Events and organizations around the city of Memphis will be promoting HIV and AIDS awareness during World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, an international health day for people and organizations to raise awareness, educate people about AIDS prevention and control and remember people who have been affected or who have died from the disease.
There are approximately 6,202 people living with HIV or AIDS in the city of Memphis, and Shelby County currently accounts for 40 percent of all HIV infections in the State of Tennessee. In 2015, the CDC reported Memphis was eighth in the country for rates of new HIV diagnoses.
Elena Delavaga, a professor of social work at the University of Memphis, said the reason for the high number of HIV and AIDS cases is due to high levels of poverty in Memphis.
“Poverty and ignorance are factors, but people might be in such a mental state because of poverty or other problems that avoiding risky behaviors is the least of their problems,” Delavega said. “People who are stably housed engage in fewer risky behaviors and are less likely to get HIV. We have very high poverty. We have homelessness. And those people don’t protect themselves.”
Examples of risky sexual behaviors include having unprotected sex, which increases the chances of someone getting infected with an STD like HIV. Delavega said she thinks the number of people affected by the disease is greater than the number of people actually infected.
“If a relative is infected, then that person is living with AIDS in their bodies, but everybody around them is affected: their families, their children, their spouses and even the community,” Delavega said. “People have to help take care of someone, and there is an emotional charge to having a terrible disease. All of these things affect the community.”
Delavega said she thinks it is important to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS to get people to become proactive in the fight against HIV and AIDS and to get more research done on the disease.
There will be events around Memphis to raise awareness and acknowledge people who have been affected by HIV and AIDS. On Nov. 30, the Shelby County Health Department, Shelby County Schools and organizations like St. Jude and Friends for Life will be hosting a World AIDS Day event at Westwood High School.
Shelby County Health Director Alisa Haushalter will be speaking about HIV and AIDS at the event, and there will be a ceremony where a person, a business and an organization who supports HIV/AIDS care, education and prevention efforts in Shelby County will be recognized. Later in the day, there will be a lantern lighting ceremony at the Pipkin Building to remember those affected by HIV and AIDS.
Joanne Carr, the public health coordinator for the Shelby County Health Department, said events like these help spread awareness.
“I think this is an important event for people affected by HIV, but also for their friends and family,” Carr said. “It gives them something to do to come together and show support for those affected by HIV and AIDS. When people light a lantern, they usually think of someone who has been affected by HIV and AIDS. It’s a way for people to remember loved ones affected by the disease.”
