Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - Friday, November 22, 2002
King, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said many blacks were in denial about HIV and AIDS, even as the illness reaches epidemic levels in the black community.
"By ignoring the existence of HIV and AIDS in the belief that this disease can never happen to us individually, we are contributing to the continuation of this epidemic," King told a gathering of activists at the community center named for his father, slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
About 40 million people are living with HIV or AIDS worldwide, with the largest number of sufferers in Africa.
New HIV and AIDS cases have steadily risen in the U.S. black community over the past few years, even as infection rates level off for the general population.
King said the social stigma tied to the disease added to problems combating it. "Stigma and discrimination are very powerful tools of social control that alienate people," King said.
He said he would lead a march in Atlanta on Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, to call attention to the crisis.
King called on black religious leaders, who tend to shy away from talking about sex, to discuss issues such as sexuality and morality, and to embrace people living with HIV.
Adewale Troutman, director of the Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness in Atlanta, said though the greatest number of HIV cases in the black community occur in men, black women now account for 83 percent of all women nationwide with HIV.
Troutman said reducing HIV infection among black men was a big challenge because many of them sleep with women in addition to having sex with other men without being openly gay.
"Most of these men are underground, which makes it difficult to provide prevention and education and move this risk behavior out of our community," Troutman said.
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