The face of AIDS'

Mary Stevenson Cassatt (American, 1844-1926). Mother and Child, ca. 1889

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Women's health conference spotlights 'the face of AIDS'

Yesterday women gathered at the "7th Annual Women's HIV Health Conference at Acushnet's Century House" to discuss HIV and AIDS. During the conference women who have been diagnosed with HIV shared their brave stories; on the stigma and fear that comes from living with this disease. In the article Anika Clark writes; "Little seemed to link the women who shared their poignant stories Thursday, other than the three letters that changed their lives. Forty-nine-year-old Doreen of New Bedford actually expected the HIV test she took some 21 years ago to come back positive, after a fisherman she'd been seeing for more than a year was airlifted from his boat and died of pneumocystis pneumonia three days later".

The article pointed out that HIV has many faces, and those familiar faces of a mother and a wife are often forgotten when a community's attention is directed towards HIV.

The article can be found here, and most certainly is one everyone should read.