important facts, prevention methods, and the role of the church and community in fighting this epidemic. Below are key excerpts from her research and advocacy on HIV/AIDS, offering crucial insights into prevention, education, and the necessary steps for change.

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Highlights

AIDS AWARENESS ADVOCACY INC.

Breaking The Silence of HIV/AIDS

What is HIV/AIDS/
When are you positive?
Where did it all begin?
Theories of origin
People living with HIV/AIDS
AIDS in the black community and in the church
Transmission of HIV/AIDS
HIV and AIDS: Fact from fiction
What can we do to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS FACTS For Life

AIDS is a disease caused by HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus)
Testing is the only sure way to know if you are infected with HIV.
A person infected with HIV may have no symptoms but can still infect others.
To avoid HIV infection through sex, don’t have sex or have sex with the same partner who isn’t infected and who has sex only with you.

HIV is spread by sharing needles and injection equipment.
There is no cure or vaccine for HIV. Current treatments can keep you healthier for longer.
An infected woman can pass HIV to her baby during pregnancy, birth, or breastfeeding.
Anyone can get HIV: young, old, male, female, “gay” or straight.

The Role of the African American Church
In the African American Community, the church is the anchor institution. The lives of most African American families evolve around the church. In 2006, President Bush stated in his State of the Union Address: “The church must move to the forefront in the fight against HIV/AIDS.”

Safe Sex and the Church’s Responsibility
In order to teach safe sex in the church, the church must first acknowledge the possibility of unsafe sex. Most churches take a position of total abstinence prior to marriage and during widowhood and faithfulness within the marriage. How can you approach the subject of safe sex without acknowledging that people are having sex outside these parameters? When the church only teaches abstinence and faithfulness, it eliminates the need to teach safe sex. The church must acknowledge that teaching safe sex is not condoning sin.

Challenges for the Black Church in Addressing AIDS
The Black church in America struggles with how to deal with the AIDS dilemma. Though outspoken on many issues related to sexual behavior, it seems they are tongue-tied on the issue of AIDS.

The African American Community

Churches, educational institutions, and other community organizations must become proactive in the fight against this killer disease.
Behavioral interventions and social interventions are essential to reverse the epidemic status of this disease in African American communities.

There are several key risk factors that contribute to these alarming statistics: the number of Black men who have been incarcerated and the lifestyle that is forced upon many of them, the number of Black men who lead a double life, or the new descriptive term, on the “down /low,” the number of I/V drug users, youth who need to postpone the initiation of sex. Other factors include the need to improve sex education in schools and churches and the need for AIDS awareness education. And training.

Are all of our black men I/V drug users? Are they all homosexuals? The answer to both questions is no. However, the question remains, why African Americans?
These Statistics are startling; what is going on in the African American community? Why are African Americans getting AIDS faster than any other group? What are the risk factors that explain this rise in the disease?
In 2001 AIDS was the number one cause of death for African American women ages 25-44. It is the sixth leading cause of death among U.S. women. Eighteen percent of AIDS cases are in women over 50.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, African American women are in the highest percentile of new AIDS diagnoses in the United States.

AIDS AWARENESS ADVOCACY INC.
A nonprofit organization that focuses on HIV/AIDS prevention initiatives in the African American community

MEMBERS

Dr. Terry J. Lewis

Chairman

Anne C. Smith Esq.

Vice Chairperson

Theresa Anderson

Secretary/Treasurer

Dr. Marvel McCain Parker

President/Executive Director

Marcus Gentry

Community-Based Education