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Knowing your HIV status is crucial, especially for Black men and women, who have the highest rate of HIV in St. Louis as of 2021.
ST. LOUIS — There have been some recent promising preliminary results in the latest HIV vaccine trials. Plus, local health care workers raising awareness through an inaugural event about the disease Sunday.
Sunday afternoon’s event in Midtown was hosted by Affinia Healthcare at Rouge Bistro located at 3037 Olive Street after they recognized a big problem with people not getting HIV tested.
The latest report from St. Louis’s Health Department shows most people in the city living with HIV are men but about 21% are female, especially women of color.
Sunday’s trivia, buffet and free HIV testing was in effort to raise awareness and answer questions to do with costs surrounding getting a test or possible treatment.
“Is it expensive? Is it something that I can afford?” Sabrina Person, a patient care coordinator with Affinia Healthcare, told 5 On Your Side on Sunday. “What am I supposed to do if this is the case? What can I do if this is the case? Is it a life sentence? Is it not?”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV is the initial viral infection treatable with medications which can mean a long and healthy life for someone. It may take years or never happen whereas the final, more serious, immune-suppressing stage of AIDS, occurs.
Knowing your status is crucial, especially for Black men and women who have the highest rate of HIV in St. Louis City as of 2021.
Providing accessible testing Sunday, “so that they are aware of their status,” said Candace Henderson, director of community health at Affinia.
“A lot of people just don’t come in to get the testing,” Henderson said. “This gives us an opportunity to come out into the community to meet them where they are to get the testing done.”
They brought 50 HIV tests and administered a dozen in the first hour.
It’s a mouth swab with results in only 10 minutes.
Affinia recommends talking to kids as young as 13 or getting them tested if a parent or adult thinks they may be sexually active. Local mom Sonia Deal started educating her three boys at 8 and 10 years old about HIV.
“Always in the company of parents, saying, how far do you want us to go with this conversation,” Deal who is also the VP of Community Health and Engagement at Affinia said. “Starting with the medical dictionary showing them your bodies are getting ready to change. You’re getting ready to go through puberty.”
HIV awareness events are expected at Rouge Bistro every few months now.
“It’s an honor,” John Jefferson, manager of the restaurant, said regarding the partnership with Affinia Healthcare. “We truly appreciate it.”
“I grew up always aware of HIV,” Jefferson said. “I had family that was positive. So, I knew steps. It’s very important.”
Just this week, HIV vaccine researchers have renewed hopes with preliminary results from two different studies. After 20 years of failures, one uses neutralizing antibodies from monkeys with HIV, according to NBC NEWS. The other encourages a person’s immune system to make their own power antibodies involving B-cells.
Neither is likely to be widely available until the 2030s.
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