By Ryan Morden
Oswego, NY – The tenth annual National Black HIV AIDS Awareness Day is this Sunday, February 7.
The Central New York HIV Care Network is partnering with the Black Leadership Commission on AIDS to spread awareness about the disease in the black community. The two groups are asking Clergy to insert a responsive reading in their Sunday services.
Stephen Waldron, a Coordinator with the Central N.Y. HIV Care Network explains the importance of Black AIDS Awareness Day as the epidemic affects communities of color disproportionately.
"The African-American population makes up 12 or 13 percent of the regional total [infected]. And in the cases that have been diagnosed and are in treatment here, it approaches 50 percent of African-Americans and Latinos. That rate continues to climb," Waldron said.
There is a free HIV testing clinic on Wednesday February 10, 2010, at the Onondaga County Health Department on Montgomery Street in Syracuse.
There is also a Latino Awareness Day in October.