The University of Maryland School of Social Work's Maternal and Child Health (MCH) program will explore the impact of HIV/AIDS on women in a two-day minimester on Jan. 10 and 11. "Women: The Changing Face of HIV/AIDS," organized by six MCH leadership scholars in the School's master's degree program, is expected to draw students from the University's social work, dental, law, nursing, medical, and pharmacy schools.
The program will focus on social, medical, and legal issues that women with HIV/AIDs and their families face. Topics covered will include the impact of HIV/AIDS on minority women, shifts and trends in the virus-related pharmaceutical industry, the growing epidemic of the disease in urban areas, and gender-related issues connected to reproductive heath.
Edward Pecukonis, PhD, MSW, associate professor and director of the MCH Program, along with doctoral students, Shauna Acquavita, LCSW-C, BCD, and Maya Gibbons, MSW, provided guidance to the six MCH scholars-Kerri Agee, Caitlin Johnson, Erin Penniston, Jessica Porto, Kate Wasserman, and Kim Weingarten-who are organizing the interdisciplinary minimester.
"The students chose to focus on HIV/AIDS and women," says Gibbons. According to Gibbons, when HIV/AIDS afflicts women, the impact can be sharper than on men because it also affects whether babies are born healthy, the woman's decision whether to nurse, and the ability of women to care for their families. "When a mother is limited to what she can do with her child because she's sick all the time, or tired, or unwell, the child is limited, too," Gibbons says.
At the start of HIV/AIDS in the U.S., the virus affected mostly white, gay men. The populations most affected today tend to be people above age 50, and young minority women. One of every four new cases of HIV in the U.S. is a woman, and of those women, two out of three are African-American heterosexuals who became infected from having sex with men. The virus is the leading cause of death for African-American women ages 25 to 35 and as recently as 2004, 50 percent of all diagnosed HIV/AIDS cases afflicted African-Americans.
While much has been reported about the spread of HIV/AIDS in other countries, the virus also has a deadly stranglehold on Baltimore. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Baltimore has the second highest AIDS case report rate in the United States.
The Baltimore City Commission on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment, the City Council, and the mayor declared a state of emergency in Baltimore in 2002, and the impact of HIV/AIDS on the city has increased every year since the first recording of the AIDS in 1985, while the number of HIV/AIDS cases has fluctuated nationally. African-Americans comprise almost 90 percent of Baltimore's cases, and Gibbons reports that the number of cases among women has spiked from only 8 percent in 1985 to nearly 40 percent now.
Experts and patients will address the students during the two-day minimester. Robert Gallo, MD, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and director of the Institute of Human Virology, will deliver an overview of HIV/AIDS.
Deborah Weimer, JD, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law, will address social dynamics, and gender-related and reproductive issues. Neha Sheth, PharmD, assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, will discuss changes in the pharmaceutical industry; Llewellyn Cornelius, PhD, a professor at the School of Social Work, will talk about the impact of HIV/AIDS on minority women; and Ligia Peralta, MD, associate professor at the School of Medicine, will focus on how adolescent girls have become a major at-risk population.
Other speakers will include women who are living with the disease, policy and legislative speakers, and representatives from the Baltimore City Health Department, and local community organizations involved in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.
"Our campus is uniquely configured to allow students from social work, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, law, dentistry, and public health to learn side by side within the classroom and clinical setting. This type of interdisciplinary education assists students in developing interprofessional cultural competence," says Pecukonis, who will deliver a lecture on interdisciplinary work during the minimister.
After the minimester, the students will develop and implement a series of community outreach projects tackling HIV/AIDS issues from the myriad perspectives of their chosen professions. Included will be a systemic outreach to middle school children as well as a candlelight vigil to raise awareness among the community about the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS.
"The point in reaching out to middle school students is to reach them before they become sexually active. Also, if they are being impacted because parents and/or guardians are affected with HIV/AIDS, we can provide them with education and link them to services," says Gibbons.
The two-day MCH minimester, an annual event focused on a public health issue, brings together students from each professional school at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, the program in the past has explored childhood obesity and asthma, and vulnerable children's lack of access to dental care.
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