By George E. Curry
NNPA Special Correspondent
Mamie Harris urges African-Americans to get tested for HIV on National HIV Testing Day. (Courtesy Photo)
|
(June 24, 2009) - Mamie Harris, executive director of IV-CHARIS, a Cincinnati faith-based HIV/AIDS support group, figured out the problem: Too few African Americans were being tested for HIV because the efforts to reach them were ineffective, unimaginative and dated.
So, the widow of a prominent local pastor initiated a series of innovative programs aimed at increasing the number of Black Ohioans being tested for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
“Everybody had gotten lethargic about HIV,” said the head of IV-CHARIS (Compassionate Hearts Assisting Rebuilding Instructing Serving). “We’ve been talking about this for 27 years and people had been hearing the same message and had the feeling that ‘I’ve heard this before.’ We’re trying to mobilize the community to attack the problem.”
She isn’t the only one trying to mobilize African Americans to get tested for HIV. Saturday, June 27, is National HIVTesting Day. And throughout the country, community leaders and activists will urge people to get tested so that they can know their HIV status. If they are indeed HIV positive, the sooner they enter a treatment program, the better chance they will have of living longer.
Although the final results are not in, early indications are that Cincinnati may be developing the prototype for coming up with innovative new ways to reach African Americans, most of who are being tested for the first time.
In one instance, a local group that performs plays about contemporary issues, wanted to stage a play about HIV, but didn’t have the resources to offer HIV testing to those in attendance. On the other hand, IV-CHARIS had the ability to test, but did not know how to reach those interested in attending the play. So, Mamie Harris and those who produced the play struck a deal: the actors would stick to the acting and Harris’ organization would do what it does best: offer testing and, if necessary, treatment and counseling referrals.
Harris also found another unlikely place to test for HIV.
“Some people didn’t want to be tested in public, so we threw a series of house parties,” she said. “We tested people there. We also had a Motown karaoke.”
To complement those efforts, emergency room employees began testing for HIV.
Perhaps the most surprising result has been among Black churches, a conservative institution in a conservative city. So far, three churches have allowed Harris’ group to test on a Sunday – two after worship service and one that allowed members to get tested during the service and receive results before leaving.
Through its special efforts, testing during the first quarter of this year is 1,500 above the normal testing load, Harris said.
Her organization is partnering with local and state health departments, major civil rights organizations and other community groups to encourage more extensive testing.
Nationally, HIV/AIDS is devastating the Black community:
• Although African Americans represent only 12 percent of the U.S. population, they accounted for nearly half of all AIDS cases diagnosed in 2006.
• Black women represented 66 percent of all new AIDS cases among women in 2006, nearly 15 times the rate among White women.
• Although Black teens are only 16 percent of U.S. teenagers, they account for 69 percent of new AIDS cases reported among teens in 2006.
• A recent five-city survey found that 46 percent of Black men having sex with men were HIV positive, compared to 21 percent of White men in that same category.
Despite those numbers, a study released by the Kaiser Family Foundation in April found some signs of hope.
• African Americans are more likely than Whites to have been tested for HIV (68 percent and 42 percent, respectively).
• HIV testing was highest among young adults (18-29). Nearly half – 47 percent – of young African Americans reported being tested in the last 12 months, compared to 23 percent of Whites.
• African Americans are more seriously concerned about HIV/AIDS than Whites.
The Kaiser study also revealed some trends that could help health officials do a more effective job of planning. For example, 70 percent of youth (18-29) said they have not been tested for HIV because they don’t think they are at risk. Additionally, most people (65 percent) said they decided to get tested because they thought it was a good idea. Twenty-six percent said they were tested at the suggestion of a health care provider, 21 percent were tested because they feared they might be infected and 9 percent were tested because a partner recommended it.
More than 1 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV or AIDS and about 25 percent don’t know it, according to the CDC.
C. Virginia Fields, president and CEO of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, has been advocating HIV screening be part of routine medical tests as a way of increasing detection. In many states, patients have to sign a separate consent form in order to be screened for HIV. Fields is seeking to change that requirement in New York and elsewhere.
“The earlier a person discovers that he or she is HIV positive, the better opportunity we’ll have to extend that person’s life through treatment,” Fields explained. “I know there are privacy concerns over routine testing, but the individual always has the right to opt-out of such testing.”
In the early stages of the epidemic, the CDC recommended that only those in high-risk categories, such as gay men and intravenous drug users, be regularly tested. In 2006, the CDC recommended that everyone 13 to 65 be tested, including during regular office visits and after being taken to hospital emergency rooms. However, health care officials say those recommendations have been generally ignored.
The Los Angeles-based Black AIDS Institute has launched a Test 1 Million Campaign. The goal is to get 1 million people tested by June 2010.
The efforts of IV-CHARIS in Ohio is at the forefront of that campaign.
Mamie Harris is executive director of the organization founded by her late husband, the Rev. Michael Harris Sr., in 1987.
“We’re looking for innovative ways to reach first-time testers in particular,” she explained. “At some point, we hope to form focus groups so that we target the people we want to reach.”