AFC Encourages Public to "Join the Fight"

June 5, 2001, marks 20 years since the official recognition of the disease that would become known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS. Since 1985, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) has taken a leading role in the fight against HIV/AIDS. As a principal advocate for people living with HIV/AIDS in Illinois, AFC calls on elected officials, HIV/AIDS advocates, and the public to renew their commitment to stem the spread of the virus and battle complacency and indifference.

"Medical and pharmaceutical advancements have made HIV/AIDS more manageable for some, but a cure is yet to be found," said Mark Ishaug, executive director of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. "20 years of AIDS is enough. We need to re-focus our efforts and not allow complacency to dictate the future. There must be a heightened commitment by leaders on every level - community, social, religious, and political - to fight for and create sound AIDS policy and law if we are to overcome this epidemic."

Twenty years ago, the devastating impact AIDS was to have on the world could not have been imagined. On June 5, 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published an article about five cases of rare pneumocystis pneumonia among gay men in Los Angeles. Since then, AIDS has spread globally, with 36 million people presently living with HIV, 900,000 in the United States alone. It is the leading cause of death for African-American men ages 25-44. 40,000 new HIV infections occur in the U.S. every year.

Since 1981 the face of AIDS has changed markedly. Originally known as a "gay man's disease," AIDS has exploded into a worldwide epidemic affecting men, women and children of all races, a deadly presence that does not discriminate. In the US, while 46% of reported AIDS cases were the result of homosexual contact, 54% were exposed through heterosexual contact or intravenous drug use (IDU); worldwide, more than 80% of all adult HIV infections have resulted from heterosexual intercourse. The largest number of persons infected with HIV/AIDS are Sub-Saharan Africans, totaling at present 25.3 million, though Asia is presently set to out-pace Africa in the next decade.

In twenty years, HIV has infected a reported 52 million people. 21.8 million have died from AIDS, 3 million in the year 2000. Of the 36 million people presently living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, 34.7 million are adults, 18.3 million are men, 16.4 million are women and 1.3 million are under the age of 15. It is estimated that during 2000, 5.2 million people were newly infected with HIV, an average of 14,250 people per day.

In Illinois, more than 35,000 people are estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS; since 1981, 15,058 individuals have died of AIDS. Demographic changes in the local epidemic mirror those trends observed nationally: AIDS continues to affect significantly more men than women, but the proportion of female AIDS cases has increased by more than 40% from 1993 to 1997. And, although African Americans represent only 15% of the total population, they make up more than 60% of recently diagnosed AIDS cases. Compared to the country as a whole, reporting through 1999 reveals that Chicago's cumulative AIDS case rate (593 per 100,000) is more than twice that of the national average (266 per 100,000). The number of people living with AIDS in the Chicago metropolitan area has increased from approximately 1,800 in 1990 to 7,200 in 1999, a jump of 300%.

Affirming the AIDS Foundation of Chicago's commitment to the community, Mark Ishaug said "Until there is a cure, we will continue to serve those infected with HIV/AIDS and to educate the public on prevention. If this 'anniversary' is to stand for something, let it be a renewed pledge to continue this important work, so that the next milestone we recognize is the day we actually turn the tide against the epidemic."

In recognition of the 20 years that AIDS has been a defined disease, and to mark National HIV Testing Day on June 27, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, the National AIDS Fund AmeriCorps team, and the Chicago Department of Public Health are offering free HIV testing services at four community sites throughout the city June 25 - 28. Testing services and HIV educational materials will be available from 11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. at Truman College on Monday, Christian Community Health Center on Tuesday, CALOR Resource Center on Wednesday, and Prairie State College on Thursday. For more information on National HIV Testing Day, please contact AmeriCorps Team Leader Carrie Holland at 773-296-6500.

The AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) was established in 1985 to provide central leadership in the fight against AIDS. AFC grants funding for local HIV/AIDS care and prevention programs, advocates for sound AIDS policy and increased public support for AIDS services, and through its Service Providers Council, develops and implements strategies for coordinating AIDS care and prevention services.

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