Published by: Garth Graham on 2/7/2011 11:26:13 AM
African Americans make up 12 percent of our population but nearly half – 46 percent – of Americans living with HIV. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every 9-1/2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is infected with HIV.
The call to action for this year’s National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on Feb. 7 could not be more appropriate: “It Takes a Village to Fight HIV/AIDS.”
For community organizers like the Strategic Leadership Council for the National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD), key issues to address include finding the appropriate venues for disseminating information and encouraging current and future researchers to continue the quest for a cure.
NBHAAD’s January teleconference was full of ideas. Ronald Henderson, the statewide minority AIDS coordinator of the Florida State Health Department said they’re sending a direct message: “Silence is death.”
“We’re trying to get people to get involved and get tested; encourage blacks to take ownership of the disease,” he said.
“Because we believe a most effective effort starts from the bottom rather than the top down, we, from the beginning, saw the importance of linking a national effort to state and local efforts,” said Dr. John Robertson, executive director of the National Black Alcoholism and Addictions Council.
Community organizations that seek to educate and inform frequently need help with speakers and professionals for HIV testing and information sessions.
“As Tavis Smiley said during last year’s Black Family Conference, ‘We can’t lead the people if we don’t love the people and we can’t save the people if we don’t serve the people,’” said LaMont “Montee Jamal” Evans, CEO of Healthy Black Communities, Inc. “We can’t fall asleep at the wheel now; we’re too close to a cure.”
Within the black community, the faces of HIV are young and old, male and female, straight and gay. It is black women in their 30s and 40s for whom HIV is now the third leading cause of death. It is young black men and women, many of whom will become infected before they see their 30th birthday. It is black gay and bisexual men, who continue to be especially hard hit by HIV, accounting for more than 40 percent of new infections among African Americans overall.
Yet this past year brought new hope in the fight against HIV with prevention breakthroughs such as evidence that a daily pill and a gel used before sex that can reduce risk of infection.
In July 2010 President Obama unveiled the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, now the national blueprint for fighting the U.S. epidemic. It pays particular attention to the groups that are suffering the most, such as African Americans.
At the Office of Minority Health, we have been working to foster not only on policy and best practices, but also to provide technical assistance and capacity development support to organizations that deliver HIV-related services in the African American community.
Your hospitals provide essential services every day of the year to communities of color. Yet cultural and language barriers persist, stigma and lack of knowledge still keep people from coming to care, and prevention and testing services are needed now more than ever.
Let’s reach out to community-based organizations that have accumulated significant experience in providing and negotiating HIV-related services to underserved groups and utilize every opportunity and clinical encounter to deliver prevention and pro-testing messages.
The road ahead is long and steep, but we have a path. Let’s walk it together, not just on Feb. 7, but every day of the year, because “It Takes a Village to Fight HIV/AIDS.”
We’ve heard the call. Will you? You can get started here.
To learn more visit: www.AIDS.gov; http://blackaidsday.org/; www.greaterthanaids.org
Garth Graham, M.D., M.P.H.
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health
Office of Minority Health