[Posted Nov. 30, 2007]

Anti-AIDS Activists Dispute
Official Count of Infected

Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter
New Journal & Guide
 
      Last week United Nation-AIDS, the United Nation’s agency which funds the organization’s war against AIDS/HIV, said that instead of 39.5 million, only 33.2 million people, globally are infected with Human Immune Virus  (HIV) which causes AIDS.
       The reduction, UNAIDS officials say, is due in part to better surveys, especially of populations in India and Africa. Further lifestyle changes among people in Kenya and Zimbabwe, such as reducing  the number of sex partners and  use of condoms, are taken into account, as well.
       Sub-Saharan African  has the most people affected by HIV/AIDS, 24.7 million people. 2.1 million die each year from the disease in that region.  South-East Asia has 7.8 million. There are 1.4 million people in the United States who have contracted the virus.
       Although the number of people who are being infected has dropped, according to UNAID, the number of people with the disease is growing  because more people are living longer with the disease, thanks to effective medicines.
       But while UNAIDS is reducing its global numbers, private and public agencies at local levels question the UNAIDS report.
       This weekend, for the tenth year, across the nation, communities are observing World AIDS Day. The Day is designed to refocus public attention on the continued presence and spread of HIV/AIDS.
       In Hampton Roads, a banquet and march will highlight events. Speeches will be made. Candles to symbolize collective understanding of the dangers it poses will be lit. Again individuals will break out the red ribbons to symbolize  their understanding and sympathy with the depth of the dangers posed by the virus and the powerful impact that fear, bigotry and ignorance play in its spread.
       In Virginia, according  to State Health Department, there are 18,055 people who have been infected with HIV.  

      This assessment is determined yearly by the number of people who have been diagnosed by private physicians, who walk into public health facilities or by the myriad of  church-based and secular organizations with grassroots anti-AIDS programs.
       The Hampton Roads region of eastern Virginia and  the Northern  part of the state have the bulk of the HIV/AIDs cases in the Commonwealth, according to December 2006 figures from the Department of Health.  Of the 5,817 who were infected in the eastern region, 71 percent of them were African American.

       Organizations who are sharing the pots of money  from the federal government to fund detection, treatment, education prevention, medical and domestic treatment and support services say they are more concerned about the way the federal government counts people who are affected by HIV/AIDS. Uncle Sam no longer counts people who have full blown AIDS, but people who are infected with HIV and are healthy  and will potentially live longer.
       “We have the state numbers of 18,055," said  Michelle Peregoy, of the State Department of Health.  "But there is always 25 percent more people out there who are infected but have not been tested.  We know there are more people who should be among that number.  We  cannot speak for the U.N. and how it measures its numbers, but here in Virginia, we know we have a crisis. We know there are hundreds of people who are not tested and will spread the diseases to more people before they are tested.”
       Vendetta Reynolds is the Minority AIDS Program Coordinator for the International Black Women’s Congress (IBWC), one of a number of  non-profit organizations with anti-AIDS program in Hampton Roads.  Although the IBWC stretches its resources to serve all of the region, a good portion of  their time is spent in Norfolk’s poorest neighborhoods.
       Reynolds says IBWC does daily outreach  in these communities, handing out information about where people may access resources to be educated, tested, treated and supported if they have been infected by HIV or other Socially Transmitted Diseases (STDs).
       One weapon that organizations like IBWC is using these days is the Rapid HIV Test. Twenty minutes after  swabbing the insides of an individual’s mouth, Reynolds said, the results can be known. If positive, then  the individual is told to get a “verifying test” at the Norfolk Health Department to be sure.
       “Most of  those people were women who felt they had done things they fear may have exposed them to the virus,” said Reynolds. "So they want to know. But there are those who are at risk who do not want to know.  But when they start getting sick and all of the symptoms hit them, then they want to find out. By then their immune system is compromised.”
       Jackie Cooke  administers the Rapid Test. She is one of the small clique of IBWC outreach workers who are out on the street every day, on the battle lines, seeking to arrest the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Of the 200 people Cooke said her personnel have tested during the last year, surprisingly, and fortunately, only one has tested positive using the Rapid Test.
       “For every five person who knows their status,” said Cooke, "there is always one who does not.  These people do not come to get help until they get into trouble or start feeling ill. If we could just ease the stigma  of being infected, I think we could get more people to come forward and get tested, especially those who are involved in at-risk behavior. Until then we just have be out there educating and testing people and do what we can do to fight the disease.”
  

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