National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

If you identify with the expression “It takes a village to raise a child,” then you understand that it take a village to fight HIV/AIDS. This slogan for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and it reflects the strategy being used to battle the virus in the Black community. Each year stakeholders throughout the country, and even around the globe, plan events and activities to raise awareness and get individuals tested. February 7, 2011 marks the 11^th year of this powerful initiative.

Every year since the epidemic began in 1981, African-Americans in the United States have been disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. Although African-Americans make up 13% of the U.S. population, they account for 51% of HIV cases. Blacks account for more new HIV infections, AIDS cases, people estimated to be living with the HIV disease and HIV related deaths than any other racial/ethnic group. Blacks at a higher risk for HIV include those who are unaware of their sexual partner’s risk factors, those with other STDs and those who live in poverty.

A recent study done in five cities found that 46% of African American men who have sex with men were HIV positive, 67% of which did not know of their infection. Awareness and getting tested is crucial to stop the spread of the disease and to break the stigma that many Blacks have towards the disease. Several of those at risk of HIV infection in the Black community fear the negative social label of being known as deviant and therefore shy away from getting tested. In turn, they forego treatment that may preserve their health and continue to pass it to others.

From an international perspective, sub-Saharan Africa is affected more heavily than any other region of the world. An estimated 22.5 million people are living with HIV in the region which is around two thirds of the global total; the area makes up 10% of the global population. In 2009 around 1.3 million people died from AIDS in the sub- Saharan Africa. The sub-Saharan faces a triple challenge: providing healthcare, reducing the number of new HIV infections and coping with the impact of millions of AIDS deaths.

So what can you do to help the affects that HIV/AIDS has on the Black community? Educate yourself, friends and family about the disease, its impacts and ways to protect yourself. Encourage testing to prevent new infections. Speak out against stigma, homophobia, racism and other forms of discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS. Donate time and money to organizations like as Dining Out for Life and others that work within African American communities.

All of the participants for dining for life are dedicated to finding the cure and spreading awareness of HIV/AIDS. To find out more information on events and activities for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day near you, visit www.blackaidsday.org/nahaad_nearyou.html