NMAC: The Continued Impact of HIV/AIDS in the U.S.

From the NMAC:

The National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC) is honoring World AIDS Day (WAD) this December 1 with a special message on its website’s home page, NMAC.org, about the continued impact of HIV/AIDS epidemic domestically. The video features public officials, educators, activists, community organizers and other leaders discussing how we must come together as a nation to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic head on in this country. The video also takes visitors to the site’s comprehensive list of events http://tinyurl.com/NMAC-WAD being held nationwide in honor of WAD.

Ravinia Hayes-Cozier, NMAC’s Director of Government Relations and Public Policy, who introduces the video, says “This year’s World AIDS Day theme, ‘Universal Access and Human Rights’, is particularly timely in light of the nationwide conversation taking place around the formation of a National HIV/AIDS Strategy and the future of health care overall.

“Unfortunately, many people, including the media, the public and even some government officials, both here and abroad, think of AIDS as a disease occurring elsewhere that no longer impacts the U.S. This is a dangerous misconception, and has played a significant role in fueling HIV infection rates in this country.”

HIV/AIDS has disproportionately impacted undeserved and marginalized populations in the U.S. since the epidemic began in 1981. An August 2008 report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that HIV incidence is 40% higher in the U.S. than originally believed, with over 55,000 new cases occurring annually. Alarmingly, communities of color represent 65% of all new HIV infections. These statistics reflect the socio-economic disparities – including limited access to education and high rates of homelessness, malnutrition, incarceration, substance use, incarceration and poverty – that have undermined the overall health and well-being of marginalized populations, particularly communities of color, in this country, and have created significant barriers to care.

“Since its inception in 1988 by the World Health Organization, World AIDS Day has given us an opportunity to remember the more than 25 million people lost to global AIDS pandemic since it began nearly three decades ago,” says Paul A. Kawata, NMAC’s Executive Director. “More than a million of these deaths have occurred here in the U.S., most of them men, women and children of color and/or gay men/men who have sex with men (MSM).

“It is unacceptable that HIV/AIDS remains unchecked in communities of color, and that AIDS is the number one killer of women worldwide between the ages of 15 and 44. Honoring their memory demands that we commit ourselves to mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS on future generations. That means having difficult discussions about everything around AIDS – from the need to support HIV vaccine and microbicide research, to how homophobia, sexism and racism help spread HIV.”

To that end, NMAC launched the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) HIV/AIDS Peer Education Initiative, which will train HBCU students on how to get involved and educate one another about HIV/AIDS, at the September 25th “An Evening Without Politics: A Benefit Reception” (EWP) held during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference. Many of the interviews featured in the special video report on NMAC.org were shot during the EWP, and include:

* Jim Brown, Football Legend, Actor, Activist
* G.K. Butterfield, Congressman (D-North Carolina)
* James Clyburn, Congressman, House Majority Whip (D-South Carolina)
* Danny Davis, Congressman (D-Illinois)
* Gregory W. Edwards, Executive Director, Flowers Heritage Foundation
* Debra Fraser-Howze, Vice President of External Affairs, Orasure Technologies
* Vincent Gray, Washington, DC City Council Chair
* Barbara Lee, Congresswoman (D-California)
* Sheryl Lee Ralph, Actress and Activist
* Julianne Malveaux, President, Bennett College
* Dr. Marsh Martin, Get Screened Oakland
* Darian “Big Tigger” Morgan, Television and Radio Personality
* Julianne Scofield, Executive Director, National Alliance of State and Territorial Directors
* Maxine Waters, Congresswoman (D-California)
* Beverly Watts Davis, Senior Advisor to the Administrator, SAMHSA Officer of the Administrator

“The HBCU HIV/AIDS Peer Education Initiative will train a new generation of leaders in our communities who can discuss the epidemic in the U.S. in relation to global AIDS pandemic,” says Hayes-Cozier. “This will be particularly important as we move into the new era of international collaboration sure to follow the official end of the HIV travel ban on January 4, 2010 and the hosting of the International AIDS Conference in the U.S. in 2012.”

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