Black AIDS Institute Releases Report on HIV/AIDS in Blacks

The Black AIDS Institute on Monday released a report on HIV/AIDS among blacks in the U.S. over the past 25 years. The 80-page report, called "AIDS in Blackface: 25 Years of an Epidemic," features testimony from blacks in the U.S. who are directly affected by the country's HIV/AIDS epidemic. It also traces the spread of HIV/AIDS among blacks in the U.S. and calls for the expansion of proven prevention strategies, improved access to treatment and the eradication of stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS and sexual diversity (Black AIDS Institute, "AIDS in Blackface: 25 Years of An Epidemic," June 2006). The report was released at an event in New York featuring black leaders and celebrities who issued a "new call to action" to address the AIDS epidemic in the Black community. "We're calling on all major black organizations to make fighting AIDS a top priority," Danny Glover, actor and HIV/AIDS advocate, said. Blacks account for 13% of the nation's population and 54% of new AIDS cases, the New York Daily News reports (Vielkind/Block, New York Daily News, 6/6). In 2006, AIDS in America is a black disease," Phill Wilson, executive director of BAI, said, adding, "The only way for AIDS to be over in America is for AIDS to be over in black America, and the only way to stop AIDS in black America is for black people to take ownership of the disease and mount a mass black mobilization" (Turner/Stokes, BET.com, 6/5).

Back to other news for June 6, 2006