Africa: Africa Action Marks National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ann-Louise Colgan 202-546 7961

Africa Action Marks National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Monday, February 9, 2004 (Washington, DC) - Over the weekend
and during the next week events are taking place around the
country to mark National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (February
7), emphasizing the disproportionate impact of the pandemic among
Black people in the U.S. and globally.

As part of the planned activities in Washington, DC, Africa Action's
Executive Director, Salih Booker, will be keynote speaker at an
event at Howard University on Thursday, February 12, where he will
speak to students about the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS in the
U.S. and in Africa, and where he will discuss the dynamics that have
created the racial disparity that is a key feature of this global health
crisis.

Booker said today, "National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is so
important because it forces us to confront the system of global
apartheid that has shaped the course of the AIDS pandemic in the
U.S. and globally."

He continued, "The pattern of the global AIDS crisis reflects the
continuing inequalities that exist in the world today, along racial and
geographic lines. At home and abroad, Black people are the most
affected the HIV/AIDS crisis. AIDS is a deadly killer, the greatest
threat to human security in the world today, but because most of
those affected by this health crisis are Black and poor, the response
of policy-makers has been criminally inadequate."

Booker emphasized, "U.S. policies must give greater priority to
defeating AIDS where it is most urgent - in Black communities here,
in the Caribbean, and throughout the African continent. But the
2005 budget request from the Bush Administration reveals the lack
of commitment to responding to the AIDS crisis and saving lives in
these most affected areas."

Africa is "ground zero" of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, home to
almost 30 million of the more than 40 million people living with the
disease worldwide. Here in the U.S., where African-Americans
represent about 13% of the total population, more than 50% of all
new HIV infections are occurring among Black people.

For more information about National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness
Day, and for a full list of events being held around the country, see
http://www.blackaidsday.org/