Russia Crowns HIV Positive Beauty
This story was written by CBS News Moscow bureau chief Beth Knobel.
She's been crowned "Miss Positive" — and not just for having a good attitude. Svetlana Izambayeva, 24, won Russia's first beauty contest for women with HIV.
Svetlana is a college student and hairdresser from the city of Cheboksary in central Russia. She caught the virus during a short-lived summer romance. When she found out she was HIV positive last year, she says she stayed in bed and cried for weeks. Then one day, she had a revelation — that she needed to do something to help herself, and other people with HIV.
"I decided I should go out and talk to young people and tell them about AIDS," she says. "Most Russians think people with AIDS are either homeless people or drug addicts — that they're not even people anymore! They don't know it's normal people like me."
Contest organizers say Svetlana was brave to enter, because Russians with AIDS are often the victims of discrimination. Svetlana has decided to use her crown to become Russia's poster girl for AIDS awareness.
"There can't be any progress until there is a face of the HIV infected and a voice of the HIV infected," she says.
Since she went public with her diagnosis, Svetlana has been speaking in schools and starting up conversations with strangers in an attempt to raise awareness about AIDS. She met with dozens of journalists Thursday to mark World AIDS Day.
"I want people to see me and say, 'Wow, I'd better go do an AIDS test. Look at that normal girl who's HIV positive.' And if they do find out they're positive, they'll remember that they met a normal girl who also has AIDS but who is alive and still able to smile," she says.
The competition was run by the magazine Shagi (Steps) — which is for and about people with HIV and AIDS.
The pageant may be a gimmick, but organizers say it is proof positive that the image of AIDS patients in Russia can be improved.
Russia has one of the fastest growing HIV positive populations in the world, but the fear and suspicion of people with AIDS meet every day has been slow to change.
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. She's been crowned "Miss Positive" — and not just for having a good attitude. Svetlana Izambayeva, 24, won Russia's first beauty contest for women with HIV.
Svetlana is a college student and hairdresser from the city of Cheboksary in central Russia. She caught the virus during a short-lived summer romance. When she found out she was HIV positive last year, she says she stayed in bed and cried for weeks. Then one day, she had a revelation — that she needed to do something to help herself, and other people with HIV.
"I decided I should go out and talk to young people and tell them about AIDS," she says. "Most Russians think people with AIDS are either homeless people or drug addicts — that they're not even people anymore! They don't know it's normal people like me."
Contest organizers say Svetlana was brave to enter, because Russians with AIDS are often the victims of discrimination. Svetlana has decided to use her crown to become Russia's poster girl for AIDS awareness.
"There can't be any progress until there is a face of the HIV infected and a voice of the HIV infected," she says.
Since she went public with her diagnosis, Svetlana has been speaking in schools and starting up conversations with strangers in an attempt to raise awareness about AIDS. She met with dozens of journalists Thursday to mark World AIDS Day.
"I want people to see me and say, 'Wow, I'd better go do an AIDS test. Look at that normal girl who's HIV positive.' And if they do find out they're positive, they'll remember that they met a normal girl who also has AIDS but who is alive and still able to smile," she says.
The competition was run by the magazine Shagi (Steps) — which is for and about people with HIV and AIDS.
The pageant may be a gimmick, but organizers say it is proof positive that the image of AIDS patients in Russia can be improved.
Russia has one of the fastest growing HIV positive populations in the world, but the fear and suspicion of people with AIDS meet every day has been slow to change.
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