"As AIDS continues to ravage black communities in America, we as
members and associates of the black leadership group Project 21 are urging
you to give serious attention to provisions contained in the 'HIV Prevention
Act of 1997' as a means of combating AIDS in the black community,"
wrote 28 affiliates of the African-American leadership group Project 21
in a May 6 letter addressed to Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Maxine
Waters and sent to the entire Caucus.
"The difference in treatment of AIDS from all other contagious diseases
is impeding early detection of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS," said
Project 21 member Roderick Conrad, a signer of the letter and author of
an article on the AIDS epidemic in the black community distributed by the
Knight-Ridder news service. "The Congressional Black Caucus should
take notice of any proposal intended to increase early detection of the
HIV virus. This is a public health issue, not a political one."
The purpose of the letter was to alert Congressional Black Caucus members
to a proposal by Rep. Tom Coburn (R-OK), a practicing obstetrician/gynecologist,
that includes components intended to increase early detection of HIV, the
virus that causes AIDS. As stated in the letter, "Research clearly
indicates that the earlier HIV is detected, the more effective the drugs
used to treat it will be. For too long, this disease has not been treated
as a public health crises, but as a civil rights struggle. Sound medical
practices have been sacrificed at the altar of political correctness."
The letter states in detail the effect AIDS has had on the black community:
"In 1996, non-Hispanic blacks accounted for 41% of adults reported
with AIDS. AIDS-opportunistic illnesses per 100,000 population were approximately
sevenfold higher among non-Hispanic blacks (99) than among non-Hispanic
whites (15) in 1995.
"... The AIDS rate for black women is 16 times greater than that for
white U.S. women. HIV infection was the leading cause of death for black
women between the ages of 25-44 in 1993... Six of every ten U.S. children
who acquired AIDS in the womb or upon birth are black."
Several components of the legislation include:
1) A confidential national HIV reporting effort. Currently, states do
not report cases of HIV infections, but of AIDS, the endstage of HIV to
the Centers for Disease Control.
2) A partner notification provision that provides the partners of an individual
with HIV an appropriate opportunity to learn that they have been exposed
to HIV, without compromising the anonymity of the individual responsible
for exposing them to the disease.
3) HIV testing for sexual offenders. Most states allow rape victims to
find out their attackers' HIV status only after conviction, which may take
years.
4) Policies that seek to protect both health care providers and patients
from unwarranted HIV exposure.
5) Expression of the sense of Congress that the intentional transmission
of HIV should be punished as criminal behavior by the states.
For an interview with a signer of the letter, or a copy of the letter itself,
contact Arturo Silva of Project 21 at 202/543-4110, or e-mail him at [email protected].