Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency

syndrome (AIDS) is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This condition progressively reduces the
effectiveness of the immune system and leaves individuals susceptible to
opportunistic infections and tumors. HIV is transmitted through direct contact of a
mucous membrane or the bloodstream with a bodily fluid containing HIV, such as
blood, semen, vaginal fluid, preseminal fluid, and breast milk. This transmission
can involve anal, vaginal or oral sex, blood transfusion, contaminated hypodermic
needles, exchange between mother and baby during pregnancy, childbirth,
breastfeeding or other exposure to one of the above bodily fluids.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS

To date, over 230,000 African Americans have died of AIDS - nearly 40%
of total deaths - and of the more than 1 million people living with HIV in the
United States of America today, around half are black.And yet, as a racial group,
African Americans only represent just 12% of the US population. The estimated
lifetime risk of becoming infected with HIV is 1 in 16 for black males, and 1 in 30
for black females, a far higher risk than for white males which is 1 in 104 and in
white females 1 in 588. In Washington D.C, which has the nation’s highest district
HIV prevalence (3%), 76 % of those infected are African American. According to
the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, African Americans "comprise the greatest
proportion of HIV/AIDS cases across many transmission categories, including
among women, heterosexual men, injection drug users, and infants."

http://www.avert.org/hiv-african-americans.htm
 AIDS was originally thought to affect mostly gay white men. However,
women have always been affected too but were never put in the forefront as much.
Even though more men than women have HIV, women are catching up in
devastating numbers. Women are infected with HIV faster than any other
population group at the rate of 5,000 women a day. In fact, if new HIV infections
continue at this current rate worldwide, women with HIV may soon outnumber
men with HIV.

Black women are hugely, and disproportionately, affected by AIDS, with

the most likely transmission route being heterosexual sex. 85 percent of African
American women living with HIV were infected this way and account for nearly
half of the country's entire female epidemic.
Although I have not been directly impacted by the affect of AIDS through
the loss of friends or family but the thinking of the lack of information that is
readily avaliable on how to handle sex, love, and death, the lack of representations
of African American girls with AIDS in diverse media forms is, in its own way,
sickening and down right disgraceful/sad. If African American girls are researced
as one of the groups most directly affected by HIV, then where are their stories?
Why do so few representations of them exist? And how might their experiences
inform what we know about HIV and its treatment?
Where are the infomercials on that I see penis enlargement creams, weight
loss pills, dietary supplements and 1-800 sex lines plastered across my television
night in and night out but where are the commercials of the things we need to see
and know about that have a TRUE impact on our lives. Where are the PSA’s and
where’s the representation in daytime television whether it be television shows or
soap operas or any other media representation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py2bY-4lfHs
 The media is the structure expected to facilitate awareness and present the
audience with facts, up to date research, possible options and forms of treatment
along with expert testimony to back all of this. The media is the connecting piece
between the people and the power i.e. the government. Clearly, media messages
about HIV/AIDS that can reach African American communities disproportionately
affected by the epidemic are still the prominent source of information and have
the ability to influence behaviors. But where are the messages?
Rather than the media being an ally for these women as far as media focus
on Aids is concerned, the media have failed to explain the peculiarities of African
American women's problems in order to encourage the society to appreciate them.
The media focus on Aids tends to reinforce the stereotypical attitudes, which often
portrays women as the bad guy of aids and other STDs. The media shows them as
being responsible instead of the victim. The media is responsible for perpetuating
and stereotyping women as sex objects in the first place, so instead of portraying
African American women with Aids as victims they are represented as the carrier
of the disease and the shady person in a sense.
 It also seems that black females are not on the radar screen of politicians on
either side of the aisle. During the last presidential election, candidates stumbled
over their answers to questions about the devastation of HIV/AIDS on the black
female community. When told that black women between the ages of 25 and 44
are 13 times more likely to die of the disease than their white counterparts,
candidates had no clue how to address the issue.
Phil Wilson of the Black AIDS Institute argues for a greater emphasis on
testing to fight HIV in the Black community. He thinks part of the problem is that
the media isn't covering AIDS and awareness of the persistence of the disease isn't
there, "Some of it is that ... AIDS is not on the front burner in the media as it has
been in the past, and people think that the problem has gone away or they think
that it's someone else's problem

The AIDS crisis is not over and HIV/AIDS continues to disproportionately

affect minority communities, mainly African Americans tremendously. While
African Americans represent 13% of the United States population, they account
for approximately 46% of new HIV infections and 50% of reported AIDS cases.
African-American women accounted for 60% of all new HIV cases among
women. In 2001, HIV was the second leading cause of death in African Americans
between the ages of 25 and 44. More than 195,000 African Americans have died
with AIDS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVMYhQCFYkI

The media needs to do a better job at getting the message out about this
very serious topic. The good news is that many women with HIV are living longer
and stronger lives. With proper care and treatment, many women can continue to
take care of themselves and others. But that isnt enough people need to be
informed if not on a daily basis then monthly. Aids is seen as a epidemic and so
severe but the dedication and drive to do something about it seems to me that it
isnt there. The media’s invovlment on this issue seems more like it’s a fad or trend
and will go away in a couple years like, bell bottom jeans and afro’s. Come on
media put the people first and stop playing politics.