While we do not wish that SisterWisdom goes undiscovered, we do wish that the need for such a website did not exist. For over twenty years we have worked and participated, organized and protested, planned and acted as HIV has spread from individual to individual, from community to community. We have prayed and we have cried. We have pleaded and we have threatened, and each year the number of those touched by AIDS has increased. 

          What we know is that over 39 million people on the planet are living with HIV. ¹ We also know that nearly 50% of those living with HIV are women and that women of color, particularly women of African descent, are most affected by this pandemic. 

          For women of color – Indigenous,  Latina , Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern and those of African descent – the percentage of women living with HIV is higher than the percentage of white and European women living with the virus. Among women of color, Black women, or women of African descent, are affected most of all. In Sub-Saharan Africa, women account for 57% of those living with HIV. In North Africa and the Middle East, and in the Caribbean , women represent 48% and 49%, respectively, of those living with HIV.²  

          What many do not know is that the incidence of HIV among Black or African American women living in some of America’s most populated states often meets or exceeds the rate of HIV among the women of Sub-Saharan Africa.  The highest reported incidence of HIV in the world is in Sub-Saharan Africa where 57% of adults living with HIV are women.  In Florida, Black women account for 72% of women living with HIV.³   In New York, 56% of women living with HIV are of African-American.⁴  In Texas, Black women represent 60% of women living with the virus that causes AIDS.⁵   And in Georgia, 84% of women living with AIDS are Black.⁶   These are but a few of the statistics that reflect the toll of HIV/AIDS among America’s women of African descent. While the story and the message these numbers tell are frightening, they also have the power to inspire action. 

          Determined to see this trend end, we continually ask ourselves, what are we doing that can be done better? What have we not yet done to reach women most at risk and those living with HIV/AIDS?  In response to these questions we sought to create a tool that gave Black women access to information that could change their lives.  

          Today we welcome you to SisterWisdom, an HIV/AIDS Portal for Black Women and for others seeking information about online resources that address HIV/AIDS and issues that impact our experience and understanding of the AIDS pandemic. 

          It is often said that knowledge is power. In the struggle for reproductive and sexual health, knowledge is life. Knowledge means our survival. Access to information, or the lack of information, is the difference between life and death for women of African descent around the world. Lacking reliable, culturally respectful and reflective information about HIV/AIDS places Black women at greater risk. 

          We have built SisterWisdom as a response to a specific need -- the need for access.   This portal contains information about online resources that provide a wide variety of information about HIV/AIDS. Because we understand that AIDS is much more than a health crisis, SisterWisdom also contains information about related issues such as sexual and reproductive health, human rights, domestic violence, and poverty.  It is our goal to provide you access to information that will aid women  in attaining and maintaining their sexual and reproductive health and support them as they make healthy choices for themselves, their family and community.  

          We have built SisterWisdom in the hope that it will provide Black women access to information that affirms as well as informs. We offer SisterWisdom to you and hope that you find our efforts worthy of your trust and beneficial to your well-being.