PrEPare Black Women Health Inequity in PrEP Access
my father
john franklin nathan was one of the
only black pharmacists in the city of
columbus
in the 1970s and 1980s
and man was my daddy special
i know this because i had a front row
seat
to his practice he was compassionate
empathetic and committed to the work
of our community i watched my dad
explain to patients how medications work
long before this was required by law
he knew the nicknames and birthdays of a
lot of his regular customers
and literally watched a community of
children
grow up right before his very eyes
he was a gatekeeper of health and
wellness
in our community and my biggest
inspiration in becoming a pharmacist
my journey in the profession started at
spelman college where
i majored in biology i then moved cross
country
to attend the university of california
san francisco
for pharmacy school and let me be honest
with you that
i struggled in pharmacy school as one of
the only
black women in my cohort
and i struggled trying to find my sense
of identity
and purpose in this profession
but then something very unique happened
my fourth year of pharmacy school on a
clinical rotation
i was introduced to my very first
patient and i will never forget her
for the purposes of our discussion today
let’s call her
shuri shuri was young
black popular on ig and came from a very
loving family but unlike me
shuri was very sick she was experiencing
night sweats
and chills skin rash
and shuri was had been recently
diagnosed with hiv
i explained to shuri that day that hiv
stands for the human
immunodeficiency virus
and that once infected the body’s immune
system
the germ fighting system does not fight
off infections
properly if left untreated
during that patient interaction that day
with shuri
she shared with me that she was not in a
monogamous relationship
she used condoms but not consistently
and she had a sexually transmitted
infection
within the last six months and
these three behavioral markers would
have indicated shuri for
hiv prevention and specifically
a drug that i want to talk to you about
today called prep
prep stands for pre-exposure prophylaxis
pre-meaning before exposure meaning
coming in contact with hiv
and prophylaxis meaning treatment to
prevent
an infection simply put
prep is a medication that you can take
every day
to prevent acquiring hiv
through sexual transmission
it’s kind of like putting on a mask to
prevent covet 19.
but as a pharmacist i rarely
dispense bottles of prep from my hands
into the black and brown hands
of the people who need it the most and
shuri is a prime example of this
she knew nothing about prep
she never talked to her health care
provider
about prep at all and this deeply
concerned me because one conversation
one decision one
google search about prep and shuri could
have prevented
acquiring hiv through sexual
transmission
shari’s problem shuri’s story highlights
a very
important problem that the lack of
information
and awareness about your sexual health
can lead to hiv
and this problem disproportionately
affects the black community but
specifically
a group of people who look just like me
black women so let’s look at some of the
data to support this
the rates of new hiv diagnoses in black
women
are 14 times the rate than white women
and black women make up for 57
of all new hiv diagnoses
when only representing 13 of the
population
and prep prescriptions less than one
percent of them
go to black women so not
only are black women disproportionately
contracting hiv we are not utilizing the
one drug that can be used to prevent hiv
through sexual transmission and i
see this every day in my practice
and it is a huge weight to carry
so now that you know a little bit more
about prep what can we do to ensure
that our community is utilizing prep
well to start we have to normalize
conversations
surrounding sex and sexual health in the
black community
black people tend to discuss collard
green recipes
and pass down quilts from generation to
generation
but we rarely have these structure
conversations
about our sex and sexual health and this
must change
we also need to know where we stand and
as there are
several high-risk groups at risk of
acquiring hiv
today i want to focus on black women
if you are a black woman and you are
having sexual intercourse with the
hiv-positive partner or you are having
sexual intercourse with multiple
partners and are unclear of their hiv
status
or use condoms but inconsistently
i want you to visit the following
website
www.cdc.gov
and type in prep in the search bar as
you are indicated for prep
immediately and i know some of you may
be thinking
prep isn’t for me but what powerful
information to pass along to your
friends
and family members and loved ones about
this
life-saving drug
still speak with shuri today and let me
tell you that
she is a fighter and although she
contracted hiv through sexual
transmission
and was not indicated for prep she
still advocates for prep in our
community
both shuri and my dad taught me that
the wellness of our community
is our collective responsibility
black girls and women deserve better
and i join you to help me in the fight
to end hiv in the black community
thank you