Pubdate: Mon, 22 May 2006
Source: Chicago Defender (IL)
Copyright: 2006 Chicago Defender
Contact:  http://www.chicagodefender.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3781
Author: Demetrius Patterson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

NEW STATE LAW HELPS FIGHT HIV/AIDS IN BLACK COMMUNITIES

Rising to the challenge of helping to fight an epidemic in the 
African American community, Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed into law 
Saturday the Illinois African American HIV/AIDS Response Fund. Under 
this fund, $3 million will initially be spearheaded to focus on 
prevention and HIV/AIDS awareness in the African American communities 
that have for long been neglected by other organizations fighting the 
deadly disease.

"HIV/AIDS is a devastating disease, especially within the 
African-American community," Blagojevich said in a news statement. 
"The Illinois African American HIV/AIDS Response Fund will be used to 
take vital steps in preventing the virus' transmission throughout the 
African-American community in Illinois. Only by working together can 
we stop the spread of this deadly virus."

Under the new law, the Illinois Department of Public Health must 
develop a comprehensive, culturally sensitive HIV prevention plan, 
targeting high-risk African American communities; establish a stable 
HIV/AIDS service delivery infrastructure in Illinois communities that 
will meet the needs of African Americans; and establish at least 17 
one-stop HIV/AIDS services facilities across the state.

Lloyd Kelly, executive director of Let's Talk, Let's Test Foundation, 
told the Defender Sunday that the funding is way overdo for a 
community that has been neglected for years by mainstream HIV/AIDS foundations.

"It flips the script on how we deal with the disease in our 
community, from treatment and care, to prevention that includes 
treatment and care," Kelly said. He said the development of the fund 
actually started in 1999 when he and state Rep. Constance Howard 
(D-34th) assisted each other in trying to get the word out about a 
disease that was quietly ravaging the Black community. "At that time 
most people believed that HIV/AIDS was a white and gay thing," Kelly 
said. "No one believed it was affecting the African American community.

"There were these huge disparities. How could we be 12 percent of the 
population and have these huge numbers of infected people in our 
community? About 42 percent of those being infected by HIV were in 
African American community in 1999."

Kelly spent four to five months putting together a town hall meeting 
in 1999, and got many experts to come out and speak about the 
HIV/AIDS epidemic to the Black community. Eventually, Howard and 
state Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-4th) put together Senate Bill 1001 
that led to the current response fund law.

"Common practice is to fund research to help find a cure for this 
awful disease," Howard said in a news statement.  "Through the 
Illinois African American HIV/AIDS Response Fund, we will be able to 
head the virus off at the pass, so to speak, by focusing on prevention first."

The new response fund will allow African Americans to find it easier 
to get testing in their communities, and for those who have 
contracted HIV, they will be able to get treatment more readily in 
their neighborhoods rather than travel long distances for treatment 
outside of convenient areas, Kelly said.

"Testing is important so that we can get a handle on how big the 
problem really is," Kelly said. "We're estimating that 25 percent of 
people with HIV don't really know it.

"We can't dictate how those funds will be administered, because the 
law says those funds will go through the Illinois Department of 
Public Health. But we got the Illinois General Assembly to recognize 
that HIV/AIDS in the African American community is a separate crisis 
from any other issue regarding the disease. This changes our thought 
process. (The Centers for Disease Control) said there won't be a cure 
until 2015, and that's very conservative, so now we must put our 
emphasis on prevention.

"Last year we were able to pass legislation to provide free testing 
in state offices serving high risk communities," Lightford said in a 
news statement. "This year, we were able to obtain more funding for 
the HIV/AIDS crisis that is disproportionately affecting our 
community. I am pleased to be a part of this measure that is aimed at 
keeping high-risk communities safe from the progression of 
HIV/AIDS.  By targeting these areas with messages of prevention, we 
can assist in preventing communities from being ravaged by the virus."