Norton to Launch Series of AIDS Town Meetings- November 27, 2006

Norton to Launch Series of AIDS Town Meetings Beginning with
Clergy to Quell Nation's Worst HIV/AIDS Epidemic Here
November 27, 2006

Washington, DC-The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that the Congresswoman is launching a series of five community meetings entitled: "A Series of Frank Conversations by Us with Us: A Self Examination on the D.C. HIV/AIDS Epidemic," starting with a Clergy Town Meeting for ministers and church officials, Thursday, November 30, 2006 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. The public is invited as observers, but the dialogue for this town meeting will be limited to ministers. Norton has moved to this action because of the stubbornly resistant epidemic in the District of Columbia, statistics showing that the HIV/AIDS rate here is the nation's highest, half the AIDS cases diagnosed in the United States today are African American and one-third are women. Half the AIDS cases in Ward 7 and 8 are female.

Norton said that the epidemic reflects a civic and spiritual crisis. "In deep humility," Norton wrote in a letter of invitation to the clergy, "we acknowledge that none of us has the answers, but we believe that together, we can help ourselves to reduce and eliminate this epidemic." Norton wrote that "despite ministerial, governmental and other efforts, greater leadership and resident involvement are urgently needed, particularly on the underlying issues, including abstinence, especially for young people; the dangers and moral consequences of promiscuity; safe sex; and testing."

Because HIV/AIDS has different and sometimes unique effects by age and sex, the meetings that follow the Clergy Town Meeting will involve the three population groups most seriously implicated - the city's men, women, and teens, ending with an all-city HIV/AIDS Town Meeting to Eliminate the Epidemic. All five will be open to the public.

Norton said that special emphasis is needed on testing because a quarter of those with HIV/AIDS in the United States do not know their status, and the disease is being spread throughout the city. Recently, she asked Congressional Black Caucus members to join her in taking an easily administered mouth swab test in a D.C. health care van that she invited to the Capitol grounds. (See Norton being tested at https://www.norton.house.gov/.).

Norton said that the District was leading with universal testing, asking that every resident be tested, and that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also has now followed by recommending universal testing nationwide. "Nonetheless, the many myths that surround HIV/AIDS are keeping people from protecting themselves and others, particularly the stereotype among many that HIV/AIDS is a ‘gay disease,'" she said.

The goals of the meetings are: 1) to help residents confront basic facts about the epidemic, how it is spread, preventive measures, and treatment, and to recognize that its victims are their relatives, friends, and neighbors; and 2) to leave the meetings with the beginnings of plans to continue to work systematically to find ways "to move in on HIV/AIDS and move the epidemic out."

Norton said that the District government is rapidly improving its operations and approaches to meet the disease head on, but that the challenge is so great that it cannot be met without much more involvement on the issue by leaders and residents. "We believe that African American leaders, elected officials and other leaders and residents are ready to take responsibility for their own health and the health of our community by taking action to reduce this epidemic in our city. These HIV/AIDS town meetings are meant to spur continuous action and greater mobilization," Norton said.