Black church leaders recently convened in Tuskegee, Ala., where the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study took place in the 1930s, to hammer out ways to address the paranoia that
keeps Black HIV/AIDS sufferers from seeking medical treatment, which, in part, stems from this study.
The study, which involved about 400 black men with syphilis who were denied treatment as part of a 40-year federal project to evaluate the disease, is often attributed to
causing the mistrust that many blacks feel toward white healthcare workers. It was shut down in 1972.
The meeting, sponsored by Tuskegee University, was attended by approximately 350 clergy members from around the country who met to brainstorm ways they can use their influence
to strengthen AIDS outreach.
Ideas that were highlighted at the meeting, include:
- encouraging black church members and public health workers visiting poor urban areas to offer free HIV/AIDS testing;
- addressing the stigma of healthcare clinics-many young blacks associate the facilities with "being in trouble," according to a study by the University of Alabama; and
- using church leaders to lead efforts on educating their congregation to ask questions of healthcare workers that will establish trust.
(University of Tuskegee)