In October 1997, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies hosted in Durham, NC, its fourth HIV/AIDS prevention education forum. Like the previous forums held in Detroit, Memphis, and Oakland in 1995 and 1996, the Durham forum, entitled “HIV/AIDS in African American Youth in North Carolina: The Role of Leadership,” was part of the Joint Center’s work under a cooperative agreement between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Education Association Health Information Network. Over 170 leaders from throughout the state of North Carolina were convened to discuss issues and strategies related to lessening the impact of the AIDS epidemic among African American youth.
The Joint Center is a 28-year-old, nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy and research institution with the mission of helping Black Americans participate fully and effectively in the political and economic arenas of U.S. society. Based on the belief that black leaders can help change laws and policy that could lessen the spread of HIV/AIDS among African-American youth, the Joint Center has undertaken this project to increase awareness of and support for effective HIV/AIDS prevention education among black leadership groups. Targeted groups include elected officials, public officials, religious leaders, service providers, and grassroots community leaders.
During its 1997 session, the NC General Assembly considered but did not enact three legislative initiatives to foster HIV/AIDS prevention – comprehensive health education, a pilot needle exchange program, and state funding for prevention activities of community-based organizations. Forum discussion centered around these initiatives, and consensus statements related to each issue were voted on at the end of the forum.
- Under current North Carolina law, health education related to sexuality can include instruction about subjects other than abstinence only if parents demand it at the local school board hearings held to air issues related to health education. The legislative initiative sought to make comprehensive, coordinated health education – including abstinence, general family health, contraception, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, abortion, adoption, and hygiene – the norm throughout the state.
- The legislation authorizing needle exchange in North Carolina that was introduced (but not passed) in both houses during the recent General Assembly session would have established up to four pilot programs around the state, along with a mandate for these programs to provide data to the state Department of Health and Human Services so that their effectiveness could be evaluated periodically.
- House and Senate bills to appropriate funds ($1 million) to increase community-based efforts for the prevention of AIDS also were introduced (but not passed) in the recently adjourned session of the North Carolina General Assembly.
The consensus statements related to these three legislative initiatives were approved by a large margin; out of the more than 120 votes cast for each of the three statements, only 1 or 2 votes were cast against each. Forum attendees volunteered to duplicate and distribute consensus statements to others in their localities to generate greater support for these initiatives.
For more information about this project or the Durham forum, contact Wilhelmina A. Leigh at Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, 1090 Vermont Avenue, N.W., Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20005-4961, Phone: 202-789-3500.
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