Mainstream HIV prevention measures have had limited success in the African American community. The consequences of this failure have been devastating. African Americans account for almost half (47%) of those living with HIV/AIDS in the United States, yet they make up less than 13% of the population.
HIV/AIDS has become a principal area of focus for the Cobb Institute. In January 2007, the NMA convened a consensus panel on HIV/AIDS, out of which emerged a comprehensive set of recommendations in the areas of research, communications, advocacy/policy, and physician and consumer education.(click here to access the NMA consensus paper).
To complement these efforts, the Cobb/NMA Institute chose to focus on the behavioral research agenda and its impact on HIV/AIDS prevention in the African American community. The Cobb/NMA Institute along with UCLA AIDS Institute, and the Institute for Community Health Research at the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science convened a planning meeting on May 17-18, 2007 entitled, “Containing the HIV/AIDS Pandemic in the U.S. African American community: Thinking Out of the Box.” The outcome of this meeting has been the formation of two committees to continue the work. The Planning Committee worked in partnership with the NMA to conduct a press conference to declare HIV/AIDS as a national emergency during the 2007 NMA convention. The Research Committee is addressing important research findings which will be presented in a special section of the Journal of the National Medical Association to be pusblished in January, 2008.
