Rev. Jesse Jackson Urges Wider HIV Testing

On Monday in Philadelphia, the Rev. Jesse Jackson challenged prominent African-American men to publicly support HIV testing, saying that ignorance about the disease is allowing it to spread among poor blacks, especially women. "Why can't ministers and high-profile athletes and high-profile television people take the test to remove the taboo" over HIV/AIDS, Jackson asked hundreds of medical professionals and health care activists at the seventh National Conference on African Americans and AIDS.

"We've analyzed this thing to death," said Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. "We must move from mass analysis to mass action."

Jackson said advances in HIV treatment have created the false impression that the disease has been defeated. But African-American communities, which have less access to health care, remain vulnerable. And U.S. prisons, which house a disproportionately high number of black men, are the "epicenter for the growth of this disease," said Jackson. Inmates who are exposed to HIV via sexual activity behind bars are not always tested or treated during their incarceration and may infect their wives or girlfriends upon their release, he noted.

Jackson said he has personally appealed to prominent African Americans to publicly communicate the need for early detection through HIV testing. Basketball superstar Magic Johnson, Jackson noted, only discovered he was HIV-infected after taking a medical exam for insurance purposes.

"Suppose these high-profile athletes took the HIV test on TV," said Jackson. "It would make taking the test cool, a culturally acceptable thing to do."

Since Johnson's diagnosis, he has spoken to more than 60,000 people in 40 cities to promote HIV testing, noted Beny J. Primm, board chairperson of the National Minority AIDS Council. "If other people would follow that lead, we'd make a great impact," said Primm.

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