National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

August marks the beginning of the six-month countdown to National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 2009, and recent CDC statistics underscore how important it is to keep raising awareness of the disease and its impact on the black community. According to the CDC figures, just over 56,000 new HIV infections were recorded in the United States in 2006. Male to male sexual contact accounted for 53% of those new infections, heterosexual contact for 31% and injection drug use for 12%. The rate of infection among blacks was more than 7 times that among whites: 83.7 new infections per 100,000 people vs. 11.5 for whites. Blacks also accounted for the largest share - 45% - of new infections. The purpose of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is to help educate the black community about HIV and AIDS, as well as to reduce the stigma of talking about HIV in public. Testing also plays a major role. For more information about National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day contact info@blackaidsday.org or visit www.blackaidsday.org. You can also contact the Prevention staff at ACS by calling 847-0315.