Local HIV/AIDS Advocates Featured in CBS News Story
Local HIV/AIDS Advocates are featured in this CBS News article on HIV/AIDS and the Presidential Candidates. Below is an excerpt of the transcript followed by a video clip of the full article
The CDC estimates that one in 20 people living in Washington, D.C., is HIV positive. Astoundingly, in the capital of the world's wealthiest country, the incidence of HIV/AIDS is two-and-a-half times that of Port au Prince, the capital of Haiti, one of the world's poorest countries.
C. Russell, 31, is HIV-positive, having been diagnosed nine years ago after having unprotected sex.
"Eighty percent of the HIV cases in this city - your city - are in blacks," Gupta said.
"They are," Russell said.
"What is going on here?" Gupta said.
"Apathy in our community. Apathy possibly maybe from the government," he said. "People not going and getting tested and getting treatment once they're diagnosed."
Luckily, Russell's been able to keep the virus at bay, without the need for medication. But if he did get sick, care and treatment costs over his lifetime could easily top $275,000.
"If it came to that, I'd want to know that I'd be taken care of. I'd want to know that I'd be able to get health care," he said.
But it's not just men.
The incidence rate for black women like Danielle, who is 42 and HIV-positive, is nearly 15 times that of whites - making AIDS a leading killer of African-American women ages 25 to 34.
Danielle contracted HIV through sexual intercourse 15 years ago, and passed the virus onto one of her five children during pregnancy.
"A lot of people are in the mindset that well, because we have medication we can take, it's OK if I become HIV positive," she said.
But Danielle has no health insurance. So she'll be in trouble should she ever develop AIDS.
"You couldn't get all the medications that you need, you couldn't get the sub-specialty care that you need. What would happen to someone like you?" Gupta said.
"I'd probably get sicker. And possibly even die," she said.
The CDC estimates that one in 20 people living in Washington, D.C., is HIV positive. Astoundingly, in the capital of the world's wealthiest country, the incidence of HIV/AIDS is two-and-a-half times that of Port au Prince, the capital of Haiti, one of the world's poorest countries.
C. Russell, 31, is HIV-positive, having been diagnosed nine years ago after having unprotected sex.
"Eighty percent of the HIV cases in this city - your city - are in blacks," Gupta said.
"They are," Russell said.
"What is going on here?" Gupta said.
"Apathy in our community. Apathy possibly maybe from the government," he said. "People not going and getting tested and getting treatment once they're diagnosed."
Luckily, Russell's been able to keep the virus at bay, without the need for medication. But if he did get sick, care and treatment costs over his lifetime could easily top $275,000.
"If it came to that, I'd want to know that I'd be taken care of. I'd want to know that I'd be able to get health care," he said.
But it's not just men.
The incidence rate for black women like Danielle, who is 42 and HIV-positive, is nearly 15 times that of whites - making AIDS a leading killer of African-American women ages 25 to 34.
Danielle contracted HIV through sexual intercourse 15 years ago, and passed the virus onto one of her five children during pregnancy.
"A lot of people are in the mindset that well, because we have medication we can take, it's OK if I become HIV positive," she said.
But Danielle has no health insurance. So she'll be in trouble should she ever develop AIDS.
"You couldn't get all the medications that you need, you couldn't get the sub-specialty care that you need. What would happen to someone like you?" Gupta said.
"I'd probably get sicker. And possibly even die," she said.
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