Growing Up Positive is about two US based women born HIV positive, one black and one white, shared how living with HIV impacted their early childhood, dating, and sexual experiences. With race as a backdrop, their stories show how differently race has impacted how they’ve lived with their HIV status.
According to WHO, Globally, 35.0 million [33.2–37.2 million] people were living with HIV at the end of 2013. An estimated 0.8% of adults aged 15–49 years worldwide are living with HIV, although the burden of the epidemic continues to vary considerably between countries and regions. Sub-Saharan Africa has the most serious HIV and AIDS epidemic in the world. In 2012, roughly 25 million people were living with HIV, accounting for nearly 70 percent of the global total. In the same year, there were an estimated 1.6 million new HIV infections and 1.2 million AIDS-related deaths. As a result, the epidemic has had widespread social and economic consequences, not only in the health sector but also in education, industry and the wider economy, Avert reports.
According to Yasmin Shiraz, the brain behind the documentary “The goal of Growing Up Positive is to give a glimpse of how people born with HIV/AIDS are going through puberty, their first relationships, gaining acceptance, as well as how race impacts their experiences. The film shows two women, one black and one white, and though they were both born with the disease, there are stark differences in their stories which underscore issues of race.”
About Yasmin
Yasmin Shiraz is a US based award winning writer. She wrote and directed her first documentary production, Can She Be Saved?, which examined violence among middle school girls. The film was screened at 15 film festivals nationally as well as internationally and went on to win four film awards including, Best First Film by the International Youth Film Festival.
Shiraz also created and wrote the webseries, Every Corner, a documentary based webseries that allows teens in the US to share personal experiences from an urban perspective. Every Corner won an Outstanding Achievement Award in the Documentary / News Series category from the prestigious LA Web Festival. In this short interview with Akin T. George, Yasmin discussed her passions, youth development activities and the driving force behind the documentary.
What is the motivation behind the making of this documentary?
I’m drawn to telling youth focused stories and so I was interested in producing a film that documents what it is like for a young person to grow up while being HIV positive in the US. I hope Growing Up Positive will allow young people to understand HIV/AIDS from the perspectives of the young activists featured in the film. In addition, I hope it will reduce stigma of those living HIV+.
How long have you been working on this of project?
I began doing the research on the project in 2009 and it took me 5 years to complete the project. I allowed it to take its own shape and didn’t rush the process.
There is a dangerous trend in online discussion forum in which some people are claiming that HIV doesn’t lead to AIDS, and that AIDS may not be real. What is your take?
It’s shocking that some people can claim that AIDS may not be real. In the course of this project, I interviewed doctors, people who are HIV+, and I conducted lots of research on HIV and AIDS, I believe AIDS is real. I have not read any substantial literature that would lead me to believe otherwise.
Despite readily available drugs and programs in Canada, it has been reported that fear and stigma are preventing HIV patients from seeking treatment, thereby dying in denial. What is the best approach to this development?
Education about HIV/AIDS is needed to overcome fear and stigma so HIV patients will seek treatment. Education needs to be available at schools, churches, community organizations–everywhere that people go.
To what extent is the lack of condom usage contributing to the high HIV prevalence among African Americans women?
According the the Center for Disease Control, ” New HIV infections among women are primarily attributed to heterosexual contact (84% in 2010) or injection drug use (16% in 2010).” From those statistics, it would appear that a lack of condom usage is the major contributing factor.
What could be done to reduce the effects of fear, stigmatization, and discrimination on HIV treatments in rural communities especially in Africa?
I believe education is the key to reducing fear, stigma and discrimination of HIV treatments in rural communities as well as in Africa. Resources are needed to visit these communities to share information and not spread fear among the people. Throughout history, fear has shown to be a powerful paralytic agent to progress.
Watch the Growing Up Positive trailer here:
