By Matthew Wiggins
I’m Matthew Wiggins. I am a senior at Howard university who graduated in May 2024 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Strategic Communications and a minor in community development. In my last semester, I joined a class called CapComm Lab. This class is designed to provide students with firsthand experience in the field of communications through actively working for different clients who need communications-based work. In my case, I was tasked with assisting with the HU Empower Grant, which is a multipronged HIV awareness initiative by Howard University and a premiere national HIV nonprofit, HealthHIV.
When I joined the class, the grant was just approved. So, I was able to participate at a time when many of the critical elements were being developed. My responsibility included analyzing the HU Stigma Project website, developing social media messages, writing blogs and other activities. Working on this project opened my eyes to the social struggles faced by HIV positive Black women and how this exacerbates their physical and mental health struggles.
While attending my job in New York, I have met and connected with many people. A notable person I have connected with is my friend Angela, who is a Black woman living with HIV. After talking to her about her life, experiences and getting to know her on a personal level, I told her about the work I was doing for my class and invited her to answer some questions. Below is summary of our Q&A session.
Do you have any advice for Black women living with HIV?
“My advice would be to educate yourself on your own body as much as you do with HIV. This means a lot of routine checkups with your doctor. If you do not have a doctor that you trust, you should try to find one. This also means being aware of how your body and mind are feeling at all times because HIV affects different people in different ways.”
Is there anything you would like the public to know about living with HIV?
“Three things. One, HIV is not a disease that you can catch from someone by hugging them or just being in their presence. That is one of the most harmful beliefs a person can have about HIV because it dehumanizes people. Two, most people who have HIV do not want to talk about it or even tell family members what they are dealing with because they feel like they will be looked down upon, or even greeted with hostility. This is a huge reason why a lot of people don’t get treatment for it and end up hurting themselves. The third thing I want everyone to know about HIV is that it does not have to be a deadly disease. If you can get access to medicine like Prep, you can still live a long, comfortable, and healthy life. But, for a lot of people, the hardest part of doing that isn’t actually getting the medicine but gathering the courage it takes to be transparent with a doctor, because it takes a lot.”
What is the difference between HIV and AIDS?
“Well first off, HIV is a virus, while AIDS is just the final stage of the infection of the HIV virus. HIV, which is actually called: the human immunodeficiency virus, is an infectious virus that wears down your immune system over time, leaving the body less able to defend itself against viruses, which is why it can cause the affects you have probably seen in photos or on the internet.”
Considering what Angela said, I came to the conclusion that the main way to help a community is through education. The accumulation of knowledge is the only way to find solutions to the greater issues plaguing certain communities. In terms of the HIV positive community, visiting Who can you tell? is a great start.
Leave a Reply