National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Is Today!

Today is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD). This is the time when celebrities and community activists stand together in unity to fight HIV/AIDS – a devastating disease that is plaguing the African American community.

NBHAAD is a national mobilization effort designed to encourage African Americans across the United States and Territorial areas to get educated, get tested, get treated, and get involved with HIV/AIDS. This year’s theme is “Black Life is Worth Saving!”

“Of all racial and ethnic groups in the United States, HIV and AIDS have hit African Americans the hardest,” says Steven Davis of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lead sponsor and a member of the NBHAAD Strategic Leadership Council.

A nationally recognized commemorative day, NBHAAD is scheduled to include special events such as press conferences, community forums, church services, community marches and rallies, and free HIV/AIDS testing, counseling and referrals which will be held throughout the nation for African Americans to get educated, get tested, get treated and get involved.

The statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are a deafening wake up call: When we look at HIV/AIDS by race and ethnicity, we see that African Americans have more illness (even though blacks account for about 13% of the U.S. population, we account for about half [49%] of the people who get HIV and AIDS), shorter survival times (Blacks with AIDS often don’t live as long as people of other races and ethnic groups with AIDS), and more deaths (for African Americans and other blacks, HIV/AIDS is a leading cause of death). Source; Black PR Wire.