"...we must focus our efforts on fellow citizens with the highest rates of new [HIV] cases, African American men and women."

President George W. Bush,
State of the Union Address, February 2005

This Call to Action underscores the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS in African American communities and urges state and local health departments, African American leaders, federal agencies, and policy makers to mobilize their responses to this crisis. While the early public health response to HIV/AIDS was not focused on African American communities in most of the country -- despite evidence of an emerging epidemic -- the crisis in African American communities nationwide is unconscionable and demands swift and decisive action. This Call to Action seeks to:

• Raise awareness about HIV/AIDS among African American leaders
• Increase access to HIV/AIDS prevention and care services for African Americans
• Demand a comprehensive federal agenda to combat HIV/AIDS in African American communities
• Expand state and local health department initiatives to strengthen their responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic among African Americans

NASTAD calls for action in five areas deemed critical to addressing HIV/AIDS in African American communities:

1. Strategic Prioritization and Resource Allocation
2. Policy Education
3. Research Initiatives
4. Strategic Collaborations
5. Coalition and Partnership Building

The primary audiences for this Call to Action are:

• State and local health departments
• Federal agencies and policy makers, including congressional leaders, Congressional Black Caucus members, and Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) leadership
• State and local elected officials
• National African American leaders, including civil rights, civic, faith-based, social, political, and health/medical organizations
• National African American non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and African American-led AIDS service organizations (ASOs)

NASTAD advocates that each of these audiences renew their commitment to fight HIV/AIDS in African American communities at levels previously unseen, and consider the action steps of this Call to Action as part of their HIV/AIDS agenda.

"There can be no real national response to ending health disparities unless attention is paid to ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the South. As pointed out in the Southern States Manifesto, "HIV/AIDS & STDs in the South: A Call to Action!" the impact of HIV/AIDS on African Americans in the South, particularly African American women, is nothing new. African Americans make up a larger proportion of AIDS cases in the South than in other parts of the country yet there has not been an easily detectable and recognizable national response or strategy." Evelyn Foust Branch Head, HIV/STD Prevention and Care Branch, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services