HIV/AIDS CRISIS IN ONONDAGA COUNTY

By Rodney Brown
Staff Reporter

Ministers from various parts of Syracuse came together to convene a conference that focused on the rapid rise of HIV/AIDS cases in Onondaga County.

The conference was hosted by the Black Leadership Commission on AIDS.

The "vocal call" resonated around statistics indicating that blacks' make-up 13 percent of the population and accounted in 2005 for nearly 50 percent of the estimated 37,331 new HIV/AIDS cases.

Over the past several months 10 new AIDS cases has been recognized in Onondaga County.

"The spikes we have seen now is just a recognition of what we have recognized in the public health industry all along, that the epidemic in the black community has not ceased," said Reverend Gale Sampson-Lee.

The primary transmission of HIV/AIDS for black men was sexual contact with other men. Black women primary transmission in contracting the virus was high risk heterosexual contact, followed by injection drug use.

Reverend Chauncey Brown of True Vine Baptist Church understands that the HIV/AIDS epidemic can't be viewed as a problem that only exists outside the circumference of the church. "Studies show that, yes in the churches young people who are part of our churches, prolong having sex longer than others," Brown said. "However when they do, they get pregnant at a higher rate, they get STI's (sexually transmitted infections) at a higher rate. So our message of 'don't do it' has been good. But when they do it, we haven't told them to do it safely," he said.

The Black Leadership Commission is expected to introduce an HIV/AIDS curriculum to the Syracuse school district using the first four letters of the alphabet as acronyms to represent an informative message of safe sexual behavior to prevent young people from contracting or spreading the virus among themselves. The letters represent: A- Abstinence, B- Be faithful to your partner, C- Condom usage, D- Don't risk behaviors.

The mission of the Black Leadership Commission on AIDS is to inform, coordinate and organize the volunteer efforts of the indigenous black leadership, including clergy, elected officials, medical practitioners, business professionals, social policy experts and the media to meet the challenge of health promotion and disease prevention in their local communities.