Nearly 30 years after the discovery of HIV and AIDS, the epidemic is still ravaging black neighborhoods in Baltimore and across the nation.

Unfortunately, complacency about HIV and the continued stigma associated with the disease are hindering progress by preventing too many African-Americans from seeking either HIV testing and treatment or support from their friends and family. But this is a challenge that can be overcome.

At a White House event last month, the Obama administration took an important step in confronting the United States' HIV epidemic, which threatens the health of African-Americans more than any other racial or ethnic group. Joined by some of the nation's most influential African-American leaders, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and administration officials announced Act Against AIDS, a five-year communication campaign designed to refocus the nation's attention on the HIV crisis here at home.

The campaign highlights the fact that every 9 1/2 minutes, someone in the United States becomes infected with HIV. That statistic is based on CDC estimates released last year, which found that approximately 56,000 Americans become newly infected with HIV annually - and that nearly half of them are black. The harsh reality is that one in 16 black men and one in 30 black women will be diagnosed with HIV during their lifetime.

The epidemic has a severe impact on all regions of the country, but Baltimore is one of the hardest-hit places. The Baltimore metropolitan area has the fifth-highest rate of reported AIDS cases in the country - more than double the national average. The vast majority of cases in Baltimore are among blacks.

In 2009, HIV and AIDS should not be taking such a toll.

As part of the new campaign, 14 of the nation's leading African-American civic organizations - from the Baltimore-based NAACP and the Urban League to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the National Council of Negro Women - are joining the CDC to increase knowledge, awareness and action within black communities across the country.

This new initiative will harness the strength and reach of these organizations by enhancing their ability to make HIV prevention a core component of their daily activities. The CDC is providing $10 million over the next five years to enable these organizations to support HIV coordinators, who will deliver critical information about HIV through each organization's chapters and help African-Americans throughout the nation access HIV prevention and testing services.

By raising the visibility of HIV and AIDS, the new campaign also aims to confront and overcome the fear and stigma that help keep HIV alive in black communities. We need to talk openly about tough, uncomfortable issues like homophobia.

I have been encouraged in recent years to see black leaders, including black faith leaders, speak out more openly across the nation about the need to confront HIV and the stigma that persists surrounding this disease. And I was moved that Dorothy Height - a civil rights pioneer and, at age 97, chair of the National Council of Negro Women - addressed stigma head-on when she spoke at the White House event.

"We need to be able to talk about HIV as we talk about jobs, as we talk about housing, as we talk about civil rights," she said. "We all have a responsibility to break the silence about this disease."

Ending this epidemic will require not only frank and difficult discussions about HIV but also a shared sense of responsibility and commitment. All of us can and must be part of the solution.

Dr. Kevin Fenton is director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For more information about the campaign and HIV, visit www.NineAndaHalfMinutes.org.

Acknowledgements
This article originally appeared in the 27 May 2009 edition of the Baltimore Sun.