Commission OKs AIDS program

Art Nadler

Thursday, Aug. 19, 1999 | 11:07 a.m.

The County Commission voted on Tuesday to fund an HIV/AIDS community-based education program, aimed at preventing high-risk black women from contracting the disease.

The commission, acting as the University Medical Center board of trustees, approved $19,125 in federal Ryan White Title IV funds to be used to start the "Sista ta Sista" program.

Administrators at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center, 912 E. Sahara Ave., will start training black women as peer educators in October.

The goal of the program is to educate high-risk groups and individuals in low-income neighborhoods and provide them with educational materials and skills to reduce the chances of becoming HIV positive.

"This was developed by African-American women for African-American women," Dr. Riva Anderson, executive director of the center, said. "It's about teaching women how to talk to other women."

Since 1981 there have been 3,104 AIDS cases reported in Clark County, Anderson said. Of those, she said, 465 were women and 214 were black women.

During that same period, there were 2,134 reported cases of HIV disease, Anderson said. Of those, 362 were women and 167 were black.

Anderson said black women will be taught ways to develop self-respect, how to be assertive with their sex partner by requiring the use of condoms and methods of coping when a partner rejects them.

"Nothing works as well as peers to peers," Dr. Jerry Cade, a Las Vegas AIDS specialist, said. "We all listen to our peers more than anyone else."

Anderson said she hopes to have 25 educators trained by the end of October. Within a year, she wants to have 100 women trained. She said there are no special qualifications to become a peer educator, just a willingness to help other black women.

The funds come from a Ryan White $250,000 grant UMC received earlier this year. It's purpose is to develop medical support systems to counsel and provide psychological guidance for families trying to deal with the disease and individuals infected by HIV.

For information on becoming a peer educator, call the Gay and Lesbian Community Center at 733-9800.