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National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On February 7, the nation will observe
the 11th annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. This year
also marks the 30th anniversary of the first reports of AIDS in the
United States.
Since the beginning of the epidemic, African Americans have been
deeply affected by HIV. Black men who have sex with men and black
women are particularly at risk. According to the latest data from
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, blacks make up just
14-percent of the total U.S. population yet represent almost half of
those living with HIV and about half of those with AIDS who die each
year.
The National HIV/AIDS Strategy, which now guides all federal
HIV/AIDS-related efforts and programs, recognizes the
disproportionate impact of HIV on African American communities. The
strategy promotes HIV testing for at-risk groups and stresses the
importance of getting people who are living with HIV into care.
Prevention efforts should acknowledge the heavy burden of HIV among
African Americans and target programs accordingly.
Federal departments and agencies with HIV/AIDS programs have
developed detailed plans to implement the strategy, and are working
together on cross-agency initiatives, like the 12 City Project,
which supports comprehensive planning and cross-agency response in
12 communities hit hardest by HIV and AIDS. We are also working with
our partners outside the government to support the strategy in
communities around the nation. It will take all of us working
together to put an end to HIV.
Please visit AIDS.gov to read the strategy and to learn how you can
join with government, care providers, people living with HIV/AIDS,
and others to help your community respond effectively to the HIV
epidemic. Together, we can make the strategy real—and protect
hard-hit populations, including African Americans, from the threat
of HIV.
To learn more visit: www.AIDS.gov;
http://blackaidsday.org/;
www.greaterthanaids.org
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