National Minority AIDS Council Building Healthier Communities

NMAC Honors National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

February 7, 2009

NMAC is helping to raise awareness about the impact of HIV/AIDS in black communities through the U.S. and its territories:

• Official Department of Health and Human Services Observance Day Page
  
  

• African Americans and HIV/AIDS Fact Sheet, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  
  
• African Americans and HIV/AIDS Fact Sheet, Kaiser Family Foundation
  

• National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Press Release
  
  

• National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Editorial by NMAC Executive Director, Paul A. Kawata
  
  

• Interviews with Ravinia Hayes-Cozier, NMAC's Director of Government Relations and Public Policy, about the importance of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
  
  

• African Americans, Health Disparities and HIV/AIDS: Recommendations for Confronting the Epidemic in Black America
  
  

• Black and White Disparities in HIV/AIDS
  
  

• Future HIV/AIDS Leaders

  This page features profiles of young African Americans heading the fight against HIV/AIDS on college campuses and in their communities.

  
  

• African American Women GET REAL about HIV/AIDS

  NMAC's first public service announcement in over ten years, "African American Women GET REAL about AIDS" features NMAC Board Member and singing legend, Nancy Wilson; CEO and Founder of Aspirations Wholistic Tutorial Services, Archbishop Joyce Turner-Keller; and HIV/AIDS Activist, Ebony Gilreath speaking directly to African American women about the importance of knowing their HIV status.

• Equal Access Initiative Computer Program
  This year's application deadline was February 7.
  
  

• 3rd Annual Everyone's Birthday: A Celebration of Life ... Live Well
  NMAC is a sponsor of this February 8 event in Washington, DC event. Click here for the flyer.
  
  

• National American Bar Association, Minority Women and HIV/AIDS
  NMAC's Government Relations and Public Policy Division will be participating in this event on February 14th.
  
  

• HIV Vaccine Research Education Initiative Activities

   Learn more about the importance of minority participation in HIV vaccine research here.

Today, the National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC) begins a month of activities honoring National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Held annually on February 7th during Black History Month, National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day seeks to "mobilize communities and address specific issues in regard to local epidemics and best practices that are science-based and will influence the course of HIV in Black communities across our country."

The importance of this year's National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day - and its theme: Black Life Is Worth Saving - cannot be overstated. The Inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20, the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, was not only a time of celebration, but also a call to action. HIV/AIDS has been pushed to the background for too long in this country, and those with limited access to the necessities of life, such as education, health care and housing, have been left at risk.

African Americans have been disproportionately impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic since it began. Though they represent only 13% of the U.S. population, blacks bear 70% of the country's HIV/AIDS burden and represent nearly half of all new HIV cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention (CDC) each year. This is particularly alarming in light of the CDC's announcement in August 2008 that HIV incidence in the U.S. is 40% higher than previously thought, with over 55,000 new HIV infections occurring from 2003-2006, and 56,300 cases in 2006 alone.

Stigma plays a huge role in fueling the epidemic in African American communities, yet few people want to talk about it, leaving the very future of black America is at risk. Over 200,000 African Americans have died of AIDS in the past twenty five years. AIDS is the leading cause of death among African-American women aged 25-34, and the third leading cause of death among African-American men in the same age group. Black gay/men who have sex with men also are testing positive for HIV in high numbers.

NMAC intends to continue being a powerful voice for MF/CBOs addressing HIV/AIDS in African American communities, working with the Congressional Black Caucus and encouraging people to contact their representatives on the Hill to support comprehensive, science-based and culturally-competent HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care programs.

To learn more about National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, as well as NMAC programs and services, please peruse our website: www.nmac.org or contact us directly at (202) 483-6622 or communications@nmac.org.

NMAC also may be found on Facebook.com (log into Facebook and search for "NMAC); Wikipedia.com; YouTube.com (under the group "commnmac"); and MyPhotoAlbum.com (search for "nmacpics").

Sincerely,

Paul A. Kawata,

Executive Director