CDC Expands AIDS Initiative In Black Community

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By: Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday it is expanding its Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative to increase prevention efforts in the African-American, Latino, gay and bisexual communities, which are hardest hit by HIV/AIDS.

The initiative, a partnership of major community organizations, was launched last year to intensify HIV prevention in the black community. Black Americans represent about 14 percent of the U.S. population, but are nearly half of people living with HIV/AIDS and almost half of the new infections each year, according to CDC data.

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CDC: It’s National HIV Testing Day -- Do You Know Your Status and Your Partner’s Too?

By: Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its partners are encouraging Americans -- particularly black Americans -- to use Friday, National HIV Testing Day, to schedule an appointment and/or be tested for HIV.

“Knowing your HIV status empowers you to help prevent the spread of the disease,” Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the Centers’ National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, said in a statement. “If you are infected, you can take steps to protect your health and that of your partners as well as seek life-extending medical treatment. People who learn they are not infected can take steps to help ensure they remain uninfected.”

“There are about 250,000 people nationwide who do not know they are HIV-positive, and about half the people living with HIV are African-American,” Fenton told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

Organizers around the country for National HIV Testing Day have distributed information about HIV/AIDS, testing sites and have targeted black and Latino populations, which are most at risk of contracting the virus, Fenton said.

CDC: It’s National HIV Testing Day -- Do You Know Your Status and Your Partner’s Too?....