Cheris takes an HIV test
In Charlotte, N.C., there are at least 450 people who are HIV positive and don't know it.
It's scary to take an HIV test, even if you've been careful and practice safe sex. The questions that the test administrator asks you will make you think. Did I use a condom the last time I had sex? Is my boyfriend cheating with one of those 450 people who don't know they have HIV?
Putting all of that aside, I took a rapid HIV test today. Here's how it went down:
I pretty much knew my status when I went to take this test. But, according to ABC News, the HIV rate among black women living in some U.S. cities is the same rate as that of some African countries.
It's scary to take an HIV test, even if you've been careful and practice safe sex. The questions that the test administrator asks you will make you think. Did I use a condom the last time I had sex? Is my boyfriend cheating with one of those 450 people who don't know they have HIV?
Putting all of that aside, I took a rapid HIV test today. Here's how it went down:
"This disease is alive and well in this country," said Dr. Carlos Del Rio, principal investigator for the Atlanta area of the study and professor of medicine and infectious disease at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. "But this epidemic is the face of the forgotten people."Find a testing location in your area by clicking here.
There are "hot spots" where the disease thrives in this country, Del Rio said, and most of those areas are some of the most impoverished parts of the United States.
Comments
Continue to be a blessing to young women who read your words, who know you and watch you and who will ultimately emulate you. You are an exceptional spirit and you just move me to tears for being the blessing that you are.
Keep up ALL your good works!
Deborah Fletcher Mello
I felt like it was important to do this because rate of black women contracting HIV is very high. There is a lot of fear when it comes to taking HIV tests, but we have to do it.