From the Globe Health Desk

Concerned that half of the 40,000 annual new cases of AIDS in the nation involve blacks, East Bay activists are urging more African Americans to be tested for HIV.

    They recently held a press conference in Oakland at Everett and Jones, a popular eatery, to push the drive and unveil a new CD, Healing Is For You.
    Attendees included Roosevelt Moosby of the Sexual Minority Alliance of Alameda County (SMAAC); Ron Person of the county Office on AIDS; Carla Dillard-Smith, a member of the Emergency Task Force on AIDS; Gloria Lockett of the California Prevention and Education Project (CAL-PEP); and Paulette Hogan, a motivational speaker who has tested positive for HIV.
    Sandra Andrews, an aide to Congresswoman Barbara Lee, said Lee has been tested and supports more community testing on Dec. 1, which is World AIDS Day.
    Lee, she said, will also speak with clergy to further break down barriers between churches and those in the AIDS prevention movement.
    Some churches still oppose the distribution of condoms as a prevention option, said Dillard-Smith.
    Person said, “We are going to refocus our energies to targeted areas [of the population].”
    He said men on the “down low” (having sex with men but not telling their female partners) is not only an issue for black males. He said men getting out of prison with AIDS and those using crack cocaine are also prime concerns.
    Moosby said harping on the down low issue only further demonizes black men. “This is not a gay disease,” he said.
    Moosby, who is executive producer of the CD, said 17 Bay Area artists participated in the project.
   “People who are having sex need to be tested,” he stressed.
    For more information about the CD visit DeterminingOurOwnDestiny.com.