Source: PRNewswire Pubdate: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 LEADING FOR LIFE, CITING GRIM AIDS STATISTICS, SOUNDS ALARM THAT BLACK SILENCE BLACK DEATH Clear Signal for Government Action on Treatment Access, Needle Exchange Programming to Turn the Tide CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- With AIDS now the number one killer of young black men and women, media, religious, community, medical and academic leaders gathered this week at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African American Studies for a special media briefing, "The Untold Story: AIDS and Black Americans, A Briefing on the Crisis of AIDS Among African Americans." The briefing, organized by the Leading for Life Campaign, explored the complex issues of HIV/AIDS incidence, impact and awareness in African American communities. Denouncing reports that AIDS crisis is over, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute and Chairman of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University, invoked government, community and religious leadership to take action to stem the seriously disproportionate ravaging of African American communities by HIV/AIDS. "Although a decline in overall AIDS deaths has been widely reported, AIDS is absolutely not over for African Americans. In fact, the great tragedy is that a whole new wave is just beginning," Gates said at this week's briefing. "We must take strong and immediate action to turn the tide on the AIDS epidemic before it decimates our communities. We are living with and dying from this devastating disease, yet our leadership and the government has failed to effectively mobilize a response." Incidence and Impact "HIV/AIDS in the African American community is an extremely serious, urgent condition," concurred Helene Gayle, M.D., M.P.H. Director, National Center for HIV, sexually transmitted disease (STD) and tuberculosis (TB) Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Alarming government statistics on HIV/AIDS show: - -- More African Americans under the age of 45 die from AIDS than from homicide, cancer and heart disease. - -- More than one third -- 35% -- of all reported AIDS cases and 43% of new AIDS cases are among African Americans, though African Americans comprise only 12% of the U.S. population. - -- African American women today make up 60% of all new AIDS cases reported among women. - -- African American men represent 39% of new cases among all men, an annual case rate that is six times that of white men. "The numbers alone cannot express the impact of the HIV epidemic in the African American community. The threat of HIV has become a reality that young African American men and women must face," said Gayle. In fact, a new national study released by The Kaiser Family Foundation at this week's briefing found that the formidable threat of AIDS is a source of grave concern among African Americans. Survey results demonstrated: - -- One in two African Americans (50%) say they are very concerned about becoming infected with HIV, a level of worry that is twice that among a national sample for all Americans (24%). - -- One in two (49%), versus only a third of a national sample of all Americans, knows someone who has HIV/AIDS or has died from AIDS. - -- 58% of African Americans characterize AIDS as a "more urgent problem today than in the past." "Our survey clearly demonstrates that African Americans are deeply concerned about HIV/AIDS in a very personal way," said Sophia Chang, M.D., M.P.H., Director of HIV Programs, Kaiser Family Foundation, who introduced the survey results. Moving Forward: Policy Changes The survey also revealed that a majority of African Americans (58%) favor needle exchange -- programs that offer clean needles to IV drug users in exchange for used ones. Needle exchange remains a hotly debated issue, though it is well understood to significantly reduce the spread of HIV infection among injection drug users at high risk for HIV transmission. "Needle exchange is a cornerstone of a comprehensive prevention program," said Gayle of the CDC, underscoring the complexity of the national debate, which finds government officials, activists, the medical and religious community at odds between and among themselves. "We must confront community complacency and governmental roadblocks to policies like needle exchange -- which have been proven to stop the spread of HIV without increasing drug use," decried Mario Cooper, the convener of the briefing and founder of Leading for Life. "We are in the midst of a serious public health crisis that demands immediate action. Our children, our brother and sisters, mothers and fathers are dying cruel and untimely deaths." "African American churches, government officials, entertainers and civil rights organizations must band together -- for black silence black death, and far too many deaths have taken our loved ones already," Cooper continued. "The hope comes in the possibility that the knowledge, concern and awareness identified among African Americans in the Kaiser survey will translate to action that demands government and community mobilization to stem the tide of this epidemic that's killing African American kids and devastating their families." "We will continue to inform the media through mailings and meetings on the impact of AIDS on African Americans," said Gates. "Our goal is to respond to the need for education and action demonstrated in the Kaiser survey by assisting organizations such as the Balm In Gilead, the black church organization dedicated to increasing AIDS awareness in the religious community," Gates stated. The conference was co-sponsored by Leading for Life/Harvard AIDS Institute and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Leading for Life was launched in 1996 with The Harvard AIDS Institute, the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African American Studies, the Kaiser Family Foundation and others, to call attention to the disproportionate number of AIDS cases in African Americans, raise awareness among leadership and outline specific steps to stop the increasing spread of HIV. SOURCE Harvard AIDS Institute