National Minority AIDS Council Hosts HIV/AIDS Training For Boston's AIDS Groups

National Minority AIDS Council Hosts HIV/AIDS Training For Boston's AIDS Groups

Business Wire - June 23, 2003

BOSTON--Boston's minority community-based organizations working in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention now have new ammunition in their fight against the epidemic. The National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC), the nation's largest organization working with communities of color in the war against HIV/AIDS, will host a KIC (Knowledge, Interaction and Connection) Regional Training, a regional workshop for HIV/AIDS organizations, from July 7 to July 11, 2003, at the Radisson Hotel Boston.

Statewide, the rate of HIV/AIDS infection is disproportionately higher among minority communities than in white communities. The infection rate among African Americans is almost nine times higher than that of whites, and the Hispanic rate is 6.3 times higher. More than 50 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS in Massachusetts are people of color: 26 percent are African American (non-Hispanic), 24 percent are Hispanic, 1 percent are Asian/Pacific Islander and less than 1 percent American Indian/Alaska Native. In sharp contrast, African Americans and Hispanics represent only 12 percent of Massachusetts' total population.

The rates among minority women are particularly high. Statewide, the infection rate for African American women is almost 17 times higher than that of white women, and the Hispanic rate is 10 times higher.

"While death rates among white people with HIV/AIDS are dropping in Massachusetts, death rates among people of color with HIV/AIDS in this state have actually increased from 33 percent in 1990 to 46 percent in 2001," said Paul A. Kawata, executive director of the National Minority AIDS Council. "It is our hope that by building the capacity of local organizations to help fight the epidemic, we can slow and even reverse this trend in our minority communities."

Boston is one of eight cities nationwide chosen by the National Minority AIDS Council to host a KIC Regional Training session in 2003. These meetings supply badly needed resources for state and local AIDS organizations that provide prevention and care services for the public. The KIC Regional Training workshops are specifically designed to meet all their organizational and program needs. Organizations are taught how to find money, organize staff and maximize resources. These trainings allow community-based organizations to focus ultimately on treatment and prevention efforts.

The NMAC KIC Regional Trainings are supported in part by grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Resources and Services Administration and the Office of AIDS Research at NIH.

About the National Minority AIDS Council

The National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC) was founded in 1987 to develop leadership within communities of color to address the challenges of HIV/AIDS. NMAC has responded to the needs of communities of color by developing programs aimed at enhancing the skills necessary to confront this health crisis, including a public policy education program, national and regional training conferences, a treatment research program and numerous publications. Today NMAC is an association of more than 3,000 AIDS service providing organizations, hospitals, clinics and other groups assisting individuals and their families affected by the AIDS epidemic.

CONTACT: National Minority AIDS Council

Carole Bernard, 202/483-6622, cbernard@nmac.org

Media contact:

BRW LeGrand

Mindy Crowe, 303/298-8470, mcrowe@brwlegrand.com

SOURCE: National Minority AIDS Council

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