Oakland, California: AIDS Awakening Vowed in East Bay

Dr. Robert Scott, an Oakland, Calif., physician, says stigma against people with AIDS within the black community prevents African-Americans from getting tested for HIV and from getting treatment if they test positive. "Africa is dripping in the blood of people dying of AIDS," said Scott, who regularly travels to Africa to treat patients at the epicenter of the pandemic. "Look at our own large cities. Look at our communities of color. We are seeing the same thing."

Flanked by Oakland church leaders who have reached out to HIV-positive parishioners, Scott said Tuesday the strategy for eliminating the stigma against AIDS is simple: "Judge not, lest you be judged." "People who are positive are hiding it from their families, hiding it from their co-workers and hiding it from their friends," said Scott, who is African-American. "They do not want to be judged ... We are the worst stigmatists, and it's killing folks."

"We all know a lot of churches out there where, when people turn to them, they will be judged," said Father Stephan Kappler of St. Louis Bertrand Catholic Church, a predominantly African-American and Latino church. But Kappler said the "simple gesture of opening doors" to whoever comes into the church has helped to overcome the stigma, and he urged other churches to do the same.

There are no solid statistics in Alameda County for new HIV infections, but blacks accounted for 57 percent of those who progressed to AIDS in 2000, compared with 18 percent prior to 1986. A total of 1,423 blacks in Alameda County have died of AIDS.

The total number of AIDS diagnoses in Alameda County each year has been declining since 1993, but a growing percentage of those cases are among blacks. Heterosexual transmission of the disease accounted for only 3 percent of cases in the 1980s. By 2000, 40 percent of new AIDS cases were traced to heterosexual contact. Women now account for 29 percent of new AIDS cases. Prior to 1985, there were no female cases.

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