First Baptist Piney Grove held Women’s and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
By Ciera Campbell
National Women and Girls Aids Awareness Day is a day to empower women and educate girls on making better choices when it comes to sex. On March 18, First Baptist Piney Grove held an entire day to educate Broward County on HIV/AIDS healthcare and prevention.
“We were trying to reach women and girls in the community”, said Ethia Bray-Carter, First Baptist Piney Grove’s HIV/AIDS ministry coordinator. “We had sponsors like the Broward House who offered free testing and Aids Health Foundation who educated women on HIV/AIDS healthcare.”
The event also offered a panel, “Let’s Talk” with Broward County leading health professionals such as Nova Southeastern University’s professor Dr. Alicia Bolden. “Let’s Talk, offered the opportunity for guests to openly ask questions regarding HIV/AIDS”.
Carter continued. “My goal is to build an army of health advocators and leave with success stories. In our community we are sometimes resistant to change and we are trying to change that stigma.”
According to the Center of Disease Control, African American women have the highest HIV diagnoses compared to women of other race/ethnic groups.
In order to reach all age groups, Maria Bray, FBPG HIV/AIDS ministry co-chair, incorporated different artistic approaches like music, puppetry and spoken word. “Having the ability to reach all audiences was important. Music is a great way to gain someone’s interest. We were hoping the spoken word would reach someone too,” said Bray.
Bray continued “The spoken word touched on people being true to who they are and speaking their truths.”
- Moore, event attendee, was determined to attend the event to hear more about HIV/AIDS prevention. “I was really interested in getting more in-formation especially being a single African American woman. What kill African Americans women are us not knowing?”
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, today about one in four women are living with HIV in the United States and only half of the affected women are receiving proper health treatments.
The HIV/AIDS awareness event concluded with more than fifty participants parting with shirts, fans and other door prizes.
For more information on healthcare and wellness pro-grams in your community visit, https://www.womenshealth.gov/nwghaad/
