Florida: HIV Testing for Blacks Is a Unifying Mission

Health departments and community agencies across Florida will take part in today's sixth annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day in a bid to halt the spread of the disease in a community that has been particularly affected.

Mirroring national figures, blacks make up about half of new HIV/AIDS cases in Florida today, though they only comprise about 13 percent of the state's population. Last fall, CDC announced decreases in HIV diagnosis rates among blacks in Florida and 32 other states from 2001 to 2004. However on Monday, Kevin Fenton, CDC's Director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, TB and STD Prevention, warned, "We're not out of the woods." Fewer people may be getting tested, and those who are tested may be in lower risk groups, said Fenton, emphasizing that more study is needed.

At the state Capitol, Sen. Frederica Wilson (D-Miami) and Rep. Curtis Richardson (D-Tallahassee) will lead a group of black lawmakers in publicly testing for HIV.

"Our main goal is to mobilize the community and to encourage African Americans in particular to get tested for HIV," said Vanessa Mills, founder of the Miami-based prevention group Empower U, who will work with other agencies at events today. "We're in our third decade of the AIDS epidemic. It has changed in many ways. Now the majority affected are African Americans and other people of color," said Mills.

In Miami-Dade, the main event is a community health fair at the Joseph Caleb Center at 5400 NW 22nd Ave.

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