By George E. Curry
Medical trials now underway in the very region most ravaged by the virus hold the best prospect of finally controlling the disease for which there is no known cure.

By The Editors
Researchers in South Africa announced this week the development of a vaginal microbicidal gel that in clinical trials has sharply reduced the possibility of women contracting H.I.V. from infected partners.

By George E. Curry
On Tuesday, President Obama issued a report outlining the federal government’s first national HIV/AIDS strategy plan.  But AIDS activists worry that the alarming infection rates among African Americans will not be reduced without additional federal spending, better federal coordination and a willingness of people to avoid risky sexual behavior.

By: Herndon L. Davis
The nation’s capital is in the midst of an enormous and rapidly growing healthcare epidemic: 3 percent of its population is living with HIV/AIDS and 76.3 percent of these people are black.  Even worse, the numbers are likely to be severely undercounted as the race to identify more residents who unknowingly are HIV positive or have full-blown AIDS continues.

By Stacey Patton
As the epidemic continues to claim lives, leaving behind millions of orphans, Pope Benedict gave assurances to his audience that the Catholic Church is at the forefront of the battle against AIDS. But practicing safe sex through the distribution of condoms along with educating people how to use them is not part of the Vatican’s strategy.

By The Editors
The historic election of Barack Obama, a congressional majority more supportive of the fight against AIDS, and a black America more engaged than ever before could create real and lasting change in the course of the U.S. AIDS epidemic, says a new report released by the Black AIDS Institute.

By Kenyon Farrow
Historically, the art of not speaking has facilitated our mere survival. But 28 years into the AIDS epidemic, that silence that once protected us, is now killing us. As we near Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on February 7th, all sorts of pronouncements will be made about the devastation HIV/AIDS is having on the community.