October 29th, 2010

PHILADELPHIA (CBS)

City Council looked at the issue this past Wednesday, and the committee hearing included testimony from 17-year old Kim, who spoke by phone to preserve her anonymity.  She contracted AIDS at birth from her now-deceased mother, and said she faces the stigma of AIDS daily:

“It hurts at times, it really does.  And I think that I shouldn’t be judged by what’s in my blood.”

She said she now lives with a foster family:

“…that loves and cares for me very very much, and I don’t know what I would do without them.”

Health commissioner Dr. Donald Schwarz testified that more than 19,000 Philadelphians, about 1½ percent of the population, have HIV or AIDS:

“Lack of awareness of HIV status and stigma put too many poor Philadelphians, including many African-Americans, at higher risk.”

And Schwarz repeatedly stressed that the key to HIV prevention is relatively simple — everyone, he said, should get tested regularly.

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