The African-American community fights HIV/AIDS: A first step

The African-American community fights HIV/AIDS: A first step

By Uta Magnani

Dialogue. Discussion. Communication. Information. These are all first steps in fighting a disease that, while affecting most of the world, has been devastating to African-American communities. Harrisburg has not been immune which is why our capitol has been selected as one of only five cities nationwide and the only Pennsylvania city to receive a $25,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Community Health in Focus Program.

A news conference on April 27 at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, 2339 North Sixth Street, formally announced that The Greater Harrisburg Foundation and 25 other organizations from the Harrisburg community collaborated on the grant application and will continue working together. The money specifically will be used to present a public awareness and skills-building conference on the impact of HIV/AIDS in the African-American community on September 14 at Harrisburg Area Community College.

Janice Black of The Greater Harrisburg Foundation; Marcia Reeves, HIV Program Coordinator of the Central Allison Hill Community; Janice P. Kopelman from the Pennsylvania Department of Health; and others spoke of AIDS’ impact on the African-American community and ways to fight it. The grant allows for greater public awareness and a means to encourage action.

While HIV/AIDS has appeared to take somewhat of a back seat to overseas conflicts and violence on the homefront, the disease has continued to be relentless. Figures brought forth from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention show that “while the death rate from AIDS is dropping overall, AIDS remains the leading cause of death among African-Americans ages 25–44. Among Americans ages 13–24, African-Americans are estimated to account for 63 percent of all new HIV infections.”

But these national statistics are not isolated to only very urban and very crowded areas. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, African-Americans, while making up only 13 percent of our state’s population, constitute 47 percent of the reported AIDS cases. In Dauphin County, they make up 15 percent of the population and 44 percent of the reported AIDS cases. In fact, Dauphin recently moved into fifth place (up from seventh) on the list of Pennsylvania counties with the highest number of reported AIDS cases.

The news conference stated that people who wish to get involved in this community effort can obtain information by calling The Greater Harrisburg Foundation at 236-5040 or Jeannine Peterson, conference coordinator, 651-0013.

While this is a first step … it is a big step toward solving this crisis.

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