Following are links to summaries at Kaisernetwork.org and The Body; and
brief summaries from the CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News Update. Note: Links to
Kaisernetwork and The Body take you outside this site. You will have to hit your
browser's < back button to return.
NEW YORK:
"Long Island Rail Road Ads Target Black Homophobia"
Newsday (Melville) , (02.12.2010) Jennifer Barrios; Kathleen Kerr CDC NPIN
Summary
Ads designed to start a conversation about homophobia and homosexuality within
the black community debut this month at nine Long Island Rail Road stations, on
trains and buses, and across a trestle in West Babylon. Bay Shore-based Long
Island GLBT Services Network is sponsoring the ads with help from a $37,000
state health department grant.
“In the African-American community, it’s taboo to talk about gays and lesbians,”
said Dale Anthony Edmonston, a black AIDS activist from Hempstead. The results
have been disastrous for the community, he said.
African Americans have the highest HIV/AIDS rates among any racial group on Long
Island, with 809.4 out of every 100,000 infected, compared with 317.1 for
Hispanics and 94.9 for whites, state health department data show. Nationally,
black men who have sex with men account for the largest number of new HIV/AIDS
cases among blacks, according to CDC.
“HIV/AIDS continues to be a major health concern for all New Yorkers, but
especially gay African-American men,” said Jeffrey Hammond, a spokesperson for
the health department. “The campaign will help to reduce the stigmas that often
create barriers for African-American gay men to seek testing and treatment.”
The Rev. Reginald Tuggle of Memorial Presbyterian Church in Roosevelt said the
campaign is misguided. “People who are gay come in all races. And homophobia
exists in every community,” he said. “To say that only black people don’t like
black people who are gay, that’s silly.” Gays, he said, are not a topic of
discussion in many African-American churches because other issues are more
relevant.
"Organizations Continue Fight for HIV Prevention"
Black Enterprise , (02.05.2010) Marcia Wade Talbert CDC NPIN Summary
While prevention efforts have helped to keep the rate of HIV/AIDS stable among
African Americans for more than a decade, blacks still comprise 46 percent of
those living with HIV in the United States, according to CDC. Blacks represent
just 13 percent of the US population.
The infection rate would have been higher if community leaders did not mobilize
in 1999 to create the National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, held each year on
Feb. 7, said LaMont Evans, CEO of Healthy Black Communities Inc.
“It is not a comfortable thing to have a stable epidemic,” said Evans. Since
1999, “200,000 black people have contracted HIV, which is totally unacceptable
because HIV is 100 percent preventable,” he said.
One explanation behind the continuing infections is complacency, as treatment
optimism has replaced the association of HIV/AIDS with death, said Dr. Theresa
Mack, who primarily treats patients with the disease in New York.
In 2007, AIDS diagnoses decreased among blacks, although the AIDS rate for
blacks was higher than for any other race/ethnicity, according to CDC. Blacks
were diagnosed with AIDS at 10 times the rate for whites and three times for
Hispanics. The rate of AIDS diagnoses for black women was 22 times the rate for
white women.
“We will need to have a mobilization around the community in a way that really
meets the sense of crisis that we are facing today,” said Dr. Kevin Fenton,
director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB
Prevention. “We need to continue to focus on delivering the most effective
prevention and intervention to those in greatest need.”
Statement of Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. on Black
HIV/AIDS Awareness
African-Americans continue to bear the largest and most disproportionate burden
of HIV/AIDS of all racial and ethnic groups in the United States...Today, on the
10th annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, we are inspired to improve
our efforts to overcome this public health crisis in the black community...
One of the fundamental ways black men and women can reduce the spread of HIV in
their communities and preserve their health is by getting tested for the virus
during routine medical care, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention and the American College of Physicians. Identifying HIV infection
early in its course is critical. A growing number of studies have shown that
starting treatment early, while the immune system is still intact, is more
beneficial to HIV-infected patients than initiating therapy later in the course
of disease.[6],[7]
As a nation, we must knock down the barriers that prevent many Americans,
especially African-Americans, from receiving health care in general, and HIV
testing, counseling and treatment in particular. An insidious component of this
barrier is persistent stigma around homosexuality, HIV-positive status and
injection drug use. Fostering acceptance of all people, regardless of lifestyle,
and encouraging discussions about the behaviors that increase risk for HIV
infection will help create a positive climate for HIV prevention and treatment
services in black communities... See the entire statement of Dr. Fauci at
http://hivatlas.org/blog/classifieds/19373-statement-anthony-s-fauci-md-black-hivaids-awareness
"Older African Americans' Management of HIV/AIDS
Stigma"
AIDS Care , (10..2009) Pamela Payne Foster; Susan W. Gaskins CDC NPIN Summary
The study authors aimed to describe HIV/AIDS-related stigma in a population
disproportionately affected by the disease, older African Americans living in
the South.
Four focus groups were conducted with 24 men and women older than age 50 who had
a confirmed HIV diagnosis. Focus group discussions were audiotaped and
transcribed for analysis. In addition, two stigma instruments, "Self-Perceptions
of HIV Stigma" and "Stigma Impact of HIV," were used to enhance the qualitative
focus group data.
Constant comparative data analysis of the focus group discussions revealed four
themes related to HIV/AIDS stigma: disclosure; stigma experiences; need for
HIV/AIDS education; and acceptance of the disease. Strategies to prevent or
decrease anticipated stigma were described, including selective or
non-disclosure and not receiving care where they lived. The stigma instruments
indicated that the participants had experienced the most stigma related to their
internalized shame about being infected with HIV; they had experienced little or
no direct stigma.
"The study findings have implications for designing prevention programs and
strategies to improve social support for this age group,” the authors concluded.
Michigan's Black AIDS Awareness Campaign Kick-off
Rallied the Troops
Latino Mentoring Training Institute
The Office of Minority Health Resource Center (OMHRC) is launching the Latino
Mentoring Training Institute (LMTI) in February 2010. The purpose of this new
project is to increase leadership, mentorship and conflict-management skills
among community-based and faith-based organizations working in HIV/AIDS
prevention, education and treatment among Latino populations.
Interested organizations must nominate a team of two staff members
(senior and junior level) as candidates to participate in this unique skills
building training program. See the Career Advancement
Section on How to Register and Apply. For more information about the LMTI
visit
http://www.minorityhealth.hhs.gov/Latinomentor
Race, Age Disparities Among Those with Undiagnosed
HIV A new analysis conducted by Michael Campsmith, DDS, MPH, and his colleagues
at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explores the estimated
proportion of HIV-positive Americans who are undiagnosed across racial/ethnic
populations and risk and age groups. POZ
http://www.poz.com/articles/hiv_undiagnosed_race_age_761_17763.shtml
Detroit Latin@z, is a organization developing in metro Detroit for Latinos/as
who are open to the sexual diversity of others. They have a new website at
www.detlatz.org
