Tour Sheds Light on Louisiana's High HIV/AIDS Rate

The "Test 1 Million Louisiana Celebrity Tour" is giving the state's public health officials a chance to respond to recent reports documenting Louisiana's high rates of HIV/AIDS.

In 2008, Baton Rouge had the second-highest rate of new AIDS diagnoses of all U.S. metropolitan statistical areas, with 40 per 100,000 residents. New Orleans was third, with 32.4 per 100,000. Miami, whose rate was 42.8 new cases per 100,000, ranked highest.

To encourage earlier testing and earlier treatment, the Office of Public Health within the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and the Los Angeles-based Black AIDS Institute (BAI) are sponsoring a series of educational and entertainment events throughout the state.

Alexandria in central Louisiana was a recent stop. "This is something that needs to be discussed at every dinner table, every school, every church," Dr. David Holcombe, regional administrator and medical director for the Alexandria area, told his audience there.

The state's African-American community is a particular target of the call for testing. African Americans constitute about 32 percent of the state's population, but they represented 72 percent of new HIV cases and 70 percent of new AIDS diagnoses in 2008.

"This is a big problem, and unfortunately especially among minorities," Holcombe said.

The tour also is an opportunity for public health officials to explain the latest in HIV treatment regimens. Health care providers can choose among more than 30 therapeutic options to help suppress the virus or boost the immune system in a person with HIV, said Charlie Baran, BAI's director of programs.

"Most people think an HIV diagnosis is a death sentence," said Sandra Bright with the CD4 Clinic of the Huey P. Long Medical Center. "Our focus is on the living."

Back to other news for July 2010