Health officials, activists and community members gathered Feb. 6 at Mile Square Health Center, 1220 S. Wood St., to observe National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.
Among those who took part in the gathering were U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, state Rep. La Shawn K. Ford ( D-Chicago ), Rev. Doris Green, activist Marc Loveless, AIDS Foundation of Chicago President and CEO John Peller and Chicago Department of Public Health Deputy Commissioner Nanette Benbow.
While most noted that significant advances had been made in the state's efforts to combat new infections and provide meaningful care fore people with HIV/AIDS, African Americans still made up a hugely disproportionate number of new infections.
"Currently 44 percent of people diagnosed with HIV are African American," said Atara Young, Westside HIV/AIDS Regional Planning Council chair, who hosted the gathering. "They are 41 percent of people, nationally, living with AIDS. In the Chicago community alone, we know there are increasing diagnoses for people with HIV, specifically if you look at the number of youth and young adults, from ages 19-24, we know that they are a growing part of the continnum of HIV/AIDS that needs to be addressed."
Ford added, "There are still 43,000 people living with HIV in Illinois, many of them undiagnosed. These numbers should inspire us to take bold actions. With more tools and opportunities to fight the spread of HIV than ever before, now is the time to reverse those numbers."
A key concern for many participants has been the disappearance of $1.5 million appropriated for state organizations in grants under the auspices of the African American AIDS Response Act Fund. Those funds were awarded to a number of state organizations in early 2014, but, for reasons that have not yet been determined, the money was never transferred from the state to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Since most of those organizations had already prepared budgets based on the awards, the state's failure to follow through left them in disarray.
"While the impact of not replenishing the Response Act Fund can be measured in services not provided, what is equally important is the impact that this lack of funding has on the already frail infrastructure for HIV prevention work in African American communities across the state," said Kim Hunt of Affinity Community Services and Service Provider Improvement Network, a coalition working to restore the funding.
Activist Keith Green added, "For some of these organizations, funding from the African American AIDS Response Act was their largest source of income. As a result of not receiving funds this fiscal year, many of these organizations have had to lay off well-trained staff or cut back on HIV prevention services, or, worse, close their doors in communities that are already under-resourced."
State Rep. Thaddeus Jones ( D-Dolton ) has introduced a resolution in the legislature, HB 128, declaring Feb. 7 as National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day in Illinois. The resolution includes a provision for restoring the lost funding.
Mildred Williamson, who was until recently HIV/AIDS section chief at Illinois Department of Public Health, spoke at length about raising awareness for the challenges faced by Black Americans with HIV/AIDS.
"Black lives matter," Williamson said. "This powerful soul emerged from the grassroots, from widespread outrage, with the ease from which Black peoplemen, women and youth, including transgender individualscan be criminalized, even killed, just because of appearance. It also has meaning for today's domestic HIV epidemic. Black lives matter. This 15th year of commemorating this awareness day, we highlight the toll of this epidemic on African Americans, along with the good news of scientific progress moving at lightening speed. Now treatment is indeed prevention.
"Yet lingering, persistent disparities remain, reflecting too often unequal power in society and in relationships, unequal knowledge about PrEP [Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis] and its prevention power, uneven practice and mastery of using condoms for prevention, and, among those living with HIV, differentials of who lives virally suppressed with high quality of life versus those who progress to AIDS and/or die prematurely."
Maurice Chapman, director of South Suburban HIV/AIDS Regional Clinics, commended Williamson on her position as part of Presidential Advisor Group on HIV/AIDS, Midwest Region, but said her speech "should also represent why so many of us are upset at the governor's decision not to keep her in her post of Section Chief of HIV/AIDS. That's a personal statementI'm not representing anyone else right now."
Davis interjected, "That represents me, too."
In his remarks, Davis was optimistic about the future, attributing his hope to the commitment of the individuals in the room.
"I remember years when we always were uncertain about funding, whether or not community health centers were going to last, whether or not we were going to get the resources that we need, to really promote awareness of about HIV and AIDS," he said. Are we going to get enough money to make sure that those individuals beneath the surface really understand safe health habits and practices? … When I see all these HIV/AIDS activists, all of them engaged in the community, and when I see my good friend, state Rep. La Shawn Ford, I know that we will march on until the victory is won."