Miami Herald - Monday, September 10, 2001
Christine Morris

The U.S. Conference on AIDS chose South Florida, site of its first meeting in 1997, because the region reflects a national crisis: the growing rate of HIV infection among young people, particularly blacks.

"You are a microcosm for the future of the epidemic," said Paul Akio Kawata, executive director of the National Minority AIDS Council, sponsor of the conference that has become the largest AIDS meeting in the United States. "You have a coordinated system of care, and people who care about the epidemic, but the number of new cases is overwhelming the system."

Among the top speakers will be South African activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, discussing the increase of HIV/AIDS among young people; U.S. Rep. Donna Christian-Christensen of the U.S. Virgin Islands, exploring the devastating growth of AIDS in the Caribbean; and researcher David Ho, opening the program with "The Third Decade -- Where Are We Going?"

VEXING QUESTION

On the minds of the service providers, community leaders and activists attending the conference will be the vexing question of how to get the attention of those at risk for infection.

"Our concern is that although we do an intensive education and outreach program to get people tested, there are still a significant proportion of people who don't recognize they're at risk until it's too late," said Dr. Margaret Fischl of the University of Miami, a leader in the war on AIDS since the beginning.

In a report marking the 20th anniversary of the epidemic this summer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that among young men who have sex with other men, 4.4 percent -- about 1 in 25 -- became infected with HIV each year in the late 1990s. Among blacks in the study, the infection rate was nearly 1 in 7.

NEW GENERATION

"As a movement, we have failed our young people," Kawata said.

"We didn't take the time to educate the new generation. Programs that worked 10 years ago probably don't work for this generation."

The Miami-Dade County Health Department has joined Florida and the nation in setting an ambitious goal of reducing the number of new HIV infections by 50 percent, "with particular focus on elimination of ethnic and racial disparities," said Evelyn Ullah, director of the department's office of HIV/AIDS.

In Florida, blacks accounted for nearly 6 of every 10 new cases of HIV infection in the past four years.

"There is much complacency," said Ullah, who chairs the Florida host committee for the four-day conference, which opens at the Fontainebleau Hilton on Wednesday evening.

"We want to have a call to action to speak to the issues that have prevented us from moving forward nationally in accomplishing the goal of reducing new infections."

OLDER PEOPLE, TOO

Alarming trends are not limited to the young; one of the fastest growing infection rates is among people over 50, Kawata said.

John Muhammad, chairman of the Miami-Dade HIV/AIDS Partnership, is participating in a panel exploring the reasons and possible solutions.

Increasing the number of people who get tested is critical, Ullah said.

The services available to people who learn they are infected are a source of pride for many providers in South Florida, and they look forward to showcasing them at the conference.

"When we identify someone who has HIV, that person needs a lot of counseling," Fischl said.

"He needs to understand what's happening and what are the consequences."

"We have an opportunity to emphasize our strength in unity around our fight against HIV/AIDS," Muhammad said.

"We're actually one of the models for the country, an example of what it's going to take to fight this disease."

The people doing the fighting often feel isolated, Kawata and Ullah said, and the networking opportunities offered by the conference go a long way toward easing that isolation.

"This conference leaves you energized," Ullah said.

Added Kawata: "This is extraordinarily difficult work. People are dying.

"I'm not asking people to commit the rest of their lives to this epidemic, but I want them to leave energized and ready to commit to one more year."

SOUTH AFRICAN INPUT

The focus will turn global when representatives of the Siyalewa Community Childcare Project in Soweto, South Africa, discuss the burgeoning epidemic there.

"What do we do with the millions of orphaned children?" Kawata asked.

On Friday evening, the host committee is sponsoring "Light Up the Beach," a candlelight "memorial moment to all the people we've lost," Kawata said.

It begins at 7 on the beach by Penrod's, 1 Ocean Dr.

"We're hoping this will lead to a yearly event where we continue to be proactive with this call to action, to fight the complacency and talk about the resources that are needed," Ullah said.

Kawata wants the conference to send a strong message:

"The epidemic is not over. For cities like Miami, it's still an extraordinary problem."

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