* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Holton
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
Title
Baltimore City Observance of World AIDS Day - December 1, 2007
FOR the purpose of observing World Aids Day that focuses global attention on the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and provides an opportunity for governments, national AIDS programs, faith organizations, community organizations and individuals to demonstrate the importance of the fight against HIV/AIDS and directing attention to the HIV/AIDS crisis among African Americans in Baltimore City.
Body
Recitals
With an estimated 38.6 million people worldwide living with HIV at the end of 2005, and with more than 25 million people having died of AIDS since 1981, the Department of Health and Human Services adopts World AIDS Day to remind everyone that action makes a difference in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Americans are reminded that HIV/AIDS does not discriminate - with an estimated 1,039,000 to 1,185,000 HIV positive individuals living in the United States, and with approximately 40,000 new infections occurring every year; this country, like other nations around the world, is deeply affected by HIV/AIDS.
Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that in the United States, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is a health crisis for African Americans. At all stages of HIV/AIDS - from infection with HIV to death with AIDS - blacks (including African Americans) are disproportionately affected compared with members of other races. Data gathered by the Centers shows that, in 2005, blacks accounted for 50% of AIDS cases in the U.S. The rate of AIDS diagnoses for black adults and adolescents was 10 times the rate for whites and nearly 3 times the rate for Hispanics; the rate of AIDS diagnoses for black women was nearly 23 times the rate for white women; and the rate of AIDS diagnoses for black men was 8 times the rate for white men.
The Baltimore metropolitan area has the second highest rate of AIDS case reports in the country, with more than 40.4 cases per 100,000 people. As of December 2006, 15,965 people are living with HIV/AIDS in Baltimore, and AIDS is the leading cause of death among African Americans aged 25 to 44 in Maryland. In 2006, 86% of new HIV cases in the City were African American. Officials report that in Baltimore the face of AIDS is changing and is no longer an exclusive epidemic in the IV drug community - HIV/AIDS is affecting children and heterosexual women.
As stated by the Baltimore City Health Commissioner at the launch of ACT! Against AIDS, a mobilization effort joined by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene AIDS Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, and African-American leaders throughout the City to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS: "The key to success against AIDS in Baltimore is prevention. We can prevent new infections by caring for people with the disease and educating those who are not affected."
In Baltimore, we must seek to apply locally the tenets embraced through the global celebration of World AIDS Day.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That this Body celebrates World Aids Day that focuses global attention on the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS epidemic and provides an opportunity for governments, national AIDS programs, faith organizations, community organizations and individuals to demonstrate the importance of the fight against HIV/AIDS and directs attention to the HIV/AIDS crisis among African Americans in Baltimore City.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Mayor, the Baltimore City Health Commissioner, and the Mayor's Legislative Liaison to the City Council.
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