Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, July 24, 2002
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
Dr. Robert Scott, an Oakland physician, said the stigma against people with AIDS within the black community prevents African Americans from getting tested for HIV infection and from getting treated if they test positive.
"Africa is dripping in the blood of people dying of AIDS," said Scott, who regularly travels to Africa to treat patients at the epicenter of the global pandemic.
"Look at our own large cities," he said at an Oakland press conference. "Look at our communities of color. We are seeing the same thing."
In some African nations, such as Botswana and Zimbabwe, it is estimated that more than one-third of all adults are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Flanked by Oakland church leaders who have reached out to HIV-positive parishioners, Scott said the strategy for eliminating the stigma against AIDS is simple: "Judge not, lest you be judged."
"People who are positive are hiding it from their families, hiding it from their co-workers and hiding it from their friends," said Scott, who is African American. "They do not want to be judged. . . . We are the worst stigmatists, and it's killing folks."
There are no solid statistics in Alameda County for new HIV infections, but blacks accounted for 57 percent of those who progressed to AIDS in 2000, compared with 18 percent prior to 1986. A total of 1,423 blacks in Alameda County have died of AIDS.
The total number of AIDS diagnoses in Alameda County each year has been declining since 1993, but each year a growing percentage of those cases are among blacks. Heterosexual transmission of the disease accounted for only 3 percent of cases in the 1980s. By 2000, 40 percent of new AIDS cases were traced to heterosexual contact. Women now account for 29 percent of new AIDS cases. Prior to 1985, there was none.
At the 14th International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 3 of 4 people newly infected with the AIDS virus had no idea they could have been infected. Among gay black men, 90 percent were unaware they had been infected, and 2 of 3 of those newly infected had perceived themselves to be at low risk of getting the disease.
Oakland church leaders said that religious institutions are partly to blame for the stigmatization of AIDS patients.
"We all know a lot of churches out there where, when people turn to them, they will be judged," said Father Stephan Kappler of St. Louis Bertrand Catholic Church, a predominantly African American and Latino parish.
"The stigma and silence that surrounds HIV and AIDS is a sad reality," he said.
But Kappler said the "simple gesture of opening doors" to whoever comes into the church has helped to overcome the stigma, and he urged other churches to do the same.
Gloria Crowell of Allen Temple Baptist Church said, "Faith and spirituality play a key role in this epidemic." And she said churches should form AIDS ministries such as hers and collaborate with one another.
Just as Oakland civic and religious leaders joined with thousands of city residents on July 13 to march against a wave of homicides among young people, Crowell suggested that the communities join on a march against the silence surrounding AIDS.
E-mail Sabin Russell at srussell@sfchronicle.com.
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