Center for Black Women Wellness

Center for Black Women Wellnes will be conducting a weight lost prgroam. Healthy Women 4 Healthy Families is a program that is focused on womens overall health. Join us to learn about healthy nurition, stress managment, and fitness.  The program is free, provides child care, lite refreshments, and weekly raffles.  Contact below for more infomation and applications process.

477 Windsor Street, Suite 309, Atlanta, GA 30312,  www.cbww.org  / Phone: (404) 688-9202 Ext. 32 or 10. / Fax: (404) 880-9435 fgriffith@cbww.org or frontdesk@cbww.org

Know Your Status

"Take the Test. Take Control."

June 27 is National Testing Day. Take the tes, know your status.

Are Black Women the Face of AIDS?

Women have been affected by HIV/AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic, an impact that has grown over time. Women of color, particularly Black women, have been especially hard hit and represent the majority of new HIV infections and AIDS diagnoses among women, and the majority of women living with the disease. Many women with HIV are low-income and most have important family responsibilities, potentially complicating the management of their illness. Research suggests that women with HIV face limited access to care and experience disparities in access, relative to men. Women also experience different clinical symptoms and complications. Given these trends and issues, efforts to stem the tide of the U.S. HIV/AIDS epidemic will increasingly depend on how and to what extent its effect on women and girls is addressed.

The fact shhet can be found: http://www.kff.org/hivaids/upload/6092-10.pdf

Learning to Perform a Breast Self-Exam

The Black Women’s Health Imperative encourages all Black women to take 5 minutes to perform a monthly breast self-exam (BSE) in the shower, beginning in their 20s. Get to know your breasts with these three simple steps:

Step 1

In front of a mirror, with your arms by your sides, look at your breasts for any changes in size, shape or position, or any skin puckering, dimpling, sores or discoloration. Inspect your nipples and look for any sores, peeling or change in the direction of the nipples. Then, turn side-to-side to inspect the outer part of your breasts.

Step 2

With soapy hands, place one hand on your hip and with the other hand begin feeling your underarm for any lumps or thickening. Repeat on the other side.

Step 3

Raise one arm behind your head and use the flat part of your fingers from the other hand to press gently into the breast. Follow an up-and-down pattern along the breast until you have covered the entire breast. Repeat on the other side.

If you detect changes, visit your health care provider for a clinical breast exam (CBE) or mammogram right away.

Georgia HIV Advocacy Network

On behalf of Janssen Therapeutics, Division of Janssen Products, LP, I am pleased to invite you to a special screening* of The Other City, a documentary film focusing on the HIV/AIDS crisis in Washington, DC. The documentary portrays healthcare disparities that also impact access to care and medication in Georgia. Following the screening, a panel will discuss access to HIV/AIDS care in Georgia through the lens of the challenges highlighted in the documentary.

Panel members will include The Other City director Susan Koch as well as key thought leaders, service providers, patients, and stakeholders from the Georgia HIV community.

WHEN: The screening will take place on June 26, 2012, at 6:00 PM

WHERE: The Loudermilk Center 40 Courtland Street North East Atlanta, Georgia 30303

If you plan to attend the screening, please RSVP to Brianna.mulligan@edelman.com.

We look forward to having you join us on June 26!

Breastfeeding as Birth Control at a Glance

Breastfeeding as Birth Control 

Sometimes called LAM (Lactational Amenorrhea Method)

A natural way to prevent pregnancy after giving birth

Effective, safe, convenient, and free

Lasts for up to six months after giving birth

When is LAM no longer effective?  

A woman who chooses to rely on LAM should be advised that the method is short-term (up to six months) and is no longer effective when any one of the three criteria changes. 

The LAM user should be counseled to use another contraceptive method for continued protection.

For more information visit: http://www.breastfeeding.com/reading_room/lam_page3.html

Female Condom at a Glance

                                   

                              A pouch inserted into the vagina to prevent pregnancy

Reduces the risk of sexually transmitted infection

Can be used for vaginal and anal intercourse

Safe, effective, and convenient

Cost about $4 each

Easy to get

Using a female condom is safe, simple, and convenient. Women and men like female condoms because female condoms

• allow women to share responsibility for preventing infection
• are easy to get — can be purchased in drugstores and some supermarkets
• can be inserted by a partner as part of sex play
• can be used by people who are allergic to latex
• can be used with oil-based as well as water-based lubricants
• do not have an effect on a woman's natural hormones
• do not require a prescription
• may enhance sex play — the external ring may stimulate the clitoris during vaginal intercourse
• stay in place whether or not a man maintains his erection

HIV/AIDS in Georgia

Infection rates are high in Georgia and metro Atlanta. Georgia ranked 4^th in the number of new AIDS cases, 7^th in cumulative AIDS cases and 8^th in the number of persons living with AIDS in 50 states and the District of Columbia in 2005. Of the 19 public health districts in Georgia, nine had an AIDS case rate above the national average. 

  

Based on data from the Georgia Department of Human Resources’ Epidemiology Branch of the Division of Public Health, estimates for metro Atlanta show more than 26,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, and more than 9,500 of these (37%) have diagnosed AIDS cases. The region accounts for 66 percent of the total AIDS cases in Georgia. Within metro Atlanta, Fulton and DeKalb counties have the highest infection rates. 

President Obama on National HIV Testing Day

                             Leading by example.  HIV/AIDS has no borders.  GET TESTED!

deepsouth, a New HIV/AIDS Documentary, Premieres This July

The film deepsouth, follows a young black gay man from the Mississippi Delta who is doing his best to fight stigma and homophobia; two best friends who are preparing for their annual HIV retreat in rural Louisiana; and an Alabama activist who travels around the state speaking her truth.

Healing from Within: Tools for Lifelong Wellness

According to 2009 HIV surveillance data, women represented 24% of all diagnoses of HIV infection among United States (US) adults and adolescents in 40 states with long-established, confidential name-based reporting. In 2008, an estimated 25% of adults and adolescents living with HIV infection were female. Black and Latina women are disproportionately affected at all stages of HIV infection compared with women of other races/ethnicities.