Events target AIDS in black community

Monday, Feb. 7, 2005 | 10:44 a.m.

The Clark County Health District will be offering testing for HIV and information at two events today as part of a nationwide effort to draw attention to the prevalence of AIDS in the black community.

The district's records indicate that blacks account for nearly 25 percent of adult and adolescent cases of the disease in Clark County. That's disproportionate to the black population in Clark County, which is slightly less than 9 percent according to Census Bureau estimates.

Rick Reich, communicable disease and AIDS services supervisor for the health district, said the relatively high numbers in the black community are an indication of how the disease has progressed in the past two-plus decades.

"Where did it (the disease) go? It went to those who ... don't have as much contact with the system ... and are uninformed and don't have economic access to care," he said.

Reich said that the main goals in combatting the prevalence of AIDS in the black community are to get more people tested and informed about preventing the disease's spread, and getting more of those who have the disease into some form of care.

He said a local group was formed only three years ago to decide how to spend federal funds that come to Clark County for preventing the spread of AIDS.

Additionally, the state just started spending money on prevention last year, he said.

Of the $650,000 aimed at stemming the spread of the disease from federal and state sources, about $300,000 is spent in minority communities, he said.

That includes several new programs that he hopes will be showing results in the next year or so.

At the same time, Reich, who has worked against the disease since 1982, said "the most dramatic change" he has seen in that time is a turnaround in fatality rates among those with AIDS.

Before 1990, nine of 10 AIDS victims in Clark County died. In 2004, the figure was less than one of 10.

The improved survival rate stems from people getting tested earlier and new medications, he said.

Information about today's activities can be obtained by calling the health district at 385-1291.