Washington Blade - September 7, 2001
Jennifer Christensen

"We didn't just want to announce the fact that we have a public health crisis with HIV and AIDS in the African American community here in Alabama," said Brenda Cummings, coordinator of the African American HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. "We wanted to do something about it."

That "something" is a total ad blitz, the first of its kind in the Mid-South region of Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi and North Carolina. Yet while men who have sex with men remain the group hardest hit by HIV - both among African Americans and in the general population - the billboards don't specifically address this or any other risk factor.

But the simple message of the campaign should appeal to everyone, state health officials contend, and they are sending it out via billboards, radio, television and pamphlets. Such campaigns have met with success in states like California and Ohio. In addition to the photo and "AIDS Kills" tagline, the ads contain the department's toll-free AIDS hotline number.

"The campaign has really spurred the very reaction we wanted - the contrast between the young children's pictures, who are very alive, and this very definite message of death," said Cummings.

"People have been calling our hotline for information. People are talking about the campaign on the radio, on TV, when before it really wasn't something we wanted to talk about, particularly in the African American community." Black gays still 'covert'

AIDS has been devastating to African Americans in Alabama. While slightly less than 26 percent of Alabama's total population is African American, in 2000 nearly 70 percent of newly reported AIDS cases were in the African American community. Last year in Alabama, African American men were 44.4 percent of the AIDS cases and African American women made up 25.9 percent of the cases.

In 1999, the state declared HIV in the African American community a growing public health crisis for Alabama. Because of the high numbers, health department officials said they thought it only fair to target this particular population.

Still, Alabama's latest education push fails to mention anything specific about men who have sex with men. This group remains the hardest hit by HIV and AIDS in Alabama: They make up 49.5 percent of Alabama's AIDS cases.

"This is a community that is still very hard to reach," said Cummings. "African American men who have sex with men, in particular - their community is still very covert."

Alabama's health department does do some outreach to gay men, however. It sponsors a project in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Birmingham that has other gay men hand out condoms and brochures to this target population.

Ala. campaign strongest in region

No other state in the Mid-South has such an aggressive marketing campaign on AIDS right now. For instance, Mississippi, unlike the other states in the region, doesn't even list AIDS as a problem on its health department Web page.

"We are very limited in what we can do with AIDS education here," said Paulette Hathorn of Mississippi's State Department of Health HIV/AIDS prevention group.

"I was in California a couple of months ago and saw similar billboards. These types of messages are something we really need in this state. We really could use a campaign to raise awareness about the danger of AIDS - if only we had the resources."

North Carolina has an ongoing program to educate the African American population about AIDS, but none quite as high profile as Alabama's. The department does issue grants to local organizations that target both African American groups and gay men.

In Tennessee, the health department doesn't have a statewide education campaign, but local AIDS prevention educators said they are hard at work, particularly among African American gays.

"We realized we had all these HIV/AIDS prevention brochures just sitting around the office," said Jennette McDonald, the prevention coordinator in Chattanooga's branch of the state health department. "Sometimes we just get in the car and go to the neighborhoods, stores, the bars where we know we'll hit these target populations."

With just two health care prevention workers, McDonald's office does about five to seven prevention programs a week. They hand out condoms if an establishment will let them, and they set up AIDS education tables at gay bars and bookstores.

"It's exhausting but rewarding work, plus you are getting paid to be in a bar, after all," said McDonald.

That kind of direct outreach is what some health care workers say is necessary to be effective, particularly with populations whose number of AIDS cases are growing.

NFO: Alabama AIDS Hotline - 1-800-228-0469

"You can't just have billboards, you have to go out and do the outreach, to make the personal contact," said one health care worker who didn't want his name used. "You have to lay the groundwork with these quieter communities. A snazzy slogan isn't enough."

The Alabama Health Department says it is doing more than just erecting billboards, but if they are the only thing people see, they will be happy with just that.

"I know we can't change people's behavior. At least we can't force them to do anything," said Cummings. "But at least this has got the conversation we want. Maybe this way, if more people are thinking about the problems with AIDS, they will be more apt to take care of themselves and take care of each other. That is, after all, what we're all about."

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