Black leaders urge action on AIDS

Black leaders urge action on AIDS
By Gary Barlow
Copyright by The Chicago Free Press
November 22, 2006.



Black lawmakers, civil rights leaders, medical experts and HIV prevention advocates called on the federal government Nov. 16 to take more urgent action to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic among African Americans, particularly among black gay and bisexual men.

“It is a national tragedy that the AIDS crisis has continued unabated in the African American community for so many years,” said Beny Primm, chairman emeritus of the National Minority AIDS Council, which released a comprehensive new report detailing the problem and recommending solutions.

In 2004, the most recent year with complete statistics on HIV/AIDS rates in the United States, African Americans accounted for half of all new HIV/AIDS cases, despite representing only 13 percent of the country’s population. African Americans, the NMAC report stated, are 10 times more likely to have AIDS than white Americans.

“In 2006 AIDS in America is a black disease,” said Phill Wilson, executive director of the Black AIDS Institute.

Among African Americans, the NMAC report found the same alarming conclusion that other studies have reported in recent years—“the population with the most disproportionate HIV burden is black MSM (men who have sex with men).” Black gay and bisexual men, the report concluded, have much higher HIV prevalence rates than white gay and bisexual men in the U.S.

“In 2004 the HIV rate among black men was more than seven times higher than white men and almost twice as high as black women,” the report stated. “Homophobia and stigma are important contributing factors to this disparity. ÉAdditionally, younger black MSM who identify as gay are often subject to homelessness resulting from rejection in the family and violence, which can contribute to sexual risk-taking, excessive alcohol or drug use and behavior associated with depression.”

The report identified a lack of HIV testing as a critical issue for black gay and bisexual men.

“Black MSM are tested less frequently and at later stages of their HIV infection, and are also less likely to have been previously aware that they were HIV-positive than MSM of other racial/ethnic groups,” the report stated.

The report, written by Dr. Robert Fullilove, of Columbia University, and endorsed by a blue-ribbon panel that included NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan, former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, Children’s Defense Fund President Marion Wright Edelman and Urban League President Marc Morial, made five key policy recommendations:

—Eliminate the marginalization of and stigma and discrimination against black gay and bisexual men. Federal programs should be designed specifically to target black gay and bisexual men for HIV prevention and should include capacity-building investments in organizations in that community, the report stated.

—The impact of incarceration as a driver of new HIV infections must be reduced. “Outdated and inconsistently implemented HIV prevention policies have failed to reduce risk behaviors among prisoners,” the report stated.

—Reduce the role of injection drug use in the AIDS epidemic. The report noted that almost one in five new HIV infections among blacks is due to the sharing of contaminated needles and urged drug prevention interventions and more needle exchange programs.

—HIV prevention, diagnosis and care programs should be expanded. “Far too many African Americans lack accurate information about how HIV is transmitted, prevented and treated,” the report said.

—Stabilize communities by increasing affordable housing. The report emphasized that a lack of affordable housing is central to interconnected problems affecting many African American communities.

Several members of Congress said they would work to address the recommendations in the report when Congress reconvenes in January with a new Democratic majority.

“We have to stop the devastation this disease is causing in our community,” said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Cal.) “The fact is that this administration and the Republican Congress have never paid much attention to the needs of African American or minority communities when it comes to fighting AIDS, and you can bet that we are going to work to change that in the new Congress.”

The chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust put it more bluntly.

“Are we willing to sacrifice another half-million African American lives to this entirely preventable disease?” said Rep. Donna Christian-Christensen (D-U.S. Virgin Islands). “It is up to the members of the newly elected 110th Congress to answer this question.”