HIV/AIDS' disproportionate impact on U.S. blacks must be addressed, but epidemic should not be labeled as 'black disease'

Sep 6 2006

The appraisal made by U.S. black leaders at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto last month that AIDS-related illnesses are "claiming a disproportionate number of black lives" in the U.S. is "undeniable," a Boston Globe editorial says.

Although "[t]elling the truth about" the epidemic requires "recognizing its impact on blacks," there are "real dangers to labeling AIDS, or any epidemic, as a 'black disease,'" the editorial says, adding that the impact of HIV/AIDS on the "larger society" also must be recognized.

"The numbers demand culturally relevant action, as well as universal" HIV testing, the editorial says, concluding, "Especially now that medical advances have enabled people living with HIV to prolong their lives, not getting that treatment into the hands of everyone who needs it is a collective moral failure" (Boston Globe, 9/4).