[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 867-868]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 NATIONAL BLACK HIV/AIDS AWARENESS DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, February 7, 2002

  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong 
support of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, which will take place 
on February 7, 2002.
  While significant progress has been made in the diagnosis and 
treatment of HIV and AIDS, the underlying reality is that the HIV 
epidemic in our country is far from over and disproportionately affects 
African-Americans. African-Americans comprise 12 percent of the U.S. 
population yet 47 percent of all new AIDS cases in 2000 were among 
African-Americans. Among women, an astonishing 63 percent of new AIDS 
cases were African-American, and three-fourths of these women acquired 
HIV through heterosexual sex. The National Institute for Allergy and 
Infectious Diseases reports that AIDS is now the fifth leading cause of 
death in the United States among people aged 25 to 44, and is the 
leading cause of death for black men in this age group. Among black 
women in this age group, HIV ranks third.
  We will not have a truly effective arsenal against HIV/AIDS until we 
have an effective vaccine, improved education and prevention campaigns, 
and increased access to retroviral treatments. But before these come to 
pass, we must attack the most serious obstacles to overcoming the HIV/
AIDS epidemic in the African-American community: denial and delusion.

[[Page 868]]

It is only when patients accept the possibility that they or their 
partner may be infected with HIV that health care workers can consider 
treatment options; it is only when African-Americans accept that their 
community is also at risk that education and prevention campaigns will 
be effective.
  Mr. Speaker, these disturbing statistics demonstrate that while we 
may have won some battles against HIV/AIDS, the war is far from over. 
Programs aimed at education and prevention must be expanded, and 
treatment options must be available to all Americans. It is my hope 
that National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day will draw attention to the 
effects of this terrible disease on the African-American community and 
remove some of the stigma associated with the disease.

                          ____________________