My name is Zina Age and I am the CEO and founder of Aniz, Inc. in Atlanta, a global non-profit.  We are the African-American community based agency in the state of Georgia that deals with the psychological and educational issues regarding children and family members directly affected by a preventable disease….AIDS.

Can I make a visible illustration to you?

Let me divide the room in half.  If one side of this room were under 25 years old half of you would be infected with HIV.  Look around, these are your friends! Children!

That’s right, 50% of all new AIDS cases in the U.S. are our babies, children and young adults under the age of 25.  Adolescents are the fastest growing group of individuals newly diagnosed with HIV in the United States, yet only 10% of this age group has been tested…HIV is infecting 1 in 4 teenagers…2 infected every hour.

In the state of Georgia, 15 million dollars were allocated for scientific research for HIV/AIDS, but only $2 million for prevention.

An American DIES from AIDS every 15 minutes and globally one human being is diagnosed with this preventable disease we call AIDS every 15 seconds.  Within the last 6 days, I have lost people to AIDS; my Aunt Shelia Caesar (an African American woman), my God child Dennis Edwards (an African-American youth) and one of my clients, an African America male.  Worldwide 90% of all new infections are transmitted through heterosexual contact. 

I know from my personal experiences of being directly affected by HIV/AIDS and as a social worker to my clients directly infected by HIV/AIDS the common factors were distress, shock, anger, regret, denial, remorse, shame, and guilt…which in many cases is caused by SECRECY. 

Not lack of knowledge on transmission!

Many individuals know that using a condom correctly will prevent HIV transmission by 99%.  Most of my clients stated that they were very surprised after being diagnosed with HIV and at the same time shared that they continued to have unprotected sex.  Many didn’t even know they were HIV positive until they started getting sick—which is usually 8-10 years after being infected.  Last, but not least, many of my clients knew they were HIV positive and didn’t tell.