Today, National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, health departments, social services agencies, and some churches in Broward County are offering HIV testing and education.
"[HIV/AIDS is] a crisis in our black community," said Donna Markland, Florida Department of Health regional minority AIDS coordinator in Broward. African Americans make up 21 percent of the county's population, and "one in every 58 black people is living with AIDS or HIV. That's a crisis."
African-American preachers in the county are speaking out from the pulpit to urge HIV/AIDS awareness. Health officials say the efforts of groups such as Churches United to Stop HIV are beginning to pay off. "To some extent, the silence is being broken," said Spencer Lieb, senior epidemiologist at the state health department's Bureau of HIV/AIDS. "But there's still a great disparity" in the number of blacks who contract HIV compared to other racial and ethnic groups.
Donovan Thomas, 25, said he wants AIDS awareness to reach black communities every day, not just on special days like today. Thomas, who runs a marketing company in Deerfield Beach, has collaborated with health officials to create a local awareness campaign. "Respect Yourself, Check Yourself, Protect Yourself" is a multi-media effort using billboards, yard signs, bus benches, kiosks, fliers, and brochures in English and Creole "to communicate the seriousness," he said. "AIDS is killing off blacks. We must take ownership of our actions."
The campaign includes "street soldiers" who take prevention literature and HIV testing kits to clubs and places where young people congregate. "I have a young brother and a younger sister," Thomas said, explaining his motivation for creating the campaign. "What you don't know will kill you."
South Florida Sun-Sentinel (02.07.07):: Gregory Lewis
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