Champaign-Urbana Public Health District Joins Nationwide Response to AIDS Crisis Among African Americans
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 3, 2006
Contact
Julie Pryde, Director Division of Infectious Disease Prevention & Management
(217) 202-0657
Diana Yates, Communications Coordinator
(217) 531-4275
Champaign-Urbana Public Health District Joins Nationwide Response to AIDS Crisis Among African Americans
HIV Counseling and Testing Available at Two Local Sites
Urbana, February 1, 2006 – On February 7, 2006, black American leaders and organizations of Champaign-Urbana will respond to the impact of HIV and AIDS in the city’s African American communities in the sixth annual observance of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD). On that day, Public Health’s Wellness on Wheels Mobile Health Unit will offer HIV counseling and testing from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Restoration Urban Ministries in Champaign. This event is meant to encourage Champaign County residents to get educated, get tested, get treated and get involved with HIV/AIDS as it continues to devastate black communities.
“Seventy-two African-Americans are infected with HIV every day,” said Julie Pryde, Director of Public Health’s Division of Infectious Disease Prevention & Management. “African-Americans make up approximately 13 percent of the population of the United States, yet almost half of the total AIDS cases reported in this country are among members of the black community.”
In 2003, more African Americans were reported to have HIV/AIDS than any other racial or ethnic group. In Illinois in 2003, 52% percent of people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS were black. Since 1981, more than 30,000 Illinoisans have been diagnosed with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Of that figure, about 53 percent have died. The number of Illinois cases is the sixth highest total in the U.S., trailing New York, California, Florida, Texas and New Jersey.
Champaign-Urbana is among the more than 100 cities across the U.S. that will sponsor programs on February 7 to call attention to the problem and seek solutions to halt the epidemic.
Initiatives planned in recognition of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day in Champaign-Urbana include:
- National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day – TESTING EVENT
Location: Restoration Urban Ministries
WOWee Mobile Testing Unit
1213 Parkland Court
Champaign, IL 61821
Time: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
This event will include HIV prevention information and materials. All HIV testing is done with the Orasure oral test free of charge.
- HIV COUNSELING & TESTING/ SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE
(STD) CLINIC will also be available at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District Main Building, 710 N Neil St., Champaign, from 1-5 p.m. Services include HIV/STD testing, hepatitis vaccination and safer sex information and materials.
- HIV COUNSELING & TESTING services will be provided by Public Health in collaboration with the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and Community Health Improvement Center (CHIC) Richland Community College in Decatur, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. This event is also part of Brothers and Sisters United Against HIV/AIDS, a statewide initiative targeting African Americans for HIV information and testing. (basuah.org)
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