[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 9 (Thursday, February 7, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E114]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 NATIONAL BLACK HIV/AIDS AWARENESS DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, February 7, 2002

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleagues to recognize 
National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. I want to thank my colleague, 
Maxine Waters for organizing tonight's special orders.
  Today, African American communities, including AIDS service 
organizations, city governments and people living with HIV/AIDS will 
acknowledge National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day through community 
events, vigils and by volunteering their services to organizations who 
provide HIV/AIDS services. These efforts will help raise awareness 
about the impact of HIV/AIDS in the African American community.
  In my district, the Alameda County Health Department, partners in the 
Alameda County State of Emergency Task Force and the faith community 
will also hold day long community events to mark this occasion.
  Three years ago the State of Emergency Task Force and the Alameda 
County Health Department helped to declare a Public Health Emergency on 
HIV/AIDS in the African American community. Since then, more resources 
have reached the community making an positive impact. In Alameda 
County, we are slowly seeing a decrease in new HIV infections. However, 
we must not slow our efforts to curb this deadly disease.
  Since the first AIDS diagnosis over 20 years ago, AIDS has devastated 
America's Black community. The Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC) reports that for the first time in 8 years, HIV/AIDS 
case rates are rising in the United States. The CDC estimates 900,000 
people living in the U.S. with HIV/AIDS, with approximately 40,000 new 
infections every year. African-Americans lead the number of these new 
infection rates. Blacks represent 12% of the Nation's population yet, 
they account for 47% of new AIDS cases.
  Since December 2000, over 130,000 AIDS cases were reported among 
women in the U.S. Almost \2/3\ of all women with AIDS are African 
American. And, girls make up 58% of new AIDS cases among teens in the 
U.S. Blacks are ten times more likely to be diagnosed with AIDS than 
whites and ten times more likely to die from the disease. The CDC also 
estimates that 30% of young, gay, black men are infected with the AIDS 
virus.
  Including the incidence of HIV/AIDS among African Americans, Latinos, 
Asian Americans and Native Americans, racial minorities now represent a 
majority of new AIDS cases and a majority of Americans living with 
AIDS. It is imperative that National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day serve 
as a platform to educate people about the impact of HIV/AIDS on 
African-Americans and draw attention to the need for increased 
resources for the fight against this devastating disease.
  On World AIDS Day, President Bush promised to provide the necessary 
resources to combat the AIDS pandemic and ensure that people living 
with HIV and AIDS would receive effective care and treatment. It 
appears that the President only meant those words on World AIDS Day 
because these priority is not reflected in his budget. In fact domestic 
AIDS programs are flat funded despite the spike in new infection rates. 
We must remember that AIDS is also reaching far across our shores--in 
Africa, the motherland of many Black Americans, AIDS is decimating 
societies. HIV/AIDS is the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time!
  So as we gather in the African-American community and in communities 
across the nation, together, we must work to increase the level of 
resource committed to fight this disease.

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