Confidential HIV testing and HIV/AIDS awareness education is being offered at various sites throughout the Chicagoland area (http://www.blackaidsday.org/states/il.html) in conjunction with the 11th annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on Monday.
In 2009,
Blacks accounted for 49 percent ––7,892 –– of the 16,010 HIV cases diagnosed in
Illinois and 50 percent ––18,667 –– of the 37,370 AIDS cases diagnosed in the
state. Forty-nine percent of the 60,000 Illinois residents with HIV are Black,
according to the Illinois Dept. of Public Health.
“People
need to be aware of HIV/AIDS in their community, learn how the disease is
transmitted and what risky behaviors to avoid. Get tested and know your status
- the only way to know if you have HIV is to get tested,” said Dr. Damon
Arnold, director of the IDPH.
World-renowned
HIV/AIDS activist Rae Lewis-Thornton, who regularly uses social network
platforms to educate about HIV/AIDS said the dialogue must continue beyond the
nationally recognized awareness day.
“Make
this a trendy topic everyday to challenge stigma and shame. We must make
HIV/AIDS a priority in our community just as we made the Civil Rights Movement
important. It is our issue for the 21st century. Blacks folks are dying and we
need to change this tide before we lose a generation of people to this dreadful
disease,” Lewis-Thornton, who was diagnosed in 1987 with HIV when she was
23 and made the transition to AIDS in 1992, told the Defender.
Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Blacks make up 14 percent of the U.S. population but account for nearly half of those living and dying with HIV and AIDS.
Some
complex environmental factors, Fenton stressed, that fuel the epidemic in
African-American communities must be confronted:
*If you don’t have the means to see a doctor, you
may not get an HIV test or treatment until it’s too late.
*Those who can’t afford the basics in life may end
up in circumstances that increase their HIV risk.
*Stigma
and homophobia continue to keep some African Americans from seeking HIV
testing, prevention and treatment.
For
more information, visit www.blackaidsday.org and www.actagainstaids.org.
Copyright
2011 Chicago Defender
