BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — Central Brooklyn needs a greater focus on HIV prevention, according to community members and elected officials who deem the area the “epicenter” of new cases.
At a Monday panel recognizing World AIDS Day, representatives from the Bedford-Stuyvesant Family Health Center, AIDS activists and Councilman Robert Cornegy addressed the community on efforts to stop the disease.
“This is one of the hardest-hit communities, as a community of color and LGBTQ people there’s also a lot of stigma involved,” said Emily Carson, program manager for the Bed-Stuy Family Health Center’s HIV Wellness Center.
Patients testing positive for HIV are getting younger, with many individuals coming in under 25, she added.
The panel addressed the theme of “Getting to Zero,” with the goal of zero new infections, discrimination or deaths through 2015.
New HIV and AIDS diagnoses have dropped significantly in the past 10 years, according to a newly released report from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
In 2013, there were 2,832 new HIV diagnoses, a more than 40 percent decrease from 2003, the study says. New AIDS diagnoses dropped more than 67 percent.
Still, more than three-quarters of diagnoses in 2013 were among blacks and Hispanics, particularly women.
Such figures remain the focus of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Family Health Center, with representatives saying there were 246 new cases of the disease in the neighborhood and Crown Heights since last year, citing data from SUNY Downstate Medical Center.
The city’s HIV Annual Surveillance Report found that the areas with high HIV diagnoses rates also had the highest poverty rates, including Central Harlem, Morningside Heights, Williamsburg, Bushwick, Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights.
“We need to focus locally,” said Michael Tikili, an AIDS activist. “There have been really alarming high rates of infection within the younger population, and it’s time for us to sound the alarm on the issue.
“It’s important for us to start hitting the nail on the head at a younger and younger age, so they know the tools available to them and where to access them, so the next generation is actually AIDS free.”
Community members in the audience echoed the sentiment, with one man referencing sexual activity between kids as young as 13 years old.
Dr. Pascale Kersaint, chief medical officer at the health center on Fulton Street, added that as a pediatrician, she has seen many young teens testing positive for sexually transmitted infections.
“If they’re testing positive for chlamydia and gonorreha, that means they are certainly at risk for HIV,” Kersaint said.
The family health center, which provided free HIV testing Monday as well as additional screenings throughout the year, plans on reaching out to children in Bed-Stuy middle schools as well as teaming with the Brooklyn Community Pride Center to work with the LGBTQ population.
Combatting the disease should be a community effort, Cornegy added, with a consistent commitment in businesses, schools, churches and stores to spread awareness.
