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Black Leaders Draft National Action Plan to End AIDS

May 01, 2007

The National Black Leader’s AIDS Strategic Planning Summit brought together sixteen African-American organizations from the faith-based, media, civil rights and a political sector to discuss the impact HIV/AIDS is having on the African-American community. Organized by the Black AIDS Institute, The Balm in Gilead, and the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, the primary purpose of the coalition is to create a national action plan to stop AIDS in Black communities within the next five years.

“Our goal is ambitious,” said Phill Wilson, executive director of the Black AIDS Institute. “But given the HIV/AIDS rates in Black America, anything less would be immoral.” The March 22-24 summit brought sixty advocates together to exchange ideas and commit to making these ideas a reality in the African-American community.

“Anyone can make a commitment to fight AIDS,” said Debra Fraser-Howze, president and CEO of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS. “What’s unique about this effort is the scope of those commitments, and the fact that we are already moving from commitment to action.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have clearly stated the facts concerning HIV/AIDS in the black community. African-American women were 20 times more likely to test positive for HIV than their white counterparts according to 2005 statistics. Black men were 7 times more likely to contract the disease than their white counterparts. We already know that African-Americans make up approximately half of all Americans living with HIV/AIDS and the largest percentage of newly infected persons in the United States. It’s startling to think that in seven major urban areas, researchers found 46 percent of the African-American gay and bisexual were infected with HIV/AIDS.

The broad goals of the national action plan consist of:

• Reducing the rates of HIV infection among African Americans by half in five years;
• Increasing the percentage of African Americans who know their status, whether positive or negative;
• Increasing the number of HIV-positive Blacks who are in appropriate care and treatment;
• Eliminating the range of stigmas that have too long both fueled new infections and stood in the way of communal and individual action to stop AIDS.

“This mobilization is being embraced by of all sectors of the Black community, including our faith leaders,” said Pernessa Seele, founder and CEO of The Balm in Gilead. “Since the virus has no respect of person, we can’t afford to leave anyone out.”

“We really need to scream from the rooftops that something needs to be done,” Bishop T.D. Jakes, pastor of Dallas’ Potter's House church, said at the opening of this weekend’s summit. “We’re committed to saving lives without distinction. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, or what you’re into. We care about you.”

Participants:

100 Black Men of America
African Methodist Episcopal Church, Women's Missionary Society
American Urban Radio Networks
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation
Metropolitan Interdenominational Church
National Action Network
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Black Caucus of State Legislators
National Black Justice Coalition
National Coalition of 100 Black Women
National Coalition of Pastors’ Spouses
National Council of Negro Women
National Newspaper Publishers Association
National Urban League
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, Inc.
Potter’s House & T.D. Jakes Ministries

The national action plan will be revealed June, in conjunction with National HIV Testing Day, June 27, 2007.

Source: Black AIDS Institute, www.blackaids.org
News Article on March 28, 2007

Posted at 10:42 AM by Shantrie in the News & Media category/ies.