Activist works to challenge HIV/AIDS stigmas
Health worker: Epidemic ‘an intersectional issue’
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – For many people in America’s rural communities who are living with HIV, resources, support and proper treatment are often difficult to find. Maurice Carter is working to change this in North Carolina.
Along with other health workers in Pitt County, Carter has dedicated part of his life to addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in rural North Carolina. As a community health worker and social activist, he wants to challenge the stigmas against people living with HIV/ AIDS by creating financial and educational support programs, providing mental and emotional support to patients and calling on lawmakers to protect this community.
Carter, 30, is a native of Greenville and works for the Adult Specialty Care unit at East Carolina University’s Division of Infectious Diseases. His patients living with HIV range in age, race and socioeconomic status. Many of them are part of the LGBTQ community.
His patients are parents, unemployed and uninsured, teenagers or people who are Black, non-English speakers or Native American. Their experiences often complicate what it means to live with the virus.
“We realize HIV is an intersectional issue. We’re thinking about the economics of how people can afford treatment, how are they gonna get to their appointments living in a rural area that does not have reliable transportation,” Carter said. “You cannot address one person living with HIV the same as the other. You have to address a cisgender gay Black man living with HIV a lot different than you would treat a trans person living with HIV.”
People who identify with the same sex they were assigned at birth are considered cisgender.
According to a report released last year by the state Department of Health and Human Services, about 34,460 people lived with HIV in the state in 2019.
That same year, there were 1,383 new cases and two cases of perinatal HIV transmission documented. The highest rates of newly diagnosed HIV infection were among adult or adolescent Black men, according to the report.
Poverty and HIV in North Carolina are closely linked. People who can’t afford basic needs or have inadequate health care and access to resources may have trouble getting quality sexual health services.
“We are trying to end an epidemic, so it is by far an epidemic,” Carter said. “We don’t have enough resources to address all the issues, so we have to work with what we have.”
In the Adult Specialty Care Unit, Carter and his colleagues created a gender diversity clinic to ensure staff members were abreast of the issues different groups of people face in addition to living with HIV or AIDS.
When COVID-19 hit, Carter said, the unit transitioned to providing care for people through telehealth, a service that allows contact and treatment between doctors or health providers to their patients by video calls or other telecommunication tools.
“We noticed that some of the parents and people through the clinic didn’t have internet access or a laptop, so it was kind of hard for us to figure out how we could navigate through that,” Carter said. “Good thing that the schools actually provided laptops, and there were some resources out there that helped people pay for internet. Then we thought about financial resources. How were we going to engage the consumers to be part of this training in the midst of a pandemic?”
North Carolina ranks 18th nationally for broadband access. Accessibility and affordability are the biggest divides for internet access, according to the state’s broadband infrastructure office. The pandemic deepened the disparity in rural and low-income areas.
Because of a lack of information about how the virus is transmitted and whom it can affect, people still hold negative judgments toward people with HIV, Carter said.
He said the way HIV/AIDS is discussed can contribute to stigmas and misconceptions. Instead of saying “AIDSinfected people,” Carter makes a point to say, “people with AIDS.”
“Language is truly important. I’ve been telling my patients who are newly diagnosed, ‘You have an immune system disorder caused by a virus that is manageable,’ ” Carter said. “Putting in that form and it starts changing people’s minds. We try to make it less stigmatizing, so people don’t have to grapple with that fear of being disowned or anything.”
In 2018, Carter applied for an opportunity with EqualityNC’s Rural Youth Empowerment Fellowship, a yearlong mentorship and training program for young LGBTQ people in rural areas.
As a fellow, Carter created the H.I.M. Empowerment Project to combat the issues LGBTQ people with HIV face such as lack of health insurance, transportation, support or employment.