AIDS awareness key issue for Berkley

Afsha Bawany

Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2003 | 9:18 a.m.

When Rep. Shelley Berkley returns to Washington after Labor Day, one of her goals will be to lobby for more funds and resources for AIDS awareness and prevention programs, she said.

"I'm trying to educate myself so I can do a better job of educating my colleagues," said Berkley, D-Nev. "It's a growing problem throughout the U.S."

Berkley on Tuesday met with local advocates for AIDS and HIV patients at the Sista to Sista organization, 2401 W. Bonanza Road. The nonprofit group helps educate minority women about the effects of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Two decades after the disease first became well known, problems persist in a lack of AIDS awareness in various groups, from white American males to Hispanic and black groups, advocates said. The problem, they said, is that the disease is still a difficult subject to address in the media, in schools and in Congress. It is still a taboo subject that parents do not know how to discuss with their children. Young adults assume it won't happen to them, advocates say.

Although there have been many advancements in AIDS medication and treatment, many of those at the roundtable meeting said that much of the public still believes the disease is only affecting white males and homosexuals. In fact, the disease is prevalent among Hispanics and blacks.

"There is still racial discrimination in health care," Dr. Reva Anderson, the founder of Sista to Sista, said.

Sonya Cheltenham, a board member of Fighting AIDS in our Community Today, agreed with Anderson. She said there are many roadblocks facing health awareness groups who want to educate the public, including funding and prejudices.

"(AIDS is) not a spoken word," Cheltenham said.

She added that minority communities are the last ones to be assisted.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 493 cases of blacks living with AIDS in Nevada have been reported since December 2001. The number of those living with HIV has been reported at 729. Among Hispanics, 374 AIDS cases and 380 HIV cases have been reported.

A language and cultural problem may also set back AIDS education among Hispanic groups, members of the panel said.

Anderson said it is difficult to get good data on women with the disease because numbers and statistics are changing all the time.

"Women are still not on the radar screen," she said.

She said statistics about children affected by the disease are not readily available.

Although President Bush addressed the need for AIDS awareness and prevention in Africa in his State of the Union address, Berkley said there is not enough being done to educate Americans on the disease.

"We need to put our money where our mouth is," Berkley said.

The reasons prevention programs have been cut can be attributed to a $450 billion budget deficit, which leaves little money for programs that help AIDS awareness, the elderly, sick and those most vulnerable, Berkley said.