2. Let’s Talk About HIV and AIDS in the Black Community
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A whole host of misconceptions surround the Black community when it comes to HIV and AIDs. Dr. Cassandra Esperant remembers the Haitian community of Brooklyn protesting when she was a child because the false claim that Haitians cause HIV was preventing them from being able to donate blood. So today, Dr. Esperant joins me to set the record straight. She is currently practicing pharmacy at the AIDS Healthcare Pharmacy, managing PrEP and HIV patient adherence to treatment.
We discuss why the Black community is not getting the life-saving care they need and what we can do to change that reality. Dr. Esperant educates me on what PrEP is and how her work helps bridge the gap to bring this medication to more people. She brings a range of expertise from working in America and Haiti and acknowledges the importance of community in order to achieve sustainability in this effort. If you’d like to learn more about how to get involved in the effort to provide PrEP to more people in the Black community, Dr. Esperant provides action steps at the end of the episode.
In this Episode, We Cover:
Stats on HIV and AIDS in the Black Community
Bending the Arc - a documentary about bringing health equity to the poor in countries like Haiti
The Four H’s - Haitians, Hemophiliacs, Heroin users, and Homosexuals - Known as the four cardinal groups that led to HIV. But the Haitian component was not based on anything scientific.
What is PrEP?
Social determinants of health
Black women are the more affected by HIV than other women
How Covid effected the distribution of PrEP
Dr. Esperants efforts to destigmatize HIV and AIDs in Haiti
How to get involved!
Who is Dr. Cassandra Esperant?
Dr. Cassandra Esperant is a pharmacist that practices HIV prevention. She believes that educating the urban community will decrease the disparities in the HIV pandemic due to institutionalized racism. As a black woman she is passionate about decreasing the divide in the black communities by empowering them to take initiative to lessen the divide and take back control. Cassandra would like pharmacist to prescribe HIV prevention regimen per collaborative agreement to patients to increase access, and reduce HIV transmission. She loves advocacy, and her interest peaked for HIV because she remembers watching the Haitian community protest the CDC’s false accusations of Haitians being a cardinal cohort that causes HIV. Her self-proclaimed purpose is to add value to all those she comes into contact with on a daily basis. She believes that there is a need to increase access and awareness in the urban communities (particularly black homosexual men and black women) for HIV prevention. She currently is practicing pharmacy at the Aids Health Care pharmacy managing PREP and HIV patient adherence to treatment. Cassandra is a founding member of SPARK, which is a woman empowerment affinity group of the Aids Health Care Foundation. She is also a member of the Haitian Pharmacist Organization, and served as the election Chairwoman for the most recent election. Joining as board member to the prestigious Little Haiti Rotary club is another exciting initiative that she has committed to. She has the pleasure of serving her South Florida Haitian Community serving on the Haitian American Coalition Healthcare Task Force that was initiated during the novel COVID19 pandemic that was establish to offer education to help decrease the healthcare disparities. Most recently she joined the global grass root non for profit, as a health care committee member, that focuses on providing mental, and health care services to the people of Fonfrede, Haiti. She has the opportunity to assist in ordering the medications for the clinic on the ground from drug companies who offer subsidized prices for medical missions. She has taken the initiative to start a HIV support group for the Haitian woman in Haiti to help build their self-love. Most recently she has become a member of the Haitian American Coalition of South Florida Health Care Task Force that came together during the COVID19 pandemic.
