AIDS

CDC
Feb 7 2012

Blacks account for almost half the people living with a HIV

African Americans and HIV/AIDS
By race/ethnicity, African Americans face the most severe burden of HIV in the United States. At the end of 2007, Blacks accounted for almost half (46%) of people living with a diagnosis of HIV infection in the 37 states and 5 U.S.-dependent areas with long-term, confidential, name-based HIV reporting.

Nov 3 2011

Foundation continues to bring HIV/AIDS awareness

The Magic Johnson Foundation (MJF) recently announced the launch of Point Forward Day, a national day of awareness and action to celebrate its 20 years of impact.

The Foundation’s 20th anniversary campaign (MJF:20) will kick off with a press conference featuring Earvin “Magic” Johnson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Nov 7, exactly 20 years to the date that one of the world’s greatest basketball players announced his HIV status and subsequent retirement from the NBA.

Sep 23 2011

The search for treatment among African Americans

Say mental illness in the African American community, and most likely you will cause a pause in conversations as large as the white elephant in the room. Mental illness has a disturbing and persistently negative history in the Black community throughout the United States.

Fueled by mistrust of a system that often views Black people as nothing more than guinea pigs ripe for experimentation, accepting the label “mentally ill” comes with a huge stigma.

Sep 21 2011

Homeless patients

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today awarded $1.4 million to the Los Angeles County Commission on HIV, which will use the grant to help homeless patients with HIV or AIDS find transitional or permanent housing.

The three-year Special Projects of National Significance grant will allow the commission to lease housing for 208 patients.

Jun 27 2011

Free HIV testing

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Free, confidential HIV testing will be available at a variety of locations in Los Angeles County today as part of National HIV Testing Day.

Just more the half of the new HIV infections in Los Angeles County are spread by people who do not know they have the virus, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

Experts consider HIV testing important because it identifies those who are infected, leads to their getting treatment, changing their behaviors and preventing further transmission of HIV.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.