Video of the Week:

Alicia Keys is ‘Empowered’

To End HIV

Written by emPower EditorsinShare0

In “Empowered,” Alicia Keys talks with five HIV positive women who are redefining their status by helping other women.

Cristina, a graduate student from the San Francisco Bay Area who was born with HIV; Eva, a home health care worker living in Atlanta with her family; Kym, a young professional living in Texas who learned she was positive after her new husband became sick and died as a result of HIV; Jen, a wife and mother in Portland (OR) who has been living with HIV for over 20 years; and Stephanie, a recent college graduate from North Carolina who appeared in an MTV special on youth and HIV.  They share their stories in the hopes of reaching other women and showing how, whether positive or negative, we are all empowered in this fight. Keys also explains what inspires her to take up the issue of women and HIV in America.

As a force in the global fight against AIDS, Keys has dedicated her work in philanthropy to help bring awareness to the urgency of HIV/AIDS.  Now with the launch of Empowered, she is once again highlighting the power of women – as mothers, daughters, sisters, friends, partners and people living with HIV – to change the course of this disease through every day actions.

“When I became aware that women accounted for one in five new HIV infections occurring in the U.S. each year, it shook me to the core and I realized this is an issue we ALL need to pay attention to,” said Alicia Keys.  “Whether HIV positive or negative, we all have the opportunity to educate ourselves and make a difference.”

Approximately 280,000 people living with HIV in the U.S. – or about one in four – are women.  Women of color have been especially hard-hit, accounting for the large majority of new infections occurring among women in the U.S.

Learn more about what YOU can do in your everyday life today. From who it affects to what a life with HIV can look like to how we can all make a difference. Visit: greaterthan.org/empowered to take action.

Courtesy of Greater Than AIDS