*Black women are often neglected in healthcare, including HIV prevention and care – they deserve better.
This isn’t new. This dynamic existed from the earliest days of the HIV epidemic through now: Black women are 11 times more likely to be diagnosed with HIV than white women and four times more likely than Latinx women.
As this gap in care continues to widen, it’s important to look to the root of the problem to create viable, sustainable solutions.
ViiV Healthcare’s Risk to Reasons initiative is doing just that— challenging the common use of the word “risk” when talking about Black women and their potential to be diagnosed with HIV.
Instead, the focus is on reasons that motivate and empower women to address their sexual health.
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Risk to Reasons supports that intimacy and pleasure are real and sufficient reasons to engage in HIV preventative care, and the initiatives guided activity books lean into this – offering Black women the language and tools to explore intimacy and sexual wellness for themselves, with a partner, and their healthcare provider.
Dr. Kimberly Smith, Head of Research and Development for ViiV Healthcare, expressed why it’s critical to adopt a narrative and create tools that prioritize Black women’s explorations.
“Women are rarely prioritized in HIV prevention efforts and, at ViiV Healthcare, we are working to change that. Led by insights from Black women in the communities most impacted by HIV, we are exploring the roles that intimacy, desire and pleasure play in both if and how women engage in HIV prevention care and services. We know that by prioritizing ‘reasons’ for prevention rather than ‘risk’, we can open the door to talk about sex and intimacy as part of whole person health and, in turn, move closer to ending the HIV epidemic.”
As we recognize National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, it’s clear that reframing how we look at HIV can’t happen in one day, but we can start by listening to Black women who are reshaping the HIV narrative for themselves and their communities.
To learn more about challenging the narrative for Black women when it comes to HIV prevention and care, visit risktoreasons.com.
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