Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Miami Herald - January 29, 2006
Helen Berggren, hberggren@MiamiHerald.com
But, left unanswered, it can also be the most deadly. Women are most severely affected by AIDS in places where heterosexual contact is the dominant mode of transmitting the disease, according to the Florida Department of Health.
'Most women become infected through their partners' high-risk behavior, which they have little or no control over," said Miami-Dade County Health Department Director HIV/AIDS Program Evelyn Ullah.
She was speaking at the SISTA Summit 2005 held at the Joseph Caleb Center on Dec. 3.
According to the county's website, of the 422 AIDS cases diagnosed among women in Miami-Dade in 2004, 11 percent were injecting drug users, 88 percent had heterosexual contact and one percent reported other risks.
"Women who are financially dependent on male partners are at a great disadvantage in negotiating condom use," Ullah said.
The SISTA Project is trying to change that situation.
SISTA -- Sisters Informing Sisters about Topics on AIDS -- is a nationwide program started by Ralph J. DiClemente and Gina Wingood in 1993 that promotes consistent condom use to prevent HIV transmission.
"SISTA is designed to empower women," Wingood said at the SISTA Summit. "It is not to demean or threaten men. We want to be respectful of men just like we want them to be respectful of us."
Through real-life skits, discussions and lectures, SISTA facilitators teach women how to build their communication skills so they are able to refuse risky sex. At the summit, audience members came on stage to act in one such vignette about a teenager listening to a good angel and a bad angel argue about unsafe sex.
"Going to SISTA is a learning experience," said Dessi Hart, 48, who played the role of the teenager struggling with her conscience. "These are tough choices for a 17-year-old to make, especially if she doesn't have the communication skills to back them up."
Self-esteem, ethnic and gender pride are among issues tackled in five two-hour sessions held once a week.
"I think this intervention empowers women to be responsible for themselves," SISTA facilitator Kalenthia "Katt" Nunnally said Thursday. "Too many women are dying from HIV and AIDS. SISTA teaches women to negotiate safer sex with their partners, how to negotiate condom use and to be assertive. Armed with this knowledge, women could reduce their chances of becoming infected with the virus."
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