Black American AIDS activists want the U.S. to develop a plan. Angered that the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the African-American community has been neglected and is on the rise, while U.S government funding has been stagnant and its priorities have been global, Black leaders gathered in Mexico City called for the U.S. government to create and implement a new National AIDS strategy. During a news conference at the XVII International AIDS Conference Monday, the group also appealed for the U.S government to commit $1.3 billion annually to HIV prevention, an amount they said is needed to reverse the large and growing AIDS epidemic in the U.S, especially in the African American community where the largest growth is occurring. Those gathered for the news conference included Phill Wilson, CEO of the Black AIDS Institute; Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.); Dr. Helene Gayle, president and CEO of CARE; Sheryl Lee Ralph, actress and activist; Jacob Gayle, deputy vice president of the Ford Foundation; and Pernessa C. Seele, founder and CEO of the Balm in Gilead, Inc. This call for a new strategy and increased funding has gained more urgency in recent days as the U.S. government has acknowledged what Black leaders have known all along: The United States has been systematically undercounting its epidemic and consistently failing to respond to the needs of those infected and those at risk. “The U.S. is failing its people, and that is a direct attack on Black America,” said Wilson of the Black AIDS Institute. “This failure to respond is particularly acute in the epidemic in Black America.” Gayle of CARE agreed, noting that the newly released data show that “we are behind the eight ball.” The institute has just released a report titled “Left Behind,” which illustrates just how profoundly AIDS in the United States has become a Black disease. The community leaders also fault both presidential candidates for not having a domestic HIV/AIDS plan.

TAGS: AIDS, conference, international

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