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VIDEO: A message to clinicians, patients on National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
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BOSTON — Each year, HHS and the CDC recognize March 10 as National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day to support women and girls who are living with HIV and ensure that uninfected women have the knowledge and tools they need to prevent infection.
To mark the occasion, Infectious Disease News asked several researchers and clinicians at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections what their take-home message is to colleagues who devote their careers to HIV care, as well as to the patients themselves who are living with the infection.
“Many people who are at risk for HIV — including women and girls, particularly in the U.S. — don’t know that they’re at risk, so we need to be really vigilant about offering them HIV testing and letting them know that they do remain at risk for HIV infection, which still occurs in too many people in the United States,” said Annie F. Luetkemeyer, MD, associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and attending physician at San Francisco General Hospital.
“A message for my HIV-infected women and girls living with this disease: The future is as bright as it’s ever been for people living with HIV,” she continued. “You can live a long, healthy life with HIV… I am moved by your bravery every day that I take care of my women patients in the HIV clinic. I think that the future holds tremendous promise for you as HIV care continues to improve.”
For more perspectives on National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, click here.
Disclosure: Luetkemeyer reports no relevant financial disclosures.