Julian Bond: AIDS takes disproportionate toll on African-American women

Originally published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on December 1, 2004

Copyright 2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution  


By JULIAN BOND, ROSLYN MCCALLISTER BROCK

"Women, girls, HIV and AIDS" is the theme of this year's World AIDS Day, today. Unfortunately, here in the United States, it might be more accurate to say "Black women, girls, HIV and AIDS."

African-American women are 23 times as likely as white women to be diagnosed with AIDS. Tragically, HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death for women in our community ages 24 to 35. More than 70 percent of all new female diagnoses of HIV/AIDS in the United States occur among African-American women.

These facts are all the more shocking because we have known for 20 years that HIV/AIDS is a completely preventable disease. While abstinence is the only sure way to stop the sexual transmission of HIV, we know that the correct and consistent use of condoms dramatically reduces the risk of infection. We have the tools to fight HIV/AIDS. What we still lack is knowledge within our community to protect African-American women against this disease.

To raise awareness about HIV and other health disparities affecting African-Americans, the NAACP this year issued a "Call to Action on Health," a comprehensive plan to mobilize all members of our community in the struggle for better health care. The NAACP also recently distributed "Women Like You!" --- a DVD and discussion guide designed to inform women about HIV/AIDS.

African-American women have struggled to overcome social, political and economic injustice, and they have been central to our swift and community-wide effort to confront prejudice and discrimination.

On this day nearly 50 years ago, Rosa Parks took a stand against segregation in Montgomery. That is the type of response that women need to wage against AIDS. Our top priority must be to raise awareness of and access to three life-saving resources in the fight against HIV/AIDS: prevention, testing and treatment.

First and foremost, African-American women must have better access to information on effective methods of HIV prevention. We know that safer sex dramatically reduces the risk of infection. Women must know the importance of condom use --- and more importantly, that they have the power and responsibility to insist on protection each and every time with a partner.

Secondly, the women of this community must know about advances that make HIV testing simpler than ever. Some newer tests do not even require a blood sample and can return results in 20 minutes.

Testing is available in more venues than ever, including health clinics, community centers and even street fairs. We need to ensure that women are more aware of these advances, and have access to them.

Finally, we have seen significant improvements in treatment for HIV/AIDS. New medications are making HIV therapy easier for many patients to take and tolerate, and can substantially reduce AIDS-related illness. But with increasing numbers of African-American women being diagnosed with AIDS, a lot more needs to be done to ensure that these benefits reach us.

We must also strive to ensure that African-Americans enroll in clinical trials of existing HIV drugs as well as new treatments. Participation in clinical trials is the only way to determine which treatment regimens are most effective among African-Americans living with HIV. Clinical trials may also help to develop treatments of benefit to our community.

In the past several decades, we have made great progress in the fight for equality and social justice. But the disproportionate impact of AIDS on black women threatens to reverse these gains and jeopardizes future generations.

On this World AIDS Day, we must recognize that the fight against AIDS goes hand in hand with the fight for equality. Many women in this country have benefited from recent advances in HIV prevention, testing and treatment. It is high time that African-American women do, too.

Julian Bond (left) is chairman and Roslyn McCallister Brock vice chairwoman of the NAACP.