Black awareness of HIV is stressed

The 39-year-old Detroiter is on a mission to inform African-American Detroiters, in particular, about the growing incidence of HIV/AIDS infection in the area, and where those affected can turn for help.

Today , Doe will join hundreds of individuals in metro Detroit in celebrating the Second Annual National Black HIV /AIDS Awareness Day.

In Pontiac, an information display and free anonymous or confidential testing will be available at Pontiac City Hall, 47450 Woodward, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. today. It's sponsored by a partnership of community groups and the Oakland County Health Division.

In Detroit, there will be a celebration at High Praise Cathedral of Faith, 8809 Schoolcraft in Detroit.

A breakfast and awareness program from 9 to 11 a.m., a panel discussion on prevention from noon to 2 p.m. and a 7 p.m. gospel concert and candlelight vigil will be held at the church. Participants can get literature on prevention of HIV/AIDS and learn about testing. All events are free and open to the public.

Similar events are planned in other large cities on Friday, including Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

"In our community, what we don't know tends to scare us and we don't want to talk about it," said Doe, the Midwest program assistant for African-American Men United Against AIDS. "There is a sense of denial that this kind of thing doesn't happen to our community. But we need to open our eyes and look at what is really going on around us."

The Detroit area, which includes Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Monroe and St. Clair counties has the 10th-highest incidence of HIV/AIDS infectionin the nation, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

The Michigan Department of Community Health's communicable disease and immunization division estimates that about 1 in 50 black men in the metro area is HIV-infected.

Detroit has nearly 7,000 people estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS. Oakland County's estimate is 1,570.

More than 90 percent of Detroiters with HIV/AIDS are African American.

"When we first learned about HIV/AIDS, it was regarded as a gay disease having a white face," said Schawne Parker, executive director of Community Health Outreach Workers, a Detroit-based advocacy group for African Americans. "Today, one need only look at the continent of Africa to see that that face is changing."

Last month, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick led a roundtable discussion on the state of public health in the citythat highlighted the need to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS among residents. Dr. Noble Maseru, who started his job as director of the Detroit Department of Health this week, believes partnerships between government, parents, schools and the criminal justice system will go a long way toward addressing the problem of HIV/AIDS in the city.

Contact ALEJANDRO BODIPO-MEMBA at 313-222-5008 or bodipo@freepress.com.