California: Oakland Launches New HIV Prevention Campaign

East Bay community health activists have launched a new HIV/AIDS prevention campaign aimed at the African-American community. "I Am Worth It" is funded by a $500,000 grant from the Alameda County Office of AIDS Administration, said Joe Hawkins, director of administration with the AIDS Project of the East Bay (APEB).

APEB held interviews and focus groups with hundreds of people to gain insight into how to best target the community. A study by California State University-East Bay (CSEB) found that 46 percent of HIV/AIDS patients in Alameda County are African-American men who have sex with men.

"In San Francisco, prevention campaigns are usually very explicit," Hawkins said. "Our studies showed that most felt our prevention information campaign should be more spiritual, more neutral."

Ads will be placed on billboards and buses and will air on the radio.

CSEB professor Dr. Steve D. Ugbah presented the results of the Alameda County study, which showed a decline in new HIV infections overall and among black women and those ages 13-24.

However, the study pinpointed three ZIP code areas of Oakland with "hot spots" of high infection rates. In those areas, 78.5 percent of the population with HIV was black, 18.2 percent Latino, 1.7 percent white, and 1.7 percent Asian and Pacific Islander. Ugbah said statistics showed that of the 46 percent of African-American gay men infected in Alameda County, 67 percent did not know they were positive. Findings showed the high incidence of infection was caused by people making the decision to have unsafe sex despite a general awareness of the virus.

The study said barriers to prevention and education include lack of responsive messages, a sense of despair, perceived racism, lack of insurance, intolerance of the faith community, conspiracy theories, and low self-esteem.

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