Sia recently released a music video for her song, “Free Me” starring Zoë Saldana. The Dominican actress, best known for her roles in Star Trek, Avatar, and Guardians of the Galaxy, Saldana is taking a different direction and steering our attention towards the awareness of HIV in Sia’s music video.
Saldana is featured as a heartbroken expecting mother who learns that she is HIV positive. Her character is informed that if she is left untreated, her unborn child will also contract the disease. She brings us through her journey in her role she plays as the struggling expectant mother in an emotional piece accompanied by interpretive dancers. The video ends with Saldana’s character rejoicing with happiness with her newborn baby crying in her arms and a message stating, “HIV/AIDS is the NO. 1 killer of women of reproductive age worldwide.”
UNAids says that the reason HIV/AIDS is the number one killer of women of reproductive age is because 70% of women in the United States are being forced to have unprotected sexual intercourse. This isn’t just an issue in the US, but an issue around the world. In areas such as sub-Saharan Africa, 60% of people living with HIV are women and southern Africa where the amount women with HIV who are aged 15-24 triple that of young men the same age. These statistics are due to the major gender inequalities which dehumanize women, leading to brutal rapes, and trafficking and prostitution, The Telegraph states.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the best ways to protect yourself from HIV is to use protection, get you and your partner tested regularly, limit the amount of sexual partners, and steer clear of injecting any kind of drugs unless using sterile equipment. If you or your partner has HIV, it is important for the person with HIV to regularly take their medication, and always use protection during sexual intercourse to reduce the risk of passing the infection.
Sia has partnered with the Abzyme Research Foundation, to which all proceeds from the video will be donated to the #endHIV campaign in efforts to create a vaccine.