AIDS and politics
So, I know I don't talk politics much, or too much about the big picture of HIV/AIDS and the work that I do, but the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS just released a statement that puts a lot of scary stuff into perspective, and it being an election year...well, no time like the present. This is extremely important stuff - please read it.
Not cutting.
National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS
New York Daily News/ Opinions
Sunday, August 31, 2008
LEADERS MUST TEAM UP TO STOP THE PREDATOR KILLING MINORITIES
BY C. Virginia Fields
The stunning new data released recently by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention underscore, in the most dramatic terms possible, the inexorable movement of the HIV/AIDS epidemic into black and other minority communities and the failure of government at all levels to respond to that change.
It is nothing short of outrageous that three decades into this epidemic so little has been done to effectively target educational, health care and prevention resources to a community suffering such a disproportionate share of the pain. For example:
· Just 13% of the U.S. population, African-Americans, account for almost half of all new HIV/AIDS infection cases here.
· As of 2006, the rate of new HIV infections among blacks was seven times the rate among whites.
· AIDS is now the leading killer of young black women between 25 and 34 years old.
· Black women account for 66% of new AIDS cases among women. White women account for 17% and Hispanic women 16%.
· Black babies account for two-thirds of American HIV-infected newborns.
· Blacks living with HIV in New York City have a death rate 2-1/2 times higher than HIV-infected whites. The city Health Department just released data that show HIV is spreading in New York at three times the national rate, with almost 60% of new infections occurring in New Yorkers between the ages of 30 and 50.
How did we come to this sorry state of affairs? There is responsibility to go around.
In recent years, America has shifted its focus to fighting HIV/AIDS in other countries, but has closed the White House Office of National AIDS Policy. We supported the establishment and expansion of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, and other global initiatives that provide resources to developing countries that have national plans addressing the virus. The United States, however, has no such national plan. Meanwhile, the number of American blacks with HIV exceeds the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in seven of the 15 PEPFAR nations.
The CDC and city reports make abundantly clear that HIV/AIDS is a major American public health emergency that requires a national plan with strategies to address all of the social and economic factors key to winning the fight against this epidemic. To date, well over a million HIV-positive people live in the U.S. and 25% still don't know their status.
Stated simply, government must ensure that the resources available for fighting HIV/AIDS follow the trends of the epidemic - and they haven't. Resources are still being allocated according to where the epidemic was, not where it is.
Until the resources follow the epidemic, this public health emergency will continue to be fueled by the HIV/AIDS risk factors impacting black communities, including poverty, low literacy, stigma, use of illicit substances, unemployment, disproportionate incarceration and the lack of access to quality health care.
The black community, too, bears responsibility. It is time for all of us to address the needs of at-risk communities and save lives. This disease is killing too many in broad swaths of our communities.
It is time for leaders in the black community to speak to people, educate them, organize them and support concrete efforts to stem the tide of this epidemic. This means leaders from every sector - business, media, fraternities, sororities, clergy and academia, as well as community, civic and elected officials. It is time for all Americans to stand together to require of ourselves and our government concrete action.
In this election year, all American leaders must support a comprehensive National AIDS Plan focused on prevention, treatment, care, research, housing and supportive services to meet the needs of all Americans living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS. Millions of American lives depend on it.
Fields is president and CEO of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS.
The National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS' (NBLCA) mission is to inform,
coordinate and organize the volunteer efforts of the indigenous Black leadership,
including clergy, elected officials, medical practitioners, business professionals, social
policy experts, and the media to meet the challenge of fighting HIV/AIDS in their local
communities. NBLCA conducts policy, research and advocacy on HIV and AIDS to
ensure effective participation of our leadership in all policy and resource allocation
decisions at the national, state and local levels of communities of African descent
nationwide.
www.nblca.org
Not cutting.
National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS
New York Daily News/ Opinions
Sunday, August 31, 2008
LEADERS MUST TEAM UP TO STOP THE PREDATOR KILLING MINORITIES
BY C. Virginia Fields
The stunning new data released recently by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention underscore, in the most dramatic terms possible, the inexorable movement of the HIV/AIDS epidemic into black and other minority communities and the failure of government at all levels to respond to that change.
It is nothing short of outrageous that three decades into this epidemic so little has been done to effectively target educational, health care and prevention resources to a community suffering such a disproportionate share of the pain. For example:
· Just 13% of the U.S. population, African-Americans, account for almost half of all new HIV/AIDS infection cases here.
· As of 2006, the rate of new HIV infections among blacks was seven times the rate among whites.
· AIDS is now the leading killer of young black women between 25 and 34 years old.
· Black women account for 66% of new AIDS cases among women. White women account for 17% and Hispanic women 16%.
· Black babies account for two-thirds of American HIV-infected newborns.
· Blacks living with HIV in New York City have a death rate 2-1/2 times higher than HIV-infected whites. The city Health Department just released data that show HIV is spreading in New York at three times the national rate, with almost 60% of new infections occurring in New Yorkers between the ages of 30 and 50.
How did we come to this sorry state of affairs? There is responsibility to go around.
In recent years, America has shifted its focus to fighting HIV/AIDS in other countries, but has closed the White House Office of National AIDS Policy. We supported the establishment and expansion of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, and other global initiatives that provide resources to developing countries that have national plans addressing the virus. The United States, however, has no such national plan. Meanwhile, the number of American blacks with HIV exceeds the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in seven of the 15 PEPFAR nations.
The CDC and city reports make abundantly clear that HIV/AIDS is a major American public health emergency that requires a national plan with strategies to address all of the social and economic factors key to winning the fight against this epidemic. To date, well over a million HIV-positive people live in the U.S. and 25% still don't know their status.
Stated simply, government must ensure that the resources available for fighting HIV/AIDS follow the trends of the epidemic - and they haven't. Resources are still being allocated according to where the epidemic was, not where it is.
Until the resources follow the epidemic, this public health emergency will continue to be fueled by the HIV/AIDS risk factors impacting black communities, including poverty, low literacy, stigma, use of illicit substances, unemployment, disproportionate incarceration and the lack of access to quality health care.
The black community, too, bears responsibility. It is time for all of us to address the needs of at-risk communities and save lives. This disease is killing too many in broad swaths of our communities.
It is time for leaders in the black community to speak to people, educate them, organize them and support concrete efforts to stem the tide of this epidemic. This means leaders from every sector - business, media, fraternities, sororities, clergy and academia, as well as community, civic and elected officials. It is time for all Americans to stand together to require of ourselves and our government concrete action.
In this election year, all American leaders must support a comprehensive National AIDS Plan focused on prevention, treatment, care, research, housing and supportive services to meet the needs of all Americans living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS. Millions of American lives depend on it.
Fields is president and CEO of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS.
The National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS' (NBLCA) mission is to inform,
coordinate and organize the volunteer efforts of the indigenous Black leadership,
including clergy, elected officials, medical practitioners, business professionals, social
policy experts, and the media to meet the challenge of fighting HIV/AIDS in their local
communities. NBLCA conducts policy, research and advocacy on HIV and AIDS to
ensure effective participation of our leadership in all policy and resource allocation
decisions at the national, state and local levels of communities of African descent
nationwide.
www.nblca.org