Speaker shatters stereotypes of HIV/AIDS
Erika Schnitzer
Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: News
Last Thursday, February 7, in an intimate discussion at Beuth House, Editor-in-Chief of POZ magazine Regan Hofmann conversed with students about the prevalence of HIV/AIDS here in America and the growing need for awareness.
Despite the fact that many associate HIV/AIDS with IV-drug users, prostitutes and homosexual men, Hofmann maintained that 48 percent of those infected worldwide are, in fact, women. What's more, the number of those infected in the United States is on the rise, yet most people tend to associate the disease with other countries, particularly those in Africa.
"We don't think that it's here, [but] in some pockets [of the country] it's worse," Hofmann noted. Providing some statistics, she explained that the rate of infection in Washington, D.C., for example, is one in 20, which is worse than in some sub-Saharan areas in Africa.
"As long as people don't see [HIV/AIDS in the public domain], stigma will exist," Hofmann asserted. "Around the world, it is not stigmatized as much as it is here [in America]."
Looking at Hofmann, a funny and energetic beautiful blonde from Princeton, New Jersey, one might wonder what she knows about the disease. She is neither a drug user nor a sex worker, and she is quite obviously not a homosexual man. Yet Hofmann, at the age of 28, discovered that she had contracted HIV from her boyfriend, who did not know that he had the disease, and was given two years to live.
Now, ten years later, Hofmann is speaking out and raising awareness about HIV/AIDS, and at POZ, she is in the perfect position to do so.
POZ magazine, dedicated to "health, life & HIV," as the cover proclaims, is "a lifeline for people with [HIV]," explained Hofmann, who spent four years as an anonymous contributing writer to the magazine. In April of 2006, when she became Editor-in-Chief of the bimonthly periodical, Hofmann finally disclosed her identity to the magazine's readers. "Why now? Because there's a real need for positive people to be visible-AIDS needs to be in the spotlight again," explained Hofmann in her very first Editor's Letter.
Despite the fact that many associate HIV/AIDS with IV-drug users, prostitutes and homosexual men, Hofmann maintained that 48 percent of those infected worldwide are, in fact, women. What's more, the number of those infected in the United States is on the rise, yet most people tend to associate the disease with other countries, particularly those in Africa.
"We don't think that it's here, [but] in some pockets [of the country] it's worse," Hofmann noted. Providing some statistics, she explained that the rate of infection in Washington, D.C., for example, is one in 20, which is worse than in some sub-Saharan areas in Africa.
"As long as people don't see [HIV/AIDS in the public domain], stigma will exist," Hofmann asserted. "Around the world, it is not stigmatized as much as it is here [in America]."
Looking at Hofmann, a funny and energetic beautiful blonde from Princeton, New Jersey, one might wonder what she knows about the disease. She is neither a drug user nor a sex worker, and she is quite obviously not a homosexual man. Yet Hofmann, at the age of 28, discovered that she had contracted HIV from her boyfriend, who did not know that he had the disease, and was given two years to live.
Now, ten years later, Hofmann is speaking out and raising awareness about HIV/AIDS, and at POZ, she is in the perfect position to do so.
POZ magazine, dedicated to "health, life & HIV," as the cover proclaims, is "a lifeline for people with [HIV]," explained Hofmann, who spent four years as an anonymous contributing writer to the magazine. In April of 2006, when she became Editor-in-Chief of the bimonthly periodical, Hofmann finally disclosed her identity to the magazine's readers. "Why now? Because there's a real need for positive people to be visible-AIDS needs to be in the spotlight again," explained Hofmann in her very first Editor's Letter.
Be the first to comment on this story