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National Minority Health Month Foundation Launches New Website to Promote Reauthorization & Modernization of Ryan White CARE Act

Posted on: Tuesday, 21 February 2006, 12:01 CST

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Gary A. Puckrein, Ph.D., executive director of the National Minority Health Month Foundation (NMHMF), today launched a Web site dedicated to highlighting the importance of modernizing and reauthorizing the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act: http:// www.nmhmf.org. The site provides important information on the state of HIV/AIDS in America today and on what can be done to make this important law more beneficial to the people that need treatment the most.

Dr. Puckrein said: "The Ryan White CARE Act is a critically important program for the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients in the United States. Our new website provides vital information on the importance of addressing the inequalities of the current Ryan White CARE Act and on what can be done to make this important piece of legislation better."

Recent patterns in the United States show that HIV/AIDS increasingly affects African Americans, Latinos, and other racial and ethnic minorities. In 2004, minorities accounted for almost three-fourths of new cases of AIDS, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report. Of newly identified AIDS patients, 49 percent were African Americans and 20 percent were Latinos. The rate also continued to rise among women, who accounted for 27 percent of new AIDS cases in 2004; 64 percent of these women were African Americans, and 18 percent were Latinas.

Features of the website include the following:

-- State-specific information on the distribution of new AIDS cases by race and ethnicity in America

-- Upcoming events

-- Photos of NMHMF campaign efforts nationwide

-- Links to sign NMHMF's petition to Congress demanding equal access to medicines for all HIV/AIDS patients

-- Interactive letterdesk allowing visitors to write to members of Congress

-- Recent press releases and other news

To view the new Web site, please visit http://www.nmhmf.org.

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About the National Minority Health Month Foundation

Founded as a nonprofit organization in 1998, the National Minority Health Month Foundation was established to strengthen national and local efforts to eliminate the disproportionate burden of premature death and preventable illness in racial and ethnic minorities and other special populations through the use of evidence- based, data-driven initiatives. The Foundation has developed a comprehensive relational data platform for identifying the prevalence of health-status and health-care disparities at the zip- code level. This centralized data warehouse allows the Foundation to house vital statistics; demographic, environmental, claims, prescription-drug, and clinical-laboratory values; health-care access points, and other data. The Foundation is thus able to measure and forecast health status in small geographic areas, evaluate the impact of specific interventions, monitor changes in health outcomes, and serve as a valuable resource for the health- disparities movement.

For additional information, please contact Cleve Mesidor 202-223- 7560.

http://www.usnewswire.com

Source: U.S. Newswire

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