Two newspapers recently published opinion pieces addressing HIV/AIDS in the black community. Summaries appear below.

• Warren Bolton, Columbia State: If blacks do not "get real about combating" HIV/AIDS, "an already terrible crisis will worsen," Bolton, associate editor for the State, writes in an opinion piece. Although there is a "dire need for more government funding for [HIV/AIDS] treatment and education, all citizens, black people particularly, must take responsibility for themselves and help battle this public health crisis," Bolton writes. He concludes that it is "time" the black community speaks "up and put[s] this disease on the run" (Bolton, Columbia State, 3/6).
  
  
• Nelson Adams and Mohammad Akhter, Marysville Appeal-Democrat: Although President Bush "should be applauded for his efforts" to address HIV/AIDS in Africa through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, he is "overlooking a growing public health crisis" among blacks in the U.S., Adams and Akhter -- president and executive director, respectively, of the National Medical Association -- write in an Appeal-Democrat opinion piece. According to the authors, Bush could "gain a significant head start" in addressing the disease among blacks by developing a national HIV/AIDS strategy, appointing a leader to address the epidemic and devoting more resources to black communities with high HIV/AIDS rates. They add that Bush and Congress "should take action now" to address HIV/AIDS among blacks "before treatment costs increase to astronomical levels" (Adams/Akhter, Marysville Appeal-Democrat, 3/1).
  

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