Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Miami Herald - September 7, 2006
Jacob Goldstein, jgoldstein@MiamiHerald.com
Despite years of progress, blacks in South Florida are still more than three times as likely as whites to have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, according to a new report from the Florida Department of Health.
The disparity persists -- in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and throughout Florida -- even though the rate of HIV among blacks has steadily declined for several years.
"The gap has been closing," said Spencer Lieb, a senior state epidemiologist and one of the authors of the report.
Statewide, the rate of HIV is six times as high among blacks as among whites, down from roughly 11 times as high in 1999, Lieb said.
"The face of AIDS in the United States is primarily black," NAACP chairman Julian Bond wrote in a Washington Post editorial published in conjunction with last month's international AIDS conference in Toronto.
"Prominent blacks -- from traditional ministers and civil rights leaders to hip-hop artists and Hollywood celebrities -- must immediately join this national call to action to end the AIDS epidemic in Black America."
In Miami-Dade County, 0.7 percent of whites, 0.6 percent of Hispanics and 2.3 percent of blacks have HIV, according to the report.
In Broward the rates are 0.5 percent for whites, 0.5 percent for Hispanics and 1.7 percent for blacks.
Evelyn Ullah, who runs the HIV/AIDS program at the Miami-Dade County Health Department, cited a new effort to reach out to gay black men, as well as ongoing programs aimed at the broader Miami-Dade's black community.
One example: Twice each month outreach workers ride city buses, often in predominantly black neighborhoods, to distribute condoms and AIDS information to riders.
Jean Starkey, who chairs the World AIDS Day committee in Broward County, said organizers plan to move this year's AIDS Day events to Joseph C. Carter Park in the Sunland area, a largely black neighborhood that has Broward's highest rate of new HIV infections.
"This is the population that needs to hear the message," Starkey said. "This is the population that needs the education, to get tested, and to not feel so isolated and alone."
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