A STATEMENT FROM THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PEOPLE WITH AIDS AND POZ MAGAZINE
On the occasion of this World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, 2007, The National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) and POZ magazine ask Americans to celebrate the enormous progress that has been made in treating HIV/AIDS and to remember those we have lost to the disease. More than half a million Americans have died from AIDS.
While the World Health Organization recently revised the number of people infected with HIV worldwide downward—from 39.5 million to 33 million—we remind Americans that the rate of HIV infection continues to rise in the United States. Indeed, there have never been more people living with HIV/AIDS in America than there are today. The statistics are astounding: One in 20 people in the District of Columbia has HIV. AIDS is the leading cause of death of African-American women between the ages of 25 to 34. Half of all new American infections occur in people under the age of 25. There are an estimated 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS in America—and 25 percent of them don’t even know they have the disease.
The disease is 100 percent preventable, yet, according to numbers reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are 40,000 new infections annually in the United States. As we go to press with this letter, there is talk that the CDC may soon revise the number of annual U.S. infections upward—to reflect that AIDS is growing again in America.
While we applaud our federal government’s pledge of $30 billion to the President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), we strongly emphasize that a great many Americans cannot afford insurance, health care or treatment for HIV/AIDS. At a time when the U.S. infection rate has peaked, we have smaller budgets for prevention, testing and treatment than ever before.
AIDS continues to cut a swath through all sectors of the populace. Everyone who has unprotected sex and/or uses intravenous drugs is at risk for contracting HIV. Women, young people, people over the age of 50 and the African-American and Latino communities are becoming increasingly affected by the disease. And HIV infections are rising again in the communities of men who have sex with men (MSM) and intravenous drug users.
Of all groups affected by AIDS, the African-American community has been hit disproportionately hard. African Americans constitute approximately 12 percent of America’s population, yet they account for more than 50 percent of those living with HIV in America today. African-American women constituted a staggering 67 percent of all AIDS diagnoses among women in 2005.
Together in 2008, NAPWA and POZ will deepen our resolve in the fight against AIDS, working with every segment of the community to inform, empower and inspire those living with HIV/AIDS and those at risk for contracting the virus. We will work to ensure that the new year proves to be one of continued progress in the development of treatment, improved access to care, the reduction of stigma and a great financial commitment to support those in need living with HIV/AIDS.
We believe that 2008 is a critical opportunity for positive change in the areas of education, particularly sex education for young Americans; prevention; testing; and the care of those living with HIV/AIDS, including those who are incarcerated.
With the impending change in the administration, NAPWA and POZ hope that whoever assumes the presidency, Democrat or Republican, male or female, realizes and addresses the devastating AIDS epidemic in America.
SugarandSpice43
