Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Health Hiv topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Austin proclaims National Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS; city public-health officials point to continuing disparities
Summary
Councilmember Vanessa Fuentes presented a proclamation recognizing the National Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS; Austin Public Health representatives highlighted historical failures in the national response, ongoing disparities in Travis County, and upcoming local outreach events.
Councilmember Vanessa Fuentes, chair of the city’s public-health committee, presented a proclamation on Feb. 26 recognizing the National Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS and described the event as part of ongoing efforts to address health inequities affecting LGBTQIA+, Black and Latino residents.
"Dignity must be at the center of any public health crisis," Fuentes said, framing access to testing, treatment and prevention as a basic-rights issue and urging partnership between the city and faith- and community-based organizations.
The proclamation text cited national and local statistics, as presented during the ceremony: an estimate of 31,800 new HIV infections nationwide in the most recent reporting period, a total of about 1,200,000 people in the U.S. living with HIV, and local Travis County reporting of 215 new diagnoses (with higher counts among Latino and Black residents as cited in the proclamation). The transcript contains inconsistent formatting of those figures; they are reported here as stated during the proclamation.
Deborah Duncan of Austin Public Health described the Week of Prayer’s origins and urged continued funding and outreach, and she and others listed a schedule of events during the week at local churches and Huston-Tillotson University.
The proclamation was ceremonial and no council vote is recorded in the transcript; the presenters called for continued public-health outreach and support for faith-based partners.
