Kelly's Blog

Today is 4^th annual National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is a national effort designed to inform Native communities about the impact of HIV/AIDS in Native populations (American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians). It was established to encourage education, testing and community involvement in HIV prevention.

Now that is an idea whose time has come.

I didn’t realize that Native Americans have the third highest rate of new HIV infections and I doubt most Americans do. Of persons who were diagnosed with AIDS, they have the shortest overall survival rate.

In real numbers this means 36 months after diagnosis, Native Americans survived at only 73%, compared to 79% for African Americans, 84% for Whites, 85% for Hispanics, and 89% for Asians.

This day challenges all of us work together to create a greater awareness of the risk of HIV/AIDS in our communities. It means better access to testing and increased treatment options. We flat out must decrease the occurrence of HIV/AIDS and increase survival rates.

The Centers for Disease Control is providing the funding and vital organizations such as CA7AE: HIV/AIDS Prevention Project, Colorado State University and Inter Tribal Council of Arizona (ITCA) are mobilizing their resources.

Gwenda Gorman, Health Promotion Program Director at ITCA  shared the impact of HIV/AIDS in Native Communities. She noted,” The awareness day will also challenge Native people to work together, in harmony, to create a greater awareness of the behaviors that put our communities at risk for HIV/AIDS.”

For more information on what you can do to recognize National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, please follow this link:

http://www.itcaonline.com/nshapp/pdf/HIV%20AIDS%20Activity%20Sheet.pdf

Want to know more? Here is a link for more information on HIV/AIDS Awareness Days:

http://www.aids.gov/awareness-days/ .