Legislators do not have to go to Africa to find HIV-positive people requiring medical and financial aid; they need only take a walk around Boston, AIDS advocates say.
Project ABLE, an AIDS advocacy group lobbying the state legislature, requested a $2 million budget increase for AIDS health services in minority communities that are disproportionately afflicted by the disease yesterday.
According to Project ABLE, about 1,000 Massachusetts residents will be infected with HIV this year. Almost one-third of the roughly 23,000 already infected do not know they are HIV-positive and could be spreading it to others, the group said.
Project ABLE event coordinator Mary Ann Hart said the only realistic way to combat the problem is to get out in communities, encourage testing and commit more funding to treatment facilities.
Considering the critical need for AIDS-related resources, she said, “Two million dollars is really a modest amount.”
According to the annual Department of Public Health report, published Dec. 1, more than 28 percent of HIV/AIDS sufferers are black and 25 percent are Hispanic, though only 6 percent of the Massachusetts population is black and 6 percent is Hispanic.
The report suggests rapid HIV testing, partner counseling, referral services and correctional health care facilities as ways to reduce the HIV/AIDS racial and ethnic disparities.
Project ABLE based its budget requests on these recommendations and hopes to spend the extra $2 million on prevention and education, especially in cities with large black, Hispanic and immigrant populations.
Sen. Susan Fargo (D-Waltham), co-chairwoman of the Joint Committee of Public Health, recounted Project ABLE’s success in passing the Clean Needles bill despite former Governor Mitt Romney’s veto in 2006.
Rep. Gloria Fox (D-Boston), along with the Massachusetts Black Legislative Caucus, got a public HIV test in an effort to encourage minority communities to be more aware of the AIDS risk and get tested regularly.
“Each and every one of you has a story of courage and victory to share,” she said to the 220 attendees. “You are here to share your story and you should walk away with more funds for this issue.”
Springfield resident Richard Johnson, who is HIV positive, said the public should never be passive in the fight against AIDS.
“The pendulum is ready to swing, the question is whether we are ready to make it swing hard and fast,” he said.