Owensboro, Ky., Churches Hold HIV/AIDS Awareness Event
Several churches in Owensboro, Ky., on Sunday held an HIV/AIDS awareness event targeting the city's black and Hispanic residents, the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer reports. The event, which was held at the Cedar Street Missionary Baptist Church, was coordinated by the churches and local and state AIDS advocates. Walter McClain, a disease intervention specialist with the state Department for Public Health, said that because "people turn to churches for support and guidance, the church [is] a good place to talk to the community about AIDS," according to the Messenger-Inquirer. Most new HIV infections in the state occur among black and Hispanic women between the ages of 23 and 35, according to Nick Sauer, a program manager for the Owensboro Area HIV/AIDS Task Force. Blacks represented 29% of the total number of AIDS cases in the state as of June 2003. "The main focus of this is just to start making people aware," Task Force President Robbie Stone said, adding, "It mainly goes untalked about" (Mayse, Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer, 2/2).
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