Petrelis Files

NMAC CLAIMS HIV INFECTIONS DECREASING IN S.F.


May 8, 2003

Paul Akio Kawata
Executive Director
National Minority AIDS Council
1931 13th St. NW
Washington, DC 20009-4432


Dear Mr. Kawata:

Your group's May 7 press release about regional workshop trainings for community-based AIDS agencies, being held in San Francisco next month, either made a huge mistake about HIV infection rates here, or you have discovered some unbelievably good news about new HIV infections falling.

The release said: "Overall, San Francisco's total number of new HIV cases has been decreasing in all racial groups, but the decrease is much slower in minority communities."

To drive this point home, you are quoted as saying, "We are delighted to see that HIV infection rates have dropped in San Francisco overall, but we cannot risk becoming complacent in our efforts to fight the epidemic, especially in minority communities."

I am not aware of any new report from the San Francisco Department of Public Health showing that the HIV infection numbers have in any significant way decreased or dropped. A search of the DPH's web site failed to produce a single shred of evidence backing up your allegation.

If you have any verifiable proof that HIV infections are indeed are the decline here, please tell me where I can locate that HIV data, especially on the web.

You should know that the DPH has told the San Francisco Chronicle, in several stories over the last five months, that HIV infection rates are climbing and that the city records about 1,100 new infections annually. I would add that the paper of record for our city would most likely run an article about a decline of HIV rates, if such a fall were taking place. But, sad to say, the Chronicle has not published any such story in the past four years.

So why, exactly, are you and your organization making the claim that HIV infections are plummeting in San Francisco?

Maybe you are confusing the AIDS statistics with those for HIV infections. Yes, the number of full-blown AIDS diagnoses has been bottoming out since the mid-1990's, but because California does not have a HIV names reporting statute, accurate HIV infection rates for the state, including San Francisco, are notoriously difficult to obtain.

Please explain to me why you and your organization have made the allegation that HIV infections are falling in San Francisco, when there is no data to back up the claim.

Regards,
Michael Petrelis
Ph: 415-621-6267
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 05/07: National Minority AIDS Council Hosts HIV/AIDS Training for San Francisco's HIV/


National Minority AIDS Council Hosts HIV/AIDS Training for San Francisco's HIV/AIDS Groups


WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 7, 2003--Bay Area minority community-based organizations (CBOs) working in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention will soon have new ammunition in their fight against the epidemic. The National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC), the nation's largest organization working with communities of color in the war against HIV/AIDS, will host a KIC (Knowledge, Interaction, and Connection) Regional Training, which is a regional workshop for HIV/AIDS organizations, from June 2 to June 6, 2003, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in San Francisco, California.

Overall, San Francisco's total number of new HIV cases has been decreasing in all racial groups, but the decrease is much slower in minority communities. However, the infection rate (number of cases per 1,000 people) among minority populations is on the rise. According to the San Francisco Department of Public Health, comparing all AIDS cases from 1980 to 1997 versus AIDS cases from 1998 to 2003, the rate among African Americans increased 9 percent, the rate among Latinos increased 4 percent, and the rate among Asian/Pacific Islanders increased 2 percent. In San Francisco, the rate of infection has been steadily shifting toward minority populations; from 1980 to 1997, minorities accounted for 25 percent of new cases, but from 1998 to 2003 they have accounted for 40 percent of new cases.

In a unique effort to reduce rising minority infection rates in the prison system, NMAC has expanded its educational reach to community-based organizations (CBOs) in San Francisco's prison community. NMAC will host a Community Based Organization Prison Initiative Conference, including a visit to San Quentin State Prison (by invitation only). This outreach is designed to teach CBOs how to establish and enhance the relationship with their correctional facility to provide technical assistance that implements HIV education, prevention and transitional planning services for inmates living with HIV/AIDS. The conference will provide plenary sessions, workshops and roundtable discussions as well as distribute educational materials to frontline CBO staff, correctional medical personnel and correctional officers to better facilitate discharge planning for ex-offenders with HIV/AIDS. The conference will also provide a session on Sustainability for the Executive Directors of the Prison Initiative Project's CBOs.

"We are delighted to see that HIV infection rates have dropped in San Francisco overall, but we cannot risk becoming complacent in our efforts to fight the epidemic, especially in minority communities," said Paul A. Kawata, executive director of NMAC. "Nationwide, 50 percent of AIDS cases diagnosed in the last five years have been among minority communities. It is our goal to help CBOs expand and improve their services for San Francisco's minority and incarcerated communities, so we can help this downward trend continue."

San Francisco is one of eight cities nationwide chosen by NMAC to host a KIC Regional Training workshop in 2003. These meetings supply badly needed resources for state and local AIDS organizations that provide prevention and care services for the public. Organizations are taught how to find money, organize staff and maximize resources. These workshops allow community-based organizations to focus ultimately on treatment and prevention efforts.

The NMAC KIC Regional Trainings are supported in part by grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Office of AIDS Research at National Institutes of Health.

About the National Minority AIDS Council

The National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC) was founded in 1987 to develop leadership within communities of color to address the challenges of HIV/AIDS. NMAC has responded to the needs of communities of color by developing programs aimed at enhancing the skills necessary to confront this health crisis, including a public policy education program, national and regional training conferences, a treatment research program and numerous publications. Today NMAC is an association of more than 3,000 AIDS service providing organizations, hospitals, clinics and other groups assisting individuals and their families affected by the AIDS epidemic.

CONTACT:

National Minority AIDS Council                        

Sheila McGee, 202/483-6622                             

smcgee@nmac.org                                       

or

Media contact:                  

BRW LeGrand                               

Jennifer Bailey, 303/298-8470

Mindy Crowe, 303/298-8470                    

jbailey@brwlegrand.com

SOURCE: National Minority AIDS Council