wfn.org | AIDS cases increase among communities of color and women

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Nov. 16, 1998        Contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
{672}

NOTE: This story is accompanied by a sidebar, UMNS #673.

By Shanta M. Bryant*

ATLANTA (UMNS) - Though the number of people dying of AIDS dropped for
the first time in 1996, the incidence of new infections is rising among
U.S. women and people of color, according to a public health expert.

"Good news comes with caution," said Dr. Rob Janssen of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Janssen spoke on Nov. 9 to some
200 religious leaders at a plenary session on the status of the epidemic
during "AIDS & Religion in America," a four-day national convocation at
the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta. 

Janssen cautioned against the declining deaths rates giving the
perception that the AIDS epidemic is over and urged the faith community
to continue raising awareness on its prevention.

The death rate among people with AIDS decreased by 25 percent in 1996,
according to CDC data, which attributed the drop to new treatments.
However, each year about 35,000 to 40,000 new infections of HIV, the
virus that leads to AIDS complications, are reported in the United
States.  

In 1997, 641,086 Americans were reported as having AIDS, and at least
385,000 of them died. Before the new treatments for HIV were introduced,
the incidence of AIDS was increasing at a rate of more than 4 percent a
year.

"AIDS incidence increased among all races through 1994, with the most
significant increases seen among African Americans, who by 1996
accounted for more diagnoses annually than whites," according to the
CDC. 

In 1995, the incidence of AIDS dropped slightly among whites by 3
percent, followed by a 13 percent drop in 1996, as treatments began
having a greater effect. However, among African Americans and Hispanics,
increases continued through 1995, according to the CDC. In 1996, the
number of cases declined by 5 percent among Hispanics and leveled off
among African Americans.

Of all U.S. AIDS cases, African Americans account for 36 percent and
Latinos 18 percent, according to the CDC. 

^From 1995 to 1996, AIDS cases rose 1 percent among women while dropping
8 percent among men. The decrease among males was attributed to
prevention efforts aimed at white gay men.
 
The Nov. 8-11 convocation drew together national religious leaders,
theologians and HIV/AIDS
ministry workers to share information, learn about the status of the
AIDS epidemic and develop ways to respond. The convocation was sponsored
by the AIDS National Interfaith Network (ANIN), the Ford Foundation, the
American Academy of Religion, the Carter Center Interfaith Health
Program and the CDC. Two United Methodist agencies, the Board of Church
and Society and the Board of Global Ministries, are members of ANIN.

The lack of access to health care is a serious issue faced by people who
are HIV-positive, said Dr. Michael Young of the Health Resources and
Services Administration. People with HIV/AIDS who regularly visit a
health care provider live longer, he said. In the United States,
slightly more than half of the 750,000 people who are HIV-positive
receive health care, he said. 

The increase in new HIV infections is proof that it is essential for
religious leaders to talk about
AIDS prevention and play a role in its awareness, particularly among
populations vulnerable to
AIDS, said Dr. Michael Mercer, dean of public health at Yale School of
Medicine.  

"Religious leaders can thus play a key role in engendering this
empowerment so that your
communities can obtain the prevention and care services they need,"
Mercer said.

In addition to providing spiritual care, Young called for the faith
community to lead in providing "social care" and changing attitudes in
order to dispel myths about HIV/AIDS and reduce the stigma of AIDS.

In an address on the convocation's social justice response to AIDS,
Emilie M. Townes, a professor at United Methodist-related Saint Paul
School of Theology, prodded the church to re-
examine whether it has heeded the call of Micah in the Old Testament to
"do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God" and welcomed
people with HIV/AIDS. 

"Far too many churches live, breathe and spew hatred and condemnation
when it comes to those who have HIV or AIDS," Townes said. She urged
faith communities to provide comfort and "spaces of welcome" for those
who are living from AIDS.
# # # 
*Bryant is the program director of communications for the United
Methodist Board of Church
and Society and associate editor of the agency's Christian Social Action
magazine.

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(615)742-5470
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