By Alan King
AFRO Staff Writer
(November 30, 2008) -- Noting fewer HIV infections and fewer deaths from AIDS, health, political, professional and community leaders in the United States will join the United Nations in marking its 20th annual World AIDS Day on Monday, Dec. 1, while studying the global epidemic for solutions.
"We have made great strides over the last 20 years in combating HIV/AIDS at home and abroad -- passing the Ryan White CARE Act, creating the Minority AIDS Initiative and establishing the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief -- but we still have much to do," said Congressional Black Caucus chair Barbara Lee (D –Calif.), who on Monday will receive a "Heroes in the Struggle" Award from the Black AIDS Institute.
According to recent statistics, there are about 33 million people living with HIV and 2 million died of AIDS-related complications in 2007 around the world. UN officials report about 2.7 million people became infected with HIV that same year.
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control released a study in August confirming the worst fears of many experts in the field: The American AIDS epidemic is at least 40 percent worse than previously believed.
The news served to dramatically underscore the point that the Black AIDS Institute says it has been making for the last nine years: “America has utterly failed to invest meaningfully in ending a domestic epidemic that is spiraling out of control.”
The CDC study came on the heels of the release of the institute's latest report on the state of AIDS in Black America—"Left Behind! Black America: A Neglected Priority in the Global AIDS Epidemic.”
The report, which was presented at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City last summer, illustrates a gap between the U.S. government’s “appropriate concern about AIDS overseas, and its ongoing denial of the epidemic at home – despite the fact that, in areas of the United States such as Detroit, Newark, New York, Washington D.C. and the deep South, HIV levels among segments of the Black community approach those of many severely affected countries in Africa.
For example, HIV prevalence among middle-aged Black men in Manhattan is almost as high as overall prevalence in South Africa,” according to the study.
"Quite simply...HIV/AIDS is continuing to devastate the African American community and men who have sex with men," Lee said in her statement, noting that in her district in Alameda County, Calif., over 6,800 cases of AIDS have been diagnosed since 1980, and nearly 4,000 people have died.
Of those numbers, African Americans represent well over 40 percent of the cumulative AIDS cases and AIDS deaths in the county, while Latinos represent around 10 percent of all AIDS cases and about 9 percent of all deaths.
Abroad, the spread of HIV in South East Asia and China is following the patterns of the African epidemic of the 80s, officials said. At present, the continent makes up about 22 million of the total number of HIV cases.
While women account for about half of all HIV infections globally, in Sub-Saharan Africa they make up disproportionately larger segments of the HIV-infected populations.
Part of the reason for fewer infections and deaths is the availability of life-saving antiretroviral drugs, among other factors. But some experts have warned about a developing lack of concern over taking protective steps in areas where drugs have changed HIV from a death sentence to a somewhat manageable disease.
"There is a certain complacency where treatment is available," Mukesh Kapilla, head of HIV/AIDS at the International Federation of the Red Cross, has said.
Kapilla's comments came on the day that UN officials called for governments and healthcare services to study new patterns of HIV infections in order to make preventive programs more effective.
Since the patterns of an epidemic can change over time, UNAIDS said, analyses of its spread should be undertaken at regular intervals. "Not only will this approach help prevent the next 1,000 infections in each community, but it will also make money for AIDS work more effective and help put forward a long-term and sustainable AIDS response," UNAIDS Director Peter Piot said.
Cong. Lee noted some achievements made on the global front. Along with reauthorizing the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief at a cost of $48 billion, she said other efforts include, "Removing the arbitrary requirement that 33 percent of our prevention dollars be spent on abstinence-only programs, and most notably repealing the discriminatory ban on travel and immigration for people with HIV/AIDS wishing to enter the United States."
Lee continued, "With a new Obama administration, we can also take some immediate steps to strengthen our global AIDS programs by promptly lifting the Global Gag rule, which has defunded reproductive health and family planning programs throughout the world to the detriment of women and girls everywhere."
UN officials have said the realignment of HIV prevention programs would be based on understanding why new infections occur. Lee concluded, "We can then take steps to ensure that our global HIV/AIDS programs are coordinated and integrated with our family planning and reproductive health programs, so that we can multiply the impact of U.S. taxpayer dollars in the fight against this dreaded disease."
In addition to Lee, the Black AIDS Institute will also honor other pioneering women who have demonstrated a commitment to ending the AIDS epidemic in the Black community.
Other honorees will include: Sandra Evers-Manly, president of the Northrop Grumman Foundation; Dr. Marjorie Hill of GMHC; Sonia D. Lockett, vice president of public affairs at BET Networks; Gloria Reuben, actress and AIDS activist; Bev Smith of The Bev Smith Show; Cookie Johnson, philanthropist; and Andrea Williams, AIDS activist.