Miami Herald - February 6, 2005
Darran Simon, dsimon@herald.com

Felicia White and her partner knew she had HIV. But they had sex once without a condom anyway, and she got pregnant.

Fortunately, neither the baby girl nor the father contracted the virus, and both are healthy, White said.

And, thanks to modern medicine, White -- who got HIV through unprotected sex with another partner -- doesn't have the AIDS disease, either.

Today, her mission is educating women -- including her three daughters -- to get tested, be responsible, and use condoms designed for women.

"You got to make the choice. That's why a lot of us are dying," said White, who will share her story Monday during a community forum in Fort Lauderdale as part of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness and Information Day.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the national awareness campaign four years ago as part of its efforts to reduce the number of HIV infections.

Monday's community forum at the Embassy Suites hotel in Fort Lauderdale also marks the beginning of National Condom Week, an educational outreach effort headed locally by the Broward County Health Department.

Nationwide, experts and advocates will raise awareness that HIV and AIDS are crippling black communities.

Free HIV/AIDS testing, prayers, breakfasts and several memorial services for people who have died from AIDS are scheduled for 21 cities with high HIV/AIDS rates, such as Atlanta and Miami.

AIDS is a leading cause of death among blacks 25 to 54, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 2003, African Americans accounted for 49 percent of the new AIDS cases among U.S. adults, according to the CDC.

Black people made up 51.3 percent of all new HIV diagnoses in 32 states from 2000 to 2003, even though they make up only about 13 percent of the total population in those states, CDC figures show.

"If our numbers are so high, then of course it's a crisis," said Donna Markland, the regional minority AIDS coordinator for the Broward County Health Department.

Black women in particular are suffering at a high rate. In Florida, where women made up 30 percent of AIDS cases statewide through 2003, black women account for 72 percent of those cases.

In Broward, White's second child was just months old in 1990 when she learned during an annual check-up that she had HIV. All three of her children are healthy and HIV-negative.

White, 39, of Fort Lauderdale, knew she had a potentially deadly virus, and felt trapped by living with the disease.

She did not want her partner to use a condom, even though she knew it was the safest thing to do, she said.

"I didn't feel like a woman," she said.

Later, she realized that by having unprotected sex, "I did an unwise thing."

Her message for other women is not to follow her example.

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