Barbara Lee, Minority Leaders Get Tested on World AIDS Day to Highlight Importance of Knowing HIV Status
(Oakland, CA) – As part of the high profile mobilization to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and to emphasize the importance of regular testing in that fight, Congresswoman Barbara Lee and representatives of the African-American, Latino and Asian-American communities celebrated World AIDS Day by getting tested for HIV at AIDS Project East Bay in Oakland on December 1st.
“We have to do everything in our power to stop the spread of this disease, and getting tested is one of the simplest things we can do to help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS,” said Lee. “We have seen this epidemic continue to spread, particularly in the African American community, in part because people don’t know that they are infected.”
According to Centers for Disease Control estimates, approximately one quarter of all the individuals living with HIV/AIDS in the United States – more than 250,000 people – do not know they are infected.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic is devastating the African American community and other minority communities. Today, African-Americans account for nearly 50 percent of all people in the United States living with HIV/AIDS even though they represent about 12 percent of the population. African-American women account for nearly 70 percent of new infections among women, and AIDS is now the leading cause of death for African-American women between the ages of 25-34. Among Asian Pacific Islanders, the rate of new HIV cases increased by an estimated 40 percent between 2001 and 2004. Latinos represent nearly 20 percent of all persons living with HIV/AIDS.
The event comes in the immediate wake of new testing recommendations issued by the Centers for Disease Control, and on the heels of the XVI WORLD AIDS Conference in Toronto, where African-American leaders from the United States announced a national call to action to end the AIDS epidemic in black America.
The testing was hosted by AIDS Project East Bay and California Prevention and Education Project (CALPEP) in a mobile testing unit provided by CALPEP where free testing was provided to the public throughout the day.
In addition to Lee, participants included Assemblymember-elect Sandre Swanson; State Senator Liz Figueroa; Henry Rosales, Spanish Speaking Citizens Foundation; Sherry Hirota, CEO Asian Health Services; David Kakishiba, President, Oakland School Board; Lance Tomo, Executive Director, Asian Pacific Islander Wellness Center; Daniel Toleran, Associate Director of Health Services, Asian American Recovery Program; Gloria Cox Crowell of the Allen Temple AIDS Ministry; Charles Castillo of the Native TANF Program of Alameda County; as well as representatives from the offices of Supervisor Keith Carson, Councilmember Ignatio De La Fuente, Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, La Clinica de la Raza and the San Francisco Foundation
In Alameda County over 6,600 cases of AIDS have been diagnosed since 1980, and nearly 4,000 people have died. Of those numbers African Americans represent well over 40 percent of the cumulative AIDS cases and AIDS deaths in the county.
In 1998, Lee led efforts to declare a State of Emergency in Alameda County regarding HIV/AIDS in the African American community, which provided additional funding to combat the disease and inspired the creation of a community wide taskforce to ensure that there was a focused response to this epidemic that targeted the African American community.
Lee is the Co-Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Global AIDS Taskforce and in 2005 the House passed her resolution supporting the goals of National Black AIDS Awareness Day. She has introduced legislation aimed at ensuring continuing care and treatment for Gulf Coast residents living with HIV/AIDS who were displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and later this year she will introduce legislation to allow the distribution of condoms in federal prisons and to develop a strategy to reduce HIV and other STIs in prisons.
As the lead author of the Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Relief Act of 2000 and the principal co-author of legislation establishing the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s accomplishments in promoting effective, bipartisan measures to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and bring treatment to those living with HIV/AIDS have earned her international recognition as a leader in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
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