Poster Child: She Could Be You

Book excerpt: More than 47,500 people were newly infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in 2010, and women accounted for approximately 9,500 of these new cases. It's estimated that one in 139 American women will receive a diagnosis of HIV in her lifetime. In Poster Child: She Could Be You, author Vernica Roberson calls attention to this alarming trend. Roberson offers a collection of interviews with eight women affected by HIV-from a rowdy college girl to a pregnant mother living with her husband in a gated community. This group of mothers, daughters, sisters, friends, and wives share their courageous and revealing stories and display an array of emotions as they deal with their new realities and the choices that led them there. Emotional and evocative, Poster Child: She Could Be You communicates the message that no one is immune. All women are at risk of contracting HIV, and it's imperative they take the proper steps to educate and protect themselves from this deadly illness.