Yesterday’s Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel Editorial (below) on the “Fight against AIDS” is lacking in recognition of the role that stigma plays in the “fight”.
This “fight” cannot be won by shaming people into being tested, using condoms or debating whether or not HIV/AIDS is a “gay disease”. This “fight” will only be won when the broader community tackles the stigma that is still associated with an HIV/AIDS diagnosis.
This “fight” will not be won until the gay community comes together, as they did in the early days of AIDS, and mobilizes the forces of the community to educate the wider community about HIV.
This “fight” will not be won by using strategies that have failed. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services AIDS/HIV program has spent hundreds of thousands of “capacity building” dollars, yet what do we have to show for it? We have a flawed statewide prevention strategy that is coming home to roost in Milwaukee. What we don’t know—and may not know for years—are what pockets of undiagnosed HIV infection are blossoming throughout the state of Wisconsin
Fortunately, Milwaukee’s Health Director, Bevan Baker, appears to be taking the lead in this matter as evidenced by his meeting with the editorial board and his getting the word out in advance of the release of the CDC report. He’s clearly on top of an issue that is years in the making and is deserving of the community’s and the Department of Health Services AIDS/HIV Program’s full support.
The fight against AIDS
The Milwaukee Health Department soon will name a local agency to lead HIV/AIDS efforts. It’s an effort that must get attention. We are in a crisis.
Posted: May 31, 2010
Milwaukee’s HIV/AIDS crisis is exploding, and the city must develop a grassroots approach to reach those who are in the highest risk category – young, black men who have sex with men.
The Milwaukee Health Department will name a local agency soon to coordinate these efforts. At the forefront should be testing. Knowing one’s status is one the best ways to stop spread of the disease.
Milwaukee Health Commissioner Bevan Baker declined to reveal the name of the agency, but we hope this group can pull the community together on this issue. One reminder: Black churches need a seat at the table.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined that 42% of young black men who sleep with men in the Milwaukee area are HIV positive. Many of these men don’t identify themselves as gay and likely have contributed to the spread of the disease to women. This explains why the fastest growing category of HIV/AIDS is minority heterosexual women. Women are not infecting themselves.
Milwaukee’s infection rate rivals the numbers in poor southern states and large urban areas such as Washington, D.C.
“Milwaukee is a small city with big city problems,” Baker told the Editorial Board last week.
Everyone needs to be involved to make sure that HIV does not become a rite of passage for young black men who have sex with men.
In 2007, the Mississippi State Department of Health notified the CDC after workers noticed that cases were spiking at a sexually transmitted disease clinic serving Jackson, Miss. Health officials discovered that men who participated in high-risk behavior were not undergoing routine HIV testing.
Knowing one’s status is the best way to stop the spread of the disease. A person can alert his partner of his status and begin a course of medication to fight the disease.
Mississippi started an ad campaign to warn people of the dangers of the disease, along with free HIV testing. It’s too early to tell how successful the program is, but Milwaukee needs to take similarly aggressive measures to slow the spread here.
When the CDC releases its full report for Milwaukee in July, the numbers are expected to be startling.
Here are a few bullet points expected to be in that report: From 2005 to 2009 young minority men who have had sex with men comprised 60% of newly reported HIV infections in the Milwaukee area. There was a 162% increase in infections for young men who have sex with men from 2000-2009.
Among the reasons: People don’t know their status; they don’t use condoms; they believe HIV is a “gay” disease – which may be why men who sleep with men don’t identify themselves as gay.
It’s time to get past the labels. Too many men are infected with HIV/AIDS, and the community has been silent on this issue for too long.
Containing the disease should be a top priority. And that begins with testing and education.
