Rising Aids cases

Blacks make up more than half of new HIV infections annually in the United States and about two-thirds of new Aids cases among teens, though they represent less than 15% of the nation’s population, according to a report.

The report, titled “The Time is Now!,” was released to coincide with the beginning of Black History Month. It is based on statistics related to HIV and Aids among blacks from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the Kaiser Family Fund and the US Congress, among other sources.

Funding for the primary federal Aids programme has remained steady in the last three years while the number of media stories about AIDS declined by 57% between 1997 and 2002, according to the report, produced by the Black Aids Institute, a Los Angeles-based research and public policy group.

The institute called on Congress to increase funding for Aids and HIV treatment, control the cost of medications, provide more comprehensive sex education in schools and urge more states to adopt needle exchange programs.