February 5, 2004

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness and Information Day Affords Opportunity for African Americans to Demand Increased Funding for Effective HIV Programs

Saturday, February 7 marks National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness and Information Day. Now in its fourth year, National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness and Information Day is a national mobilization effort designed to increase awareness of HIV prevention among African Americans. It also serves to galvanize African American communities to take action to reduce the spread of HIV.

While African Americans represent approximately 12 percent of the U.S. population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that they account for more than a third of U.S. AIDS cases and an estimated 54 percent of the nation’s new HIV infections—a trend that has continued unabated since the late 1990s.

In order to address this alarming health crisis, the Congressional Black Caucus and the Clinton administration embarked upon an ambitious community development and capacity-building initiative in 1998 called the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative (MHAI). Today, MHAI expands and strengthens the capacity of minority community-based organizations to deliver high-quality HIV health care and supportive services, and to enhance and better target HIV prevention programs to historically underserved groups, including African Americans.

It is my hope that as awareness grows within the African American community about HIV and how it can be prevented and treated, African Americans will educate state and local legislators and members of Congress about the domestic HIV epidemic and urge them to commit to increased funding for programs such as MHAI so that we can change the epidemic’s disturbing trends,” AIDS Action’s Executive Director Marsha Martin stated.

On Saturday, February 7, special events will be held across the nation to encourage HIV education and testing as well as involvement in efforts to reduce the disproportionately high rates of HIV and AIDS within Black communities. This year, organizers will focus efforts in the sixteen cities where the prevalence of HIV is highest: Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Oakland, Philadelphia, Raleigh-Durham, Trenton, and Washington, D.C.

“In addition to talking to legislators about HIV, African Americans need to opportunities to talk about it with one another,” Dr. Martin said. “Events like the National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day this weekend and The Balm in Gilead’s Black Church Week of Prayer in March provide wonderful opportunities for families, churches, and communities across the country to initiate such dialogues.”

More information on the National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day can be found on the following Web site: http://www.blacksandhiv.org/NBHAAD_home.htm

AIDS Action Foundation strives to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic by working for public policies that promote prevention against new infections, provide care for people already living with HIV/AIDS, and support the search for a cure. AIDS Action is the national voice of all people living with HIV, representing community based organizations across the country.